INFORM-ED Newsletter Fall 2006
Keeping members of the OR/MS community informed of innovation in education
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Dear INFORM-ED Members, As we approach the 2006 Annual INFORMS Meeting beginning on November 5 in Pittsburgh, I'm writing to encourage you to attend the INFORM-ED Business Meeting on Sunday, November 5 from 6:15 until 7:15 pm to learn more about our ongoing activities and the new initiatives that we are pursuing this year. This annual event also provides the membership of INFORM-ED with a wonderful opportunity to socialize in an informal session as well as to exchange ideas and experiences for enhancing the teaching of operations research/management science in a wide variety of settings.
I
also would like to call your attention to the outstanding cluster of
education sessions that Professor Jill Hardin of Virginia
Commonwealth University has organized for the upcoming Annual
Meeting in Pittsburgh. In particular, Jill has worked diligently
with our INFORM-ED colleagues to formulate a program that includes
sessions which will be of interest and value to faculty in both
engineering and business programs, trainers and practitioners in
corporate environments, educators in governmental organizations,
high school teachers, and many others. Please be sure to review the
detailed schedule of sessions provided in this newsletter and on the
web at the following web address: Inasmuch as the 2006 Annual INFORMS Meeting is striving to celebrate and explore the recent renaissance of operations research, I sincerely hope that we can all approach our individual teaching and research work, as well as our collective education activities, this academic year in the spirit of helping to make operations research/management science even more relevant and stimulating to those we teach and with whom we share the knowledge that we create. Clearly, as educators who are committed to excellence and innovation in our instructional activities, we stand to benefit from the opportunities that organizations such as INFORM-ED creates for its members. I invite you to help create new learning opportunities for your INFORM-ED colleagues as well as to learn about the wonderful work that other members are performing to energize educational efforts in operations research across the world. As always, my fellow INFORM-ED officers and I urge you to share your suggestions for enhancing our programs and activities in the coming year. If you would like to speak with me over the phone about your specific thoughts in this area, I would welcome your call. I can be reached at zappe@bucknell.edu or at my Bucknell office (570-577-3292). I truly want to hear your suggestions for how we can better serve your needs and interests. After all, this organization exists to benefit each of you! Best wishes,
Chris Zappe |
President:
Chris Zappe (zappe@bucknell.edu)
Treasurer/Secretary:
Mary Beth Kurz (mkurz@clemson.edu)
Vice President - Programs:
Jill Hardin (jrhardin@vcu.edu)
Vice President - Projects:
Mike Racer (mracer@memphis.edu)
Vice President - Publications:
John Kros (krosj@mail.ecu.edu)
"Issues in Education" Column in OR/MS Today:
Joel Sokol (jsokol@isye.gatech.edu)
INFORM-ED Website:
Pinar Kaymaz (kaymapi@auburn.edu)
INFORM-ED Newsletter:
Matt Drake (drake987@duq.edu)
Case Competition Chair:
Tasha Inniss (tinniss@spelman.edu)
The following is the schedule for the finalists' presentations for the 7th Annual INFORMS Case Competition at the 2006 Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. All presentations will take place on Sunday, November 5.
Finalist #1 - 8:00 AM
All of Britain Must be Stoned!
James J. Cochran, Department of Marketing and Analysis,
Louisiana Tech University
Finalist #2 - 8:45 AM
Keeping Logistics Under Wraps
Matthew J. Drake, School of Business, Duquesne University
Paul M. Griffin, School of Industrial and Systems
Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Julie L. Swann, School of Industrial and Systems
Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
************************30 minute Break ***********************
Finalist #3 - 10:00 AM
Phytopharm plc
Bert De Reyck, London Business School
Zeger Degraeve, London Business School
Pascale Crama, London Business School
Finalist #4 - 10:45 AM
Assigning Regions to Sales Representatives at Pfizer Turkey
Murat Koksalan, Department of Industrial Engineering,
Middle East Technical University
Sakine Batun, Department of Industrial Engineering, Middle
East Technical University
The three judges for this year's case competition are Dr. Esma Gel of
Arizona State University,
Professor Stephen Graves of MIT, and Dr. Anton Ovchinnikov of the University
of Virginia.
Dr. Gel is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at the Ira A.
Fulton School of Engineering at ASU.
She received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University and a
B.S. in Industrial Engineering from
the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Dr. Gel judged the
Case Competition in 2004 and is
organizing this year's Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium being held on
Saturday, November 4, 2006.
Professor Graves is the Abraham J. Siegel Professor of Management
Science/Professor of Mechanical Engineering
and Engineering Systems at MIT. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from
the University of Rochester in
Operations Research and a B.S. in Mathematics and Social Sciences from
Dartmouth College.
Dr. Ovchinnikov is an Assistant Professor in Quantitative Analysis at the
Darden School of Business at the University
of Virginia. He received a Ph.D. in Operations Management from the
University of Toronto. He received diplomas from
Eramus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and the Higher School of
Economics (Moscow, Russia).
Professor Graves and Dr. Ovchinnikov both won last year's (2005)
competition.
This was the first time in the history of the competition that there were
two winners.
The time draws near for the Fall INFORMS meeting in
Pittsburgh. I hope to see everyone there.
