INFORMS News: Students from Ann Richards School visit conference

INFORMS President-Elect Rina Schneur (red outfit) talks to students from the Ann Richards School for Young Women.

Students from the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin, Texas, attended the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Austin, where they learned about careers in operations research from leading women in the field. Robin Lougee of IBM, Tiffany Sargent of INTEL and the National Science Foundation and Rina Schneur of Verizon (and incoming INFORMS president) met with the young women to share their thoughts and experiences. Topics of discussion ranged from what operations researchers do to how a career in operations research fits with family life.

The young women asked dozens of questions, with the session spilling into the hallway when the meeting room had to be vacated. Teacher Shireen Dadmehr, who holds an advanced degree in operations research and now teaches at the Ann Richards School, led the delegation on their visit.

The Ann Richards School is an all-girl public middle and high school founded to “educate young women and give them the confidence and skills necessary to succeed in college, in their careers and in their communities.”

The Ann Richards School is an all-girl public middle and high school founded to “educate young women and give them the confidence and skills necessary to succeed in college, in their careers, and in their communities.” The young women who attended the meeting had chosen engineering as their career pathway – an important component of the school’s program.

The school is open to all female students in the Austin public school system on a competitive basis. Its mission statement includes “preparing young women to attend and graduate from college, commit to a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle, lead with courage and compassion, and solve problems creatively and ethically in support of our global community.”