September, 2003
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LINK OF THE MONTH ñ Pollution Control and OR/MS |
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JUST A THOUGHT ñ The Community |
Keeping members of the OR/MS community informed of innovation in
education
James Cochran
Hello fellow INFORM-ED Members,
I hope all of you have enjoyed a relaxing and productive summer. INFORM-ED has continued to work on various initiatives and activities throughout the spring and summer. 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 4th annual Case Competition (http://education.forum.informs.org//2003CComp.html)
- the 5th annual Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (http://www.isye.gatech.edu/informs-colloquium/teaching/)
- a sponsored education track for the 2003 INFORMS Conference in Atlanta (https://informs.emeetingsonline.com/emeetings/formbuilder/clustersessionlist.asp?clnno=288&mmnno=113)
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 has been appointed Academic Director of INFORMS Summer Workshop on Teaching Management Science. He is currently organizing the next workshop, which will be held on July 8-11, 2004, in Marlboro, MA. This conference is modeled on the Teaching Management Science Summer Workshops that ran 1998-2000. INFORMS will provide full details on their website in October. This will be a great event for college instructors at all levels, so plan to attend!
- INFORMS Spreadsheet Research Interest Group (SPRIG). SPRIGís inaugural meeting will be on Sunday, October 19 in Vinings 1 of the Atlanta Weston Peachtree Plaza ñ check the program for the exact meeting time, and contact Tom Grossman (mailto:tagrossman@usfca.edu) for more information.
- Erhan Erkut (Editor-in-Chief) has revised the INFORMS Transactions on Education website (http://ite.pubs.informs.org/). Visit this site and read a variety of provocative articles on ORMS education. Erhan also encourages you to submit your article that relates to any aspect of OR/MS education.
- Ken Chelst will again Chair a session (sponsored by INFORMSí Public Awareness Committee) to 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. The session INFORMS Teachers Program: How to Teach the Teachers will be held on Tuesday October 21 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m ñ check your conference program for the location. This is a very worthwhile and rewarding program, and a great way to reach many high school students. INFORM-ED encourages you to attend this session and volunteer to conduct these workshops in your area.
- We continue to work on assigning doctoral students who are near completion of their degree to various INFORMS committees. We believe that this will ease many studentsí transition from student member to productive, contributing, engaged full member. Contact me to suggest a doctoral student (who has nearly completed her/his degree) for this program.
- Be sure to register for the upcoming INFORMS conference in Atlanta ñ early registration (http://www.informs.org/Conf/Atlanta2003/registration.htm) closes on September 28 and the hotel reservation service (http://www.informs.org/Conf/Atlanta2003/hotel.htm) closes on September 18. Donna Llewellyn and her organizing committee have assembled a terrific program that can be viewed at http://www.informs.org/Conf/Atlanta2003/hotel.htm.
- In keeping with the conference theme (OR/MS in the Community), there are many opportunities to be involved in a community service activity ñ I encourage you to review these opportunities at http://www.informs.org/Conf/Atlanta2003/community.htm and consider participating in one of these worthwhile events.
- The August 2003 issue of ORMS Today (Weapons of Mass Instruction) is devoted to articles and columns on ORMS education. Be sure to read the thought-provoking articles by Tom Grossman, Peter Horner, Peter Bell, Sam Savage, and Erhan Erkut.
- The INFORM-ED reception and business meeting is Tuesday, October 21 in Vinings 1 of the Atlanta Weston Peachtree Plaza, from 6:15-7:15.Ý Join us for snacks and beverages (beer, wine, soda, cheese, crackers, etc.) and learn more about INFORM-EDís efforts.
- The SPRIG Meeting is from 6:15 - 7:15 on Sunday (October 19) in Vinings 1 in the Westin Peachtree Plaza.Ý Tom Grossman will be there to welcome you!
- I am the General Chair of the 2005 INFORMS Conference in New Orleans (November 13-16, 2005) ñ contact me if you are interested in joining the Organizing Committee for this conference.
