White House, the Stories of Women in STEM Will Remain Untold Because of Your Website Problems

I am a member of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) and last week I received, through its e-list announcements, the following information:

Honoring Women in STEM. The White House has posted a website with audio stories about women in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) who have contributed to critical advancements in their field. The Administration is encouraging others to submit their own stories of women in STEM who have inspired them (e.g., school teacher) to pursue a STEM degree and/or who have contributed to S&T advancements. Go here to submit your story.

After submitting the grades for my students in  my class, I decided to check out the website.

 I  listened to a number of the podcasts, which are nicely done, several of which are by the new Chief Technology Officer, Megan Smith. I then proceeded to add to the stories, and wrote about my doctoral dissertation advisor at Brown University, Professor Stella Dafermos. I also added my experiences.

Then it was time to press the blue Commit button at the bottom of the above page.

And what I got is the page below.

I tweeted to to Megan Smith and also to the White House and tried over several days to submit, hoping that maybe the website problem had been fixed - to no avail.

Mr. President and Madame CTO, the stories of  Women in STEM will remain Untold, unless you fix the website! I am getting feelings of deja vu - ironic - of healthcare.gov.

The WORMS (Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Awards Lunch was Grand!

First, I would like to thank all the sponsors of the great WORMS Awards Luncheon which took place today at the INFORMS Conference in San Francisco.

I counted 4 males in attendance and all of them had UMass connections! Two - Dr. Patrick Qiang and Dr. Amir H. Masoumi, were my former PhD students in Management Science at the Isenberg School,  and are now, respectively, Assistant Professors at Penn State Malvern and Manhattan College. Also, two Presidents of our award-winning UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter were also present: Dr. Christian Wernz, who is an Assistant Professor at VT, and Michael Prokle, this year's President of our Student Chapter.

Professor Min Yu, also an Isenberg PhD grad, who is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Portland, took most of the photos below.

I wrote a post about this great event on the #INFORMS2014 conference blog here.

Dr. Susan Martonosi, the WORMS President, did a great job as the emcee and we have so much to celebrate.

This year's WORMS Award winner is Professor Aleda Roth of Clemson University - congratulations!!!

It was fabulous to see so many of our Isenberg PHD grads in Management Science, and several students as well. Even Professor June Dong, my first female PhD student, who is now a Full Professor at the School of Business at SUNY Oswego, joined us at the table!

In the above photo, the Isenberg School of Management's support of the WORMS lunch is acknowledged and that of other donors.

Special thanks to our wonderful Isenberg Dean, Dr. Mark Fuller, for supporting the luncheon!

Thanks to WORMS for such a great INFORMS community!

Looking forward to the WORMS (Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Events #INFORMS2014

After teaching today and holding office hours I will be starting to pack for the INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Several of our doctoral students who are taking part in various colloquia are already flying out today.

I am looking forward to many aspects of this conference - the talks, the people, the special events, and the great venue of San Francisco! It will be a marvelous conference, I am sure. I will have two of my present doctoral students delivering our joint papers and one previous one. Plus, I expect to see at least 6 of my former PhD students there and friends from around the US and the globe!

One of my favorite series of events and sessions is organized by the INFORMS forum known as WORMS, which stands for Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences.  And the events are not for women only! In fact, I found out about some of the events from my former male doctoral students! The WORMS Awards luncheon, which takes place next Tuesday is sold out, since it is so popular, and I remind my students to purchase their tickets early. I posted photos from the WORMS lunch in Minneapolis last year here.  I  am delighted that the Isenberg School of Management Dean, Dr. Mark Fuller, has again provided support for this event!

Below, I have reprised a message that was sent out by the WORMS President, Dr. Susan Martonosi of Harvey Mudd College.  Of course, you don't need to be a WORMS member to attend all the events at our conference, but there are benefits to joining so you may wish to join. It's a great, supportive community!


Dear WORMS members,

On behalf of the WORMS officers, I would like to invite you to the various WORMS events next week at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco!

