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INFORMS Combined Colloquia

Saturday, November 7

The Virtual 2020 INFORMS Combined Colloquia will be held on November 7, the Saturday preceding the INFORMS Virtual Annual Meeting. This Combined Colloquia will feature:

All three colloquia are designed to provide the attendees with technical material, career experiences from senior and junior OR/MS professionals, and an environment for networking. The application deadline is September 30.

Registration Fee

The colloquium costs are $115 for non-students and $50 for students.

All colloquia participants are required to register for the 2020 INFORMS Annual Meeting held virtually November 8-13, 2020. The registration fee for the colloquia does NOT include the registration fee for the Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting. Each colloquium has an online application that needs to be completed.

Nominators: You will be asked to submit an online application for each prospective participant. The online application form provides all the instruction needed to complete the application. If you have specific questions about the colloquium or the application process, please refer them to the applicable colloquia co-chairs.

Click here to register for the Virtual 2020 INFORMS Annual Meeting. 

Agenda

The agenda is being finalized and will be posted soon.

Directory

INFORMS creates a directory of colloquia participants to encourage networking and post-meeting collaboration. This will be released prior to the meeting on November 7. 

Intended Colloquia Participants: Choosing the Right Colloquia for you!

The Virtual 2020 Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium is designed to address the needs of graduate students about to enter the academic job market as well as faculty looking to stay abreast of the “best practices” regarding OR/MS/analytics pedagogy. The colloquium features a wide variety of speakers from business and engineering schools who will address different aspects of incorporating and assessing effective teaching techniques in any undergraduate or graduate curriculum. Sessions are organized around topics such as teaching fundamental topics like optimization, successful methods for implementing acting and experiential learning methods, leveraging the use of blogs and social media in the classroom, the use of cases in the classroom, anti-racism pedagogy, and using OR/MS tools to generate managerial insight.

The Virtual 2020 Doctoral Student Colloquium is intended for doctoral students who need guidance choosing their future path. The colloquium suits the needs of doctoral students who are deciding between a career as an academic or a practitioner. It will include sessions dedicated to examining both career options and comparing/choosing between the two. It also addresses topics like navigating the job hunt, dealing with work-life balance issues, and suggestions concerning job market preparation and positioning. It has been organized with current doctoral students 2-3 years from graduation in mind; however, nominations will be accepted from students in their final year of a doctoral program as well.

The Virtual 2020 New Faculty Colloquium – introduced for the first time in 2014 – is expressly tailored to meet the needs of academics at the beginning of their career. It gives faculty in their first two years insight into successfully navigating the tenure process, including how to build and maintain a research program, advise students, balance research, teaching and service, write successful proposals, and more. Nominations of faculty in their first or second year are preferred.

Combined Colloquia Activities

Participants will have opportunities to interact with each other and with the colloquia speakers during virtual break-out sessions, which are incorporated into the schedule, as well as a virtual reception immediately following the colloquia sessions.

Participant Nomination

This year, participation in the colloquia is open to all eligible students and faculty who are nominated by the department. A department can nominate more than one eligible individual to each colloquium using the online application tool. The department should ensure that the nominated individual meets the eligibility criteria specified for participation in each colloquium. In addition, nominations of one person to multiple colloquia are not permitted and will not receive consideration.

All colloquia related questions should be addressed to Dr. Sandra D. Eksioglu, chair of the Combined Colloquia committee, at sandra@uark.edu.    

Dr. Eksioglu is joined by the individual colloquium chairs listed here:

Combined Colloquia Committee Chair

Sandra D. Eksioglu
University of Arkansas
Industrial Engineering Department
Phone: 479-575-6042 
Email: sandra@uark.edu

Virtual 2020 Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (TEC)

To be eligible for consideration, an individual must be a:

  • member of INFORMS or have applied for membership at the time of the nomination;
  • faculty member or instructor in one of INFORMS’ constituent disciplines or be within one year of completing all degree requirements for a PhD in one of INFORMS’ constituent disciplines.

Faculty members who have attended a previous year’s TEC may be nominated again, but preference will be given to first-time nominees should there be a capacity constraint. A complete nomination by the department will include:

  1. list of OR/MS courses taught or expected to be taught by the nominee;
  2. list of INFORMS TEC and workshops that the nominee has attended in the past;
  3. mailing address, email address, and phone number of the nominee.

The Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium nomination process involves an ONLINE APPLICATION and the form can be completed by clicking the button below. The application deadline is September 30.