- Case Competition: Chris Zappe (VP ñ Publications) updates us on the fourth annual Case Competition and explains how you can enter next yearís competition.
- TEC V: George Polak (Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium Chair) posts us on his progress in developing the program for TEC V and tells how you can still register for this event.
- Engineers and Education: Barry Pasternack (VP ñ External Relations) discusses the progress he, Pinar Keskinocak (VP- Special Projects), and Jenny Wagner (VP-Meetings) are making in their attempts to encourage more engineering faculty to participate in INFORM-ED.
- Meetings: Jenny Wagner summarizes the INFORM-ED track of sponsored sessions she has organizing for the upcoming INFORMS Conference in Atlanta (October 19-22, 2003).
- CORS/INFORMS: Pinar Keskinocak gives a progress report on the INFORM-ED track of sponsored sessions she is organizing for next yearís CORS-INFORMS Joint International Meeting in Banff (May 16-19, 2004) and tells how you can organize and chair a session or give a presentation at this conference.
- Web Flash: John Kros (Webmaster) evaluates the move of our website to the IOL (INFORMS On Line) site and enhancement he is planning for our website.
- Teaching Workshop: Tom Grossman (INFORMS Case and Teaching Materials Editor) highlights the status of the new Teaching Workshop, planned for next summer.
I encourage you to get involved with INFORM-ED! Our Biannual elections are in October at our business meeting, and I would like to hear from any member who is interested in running for an INFORM-ED office. Please also 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:
Janet Wagner (Janet.Wagner@umb.edu)
Vice President -- Projects:
Pinar Keskinocak (pinar@isye.gatech.edu)
Vice President -- Publications:
Chris Zappe (zappe@bucknell.edu)
Vice President -- External Relations:
Barry Pasternack (bpasternack@Exchange.fullerton.edu)
Past President:
Tom Grossman (tagrossman@usfca.edu)
"Issues in Education" Column in OR/MS Today:
Bob Nydick (robert.nydick@villanova.edu)
INFORM-ED Website
John Kros (krosj@mail.ecu.edu)
INFORM-ED Newsletter
Mike Racer (mracer@memphis.edu)
Jim Cochran. INFORM-ED President
We are looking forward to a strong presence at the INFORMS National conference in Atlanta, October 19-22.Ý The program (which is available on-line now) includes an INFORM-ED track, with an INFORM-ED sponsored cluster with session sessions on (among other things).
* the INFORM case competition,
* on-line MS/OR courses
* communication
* cases and other active learning methods for MS/OR
Look for us in the on-line program under Education (INFORM-ED).Ý
You might also be in a new INFORMS group, which is an outgrowth of INFORM-ED, the Spreadsheet Productivity Research Interest Group, which is sponsoring sessions on interesting uses of spreadsheets and spreadsheet research.
Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Jenny Wagner, VP-Meetings
To date, no progress has been made regarding encouraging engineering faculty to participate in INFORM-ED.Ý
Anyone with suggestions as to how to get greater participation from engineering faculty members is invited to e-mail Barry Pasternack at bpasternack@fullerton.edu.
INFORMS is still accepting nominations for the
Fifth Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium, October 17-18, in Atlanta! Our
exciting program has something for every member of INFORM-ED, whether in a College
of Business or in a College of Engineering, whether teaching quantitatively
challenged students or highly motivated students doing research.
TEC V presenters and participants will join those
in the Doctoral ColloquiumÝ for dinner
on Friday night. Then on Saturday morning, Linus Schrage of the Graduate School
of Business at the University of Chicago will lead off the program with a
discussion of mini-cases and associated models in Supply Chain Engineering.
John Fowler and Michele Pfund follow with back-to-back sessions describing
their use of Littlefield Technologies' web-based simulation package to teach
Operations Management at Arizona State University.
