Building Student Leaders in Operations Research and Analytics Through INFORMS Student Chapters

Being a successful graduate student, especially a doctoral student, requires a lot of hard work and skill, but also a sense of community and enhancing one's professional development. Sooner or later, one will be on the job market and, whether you choose to be an academic and enjoy the amazing life of being a professor, or enter into a business or government career, having  a spectrum of skills is always advantageous.

This past week, many of us, over 5,700, in fact, had the pleasure of taking part in the INFORMS Annual Conference,  in Nashville, Tennessee, November 13-16, 2016. One of the highlights, even for me, a Chaired Professor at the Isenberg School of Management, was going to the Student Chapter Awards Ceremony and reception that followed last Monday evening. So many universities were represented and one can see from those students who came and were recognized and honored how these are leaders in all senses of the word - from their work ethic, their creativity, their abilities to build teams and to identify interesting activities, and how to disseminate their chapters' accomplishments, and to sustain them, grow and nurture them, and create lifelong ties that continue to support them throughout their careers.

I had written in an earlier blogpost that we were very excited that our UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter was receiving its 11th award in as many years from INFORMS. And not only did several members, including present chapter officers as well as past chapter officers, come to celebrate that evening with us but even alums came - some of whom are now tenured professors at various universities!  Special thanks to our Isenberg School of Management PhD alums in Management Science who came, including: Professors Hen Chen of the University of Nebraska, Amir Masoumi of Manhattan College, Jose Cruz of the University of Connecticut, Patrick Qiang of Penn State Malvern, Michelle Li of Arkansas State University, Min Yu of the University of Portland, and Farbod Farhadi of Roger Williams University. Drs. Masoumi, Cruz, Qiang, Li, and Yu were my PhD students. Masoumi and Qiang were both recipients of the Judith Liebman Award from INFORMS for their great leadership roles in the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter.

And, yes, it is not surprising that when on the job market, leadership roles as officers of an INFORMS Student Chapter, is always noticed and regularly brought up in interviews. Whether you are an academic or a practitioner in operations research and analytics, you may assume multiple tasks and roles and not only being knowledgeable matters but being able to deal with others, being good at organization (which our students certainly learn through hosting speakers in our Speakers Series), adept at scheduling, and logistics of activities, and even maintaining the chapter website are all very useful skills! We have sustained our chapter since 2004, as as its Faculty Advisor, I continue to marvel at the synergies associated with it. Students work together and thrive and the network grows and flourishes.

Below is a photo that we took which includes also a faculty member from UMass Amherst, Professor Ana Muriel, who joined us (and more PhD alums showed up even later). We are standing with our Cum Laude Award held by my doctoral student, Deniz Besik.

A highlight was seeing Professor Michael Johnson of UMass Boston give out the chapter awards as well as the Judith Liebman Awards. Our students so enjoyed networking with members of other student chapters and I personally was delighted to see such operations research dynamos and student leaders as Kayse Maass of the University of Michigan, one of last year's Judith Liebman award winners (with Michael Prokle of UMass Amherst, whom I had nominated), and Thiago Serra of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), one of this year's Liebman Award recipients (whom I had the pleasure of seeing at CMU when I spoke there last April).

Below are additional photos from that very special evening.

Also, the food at the reception was delicious. Below are some of the desserts.

Although many of us from UMass Amherst returned from the INFORMS conference late on Wednesday night, and had classes to teach or go to on Thursday, come yesterday, we were all excited to hear Dr. Chaitra Gopalappa, who had also been at INFORMS deliver a great talk. The students also made sure that there were refreshments before and, afterwards I took Deniz, and two of Dr. Gopalappa's doctoral students, one from Mongolia, and one from India, to lunch at our University Club.

Having such a community, which is building leaders in operations research and analytics, is energizing! Kudos to all the members of INFORMS Student Chapters!

The UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter Recognized by INFORMS 11 Years in a Row

The message arrived this past Thursday morning and it said:

Congratulations! The INFORMS Chapters/Fora Committee is delighted to notify you that the University of Massachusetts Amherst INFORMS Chapter has been selected as a winner of the INFORMS 2016 Student Chapter Annual Award at Cum Laude level. All awardees are listed 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 Nashville, Tennessee. If you are at the meeting, we hope you will join us and be recognized at this event. The Student Awards Ceremony will be held on November 14, 2016 at 7:30 pm in the Omni – Broadway EF, 2nd Floor.  Please try to arrive at least 15 minutes early.   If you cannot attend, we will mail the award to you so please let us know if you are planning to attend.  There will be a reception immediately following the ceremony with refreshments which we hope you will stay for as well.

