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JUST A THOUGHT – Our Profession |
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May 25, 2004
Keeping members of the OR/MS community informed of innovation in education
Hello fellow INFORM-ED Members,
I hope all of you are preparing for a productive and enjoyable summer. INFORM-ED continues to work on various initiatives and activities. A short summary of some of these efforts follows:
Our forum is very busy organizing various activities designed to improve ORMS education and assist ORMS educators. Upcoming activities include:
- the 5th annual Case Competition
- the 6th annual Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium
- a sponsored education track for the 2004 INFORMS Conference in Denver (October 24 - 27)
More details about these and other INFORM-ED activities are provided in the STATUS REPORTS OF ONGOING EDUCATION INITIATIVES below.
Our officers are helping to coordinate many other activities that should be of interest to INFORM-ED members. These activities include:
- Steve Powell, Academic Director of INFORMS Summer Workshop on Teaching Management Science, is currently organizing the next workshop. The workshop will be held on July 8-11, 2004, in Marlboro, MA. This conference is modeled on the Teaching Management Science Summer Workshops that ran in 1998-2000. See Steve’s report in this newsletter and visit the website (http://www.informs.org/Edu/TMSWorkshop/) for more details. This will be a great event for college instructors at all levels, so plan to attend!
- Erhan Erkut (Editor-in-Chief) invites you to visit the INFORMS Transactions on Education website (http://ite.pubs.informs.org/) and read a variety of provocative new articles on ORMS education. Erhan also encourages you to submit your article that relates to any aspect of OR/MS education.
- Ken Chelst is again planning to Chair an INFORMS Teachers Program: How to Teach the Teachers session at the annual INFORMS Conference in October. This session, sponsored by INFORMS’ Public Awareness Committee, will provide you with everything you need to "Teach the Teachers" at a local or state math teacher conference near your home. Members of the PAC team that developed the INFORMS materials (available at http://www.hsor.org) will demonstrate how to conduct these workshops at this comprehensive briefing. As a session participant, you will receive the program materials, videos, software packages (with instructions), and Teacher Instructional Modules you need to deliver a program at a state, county, or school district conference.
- Betsy Stewart (INFORMS' Subdivisions Coordinator) resigned from INFORMS effective (May 7). INFORM-ED appreciates all the valuable assistance she has given us during her employment with INFORMS, and we will miss her.
- Beginning this year at the annual INFORMS Conference in Denver, the INFORM-ED reception and business meeting (traditionally held on Tuesday evening during the annual INFORMS Conference), will be held on the Sunday evening of the conference. We will continue to provide snacks, beverages (beer, wine, soda, cheese, crackers, etc.), updates on INFORM-ED’s efforts, and a forum for discussion of education issues.
- I am the General Chair of the 2005 INFORMS Conference in New Orleans (November 13-16, 2005) - contact me if you are interested in helping with the organization of this conference.
- Chris Zappe (Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium Chair and VP – Publications) updates us on the fifth annual Case Competition and explains how you can enter next year’s competition. He also posts us on his progress in developing the program for the sixth annual Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (TEC VI) and tells how you can register for this event.
- John Kros (Webmaster) discusses additions and enhancement to our website.
I encourage you to get involved with INFORM-ED! Please contact the coordinator of any INFORM-ED project/initiative or me (at jcochran@cab.latech.edu or 318/257-3445) if you have any questions or suggestions (or would like to volunteer!).
Jim Cochran
INFORM-ED President
President:
Jim Cochran (JCochran@cab.latech.edu)
Treasurer/Secretary:
John Lawrence (jlawrence@fullerton.edu)
Vice President - Programs:
Pinar Keskinocak (pinar@isye.gatech.edu)
Vice President - Projects:
William Christian (christwa@jmu.edu)
Vice President - Publications:
Chris Zappe (zappe@bucknell.edu)
Vice President -- External Relations:
Julie Swann (julie.swann@isye.gatech.edu)
Past President:
Tom Grossman (tagrossman@usfca.edu)
"Issues in Education" Column in OR/MS Today:
Joel Sokol (JSokol@ISyE.GATech.edu)
INFORM-ED Website:
John Kros (krosj@mail.ecu.edu)
INFORM-ED Newsletter:
Mike Racer (mRacer@mocha.memphis.edu)
James Cochran
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Fifth Annual INFORMS
Case Competition |
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INFORMS is pleased to announce its Fifth Annual
Peer-Reviewed Case Competition. This competition is jointly sponsored by
INFORMS Education Committee, INFORMS Case and Teaching Materials Initiative,
and INFORM-ED. It is designed to encourage the creation, dissemination, and
use of new, unpublished cases in operations research and the management sciences. All submissions and supporting
documentation are due by August 13, 2004.
