2009 INFORMS Annual Meeting Daily eNews
October 12, 2009 :: Day 2
Today's Key Events

Plenaries and Keynotes
10-10:50am
Richard O'Neill, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Hilton Sapphire I, 4th floor
"Better Smarter Electricity Markets: Efficiently Capturing Wind, Rain, and Fire"
3:10-4pm
Kathy Chou, Chris Fry, Bin Zhang, and Julie Ward (Edelman Reprise Presentation), "HP Transforms Product Portfolio Management with Operations Research," Hilton Sapphire I, 4th floor
3:10-4pm
Christopher S. Tang, UCLA, "Supply Chain Risk Management," Hilton Sapphire M, 4th floor

Daniel H. Wagner Prize Competition

Excellence in Operations Research Practice
11am-12:30pm, Hilton Sapphire P, 4th floor
Schneider National
IBM
1:30-3pm, Hilton Sapphire P, 4th floor
Hub Group
Intel
4:30-6pm, Hilton Sapphire P, 4th floor
General Electric
Petrobras

Interactive Session
12:30-1:30pm, Convention Center, Exhibit Hall H
Students, researchers, and practitioners share projects via poster displays, laptop demonstrations, and other creative formats.

COIN-OR Members and Users Meeting Bag Lunch

12:15-1:15pm
Convention Center room 25A
 
Tutorials
8-9:30am, 11am-12:30pm, 1:30-3pm, and 4:30-6pm
Hilton rooms 310 and 412
Enduring educational information from the Annual Meeting.
 
Exhibits Open
9am-5pm, Convention Center, Exhibit Hall H
Be sure to visit the Exhibit Hall today at noon. Forty exhibitors are hand to share their expertise and services. You can win a Kindle - visit the Exhibit Hall for details. Two Kindles will be awarded today at 4:15pm. You must be present to win.

Talk to INFORMS Prize Chair Jeff Camm at INFORMS Exhibit Booth
10-11am, Convention Center, Exhibit Hall H, Booth 41-43
Find out how to enter to win one of INFORMS most prestigious practice prizes from the chair!

Job Placement Service Open
9am-5pm, Convention Center, Exhibit Hall H
Employers and job seekers meet in an informal atmosphere.

Student Reception
7:30-9pm, Hilton Indigo GH, 2nd floor
All students are encouraged to attend.

Community Business Meetings
Most are 6:15-7:15pm - See rooms below (C = Convention Center; H = Hilton). Don't miss your Community Business Meeting. Communities are the lifeblood of INFORMS.

Decision Analysis C - 22
Technology Management H - 411, 4th fl.
Applied Probability C - 25A
Computing C - 26A
CPMS Isolated Practitioners Workshop C - 31B
Financial Services H - Sapphire G, 4th fl.
Health Applications H - Sapphire A, 4th fl.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Mgt. H - Sapphire I, 4th fl.
Military Applications C - 30D
Quality, Statistics & Reliability C - 24B
Spreadsheet Productivity Research H - 412, 4th fl.
Transportation Science & Logistics H - Indigo A, 4th fl.
*Behavioral Operations Management H - 313, 3rd fl.
 
*7:15-8:15pm
 
Community Awards to be Presented on Monday

Behavioral Operations Management Section
Best Published Paper Award
This award recognizes an individual who has published the most influential paper in behavioral operations during the year preceding the INFORMS conference. The award consists of a plaque and a cash prize of $500.

Award Winner: Xuanming Su

Presented Monday, October 12, 7:15pm, Behavioral Operations Management Section Business Meeting, Hilton room 313, 3rd floor

Computing Society
INFORMS Computing Society (ICS) Prize
The ICS Prize is an annual award for best English language paper on the OR/CS interface. The award includes a plaque and a $1,000 cash prize.

Award Winners: Andreas W�chter, Lawrence T. Beigler

INFORMS Computing Society Student Paper Award
The ICS Student Paper Award is given annually to the best paper on computing and operations research by a student author, as judged by a panel of the ICS. The award includes a plaque and a $500 cash prize.

Award Winner: Zaiwen Wen

Presented Monday, October 12, 6:15pm, Computing Society Business Meeting, Convention Center room 26A

Decision Analysis Society
Publication Award
This award is given annually to the best decision analysis article or book published in the second preceding calendar year, as judged by a panel of Society members. The award includes a plaque and a $750 cash prize.

