For students and faculty alike, the month of December is a very busy time with final exams, projects and papers due, and for the faculty - grading!
It is also a month for celebrations and recently we held our end of the semester
UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter party, which has become a wonderful tradition.
The food was exceptional with cuisines (some of it even homemade) from around the world - from Indian and Chinese food to Ukrainian food and, of course, Italian food in the form of pizza and cookies!
This was a very special semester (and year) in which the Student Chapter received its 12th consecutive award from INFORMS at the annual meeting in Phoenix in November - the Cum Laude Award; we hosted several great speakers, and, most importantly, we have continued to build and nurture a warm and supportive community for Operations Research and Analytics and Management Science at UMass Amherst!
As several faculty and students remarked to me afterwards (even several days post the party) - the event was so relaxing and we had such a great time!
It is quite the logistical exercise to have the food purchased and picked up so that the warm food stays warm and the same for the cold - although given the temperature that day the latter was much easier!
It is also a great event during which to catch up with faculty and students from across campus - from Engineering and Computer Science, in addition to the Isenberg School folks.
Many thanks to Professors Arora, Balasubramanian, Gonzales, Gopalappa, Ladimer S. Nagurney, and Shirley Shmerling for coming to the party and also to Associate Dean Erin Baker! Your presence means a tremendous amount to the students.
The attendees were like the United Nations: born in Canada, China, Greece, India, Iran, Mexico, Turkey, Nigeria, and even the USA!
A big thanks also to the
Chapter Officers for making this event a big success. I look forward as the Chapter's Faculty Advisor to a great Spring 2019 semester with several speakers already set.
More photos can be found here.
With warm wishes for a great holiday season and a Very Happy New 2019 Year!
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