Great Tune-Up for the INFORMS Conference with the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter at Isenberg!

On Friday, I returned from Chicago, where I had been at Northwestern University for a fabulous book launch, just in time to watch our great PhD students present the papers that they will be delivering at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, November 1-4, 2015.

Such a tune-up has become an annual event for the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter and this year we had 5 presentations as noted in the poster above. The speakers are in the photo below.

The turnout was great (and PhD students are quite busy and it was a Friday afternoon). Even several faculty showed up from  both the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and the Isenberg School to support their students - thank you!

Below are some photos that I took of the student speakers and audienc. It was a great opportunity to share research with colleagues and also to get feedback from the audience. Refreshments were served, questions answered, and it was fun. We lingered afterwards to continue to discuss how the presentations could be improved. It was also great for students who had never presented at INFORMS conference to see how such presentations are done.

Looking forward to the INFORMS conference in Philadelphia just one week away!

And the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter will be receiving the Summa Cum Laude Award from INFORMS at the meeting on November 2, 2015. As its Faculty Advisor for 11 years, I could not be happier and prouder of this great group of students!