Thank you for your commitment to INFORMS student chapters!

Best regards,

Michael Johnson

VP for Chapters/Fora   

Michael Johnson is a Professor at UMass Boston, and, coincidentally, we had hosted him in our Speaker Series last spring and I wrote a blogpost on his great visit to the Isenberg School of Management. The message came to Zana Cranmer, who had been last year's UMass Amherst INFORMS Chapter President. 

The UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter we established back in 2004 and I have been its Faculty Advisor since then. The members include primarily doctoral students from the Isenberg School of Management at the College of Engineering. However, we sometimes also have undergraduate and Master's students joining us as well as students from other departments at UMass Amherst. The Chapter has, every year since INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) started recognizing student chapters, beginning in 2006, received an award from INFORMS. This year marks our 11th award in as many years. The total award tally: 3 Summa Cum Laude awards (one of these we got last year), 6 Magna Cum Laude Awards, and now 2 Cum Laude Awards.

The student chapters at Carnegie Mellon University and at Northwestern University are this year's Summa Cum Laude award recipient, so congratulations to the chapters, their student members and officers, and their Faculty Advisors!

In the photo below are this year's officers in my Supernetworks Lab at the Isenberg School of Management standing in front of some of the award plaques. Other award plaques grace the Isenberg School's beautiful atrium.

The below three photos were taken at the chapter award ceremony at the INFORMS conference last October in Philadelphia, when the chapter received the top award. Also, that evening, a former President of the chapter, Michael Prokle, was honored with the INFORMS Judith Liebman award. Kayse Maass of the University of Michigan also received the Liebman award last year. Other UMass Amherst Student Chapter Presidents who have received this award (I nominated all of these extraordinary students)  are: Amir H. Masoumi, Patrick Qiang, and Tina Wakolbinger, who is now a Full Professor! The latter 3 were my PhD students.  This year Pritha Dutta assumed the leadership position of President of the student chapter.

It was extra special last year to have the INFORMS President the one and only Ed Kaplan of Yale University recognize the students along with Dave Hunt the then VP for Chapters/Fora.

Given the wonderful experiences that the operations research and management science students have with this chapter in hosting speakers, organizing special events and tours, hosting parties and social events, and supporting one another in numerous ways, many UMass Amherst alums and former chapter members come to celebrate with us at the INFORMS award ceremonies.

We are looking forward to the INFORMS conference in Nashville next month! Congratulations to all the award-winning student chapters and continue your great work and support of your members and officers.  

How to Run a Successful INFORMS Student Chapter

How to Run a Successful INFORMS Student Chapter

That was the theme discussed by student panelists at our recent INFORMS Conference that took place at UMass Amherst, May 6-7, 2011.

The tips provided by the panelists, all of whom have served as officers of the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter, were very valuable. This student chapter has garnered 4 national awards for its activities in the past several years.

The panelists discussed the history of the chapter, how to ensure the sustainability of the chapter through funding sources for its activities, the importance of solid leadership by its officers and Faculty Advisor, how to identify (and execute) interesting activities and events, both social (from bowling and ping pong tournaments to regular end of semester parties) and academic (such as our Speaker Series and field trips to companies) that attract a good audience.

They noted the importance of regular communications about chapter activities and the use of social media for communications, from Facebook to Twitter, in addition to its regularly updated website. Even former members, who have graduated, regularly check out the chapter website and some even commented on the delicious cuisine that we had at our recent party!

The panelists emphasized how much they gained from meeting the outstanding speakers who spoke in our Speaker Series, how serving as officers provided them with leadership experiences that will serve them well in their professional careers, and the friendships that they have made because of the student chapter and activities.

You can download the presentation of the panelists here (it is long but your patience will be rewarded).

I might also add that the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter did a magnificent job helping us with our recent conference, by handling the projectors and equipment, putting up signs for the sessions, giving directions, etc. Many of them showed up at 7AM both days of the conference and stayed until past 8PM!

Kudos to the students who work so unselfishly for the betterment of their colleagues, the schools that they represent, their university, and even professional organizations!