INFORMS News: Annual Meeting in Phoenix

By Ron Askin

The 2012 INFORMS Annual Meeting will be held Oct. 14-17 at the Phoenix Convention Center with additional sessions at the Hyatt Regency, both in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Along with the Hyatt Regency, the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown, another major conference hotel, is just steps away from the Convention Center.

Within walking distance attendees will find numerous restaurants and attractions including the home venues of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, Phoenix Suns basketball team, Arizona Theatre Company, Phoenix Opera Company, Phoenix Symphony and the Orpheum Theatre. The internationally renowned Heard Museum, just a short ride from downtown on the Light Rail, will be presenting “Beyond Geronimo: the Apache Experience” for those interested in learning the truth about the Apache culture and heritage.

The Phoenix Convention Center will be the site of the 2012 INFORMS Annual Meeting.

The Organizing Committee has several exciting events planned for the conference. The general reception will draw on the theme of Route 66 to explore the wonders of traveling cross country and the splendor of Northern Arizona that inspired numerous artists from Ansel Adams’s photographs to Zane Grey’s and Tony Hillerman’s novels to the lyrics of the Eagles (remember that “corner in Winslow, Ariz.”?). Plant tours are scheduled for the Mayo Clinic Multidisciplinary Simulation Centers and the Santan Generating Station. Guest tours will explore downtown Phoenix and the Grand Canyon.

The Society for Medical Decision Making will hold its annual meeting at the same location from Oct. 17-20, and Oct. 17 will have several overlapping sessions open to registrants from both conferences. The SMDM Oct. 17 afternoon plenary will feature Mark Roberts, professor and chair of Health Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh.

The meeting will offer an exciting blend of networking and educational opportunities. The INFORMS membership meeting will be held on Oct. 13, a welcome reception on Oct. 14 and subdivision meetings on Oct. 15 and 16, followed by the general reception on the evening of Oct. 16.

Plenary and keynote speakers include:

• Edward C. Prescott, Arizona State University, Nobel Laureate (Omega Rho Distinguished Lecture)
• Paolo Toth, (IFORS Distinguished Lecture)
• Richard J. O’Lear, Defense Science Board
• George Poste, Arizona State University
• William R. Pulleyblank, U.S. Military Academy (Philip McCord Morse Lecture)
• Alan Gara, Intel Corporation
• Wallace J. Hopp, University of Michigan
• Chrostopher B. Lofgren, Schneider National, Inc.
• Caryl Brzymialkiewicz, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security
• 2012 Edelman Prize Winner TNT Express
• 2012 Daniel H. Wagner Prize Winner

Conference organizers hope you will take this opportunity to explore the wonders the city and state have to offer while also advancing your professional development. Outsiders know Arizona as the Grand Canyon State, but for those of us who live here, we know it as a multi-faceted Mecca for the arts, culture, education and recreation. For the most current information, visit http://meetings2.informs.org/phoenix2012/.

Ron Askin (ron.askin@asu.edu) is the general chair of the 2012 INFORMS Annual Meeting.