Congrats to the 2015 INFORMS Student Chapter Award Recipients!

I received the wonderful news last Thursday, just after I landed at O'Har Airport in Chicago. I was en route to Northwestern Unviversity to take part in a new book launch that I have since blogged about.

The message arrived via email and it was thrilling. The message said:

Dear Student Chapter Officers,

Congratulations! The Chapters/Fora Committee is delighted to notify you that your student chapter has been selected as a winner of the INFORMS 2015 Student Chapter Annual Award at the level shown below. The purpose of these awards is to recognize the achievements of student chapters. The award will be presented at the Student Awards Ceremony at the upcoming INFORMS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. If you are at the meeting, we hope you will join us and be recognized at this event. It will be held on Monday, November 2nd at 7:00 p.m. in the Downtown Marriott, Salon E&F. If you cannot attend, we will mail the award to you.

Thank you for your commitment to INFORMS student chapters!  I look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia!

Best regards,

David Hunt

Vice President for Chapters/Fora   

Summa Cum Laude

University of Massachusetts

University of Toronto

Magna Cum Laude

Lehigh University

Northwestern University

Purdue University

Stanford University

University of South Florida

Cum Laude

Arizona State University

Mississippi State University

North Carolina State-Raleigh

Ohio State University

Oklahoma State University

Texas A&M University

University of Florida

University of Michigan

University of Pittsburgh.

To have the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter get the top award this year is simply thrilling. I could not be happier since last year the chapter celebrated 10 years!  I have been the chapter's Faculty Advisor throughout this period. We have been bringing in great speakers, having educational (and other) field trips, and various social activities and other professional activities. Most importantly, we have built a wonderful community that bridges operations research and management science at the Isenberg School of Management and the College of Engineering at UMass Amherst.

In addition, the INFORMS Philadelphia conference will be extra special since last year's Chapter Presient, Michael Prokle, who was simply outstanding, will be receiving at the same event the Judith B. Liebman Award from INFORMS for his terrific service to the chapter.

Michael is the 4th recipient of this award from the chapter and the first from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.  The other three recipients were: Dr. Tina Wakolbinger, Dr. Patrick Qiang, and Dr. Amir H. Maoumi. Coincidentally, these three were my PhD students. Tina is a Full Professor at the Vienna University of Economic and Business in Austria. Patrick is a tenured Associate Professor at Penn State Malvern. Amir is an Assistant Professor at Manhattan College. 

I expect a big turnout of both our present members and alums at this celebratory event next week at INFORMS.

Many thanks to David Hunt for the wonderful news and congratulations to all the chapters on their awards and kudos to the Chapter Officers and members.