Supernetwork Center Associates Prominent at INFORMS Conference in Philadelphia

We have returned from the great INFORMS conference, which took place in Philadelphia, November 1-4, 2015.

This conference also served as a venue at which many of the Center Associates of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks at the Isenberg School of Management got together and presented their latest research plus had a great chance to reconnect face to face and to socialize as well. In fact, there were 11 Center Associates present, including the Center Director (yours truly).

Professor Dmytro Matsypura of the University of Sydney in Australia got the prize for the greatest number of miles traveled!  And Center Associate Professor Patrick Qiang, from Penn State Malvern, traveled the least and got to sleep in his own bed.


Some of the highlights included: the first presentation by Dr. Michelle Li as an Assistant Professor at an INFORMS conference, my doctoral student, Shivani Shukla presenting for the first time at an INFORMS conference, and she presented on our work in a session on cybersecurity organized by Professor Laura McLay of the University of Wisconsin, Professor Min Yu of the University of Portland presenting in a session organized by Professor Vladimir Boginski of the University of Florida on our work on fashion supply chains and ecolabeling,  and a terrific session organized by Professor Jose Cruz of the University of Connecticut on corporate social responsibility, which included presentations by Center Associates Professor Zugang Liu of Penn State and Professor Trisha Anderson of Texas Wesleyan University, and also a presentation by Professor Cruz! In addition, Center Associate Professor Amir H. Masoumi of Manhattan College had a poster presentation and joined us for several social activities. My doctoral student, Sara Saberi, also had a scheduled paper presentation and was present for most of the conference but then received a request for an on-campus interview so her presentation was given by Shivani Shukla.  Sara also took part in the INFORMS doctoral colloquium and received the WORMS (Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences) travel award grant - so, congratulations!

Several of our presentations have now been posted on the Supernetwork Center website.

It also helps to have collaborators since two of my talks were scheduled in parallel sessions and, so far, I can only be in one location at a time.

Below are some photos taken of our group.

 

Another highlight of the conference was to have our Networks Against Time: Supply Chain Analytics for Perishable Products book, displayed at the Springer booth in the Exhibition Hall.

We also enjoyed a delicious dinner in Philadelphia's Chinatown as well as taking part in the WORMS Awards luncheon.

Another wonderful event was the INFORMS Student Chapter Award ceremony at which the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter received the top award, the summa cum laude award, from INFORMS.  Several Center Associates (Shivani Shukla and Sara Saberi, both of whom have served as officers and Shivani as President), took to the stage. Professors Yu, Li, and Masoumi came to cheer them on, along with other present and previous chapter officers and members. And the desserts at the reception afterwards were fabulous!

 

It takes a great team to accomplish a lot, and the Supernetwork Center Team at the Isenberg School of Management, with members from 3 different continents is a terrific group.  Having  collaborators is key to success in research and that is certainly what we try to do and we have a very enjoyable time doing it.