Founding

Prior to 1995 there was little if any formal activity by INFORMS regarding support for postsecondary education. While there was an INFORMS Education Committee, there was very little organized activity around education. For example, there was no education track at the meetings, no education section in Interfaces or OR/MS Today, and no education representation on the Board.

In 1995, a group of eight people led by Erhan Erkut of the University of Alberta and including members of the INFORMS Business School Education Task Force (chartered by the Presidents of ORSA and TIMS, Dick Larson and Gary Lilien in 1994) founded the INFORMS Education Forum (INFORM-ED), with the goal of providing education programs to post-secondary teachers of OR/MS.

Purpose of INFORM-ED

• To encourage interest in the field of operations research and the management sciences.
• To encourage discussion and interaction among individuals having interest in the teaching of operations research and management sciences at institutions of higher education, and its relationship to the profession of operations research and the management sciences.
• To advise the INFORMS Board, Committees, and Subdivisions on issues concerning the teaching of operations research and management sciences at institutions of higher education and to keep them apprised of developments in this area.
• To encourage, support and provide workshops, programming, publications and other activities to enhance the teaching of operations research and management sciences.

Membership

Membership is open to any persons interested in operations research and/or the management sciences may become a member of this Forum by completing a membership application and submitting it with the proper dues.