Award Winners: Mohammed Addellaoui, Hans Bleichrodt, Corina Paraschiv
Finalists: Kenneth C. Lichtendahl Jr., Robert L. Winkler
 
Student Paper Competition Award

This award is given annually to the best decision analysis paper by a student author, as judged by a panel of Society members. Student papers need not be sole-authored or first-authored. This award includes a plaque and a $500 cash prize.

Award Winner: Albert Mannes
Finalists: Victor Richmond R. Jose, Darma Kwon, Tianyang Wang
 
Frank P. Ramsey Medal

The Frank P. Ramsey Medal is the highest award of the Decision Analysis Society. It was created to recognize distinguished contributions to the field of decision analysis. The medal is named in honor of Frank Plumpton Ramsey, a Cambridge University mathematician who was one of the pioneers of decision theory in the 20th century. The Ramsey medalists are recognized for having made substantial further contributions to that theory and its application to important classes of real decision problems. The medal is accompanied by a $1,000 cash prize.

Award Winner: Rakesh K. Sarin

Presented Monday, October 12, 6pm, Decision Analysis Society Business Meeting, Convention Center room 22

Health Applications Section
Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Health Services
This scholarship was created in 2002 to honor the work and commitment of Seth Bonder. The purpose of the Bonder Scholarship in healthcare is to promote the development and application of process modeling and operations research analyses to healthcare design, delivery, and operations. The tenure of the award is one year. The scholarship provides funding of $5,000 to support the development of highly qualified individuals and promote the interchange of health services research knowledge in conjunction with INFORMS. The Bonder Scholarship consists of a grant of $4,000, which is intended to provide financial support for a promising young researcher. In addition, the award winner will be eligible for up to $1,000 of travel funding to support their participation in Health Application Section activities at the annual INFORMS conference. INFORMS will waive registration fees for the awardees.

Award Winner: Murat Kurt

Presented Monday, October 12, 6:15pm, Health Applications Section Business Meeting, Hilton Sapphire A, 4th floor

Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Society
Distinguished Service Award
The MSOM Distinguished Service Award was created to recognize individuals whose distinguished service to MSOM has helped to advance significantly the goals and objectives of the Section.

Award Winner: Martin A. Lariviere
 
Best Paper Award
The Best Paper Award recognizes the one paper, published in one of the prior three volumes of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (M&SOM), as most deserving for its contribution to the theory and practice of operations management. The recipient of the award is announced in M&SOM and receives a $2,000 honorarium.

Award Winners: Nicole DeHoratius, Adam Mersereau, Linus Schrage

Presented Monday, October 12, 6:15pm, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Society Business Meeting, Hilton Sapphire I, 4th floor

Military Applications Society
2008 Koopman Prize
This Prize was named after Bernard Koopman, a founding father of military operations research. It is awarded for the outstanding publication in military operations research of the previous year. The award includes a plaque and a $500 cash prize.

Award Winners: J. Todd Hamill, Richard F. Deckro, Robert F. Mills, James W. Chrissis
 
Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Military Applications
This scholarship was created in 2002 to honor the work and commitment of Seth Bonder. The purpose of the Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Military Applications is to promote the development and application of process modeling and operations research analyses to military issues. The scholarship provides funding of $5,000 to support the development of highly qualified individuals and promote the interchange of military OR research knowledge in conjunction with INFORMS. The Bonder Scholarship consists of a grant of $4,000 that is intended to provide financial support for a promising young researcher. In addition, the award winner will be eligible for up to $1,000 of travel funding to support their participation in Military Application Section activities at the annual INFORMS conference. INFORMS will waive registration fees for awardees. The tenure of the award is one year.

Award Winner: David Caswell


Presented Monday, October 12, 6:15pm, Military Applications Society Business Meeting, Convention Center room 30D

Technology Management Section (TMS)
Best Dissertation Award
The Technology Management Section recognizes the best doctoral dissertation in the field of technology and innovation management in terms of furthering the field and making a theoretical and practical contribution. The award includes a plaque and a $500 cash prize.

Award Winner: Brian Fifarek
Runner-Up: Philipp Tuertscher
 
Distinguished Speaker Award
TMS presents its distinguished speaker award to an outstanding academic leader in the field of technology management. The award is presented every year during the annual fall academic meeting and includes a plaque and a $500 cash prize.

