Great News for the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter

I woke up very early this morning and the messages in my inbox were wonderful:

Dear University of Massachusetts at Amherst Chapter Officers and Advisors,

Congratulations! The Chapters/Fora Committee is delighted to notify you that your chapter is a winner of the Magna Cum Laude INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award. The purpose of these awards is to recognize the achievements of our strongest student chapters. Formerly student chapter awards were presented at the Chapters/Fora Breakfast, but this year for the first time we have planned a special Student Awards Ceremony. It will take place prior to the Student Reception at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Minneapolis on Monday, October 7, 7:30 p.m. in the Hilton Hotel.

If you are planning to attend the meeting, we hope you will join us and be recognized at this event. If you cannot attend, we will mail the award to you.

Thank you for your commitment to INFORMS student chapters!

Best regards,
Olga Raskina
VP for Chapters/Fora  
 

Plus, I received the following message, which was copied to me:

Dear Amir,

On behalf of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, I am delighted to inform you that you have been selected by the Chapters/Fora Committee to receive the Judith Liebman Award. The purpose of this award is to recognize volunteers who have made outstanding and sustained contributions to their student chapters. We congratulate you, and want you to know that your active participation in INFORMS affairs will always be welcome.

We hope you will be able to join us to celebrate this achievement Student Awards Ceremony. It will take place prior to the Student Reception at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Minneapolis on Monday, October 7, 7:30 p.m. in the Hilton Hotel. These awards were formerly presented at the Chapters/Fora Breakfast. You will receive an invitation to attend that event as well.

Congratulations, again, and thank you for your contribution to INFORMS.

Best regards,

Olga Raskina
VP for Chapters/Fora

Amir is Amir H. Masoumi and he is my former doctoral student. He is now an Assistant Professor at Manhattan College. I nominated Amir for this award since he worked tirelessly on the chapter's activities over many years as a doctoral student at the Isenberg School of Management. As the Faculty Advisor to the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter, this recognition (the 7th in as many years) means a tremendous amount to the students.  Also, Amir is my third former doctoral student to be recognized with the Judith Liebman Award, with Professor Tina Wakolbinger (now of the Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Professor Patrick Qiang of Penn State Malvern, being the others. Judith Liebman was a classmate of my dissertation advisor, Professor Stella Dafermos, and these two females were pioneers in Operations Research. Congrats to all the students who are being recognized by INFORMS this year and thanks to INFORMS for support of students! More information on the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter, whose members come from the Isenberg School of Management, the College of Engineering, and other departments at UMass Amherst, can be found on its website: http://student.som.umass.edu/informs/