Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Student Chapter Awards Breakfast at INFORMS Charlotte was Splendid

Mr. Amir Masoumi, who has served the chapter in numerous capacities, holding the award plaque for our chapter

Ms. Mary Magrogan, Professor Barrett Thomas, and Ms. Tracy Byrnes
Speaking about the great resource the INFORMS Speakers Program is



Many of us are still basking in the afterglow of the wonderful 2011 INFORMS Charlotte conference.


One of my favorite events at the INFORMS Annual meeting is the breakfast at which the student chapters are recognized for their activities.

In an earlier post, I noted this year's awardees.

Being at the breakfast is exciting for several reasons:

One gets to see other chapter Faculty Advisors and officers as well as the INFORMS folks, especially Ms. Mary Magrogan and Ms. Tracy Byrnes, who work so hard with the student chapters across the country.

In addition, one gets to see the smiling faces on those who are recognized. INFORMS also gives out the Judith Liebman award and the Moving Spirit Award at this breakfast, in addition to the student chapter awards.

Joining me at the table were two former UMass Amherst INFORMS Student chapter officers and two newly elected ones. We received the magna cum laude award this year -- the fifth time in as many years that we have been recognized by INFORMS for our activities. I might add that two previous officers of our chapter also received the Judith Liebman award from INFORMS and I received the Moving Spirit award, which meant a lot to me.

I also had the opportunity to speak at the breakfast to emphasize the hard work behind our INFORMS Speakers Program this year. INFORMS will be unveiling the new pages soon and we are delighted to have added many new speakers to broaden diversity and geographical representation. We have also included more speakers from industry and are emphasizing analytics, in addition.

I hope that you enjoy the photos above taken at the breakfast this past Tuesday.

Congratulations to everyone and thanks for all the great service and activities!

Students are the profession's future and certainly make the present much more fun.

Please visit our UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter website, which is also engaging social media.