Sunday Nov 9, 6:15 - 7:15:  Business Meeting: Please come to hear about the exciting things we have done this year and share your ideas for the future of WORMS!  (Hilton Ballroom Level Continental 3)

Tuesday Nov 11, 11:00 - 12:30 : Panel Discussion: Academic Leadership     (TB59 - Hilton Golden Gate 3)

Tuesday Nov 11, 12:30 - 1:30 : Annual WORMS Luncheon (Sold out!)    We will be presenting the WORMS Award for the Advancement of Women!  (Hilton Lobby Level - Plaza A)

Tuesday Nov 11, 13:30 - 15:00 : Best of Women in OR/MS (TC59 - Hilton Golden Gate 3)
Hear talks on research published by women in top journals this year!  Speakers include Robin Dillon-Merrill, Nilay Noyan and Canan Ulu.

Tuesday Nov 11, 16:30 - 18:00 : Joint Session WORMS/JFIG/MIF: Speed Networking (TD14 - Ballroom Level Imperial B)
Bring your business cards; speed networking is back!  Find new research collaborations and industry connections.  If you would like to volunteer, please email me!

Tuesday Nov 11, 16:30 - 18:00 : Joint Session WORMS/MIF: Panel Discussion with Department Chairs: How to Recruit, Retain, and Support Women and Minority Students  (TD59 - Hilton Golden Gate 3)


We are looking forward to seeing you next week!

Best,
Susan

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Susan Martonosi
Associate Professor
Harvey Mudd College
Claremont CA
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Photos from the Fabulous WORMS (Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Lunch at INFORMS Minneapolis

As the President of WORMS, the inimitable Dr. Laura McLay of the University of Wisconsin Madison stated, the best kept secret of our Annual INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Conference is now out and it is the WORMS luncheon.

This is always one of my favorite events and I tell my students (present and past) to get their tickets early since they sell out quickly.

This year's WORMS luncheon took place on Tuesday, October 8 in Minneapolis at the magnificent Convention Center. Below I include some photos from this event. Notice that men are definitely welcome and this year, as in many past years, Dr. Eric Wolman, one of the recipients of the George Kimball Medal (along with Rina Schneur of Verizon), was in attendance.

Below I capture the specialness of this event through photos that I took this past Tuesday.

First, thanks to the sponsors of the WORMS lunch!

Tracy Cahall of INFORMS and one of our doctoral students from the Isenberg School at the door

Smiling attendees at the luncheon tables

At the above table are several of my former doctoral students, a present student, and friends

Another highlight besides the great company and conversations plus food at the luncheon is the awarding of the WORMS Award. This year's recipient is Dr. Kathryn (Kathy) Stecke of UTDallas. Dr. Susan Albin of Rutgers chaired this year's award committee and shared with us some of the tributes to Kathy in the letters in her nomination packet.

Dr. Laura McLay and Dr. Susan Albin presenting Dr. Kathryn Stecke with the 2013 WORMS Award in the photo above

 

To find out more about WORMS and its various activities, please check out the WORMS page on the INFORMS website.

From communities such as WORMS and INFORMS we gain sustenance throughout the year in our busy professional lives, so do become a member, enjoy the benefits, and help us to grow and support women and men in Operations Research and the Management Sciences + Analytics!

Women in Science and the New Administration

In today's, January 20, 2009, New York Times, Natalie Angier writes on "In 'Geek Chic' and Obama, New Hope for Lifing Women in Science," which is on target. As someone who has degrees in Applied Mathematics, with a concentration in Operations Research, a subject which focuses on the "science of decision-making," it is clear that math and analytics underly all science. What has been missing from the discussion, however, is that problem-solving is something that women have been engaged with since time began. Science and math involve problem-solving and there is nothing like the "aha" moment when the theory works and the solution can be implemented. Our new President, Barack Obama, will be engaged in problem-solving on a continuing basis and will be elucidating his solutions to the masses. The more perspectives that he (and we) have to solve our problems, from the scientific to the simply intuitive ones, the better will we all be in creating an inclusive society with infrastructure that works, education that thrills and illuminates, and healthcare that operates as it should.