All cases will be blind reviewed in August and September of 2004 by a
panel of judges familiar with the case method. Up to four finalists will be selected and
notified by the judging committee by the end of September 2004. Finalists
will give thirty-minute presentations of their entries at a special open
session of the 2004 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. The panel of
judges will select the winning entry from these finalists based on these
presentations. The winner will be announced at the INFORM-ED Business meeting
at the 2004 INFORMS Conference. Finalists must present their cases at the
Fall 2004 INFORMS Meeting to be eligible to win. Guidelines for submitted cases are: (1) No more than 10 pages (8.5" x 11.0")
single-spaced (maximum of approx. 3000 words); shorter cases are acceptable. (2) Exhibits are in addition to page limit. (3) Teaching Notes of length as necessary to meet
content expected. (4) A 12-point proportional font (such as Times New
Roman) with 1-inch margins. (5)
All submitted cases must be previously unpublished. Cases should be essentially new in their
entirety. If the case contains material
drafted originally by individuals or groups other than the author(s)
submitting the case, then the intellectual history and ownership of these
portions should be made absolutely clear. Contestants are responsible for
assuring that this guideline is strictly met. A
complete submission package will consist of the following: (1)
Six hard copies and one electronic copy of a short (250 - 500 words)
abstract, the case and teaching notes. The title should appear on the first
page, but the name of the author and other indicators of authorship should be
eliminated in the text of five copies to permit blind review. The abstract
should appear by itself on the second page and identify the industry,
business issues, technical issues, pedagogical objectives, and suggested uses
of the case. The case, any exhibits, and then the teaching notes should
follow. (2) A completed Case Competition Submission Form
(available on the web). Prizes include: (1) $500 and plaque to the best case (2) $100 and plaque for up to three runners-up For
more information, please visit http://education.forum.informs.org//ccomp04.htm
or contact Christopher J. Zappe at (570) 577-3495 or zappe@bucknell.edu. |
|
Sixth INFORMS
Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (TEC VI) |
|
This
year's Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium will address several aspects of incorporating
and assessing effective teaching techniques in any undergraduate and graduate
curriculum. The colloquium will be beneficial to both seasoned and new
faculty members at all levels and in all disciplines of OR. Planned sessions
include topics such as: Principles of
Effective Teaching, Assessing Student Learning, and Incorporating Active
Learning. All
Ph.D. granting programs in operations research, management science, and
related fields are invited to nominate faculty members for participation in
TEC VI. To be eligible for nomination, an individual must:
A
complete nomination by the department will include:
Complete
nomination must be received by Monday, August 2. Send packages and
requests for more information to: Dr. Christopher Zappe; Bucknell University;
113 Marts Hall; Lewisburg, PA 17837; phone: 570-577-3293; fax: 570-577-7054. |
Undergraduate Session At Denver INFORMS
Undergraduate Session
Sponsored by Omega Rho & INFORM-ED
Denver 2004 INFORMS, October 24-27, 2004
CALL FOR
PAPERS
The
international honor society for the Operations Research and Management Science
community, Omega Rho, is offering travel stipends to top Operations Research/
Management Science (OR/MS) and Industrial Engineering (IE) undergraduate
students for the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Denver, October 24-27, 2004. Meeting
officials are offering special undergraduate sessions enabling students to
present the results of their efforts. In addition, plans include meetings with
OR/MS professionals from various industries to discuss trends within the OR/MS
job market.