Award Winner: Marvin Lieberman
 
Distinguished Service Award
The TMS Distinguished Service Award is created to recognize individuals whose distinguished service to TMS has helped to advance significantly the goals and objectives of the Section. A plaque will be presented during the INFORMS Annual Meeting as well as an award check for $350.

Award Winner: Cheryl Gaimon

Presented Monday, October 12, 6pm,Technology Management Section Business Meeting, Hilton room 411, 4th floor
INFORMS Awards Presented on Sunday
Congratulations to all of the winners! 

George E. Nicholson Student Paper Competition
First Place: Cong Shi
Second Place: James Ostrowski
Honorable Mention: Jiheng Zhang, Ilias Diakonikolas
Finalists: Ye Lu, Spyridon Schismenos, Neil Walton, Theophane Weber, Xiang Yan

George B. Dantzig Dissertation Awards
First Place: Nitin Bakshi
Second Place: Jagpreet Chhatwal
Honorable Mention: Emmanuel Carrier, Hamid Nazerzadeh, Evren Ozkaya 

Community Awards Presented on Sunday

Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) Forum
Paper Competition Award
The goals of the paper competition are to encourage research among junior faculty and to increase the visibility of research conducted by junior faculty within the fields of operations research and management science. First place carries a cash award of $500; second place, $300; and each honorable mention, $100.

First Prize: Qi Feng, Lauren Xiaoyuan Lu
Second Prize: Gabriel Weintraub, Vivek Farias, Denis Saure
Third Prize: Simge Kucukyavuz
Finalists: Goker Aydin, Serhan Ziya, Jose R. Correa, Nicolas Figueroa, and Nicolas E. Stier-Moses, Anton Ovchinnikov, Senthil Veeraraghavan, Krishnan S. Anand, Mehmet Fazil Pac

The Junior Faculty Interest Group Forum thanks Prize Committee Chair Ananth Iyer for his service during the 2009 JFIG Paper Competition.


Omega Rho Distinguished Lecturer: Hau Lee
by Jessica Ng

Hau LeeHow can we advance supply chain innovations to emerging and underdeveloped economies? How can we extend our business objectives to include social and environmental responsibility? The answers to these questions are being discovered in the emerging research area of Social and Environmentally Responsible (SER) supply chain. Dr. Hau L. Lee, Thoma Professor of Operations, Information, and Technology at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, shared his thoughts on the OR/MS community's opportunity to offer huge social and environmental contributions.

SER supply chain initiatives aim to push conventional supply chain practices to address environmental, ethical, and social concerns in both advanced and emerging/third world economies. Innovative supply chain principles have proven to help reduce logistic frictions in trade, improve humanitarian disaster relief efforts, and create new business models for healthcare delivery and crop purchase with farmers.

The process involved with bilateral trade encompasses a number of impediments: long import transaction times, high costs associated with these transaction times, even the number of signatures required for typical export transactions. In countries such as China and the United States, SER supply chain research has helped identify and mitigate the effects of logistic variation. SER supply chain principles have also helped improve disaster relief logistics. In his speech, Lee comically noted, "Disaster is one of the fastest growing industries." The fact that donations only come after a disaster has occurred causes supply shortages and poorly planned distribution efforts. Georgia Tech, in collaboration with CARE, has developed an effective way to improve relief effort logistics by pre-positioning supply warehouses. By creating and maintaining warehouses before a disaster hits, they are able to better maintain appropriate supply levels and even establish better supply prices from producers.

SER supply chain principles have also helped develop business models to help transform the well-being of emerging/third world countries. In Africa, the lack of integrated roads, transportation, and logistics networks make it hard to deliver continuous healthcare attention. The "last mile" provides an even bigger problem: drug distribution stops at the larger cities and cannot reach the consumers that actually need it. As part of the Rider program, motorcycles have been used a means to provide health care to remote areas. In using simple OR tools and principles, the Transport Management Services model has helped increase the frequency of drug and medicine distribution and educational health training. SER supply chain initiatives have also helped improve the soybean market in India. Farmers have been given access to computers and e-Tools to learn about current market conditions and prices. Using this information, farmers are able to bypass the middleman and sell directly to the ITC. This reengineering has resulted in benefits for the ITC, in-network farmers, and nonnetwork farmers as well.

