INFORMS ANNUAL MEETING :: NEW ORLEANS 2005

INFORMS Katrina Relief Fund

INFORMS has a special connection with the people and institutions of New Orleans, the original host city of the 2005 Annual Meeting. In acknowledgement of the personal and economic losses suffered by the city (conservatively, our meeting alone would have contributed at least $2.5 million to the local economy) and admiration of the resiliency and spirit of its citizens, our organization has established the INFORMS Katrina Relief Fund to assist New Orleans as it begins rebuilding. The INFORMS Board of Directors earmarked up to $25,000 to match donations made to the INFORMS Katrina Relief Fund by Annual Meeting attendees and INFORMS members.

Where will these donations go?
Because the need is so great and there are many worthy beneficiaries, the selection of specific recipients was extremely difficult. The Board used the following four criteria to make these decisions:

To make donations that are consistent with INFORMS’ mission as a scientific/ technical professional society.
To make donations that address the unprecedented economic and social impact of the disaster.
To focus on the long-term rebuilding and strengthening of New Orleans.
To allocate funding where it will have the greatest impact, particularly by identifying beneficiaries that are less likely to receive significant government or private support.

The Board has selected three New Orleans institutions to share in the funding:

Dillard University, a private, historically African-American university affiliated with the United Methodist Church/United Church of Christ.
Medical Center for Louisiana at New Orleans, part of the state university health care services division, and the parent entity for Charity Hospital and University Hospital in New Orleans.
Xavier University of New Orleans, a private, historically African-American university affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Donate!
Send your donation to:

INFORMS Katrina Relief Fund
7240 Parkway Drive, Suite 310
Hanover, MD 21076
USA

or call
(+1)(800)4INFORMS or (+1)(443)757-3500
to donate by credit card.

Assistance for O.R. Professionals Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

INFORMS offers its support to members who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. O.R. professionals who have been displaced and do not have access to their institutions' amenities can contact INFORMS to take advantage of the following special services:

INFORMS will provide usernames and passwords so that scholars can access online journals to which their institutions subscribe. These passwords will be effective through 2006. Whenever possible, we will also redirect paper journals to displaced members' temporary addresses or hold them for later delivery.
INFORMS will provide temporary email forwarding for members who expect to be relocating frequently. Members will receive an email address at mail.informs.org and can request changes to the forwarding address as often as necessary.
INFORMS will help match displaced scholars with institutions that can provide temporary office space or employment. We will take contact information from members and from institutions. We will not make any assignments, and members and institutions who participate are under no obligation, but we will provide members' information to institutions for their consideration.
INFORMS will provide an online directory of temporary addresses of members who wish to have their addresses listed.
INFORMS will work with our institutional subscribers to rebuild their collections and restore electronic access.

Operations researchers wishing to use these services should contact the INFORMS office at informs@informs.org or call 800-4-INFORMS (800-446-3676) for more information. If you have other needs that are not covered above, please feel free to contact us about them.

If you know of INFORMS members affected by the hurricane who need these services, please tell them.

Institutions that have office space or positions available please contact us at the same location.

The Department of Energy's Office of Science is offering services to displaced scholars and grantees. See http://www.ams.org/ams/doe-katrina.pdf for additional information.