Just a reminder of the exciting changes and improvements in the publications area have occurred. Everyone must go out and take a look at the newly redesigned INFORM-ED website. Pinar Kaymaz (kaymapi@auburn.edu) has done an outstanding job of redesigning and updating the website. All our thanks to Pinar.
In addition, the Spring edition of the INFORM-ED newsletter was wonderful
and out on time. Thanks to Matt Drake
(drake987@duq.edu) for
his work.
Joel Sokol (jsokol@isye.gatech.edu) is always looking for submission to the Education column in OR/MS Today. Please contact Joel if you have a piece you would like to submit.
If you would like to contribute to the development of these INFORM-ED publications in some way, please do not hesitate to contact these individuals or myself. We welcome your ideas and involvement!
Finally, in another very important area to INFORM-ED is our annual Case Competition. Tasha Inniss (tinniss@spelman.edu) is the contact person and organizer of the INFORM-ED case competition. I am sure we will have a very successful round of cases at the Fall 2006 meeting in Pittsburgh.
See y'all in Pittsburgh!
John F. Kros (krosj@ecu.edu)
INFORM-ED @ INFORMS 2006, Pittsburgh - Jill Hardin
The INFORM-ED cluster has grown since the May newsletter - we now have 21 sessions, including some jointly sponsored with WORMS, JFIG, Military Applications Society, and the OR division of IIE. The Pittsburgh cluster includes a wide array of topics, with something for everyone - from novices to experts, from liberal arts educators to engineering educators. A complete listing of this year's sessions can be found in our flyer.
See you in Pittsburgh!
All the best,
Jill Hardin
VP/Programs
1st ALIO/INFORMS Workshop on OR Education - Jim Cochran
An exciting new initiative - The 1st ALIO/INFORMS Workshop on OR Education - will take place on November 27 - 28, 2006, in conjunction with the 2006 Latin-Ibero-American Conference on Operations Research (XIII CLAIO - http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/eventos/claio06/eng/) in Montevideo, Uruguay. This workshop is a joint education-oriented initiative of the Latin American Ibero Association on Operations Research (ALIO - http://www.dc.uba.ar/alio/index-en.htm) and INFORM-ED (the Education Forum of INFORMS - http://education.forum.informs.org/).
The workshop (http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/eventos/claio06/WED2006/) will be comprised of demonstrations and presentations on effective methods for quantitative education that are organized and given by members of ALIO affiliated organizations and INFORMS. Featured presenters will include:
INFORMS has also held initial discussions with other OR organizations and federations around the world about similar initiatives, and as a result planning for the 1st AORN/INFORMS Workshop on OR Education is underway. This workshop, a joint initiative of the African Operations Research Network (AORN) and INFORMS, will take place in September 2007 in conjunction with the 2007 Operations Research Practice in Africa (ORPA - http://www.euro-online.org/africanOR/) Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Workshop organizers include:
o James J. Cochran (Louisiana Tech University, USA)
jcochran@cab.latech.edu;
o Marthi Harmse (SASOL Technology)
o Neil Manson (Monash University)
o Ozias Ncube (University of South Africa);
This will be another remarkable opportunity to learn and share across cultures, and we hope to see many of you at the 2007 ORPA! For more information or to get involved, contact Jim Cochran at (318) 257-3445 or jcochran@cab.latech.edu.
External Relations - Dawn Strickland
We need your help! In order to increase interest in OR/MS, we are asking INFORMS members to give presentations to undergraduates at institutions where OR/MS is not highly visible. We are creating a database of these talks in order to track their effectiveness.
We have attempted to make this process as simple as possible in order to minimize the strain on your time and effort. If you choose to volunteer, we will identify and contact nearby schools to set up the presentations. Additionally, we are in the process of creating a general presentation you can use when giving these talks. This presentation will be introduced at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA on Monday, November 6 at 1:30pm (please check your printed program for the exact location).
This initiative will not only serve to market the field of OR/MS, but it will be a recruiting tool for your own graduate programs. Please join us in Pittsburgh and consider participating in our effort to market the Science of Better.
INFORM-ED Website - Pinar Kaymaz
The INFORMS Case Competition information web page has been updated! Visit the Case Competition web page at http://education.forum.informs.org/informs_case_comp.htm to check out the previous years' winners and the case topics.
Also take a look at the new information posted to the News page at http://education.forum.informs.org/news.htm. In the News page education related INFORMS conference news and links can be reached. If you have announcements related to INFORM-ED activities that you would like to publish on the website please email me. Also let me know if you have any suggestions, additions, corrections regarding the website, and thanks for the previous suggestions. See you at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh!
Pinar Kaymaz (kaymapi@auburn.edu)
I would like to use the November meeting to get some of these initiatives jump-started. Depending on interests and overlaps, I'd like to meet with folks interested in each initiative either before or after the INFORMed general meeting. About the time you get this newsletter, you should also receive a status report on each initiative in a separate email. Please respond to that email with your interests, and we'll go from there.
Just a Thought - Matt Drake
I hope you're all looking forward to the upcoming annual meeting in Pittsburgh. The conference organizers have put together an excellent program that will showcase the best of the Steel City. I hope to see many of you at our INFORM-ED business meeting on Sunday night.
Until the annual meeting...
Matt (drake987@duq.edu)