There are great opportunities in OR/MS research for building SER supply chains. Building the right models, overcoming data challenges, and overcoming incentive issues provide new and exciting research problems.
 
There Is More Mathematics in the Future of Biotechnology
by Seda Tepe

Charles CantorCharles Cantor is the founder, Chief Scientific Officer, and Member, Board of Directors, at SEQUENOM, Inc. He is also founder of a drug discovery company based in the Boston area, an anti-aging company, and a biotherapeutic company. He is co-director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology at Boston University and professor of biomedical engineering. Cantor sits on the advisory boards of more than 15 national and international organizations and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

In this very sophisticated keynote session, Cantor underlined the importance of using mathematics in biotechnological research, which was overlooked in the traditional approaches. He based his arguments on two main issues that depend on technological progress achieved in the last century. The recent technological improvements led to an abundance of quantitative data that can be analyzed easily with mathematical techniques. Second, the advanced computational methods allow analysis of complex of biological systems. The talk demonstrated four different aspects of using mathematics in biotechnology: the complexity of biological systems, the initial attempts to model such systems quantitatively, the genetics of complex human traits, and the challenges posed by stochastic noise in biological systems and samples. He also gave several practical examples. This session was inspiring in terms of extending the applications of OR science in a fruitful research area and showing how different disciplines can be integrated to create beneficial outcomes for the society.
 
Worldwide Reach into High School Math and Science Classes
by Yichuan Ding

Dick LarsonWhat is the best way of exciting high school students to learn math? According to Professor Richard C. Larson, the answer may just be operations research. The MIT professor and past president of INFORMS is investigating efficient technology-enabled teaching approaches for high school math and science education. With this goal in mind, he introduced a new teaching program, BLOSSOMS (Blended Learning Open Source Science Or Math Studies), in his plenary speech on Sunday afternoon.

Larson played one piece of the BLOSSOMS video in his speech, illustrating how the program works in teaching high school math. In the video, he posed a problem for students: Suppose one H1N1 carrier can infect two people. Will the number of people infected by H1N1 then increase exponentially? Instead of simply answering this question, in the BLOSSOMS teaching module, the teacher asks students to participate in a game and find answers by using their own experiences. The game is a vivid simulation of the spread of H1N1 flu, in which the "infected" students will put on a blue hat. By counting the number of blue hats, the students could develop a sense of using mathematical methods, like sampling and equations, to study that real-life problem.

Moreover, Larson argued that there are three design features that support blended learning: (1) the central role of the teacher, (2) the use of appropriate technology, and (3) the co-creation and co-usage with educators. In his ideal mode of teaching, the BLOSSOMS video would be played in brief segments, and between segments, the in-class teacher would engage the class in an active goal-oriented exercise or game. In this way, the students would acquire knowledge by watching the video and participating in the in-class exercise.

"With today's computer and telecommunication technology, every child should receive a qualified education, regardless of where he was born." That is the ambition of Professor Richard Larson and the goal of technology-enabled education research.
 
Doing Good with Good O.R. Student Competition - Session One
by Jessica Ng

This year marks the first year of the "Doing Good with Good O.R." Student Competition. The competition encourages student research and practice with societal impact.

David Hutton "Using Models of Hepatitis B to Influence Public Health Policy"
In collaboration with the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University and Stanford liver cancer expert and surgeon Dr. So, Ph.D. candidate David Hutton's research aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of hepatitis B (HPB) screening, vaccination, and treatment policies for adult Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States and China. The results of Hutton's research have shown that the screening and treatment of the human pappiloma virus (HPV) is very cost-effective in comparison to other healthcare interventions in the United States. His results have also helped change the U.S. Centers for Disease Control screening recommendations for Asian and Pacific Islanders for HPB in the United States as well has helped shaped China's policy on providing catch-up vaccinations to school-aged children. Hutton hopes that his findings will provide a model for HPV detection and prevention in other countries.

Murat Kurt"At What Lipid Ratios Should a Patient with Type 2 Diabetes Initiate Statins?"
Type 2 diabetes is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States and is a major underlying cause of coronary heart disease and stroke. Station treatment is effective at reducing lipid and cholesterol levels, but it also leads to a drastic reduction in blood pressure levels. Murat Kurt, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, created a dynamic optimization model that helps determine lipid ratio-based stantin initiation policies, balancing stantin treatment's trade-offs. The results of Kurt's research has helped to provide recommendations for the optimal time to begin statin treatment and has helped to determine the patient-specific factors that influence this optimal stantin initiation time.