The program continues with Stanley Zionts, a UB
Distinguished Professor in the School of Management in the State University of
New York at Buffalo, leading a discussion of teaching introductory statistics
to those sometimes reluctant undergraduate and graduate business students. Then
Elliott N. Weiss of the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of
Virginia will discuss teaching and learning by playing with legos. Finally Amy
Cohn of the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the
University of Michigan will discuss how to teach successful research skills and
the art of Ýoptimization by studying
research failures.
After the TEC sessions, we will rejoin the Doctoral
Colloquium for a joint closing session, followed by dinner. Students please
note that the CombinedÝ Colloquium
Committee has reserved a block of rooms on Friday and Saturday, Ýavailable at a special student rate until
September 8, at the Westin Peachtree Hotel in Atlanta.
For more information see the our web site
http://www.isye.gatech.edu/informs-colloquium/teaching/
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
--------------------------------------------------------------
INFORM-ED (INFORMS Forum on Education) and INFORMS
Education Committee are organizing the Fifth Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium
(TEC V), to
be held on October 17-18, prior to the 2003
INFORMS conference in Atlanta.
TEC V will be an opportunity for teachers of
Management Science, Operations Research, and Operations Management at any stage
of professional development to pursue continuous improvement while exploring
possibilities for creativity and fun in the classroom. Participants will be
able to draw on the combined experience of a team of presenters widely known
for excellence and innovation. These presenters will demonstrate how to employ
case discussions, web-based simulation exercises and PC software to teach such
topics as supply chain management and optimization modeling. Undergraduate as
well as graduate academic environments will be considered.
TEC V runs concurrently with the Doctoral Student
Colloquium on Saturday, October 18. TEC V participants will also join
participants from the other colloquium in a welcome session and dinner on the
evening of Friday, October 17, as well as lunch and a closing session on Saturday,
October 18.
All Ph.D. granting programs in operations research
and management science are invited to nominate Ph.D. students or faculty
members for participation in TEC V. A complete nomination by the department
must include:
o
A letter of recommendation
from the department chair;
o
A transcript of Ph.D.
coursework for student nominees; and
o
Mailing address and e-mail
address, as well as the phone number of the nominee.
To be eligible to participate, a nominee should
o
Be enrolled in a Ph.D.
program or be a faculty member in one of INFORMS' constituent disciplines
(operations research, operations management, industrial engineering,
statistics, management science, etc.);
o
Be an INFORMS member at the
time of the colloquium;
o
Have an interest in teaching;
o
Have completed all of his or
her Ph.D. coursework; and
o
Should not have attended a teaching
effectiveness colloquium in the past.
Nominating departments are expected to pay for
travel expenses and hotel accommodations. INFORMS will pay for all
administrative and meal costs associated with the colloquium and arrange for
low-cost hotel accommodations beginning Friday night through the duration of
the INFORMS conference. A nominating school or department may choose to nominate
up to a maximum of three participants. The registration fee will be waived for
the first participant; will be $100 dollars for the second participant and $200
for the third participant. Since space in this colloquium is limited to 40
participants, a department or school with more than one nomination should
specify the order in which the nominees should be considered for participation.
Please send nomination packages as soon as
possible to:
Dr. George G. Polak
MSIS Department
Raj Soin College of Business
Wright State University
Dayton, OH 45435 USA
Phone: (937) 434 6281 Fax: (937) 775-3545
Additional information about
TEC V may be found at URL http://www.isye.gatech.edu/informs-colloquium .
Questions about TEC V can be directed to Dr. Polak, organizer of the
colloquium, at george.polak@wright.edu.
Update on the 4th Annual Case Competition
INFORM-ED is pleased to continue its co-sponsorship of the Annual Peer-Reviewed Case Competition this fall. This yearís competition, as in the past three years, 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.Ý All submissions and supporting documentation were due to the coordinator of the competition, Professor Chris Zappe of Bucknell University, by August 15, 2003.Ý Judges familiar with the case method are currently reviewing all eligible case submissions.ÝÝ
Up to four finalists will be selected and notified by the coordinator no later than September 26, 2003. Finalists will give thirty-minute presentations of their entries at a special open session of the 2003 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.Ý Note that this session is scheduled for the afternoon of Monday, October 20. The panel of judges will select the winning entry from the finalists based on these presentations. The winner will be announced at the INFORM-ED Business meeting at the 2003 INFORMS Conference.
