Minutes of the Optimization Section (OS) Business Meeting during the INFORMS Conference in San Antonio, Texas November 7, 2000:

1. The meeting was called to order by Gerard Cornuejols, OS Chair, at 6.25 PM. Present were: Gerard Cornuejols, Robert Vanderbei, Sharon Filipowski, Kees Roos, David M. Gay, Stephen Billups, Ravindra K. Ahuja, Mohamed H. Gadallah, Nick Sahinidis, Laszlo Ladanyi, Mike Gertz, Leon Lasdon, Zsolt Ugray, Janny Leung, Janos Pinter, Mauricio Resende, Ismail de Farian, Anton Kleywegt, Robin Lougee-Heimer, Warren Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Carlton Scott, John Mitchell, Khosrow Moshirvaziri, Mahyar Amouzegar, Sanjay Mehrotra, David Morton, Matthew Saltzman, JP Fasano, Alessandro Agnetis, Pitu Mirchandani, Martine Labbe, Margaret Wiecek
2. Bob Vanderbei awarded Kevin Wayne with the 2000 INFORMS Optimization Prize for Young Researchers for his paper, "A Polynomial Combinatorial Algorithm for Generalized Minimum Cost Flow." Kevin was not able to attend the meeting, so he will be sent the plaque and $1000. The prize committee consisted of Bob Vanderbei, Sebastian Ceria, Bill Cook, and Kees Roos, and Suvrajeet Sen.
3. Outgoing chair's report (Gerard Cornuejols):

   1. The set of OS officers effective after the San Antonio Meeting is:

      • Robert Vanderbei: Chair (Fall 00 - Fall 01)
      • Robert Freund: Chair-elect (Fall 00 - Fall 01); Chair (Fall 01 - Fall 02)
      • Sharon Filipowski: Secretary/Treasurer (Fall 98 - Fall 01)
      • Hanif Sherali: Vice-chair for Global Optimization (Fall 00 - Fall 02)
      • Jon Lee: Vice-chair for Integer Programming (Fall 99 - Fall 01)
      • Stephen Billups: Vice-chair for Linear Programming and Complementarity (Fall 99 - Fall 01)
      • Richard Barr: Vice-chair for Network Flow Programming (Fall 99 - Fall 01)
      • Renato Monteiro: Vice-chair for Nonlinear Programming (Fall 00 - Fall 02)
      • David Morton: Vice-chair for Stochastic Programming (Fall 00 - Fall 02)

      See the OS web page (http://optimization.section.informs.org) for e-mail addresses of the officers.