Diana Negoescu"Optimal Learning for Drug Design in Ewing's Sarcoma"
Ewing's sarcoma is a rare cancer causing the growth of bone tumors within children and adolescents. The process of developing and testing a molecule to block the interaction that allows this disease to progress is an expensive and time-consuming process. Diana M. Negoescu of Stanford University developed a Bayesian decision-theoretic method that has helped drastically reduce the number of molecules to be tested. The results of her research are being used to help scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center determine what molecules to test next, providing a drastic improvement for picking molecules over pure exploration.
 
2009 George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award Finalists
by Seda Tepe

Today, the finalists for George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award have shown a wide range of application areas of OR. The young researchers presented their work related to areas from healthcare to Internet advertising. Let's take a closer look at the finalists and their studies.

Jagpreet ChhatwalJagpreet Chhatwal, one of the finalists, proposed a method to make optimal biopsy decisions for breast cancer. Because breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer, the expense for its diagnosis is an important issue for healthcare sector. Opposed to the common approaches of radiologists, Chhatwal's model considers age as a factor in diagnostic decision making, and in his numerical analysis, he has observed that his model performs better than radiologists.

Evern OzkayaEvren Ozkaya utilizes OR tools to make prelaunch forecasting of new product diffusions. Ozkaya's work allows comparison of different products and can be easily implemented in different industrial environments.

Emmanue CarrierAn airline ticket booking problem is analyzed by Emmanuel Carrier. The solution of this problem prepares the choices that we encounter while searching for an airline ticket. The objective is to maximize the revenue of the airline company.

Nitin BakshiNitin Bakshi's study is on the impacts of collaboration on a supply chain system's ability to adapt to disruptive phenomena like natural disasters or economic slowdowns. Specifically, Bakshi uses this study to analyze the container security at U.S. domestic and international ports.

Hamid NazerzadehThe last speaker of this innovative session, Hamid Nazerzadeh, considers the optimization and economic aspects of sponsored search, a relatively new way of Internet advertising. Internet advertising, with its revenue exceeding $20 billion each year, is a promising research area for optimization. Despite the several types of uncertainties in Internet advertising, Nazerzadah's work is able to address some of such challenges in this market.

Overall, it seems that the brilliant speakers who have made significant contributions to OR in this year's competition will give the jury a hard time deciding the winner. However, no matter who wins the award, it is for certain that the OR community has won five successful and devoted scientists.
 
Competitors as Whistle-blowers in Enforcement of Product Standards
by Yichuan Ding

Erica PlambeckAs the public concern of environmental issues increases, people are not only asking how efficient a supply chain is, but also asking "how green." The Restrictions of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, adopted in 2003 by the European Union, limits the use of six hazardous materials in manufacturing various types of electronic and electrical equipment. However, testing for hazardous substances in electrical devices can be very expensive. "It costs $200,000 to verify the Restrictions on Hazardous Substances compliance of a personal laptop," said Professor Erica L. Plambeck of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, who works in the area of green supply chains. Because of the high cost of testing electronics for compliance with the RoHS, enforcement and compliance are inevitably flawed, which underlies the importance of designing an efficient testing mechanism.

In the competitive testing mechanism Plambeck proposed in her presentation on Sunday, the firms are assumed to have the technique to test violations of RoHS compliance. The firms make efforts in both choosing the compliance level of their own products and testing their competitor firms' products. Moreover, the regulatory authorities raise the standards for all the products and aim to optimize the social surplus. "In this Cournot oligopoly model, there exists a unique symmetric equilibrium in compliance and testing decisions of manufacturers," Plambeck claimed. She aims to retrieve informative indications by analyzing the equilibrium.

"The social efficiency decreases with the number of manufacturers in competition and increases with the qualities of the products," Plambeck said. She added, however, that if the manufacturers can decide on the quality of products first, the manufacturers will choose to create products with a lower quality. She pointed out that the possible outcome in the long run is the decrease of product quality in the market.

Plambeck believes that the competitive testing works when there is a small number of firms in competition and the market is profitable. It is currently a very challenging but important question how to enforce the environmental protection regulations when there is a high cost of testing for compliance.
 
Free -- 2009 TutORials in Operations Research CD!