If you are interested in submitting a case to next yearís competition which will be finalized at the annual INFORMS meeting in Denver, please bear in mind that the submission deadline will be August 15, 2004.Ý
To learn more about the guidelines for submitting a case to this annual competition, please visitÝ http://education.forum.informs.org//2003CComp.html or contact Chris Zappe at zappe@bucknell.edu.
The INFORMEd website is up and running on the
INFORMS Online Server now for more than four months. The address for everyone
to bookmark is http://education.forum.informs.org/.
Please forward this address to any and all of your colleagues. Again, I
would like to thank Brian Borchers, Randy Kiefer, and Matthew Saltzman for all
their assistance in the transfer of the website.
Thanks to all that emailed errata from the last
web newsletter. Ya'll know how it goes, all the best laid plans, but
Murphy is always lurking somewhere....
Please email any errors or broken links and I will
fix'em up. If anyone has announcements, calls for papers, or other educational
materials they would like posted to the website, please email me and I will
post it.
Traffic has been a little slow this summer.
Traffic since April has been as follows: May, 137 hits; June. 140
hits; July, 188 hits; August, 153 hits. Peak periods of traffic are
around the months leading up to the Fall INFORMS meeting so I expect to the
amount of hits increase in September and the first part of October.
If anyone has information they would like posted
to the web please contact the webmaster, John F. Kros, via email at krosj@mail.ecu.edu, or telephone, (252)
328-6364.
See you in Atlanta!
John F. Kros
CORS/INFORMS Education Cluster
Call for Speakers and Session Chairs for the
Education Cluster at the CORS/INFORMS Joint Meeting
INFORM-ED is sponsoring
a cluster on education at the CORS/INFORMS Joint Meeting. For more information
about the conference, please visit the conference web site:Ý http://www.informs.org/Conf/CORS/.
ÝÝIf you are interested in giving a presentation
or organizing a session on an education-related topic, please contact the
cluster chair:
Pinar
Keskinocak
E-mail:
pinar@isye.gatech.edu
INFORMS
Summer Workshop on Teaching Management Science
The workshops is slated
to run July 8-11, 2004, in Marlboro MA.Ý
The Academic Director will be Stephen G. Powell, Tuck School of
Business, mailto:sgp@dartmouth.edu.
This conference is
modeled on the Teaching Management Science Summer Workshops that ran 1998-2000.
INFORMS will provide
full details on the web in October.Ý
More to come!
- INFORMS
- EUSPRIG
- High School Operations Research: www.hsor.org
o Ken Chelst and Company have done an amazing job of bringing resources to the high schools, to let them know just a bit about what OR/MS is all about.Ý Take a look at these resources, drop Ken a note and tell him what you think.Ý And while youíre at it, maybe you can make some time to be a part of this outreach effort!
- INFORMS Education and Student Affairs page: http://www.informs.org/Edu/edu-inst.html
-
Did you know that there is a place in this yearís Conference information where we can sign up to get involved in the community in Atlanta? Check it out - http://www.informs.org/conf/Atlanta2003/community.htm.Ý Isnít that a great idea?Ý What better way to make an impression than to get involved?Ý And think of the promotional opportunities!Ý If I can tell some of the Boy Scouts in my troop about OR/MS, or make some efficiency contributions for the MS150 bicycle tour in my neighborhood, why not give it a try?Ý
Look around you.
Link of the
Month... Pollution
and OR/MS - Ýhttp://www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/resources/ResLists/ieor.html
Are you looking for
some new material to bring into the classroom?Ý
Why not check out this website for some new ideas?Ý Where can OR/MS make a difference in
pollution reduction/control?