   2. Gerard reported that the OS is going to try to have a strong showing at the INFORMS Miami Meeting on November 3-7, 2001. As a result, the OS is going to try to have a keynote talk as well as a tutorial in each focus area. Jon Lee is going to help with the overall organization of the OS in regard to the conference. Contact one of the vice-chairs if you are interested in organizing a session at the conference.
   3. Gerard opened the discussion to consideration of the idea that the OS try to plan for a strong presence at the INFORMS meeting every three years. In general the people present at the meeting seemed to think this was a good idea. The following main comments were given by Matt Saltzman, Stephen Billups, and Nick Sahinidis:
      • The focus year will be the year in which the Mathematical Programming Symposium and the SIAM Conference on Optimization do not occur. The Miami meeting coincides with this year.
      • If there is a planned strong optimization turnout, it should be easier to have an optimization keynote talk as well as a number of optimization tutorials.
      • Some people have been asked already to organize sessions at the Miami meeting. Please coordinate the sessions with the appropriate OS vice-chair.
      • The INFORMS Computing Society will be organizing sessions for the meetings as well. It might be a good idea to try to coordinate some of the sessions.
   4. Gerard opened the discussion to consideration of the idea of scheduling the OS Business Meeting at a different time. The following main comments were given by a number of people including Pitu Mirchandani, Thomas Jefferson, David Gay, Kees Roos, Bob Vanderbei, Gerard, and Matt Saltzman:
      • The reason for considering moving the meeting from Tuesday evening is that many people need to leave by Tuesday evening to return home to teach classes on Wednesday.
      • Holding the meeting on Monday during the Business Meeting Hour would not be a good idea because the Computing Society meeting takes place during this time.
      • Holding the meeting Sunday during the Business Meeting Hour would not be favorable because many people have personal commitments on Sundays.
      • Holding the meeting during regularly scheduled sessions was given as an idea. However, this approach could raise controversy and probably would not be approved by INFORMS.
      • People suggested holding a vote of the OS members to decide between a Sunday or a Tuesday meeting. However, it was decided after the meeting that holding the meeting on Sunday would not be a good idea given the reservations discussed during the meeting.
      • The following options are being explored:
        1. Suggest that INFORMS have two business meeting slots on Monday. There are a number of people who would like to attend more than one meeting so that having additional slots might be a reasonable suggestion.
        2. Hold the business meeting over lunch on Monday. With just one meeting each year and with the large number of OS members, perhaps the lunch could be catered.
   5. Gerard opened the discussion to consideration of extending the chair position to two years from one year. The main reason for the proposed change is that it takes about a year to get ones feet on the ground. In general the people present at the meeting seemed to think this was a good idea. The main comments were given by a number of people, including Matt Saltzman, Gerard, and Bob Vanderbei:
      • The Computing Society recently made a similar change.
      • The main difficulty appears to be how to handle the chair-elect position. Currently the main duty of the chair-elect is to chair the Optimization Prize Committee.
      • Details still need to be worked out; however, currently the idea is to have the chair-elect serve two years as well. Also, the chair-elect will serve as the chair of the Optimization Prize Committee for two years.
      • Once all details are finalized, the OS Constitution will need to be amended and approved by the OS.
   6. During the above discussion, a side-discussion opened. Someone mentioned that he was new to the INFORMS meetings and thought that perhaps the talks should be refereed. Matt Saltzman mentioned that the main reason the talks at INFORMS are not refereed is that people often need to give a talk at meetings to obtain funding to attend them. Because INFORMS would like to encourage attendance at meetings, talks are not refereed. Matt also mentioned that the OS could hold a "meeting within a meeting" and that those talks could be refereed. Bob Vanderbei added that there are "invited talks," and Matt agreed that this was a "method" for refereeing. Gerard closed the discussion by noting that cluster chairs can organize high-level tracks containing high quality presentations.
   7. Gerard mentioned that the INFORMS Computing Society is holding a meeting in January of 2003 and that the OS might like to organize some sessions in the meeting. Matt Saltzman agreed and added that it is a great meeting.

   8. Gerard opened the discussion to consideration of the possibility of awarding the Optimization Prize for Young Researchers less frequently than once each year and to the possibility of having a prize for senior members. It was decided to stay with the current award structure. The following main comments were given by a number of people, including Gerard, Matt Saltzman, Nick Sahinidis, Pitu Mirchandani, Thomas Jefferson, and Bob Vanderbei:

      There was a discussion concerning the possibility of giving an honorable mention for the Optimization Prize for Young Researches. The main negative comment was that awarding an honorable mention would disqualify a very talented person from receiving the award the following year. Recall that the award is open to any researcher whose terminal degree is within five years of the closing date of the nomination. It was decided that an honorable mention could be given if appropriate and if the researcher would not qualify for the award the following year.

   9. Gerard opened the discussion to consideration of the possibility of using OS funds in additional ways. Gerard mentioned that we might want to increase the amount of the Optimization Prize. Others noted the OS might want to hold a more elaborate reception at the focus meeting that will occur every three years. Sharon Filipowski noted that the OS currently has about $7000 and that with the outflow of about $1700 each year ($1000 for the Optimization Prize, $200 for advertising the Optimization Prize in SIAM News, and $500 for meeting refreshments), the OS budget increases by just over $1000 each year. As a result, if the OS would like to use additional budget, the dues probably would need to be increased from $5 for regular, retired, and student members.
   10. It was noted that the OS membership probably is large enough for the OS to become a society in INFORMS. In 1999 there were 651 OS members, and as of September 30, 2000, there are 612 members. The OS officers are exploring this possibility. If it both favorable and possible for the OS to become a society, a vote by the OS members might be needed.
4. Leon Lasdon mentioned that he is on the organizing committee for the INFORMS International Meeting in Hawaii on June 17-20, 2001. Ariela Sofer is involved with organizing optimization talks, so contact her if you are interested in giving a talk at the meeting.
5. Matt Saltzman mentioned that INFORMS is improving the web site capabilities for the groups within INFORMS.
6. The meeting was adjourned at 7.20 PM.

Submitted by Sharon Filipowski, OS Secretary/Treasurer.