Martin Bichler
Full Professor, Head of the Decision Sciences & Systems Group
Department of Computer Science
School of Computation, Information, and Technology
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Biographical Profile
Education
- Postdoctoral qualification, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, 2001
- Doctorate, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, 1997
- Master’s, Department of Computer Science, University of Vienna, Austria, 1994
Professional Experience
- 2018-2022: Vice Dean, Department of Computer Science, TUM
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2003-present: Full Professor, Decision Sciences & Systems, Department of Computer Science Secondary Appointment at the School of Management,
Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany - 2001-2003: Research Staff Member, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, NY, USA
- 1995-2001: Assistant/Associate Professor, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria,
Visiting scholar at UC Berkeley (1997), Cambridge (2007), Yale (2016), and Stanford University (2017)
INFORMS Activities
- 2019-2022: President of the INFORMS Section on Auctions and Market Design
- 2017-present: Advisory Council Member of the TUM Institute for Advanced Study
- 2017-2023: Associate Editor, Information Systems Research
- 2019-2022: Associate Editor, INFORMS Journal on Computing
- 2021-2024: Associate Editor, ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation
- 2012-2019: Editor-in-Chief, Business and Information Systems Engineering, Springer
Involved in the organization of numerous conferences such as IFORS Cluster Chair 2023; INFORMS Annual Meeting Cluster Chair 2020, 2021; ACM EC 2019, 2022; ICIS 2017-2020
Professional Honors and Awards
- 2019: Reinhart Koselleck project by the German National Science Foundation (DFG)
- 2018: EURO Excellence in Practice Award, Assoc. of European Operational Research Societies
- 2018: INFORMS Daniel H. Wagner Prize (runner-up)
- 2018: INFORMS ISS Design Science Award
- 2016: Fellow of the AGORA Market Design Group, UNSW, Sydney, Australia
- Earlier: IBM Faculty Award, HP Labs e-Award, INFORMS ISS Design Science
Publications
Author of more than 80 journal articles that have appeared in Nature Machine Intelligence, PNAS, Mathematical Programming, Management Science, Operations Research, Information Systems Research, Production and Operations Management, Games and Economic Behaviour, Experimental Economics, ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal on Industrial Organization and others.
Vision Statement
I’m honored to be nominated for the position of INFORMS Vice President of Technology Strategy. I have been a member of INFORMS since 2003 and have been active in various roles, including president of the Section on Auctions and Market Design, Cluster Chair for the INFORMS Annual Meeting, organizer of INFORMS workshops, and editorial board member of INFORMS journals.
Information Technology is central to many services provided by INFORMS today
INFORMS is the premier association for professionals in operations research and analytics, attracting academics and industry professionals from all over the world. Technology has always been central to operations research, bringing innovations to life in organizations. However, technology has also become more and more important at INFORMS to share knowledge, organize meetings, and facilitate the exchange of ideas. INFORMS is already serving the needs of its community with a variety of information systems, supporting editorial processes, membership management, the organization of meetings, and other community activities. However, technology is fast-moving and new requirements are emerging. I strongly believe that technology strategy is crucial for INFORMS to meet its strategic goals in the future.
The organization of conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic is an excellent example. Planning entirely virtual or organizing a hybrid event is a significant challenge for meetings with thousands of participants from all over the world, for example, the Annual Meeting. The possibility to organize talks and sessions online with little effort for small and large meetings has emerged as an important service to the community, and allows INFORMS to reach a much larger audience. It is crucial to decide on the right technical solutions to best serve the community.
Old questions looking for new answers
However, the role of Information Technology (IT) goes far beyond support for meetings. How can IT be used by INFORMS members to network and interact? How can INFORMS publicize member accomplishments internally but also to the outside world? How can tutorials and teaching be offered in a world that is increasingly drawing on online resources? Which IT services shall be provided in-house, and which ones would be better outsourced? INFORMS needs to stay abreast of the fast-changing developments in IT to best serve its members.
Commitment to INFORMS
I’ve been passionate about technology throughout my whole career. In my home department, I am responsible for technical solutions that we provide to more than 8,000 students. The services span support for online teaching, collaboration tools, server hosting, and many more. I have also been involved in startups, providing online services to industry partners, and have a thorough understanding of what it means to provide software-as-a-service solutions with high security and service level guarantees. Also, some of my prior research and teaching dealt with information systems design and development. I believe my career provides me with a solid background for the position.
As VP of Technology Strategy, I would aim to help INFORMS fulfill its mission, and best serve its members. I see my role as a strategic thinker to help generate new ideas and plans. For this, I would want to work closely with the board, membership, and staff. Overall, I want to serve as an advocate for all Information Technology activities within INFORMS. I hope this will allow me to give back to the community that has been my home for such a long time.