Agenda/Schedule »

2006 INFORMS Combined Colloquia
By Z. Max Shen, Esma Gel, Eylem Tekin and Mani Janakiram

The 2006 INFORMS Combined Colloquia will be held Nov. 3-4, the Friday and Saturday immediately preceding the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. This year, the Combined Colloquia will feature the eighth annual Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium, the Future Academician Colloquium , and the Future Practitioner Colloquium. The colloquia are designed to maximize interaction between participants across the colloquia and address issues relevant to the attendees of the individual colloquium. All three colloquia are sponsored by INFORMS, INFORM-ED (the Education Forum of INFORMS), and the INFORMS Student Affairs Committee.

The 2006 Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium will address several aspects of incorporating and assessing effective teaching techniques in any undergraduate and graduate curriculum. The colloquium will be beneficial to both seasoned and new faculty members at all levels and in all disciplines of o Operations research and management science. Planned sessions include topics such as understanding how students learn, cognitive styles, exposure to a variety of teaching methods such as cases and games, and teaching/mentoring graduate students.

While they are separate colloquia, both the Future Academician Colloquium and the Future Practitioner Colloquium have been organized with current doctoral students in mind. The theme for the academician colloquium will be "Building your Academic Career." It will include sessions dedicated to new directions in O.R., developing a research program, developing an education program and how to integrate work-life balance issues. The practitioner colloquium features sessions focusing on career paths for O.R. professionals, what managers seek in graduates, challenges that new practitioners experience, and strategies for maintaining and enhancing your skill set.

The Combined Colloquia will commence on Friday with a dinner for all participants, during which INFORMS President Mark Daskin will address participants on the future of INFORMS and its position at the center of teaching, research and practice. It will conclude on Saturday afternoon with a talk by Professor Richard Larson (a Saturday evening dinner for participants in the Future Academician and Future Practitioner Colloquia is also planned). Participants will also have opportunities to interact with each other and with the Combined Colloquia speakers during breakfast, lunch and several refreshment breaks.

Because of increased demand and limited capacity, participation in the colloquia is by nomination only. The registration fee for each of the Colloquia is $250, but the fee will be waived for the first student from a department (the second student pays $125, and each additional student pays $250 - to be billed to the nominating department). Note that all colloquia participants are required to register for the 2006 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, and that this registration is not included for colloquia participants.

For the most up-to-date information, the call for nominations and registration for the annual meeting, go to http://www.informs.org/Conf/Pittsburgh06/.

Contact Chair of Combined Colloquia
Z. Max Shen
University of California-Berkeley
Dept. of Industrial Engineering and O.R.
shen@ieor.berkeley.edu
510-643-2392

Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (TEC VIII)

All academic units that regularly offer courses in operations research, management science and related fields are invited to nominate faculty members and advanced doctoral students intending to pursue a career in academia for participation in TEC VIII.

Nominated individual must:

• be a member of INFORMS or have applied for membership at the time of the nomination;
• be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in one of INFORMS' constituent disciplines OR be within one year of completing all degree requirements for a Ph.D. in one of INFORMS' constituent disciplines; and
• have not attended a recent Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium.

A complete nomination by the department will include:

• a letter of recommendation from the department chair;
• a list of OR/MS courses taught or expected to be taught by the nominee;
• the mailing address, e-mail address and phone number of the nominee;
• departmental contact information for invoicing (for more than one nominated student).

Complete nomination packages must be received by Aug. 1. Send packages and requests for more information to: Dr. Esma Gel (Email: esma.gel@asu.edu, mail: Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University, PO Box 5906, Tempe, AZ 85287-5906).

Future Academician Colloquium and Future Practitioner Colloquium

All Ph.D.-granting programs in operations research, management science and related fields are invited to nominate students for participation in either colloquium. Companies involved in the application of O.R. techniques are invited to nominate new practitioners for participation in the Future Practitioner Colloquium. Preference will be given to doctoral students within one year of completion. To be eligible for nomination, an individual must:

• be a member of INFORMS or have applied for membership at the time of the nomination;
• have completed basic coursework and initiated research (for students);
• be within one year from completing all degree requirements;
• have excellent potential for contributing to the field of O.R.;
• have good communication skills; and
• have never attended either an INFORMS Future Academician Colloquium or Future Practitioner Colloquium.

A complete nomination by the department must include:

• the student's transcript at the nominating institution;
• a letter of recommendation from the department chair or supervisor;
• a one-page statement of purpose from the nominee including description of research and career interests and dissertation topic;
• an indication of whether the nomination is for the Future Academician or Future Practitioner Colloquium (nominations to multiple colloquia are not permitted and will not receive consideration).
• the mailing address, e-mail address and phone number of the nominee; and
• departmental contact information for invoicing (for more than one nominated student).

Complete nomination packages must be received by Aug. 1.