Virtual Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium Co-Chairs

Neil Desnoyers  
Department of Decision and System Sciences
Saint Joseph’s University 
Philadelphia, PA
Phone: 484-432-2767
Email: ndesnoye@sju.edu

Nelson Uhan
Mathematics Department
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD
Phone: 410-293-6704
Email: uhan@usna.edu

All TEC questions should be directed to Mr. Desnoyers and Dr. Uhan.

Virtual 2020 Doctoral Student Colloquium (DSC)

All PhD-granting programs in operations research, management science, and related fields are invited to nominate students for participation in the Virtual Doctoral Student Colloquium. 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;
  • be within three years of completing all degree requirements;
  • have excellent potential for contributing to theory and/or practice in the fields of operations research, management science, or a related field;
  • have good communication skills;
  • have never attended an INFORMS Doctoral Student, Future Academician, or Future Practitioner Colloquium.

Every nominated student who meets the eligibility criteria will participate in the Colloquium. The nominating institution should ensure that the nominated students meet the eligibility criteria.  

A complete nomination by the department will include:

  • one-page statement of purpose from the nominee including career goals and purpose for attending the DSC;
  • name and email address of the nominee along with acknowledgment that the nominee meets the DSC eligibility requirements.
Funding Opportunities for Doctoral Student Colloquium
  • Women in OR/MS (WORMS) will sponsor one student member to attend the Virtual 2020 Doctoral Student Colloquium. The award includes registration to the Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting, registration to the Doctoral Student Colloquium, and a year membership to WORMS. To be considered, please include the following additional items in the nomination package and indicate whether the student is interested in applying for the Women in OR/MS (WORMS) Doctoral Student Colloquium Award (open to both male and female students): A brief paragraph from the nominee describing their interest in supporting women in OR/MS (50-150 words). A letter of recommendation from the department chair or supervisor.
  • Minority Issues Forum (MIF) will sponsor two student members to attend the Virtual 2020 Doctoral Student Colloquium at the Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting. The award includes registration to the Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting, registration to the Doctoral Student Colloquium, and a year membership to MIF. To be considered, please include the following additional items in the nomination package and indicate whether the student is interested in the MIF travel award: A brief paragraph from the nominee describing their interest and past efforts in supporting minorities in OR/MS (50-150 words). A letter of recommendation from the department chair or supervisor. All applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and a minority.

  • The Seth Bonder Foundation will sponsor 10 students to attend the Virtual 2020 Doctoral Student Colloquium at the Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting. The award includes registration to the Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting and registration to the Doctoral Student Colloquium. Priority will be given to students from programs that traditionally may not have nominated participants for the INFORMS Doctoral Student Colloquium. Students from smaller programs or HBCUs are encouraged to apply.

The Doctoral Student Colloquium nomination is an ONLINE APPLICATION and the forms can be completed by clicking the button below. The application deadline is September 30.

Virtual Doctoral Student Colloquium Co-Chairs

Hugh Medal
Dept. of Industrial & Systems Engineering
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, TN
Phone: 865-974-7647
Email: hmedal@utk.edu

Nicholas G. Hall
Fisher College of Business 
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Phone: 614-292-9216
Email: hall.33@osu.edu

 All DSC questions should be directed to Drs. Medal and Hall.

Virtual 2020 New Faculty Colloquium (NFC)

All academic units granting degrees and undertaking research in operations research, management science, and related fields are invited to nominate faculty members who are in their first three years of being a faculty member at the time of colloquium.

Nomination package should include, in this order: (i) a letter from the department chair of the nominee, (ii) a copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae, and (iii) a statement by the nominee outlining expectations from the colloquium including a set of up to 10 questions that they would like to be addressed in a single PDF file. Topics to be covered include:

  1. Sponsored Research – Grants
  2. Building a Research Program and Publishing
  3. Collaborative Research and Working with PhD Students
  4. Effective Teaching
  5. Professional Service
  6. Tenure Process and Reappointment
  7. Time Management and Work-Life Balance
  8. Soft Skills

The colloquium will also include tips on what not to do, difference between business and engineering schools, opportunities to interact with panelists, and more.

The Virtual New Faculty Colloquia has an ONLINE APPLICATION and the forms can be completed by clicking the button below. The application deadline is September 30.

Virtual New Faculty Colloquium Co-Chairs

Siqian Shen
Dept. of Industrial & Operations Engineering
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Email: siqian@umich.edu

Linkan Bian
Dept. of Industrial & Systems Engineering
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS
Email: bian@ise.msstate.edu

All NFC questions should be directed to Dr. Shen and Dr. Bian.  

Sponsorship

These organizations have provided generous funding to help expand access and participation at the Virtual 2020 Combined Colloquia.

INFORMS Combined Colloquia
INFORMS Combined Colloquia
INFORMS Combined Colloquia