Omega
Rho has approved five travel stipends of $300 to be available to undergraduates
who are presenting at the Denver meeting. INFORM-ED, as the educational
subdivision of the professional OR/MS society, INFORMS, sponsors the
undergraduate track organized by Jim Lowe of the USAFA. In support of this
initiative, Omega Rho encourages the growing pool of undergraduate OR/MS and IE
majors to experience presenting scholarly work before professionals in the
field.
There are four
conditions for eligibility:
1. The applicant must
have been an undergraduate student on or after April 15, 2004.
2. The research must
have been conducted while the applicant was an undergraduate student.
3. The research must
be original in nature.
4. The paper must not
have presented in whole or in part at a previous INFORMS conference.
Please
submit the following application package to Professor Jim Lowe at jim.lowe@usafa.af.mil, by June,
2004.
(1) A completed
application form, including title and abstract of the research project;
(2) A report of the
applicant’s research project in an electronic pdf or doc file, and a hard copy,
which should not exceed 10 pages when printed in double spaced, 11pt (or
larger) font format;
(3) A letter of
nomination signed by a faculty member at the applicant’s institution affirming
that the four eligibility conditions have been satisfied;
For your convenience,
the application is located at the Omega Rho web site: http://omegarho.informs.org/
APPLICATION for Undergraduate Session
Sponsored by Omega Rho & INFORM-ED
Denver 2004 INFORMS, October 24-27, 2004
Applicant
Name
_______________________________________________________________
Institution
____________________________________________________________
Address
_____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Phone
_______________________________________________________________
Email Address
_________________________________________________________
Sponsoring Faculty
Member
Name
_______________________________________________________________
Institution
____________________________________________________________
Address
_____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Phone
_______________________________________________________________
Email Address
_________________________________________________________
Title of Presentation
Abstract
(100 words or fewer)
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
SELECTION
PROCESS
Applicants
will be selected by a committee comprised of officers of Omega Rho and members
of INFORM-ED. Selections will be made according to the following
criteria:
1. The relevance of
application to one (or more) of INFORMS’ constituent disciplines
2. Originality of
ideas and methods.
3. The substance of
the application: formulation, analysis, and solution, at a level appropriate
for undergraduate student research
4. The significance of
insights from research
5. The quality and
organization of the exposition, and a lucid and interesting style of
presentation.
TIMELINE
April 20, 2004 Call
for applications (email, Omega Rho website, INFORM-ED website).
June 1, 2004 Application
materials due to Professor Jim Lowe at jim.lowe@usafa.af.mil
June, 2004 Packages
are blind reviewed by the joint Omega Rho/INFORM-ED committee.
July 1, 2004 The
committee will announce selection of winners of stipend.
October 24-27, 2004
Presentations made at the Denver INFORMS Meeting.
A little update on the ITE
o We have published the January issue almost on time. It contains 2 invited contributions, one paper, one case, one note, one game, and one resource review.
o We are making good progress on the May issue, but it is likely to be delayed to June due to the Banff conference (May 16-19). One paper in the May issue is already published (it is on the web).
o - Currently we have 15 articles under (first or second round) review and 5 under revision.
o In March 2004 we attracted over 300 unique visitors per day. The average bandwidth used per day is about 130 MB.
A good thing for all of us. The efforts by those putting together an image of the profession have introduced two new websites:
o one for us
o one for people trying to learn more about what “O.R.” is
Give these a look, and see where our profession is heading. Personally, I am enthused by the energy and interest going into this. I have no doubts it will benefit us all.
Things are fine out on the INFORM-ED website. Traffic for this Spring was good. We averaged around 170 hits per month from January to May, with March being the peak month with 190 hits. Check out the website, information on the INFORMS summer workshop on Teaching Management Science is posted as well as information on the DSS Development Course. Also check out the link for the Fifth Annual INFORMS Case Competition to be held at the Fall 2004 INFORMS meeting. Please email me if you have additions, corrections, and/or any comments on the website. See you in Denver. John F. Kros, krosj@mail.ecu.edu.
James
Cochran, President, President’
Report
Christopher
Zappe, VP Publications Announcement of 5th Annual Case
Competition
Christopher
Zappe, VP Publications Announcement of TEC VI Colloquium
Erhan
Erkut, ITE Editor, Publication News
John
Lawrence, Secretary/Treasurer