2009 TutORials in OR CDPick up your copy of the 2009 TutORials in Operations Research CD at two locations: the Registration Desk and INFORMS Booth #41 in the Exhibit Hall. Find the coupon for the free CD enclosed in your registration envelope.
 
Attendees must present the special 2009 TutORials CD coupon to receive their free CD.
FREE Internet at Convention Center

Mon, 9am-5pm, Tues, 9am-5pm, Wed, 9am-3pm
Free wireless Internet and the Email Center are located in the Convention Center, Exhibit Hall H, at the back of the hall. There are a limited number of computers available. Your name badge must be worn for admittance. There is no complimentary wireless available in the Hilton.
Blog of the Day

Maarten Oosten highlights communities in his blog post on Sunday.
COIN-OR Cup Celebration

On Monday, October 12, we'll be celebrating the COIN-OR Cup at the INFORMS Annual Meeting. The prize is awarded for effective use of COIN-OR or valuable contribution to COIN-OR (or both!). The celebration will be from 9-11pm at the Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery located at 401 G St. San Diego, CA 92101. See http://www.coin-or.org/coinCup/coinCup09.html for details or email Bill Hart.
Engage with Online Tools at the Annual Meeting

Blogs
Go to the Annual Meeting website during the meeting for commentary from your friends and colleagues.
 
Tweets

All attendees are invited to tweet about the Annual Meeting; be sure to add the hash tag "#informs09" to the beginning or end of your tweets to identify them as pertaining to the INFORMS Annual Meeting. Meetings staff will also use Twitter to communicate late-breaking changes to the program.

LinkedIn
Join our LinkedIn Group devoted to the Annual Meeting. Ninety of your colleagues have done so already. Go here to see news, find jobs, and join the discussion.

Photos and Video
Please take photos and video at the Annual Meeting and e-mail them to us at http://contest.informs.org/flip for posting on the Annual Meeting website. Contributors will be eligible to win one of two Flip Video Mino Series. Contest rules are here.
Today's Guest Tour - San Diego Zoo

San Diego Zoo
9am-12:30pm

You may still be able to register. Go to the INFORMS Registration Desk to inquire. $64 - lunch not included.
INFORMS Booth Activities

Stop by the INFORMS Booth in the Exhibit Hall (#41-43) to receive valuable products and information:
  • 50% off bookstore sale
  • Talk to Jeff Camm, INFORMS Prize Chair, Monday, 10-11am
  • Free sample journals giveaway
  • Information on volunteering
  • Free Community newsletters
  • Free 2009 Edelman DVD
  • Membership information (what's changing in 2010)
Exhibit Hall hours:
Monday and Tuesday, 9am-5pm
Wednesday, 9am-1pm
Spotlight on Exhibitors

AIMMS� (Paragon) - Booth #39
AIMMS is a solver-independent development environment for building optimization (operations research)- based solutions to support business decisions.
AORDA consults on risk management, optimization, and statistics, and develops advanced optimization software.
AMPL Optimization LLC develops and supports the AMPL modeling language, the most powerful and natural tool for working with the large, complex optimization problems that arise in diverse applications.
AnyLogic NA - XJ Technologies - Booth #14
Visit our booth to learn about AnyLogic - the only tool that supports all the standard simulation approaches and even allows you to mix them in the same model and on the same page.
Cambridge's publishing in books and journals combine state-of-the-art content with the highest standards of scholarship, writing, and production.
COIN-OR- Booth #45
Visit the Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research booth to learn about free, open-source tools for OR professionals and students.
Dynamic Ideas - Booth #9
In our exhibit booth, Dynamic Ideas, a publisher of books in the areas of applied mathematics and operations research, will present its books.
Elsevier - Booth #22
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services.
FICO - Booth #34-36 
FICO (NYSE:FICO) combines trusted advice, world-class analytics, and innovative applications to help businesses make smarter decisions.
Visit our booth for a first look at new Risk Solver Platform V9.5 and easier-than-ever ways to build models, analyze risks, and allocate resources optimally using advanced robust optimization and simulation software technology - from Frontline Systems, developer of the Excel Solver.
The General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) is a high-level modeling system for mathematical programming and optimization.
Gurobi Optimization - Booth #8 
Gurobi Optimization - the new performance leader in linear and mixed-integer programming - announces Gurobi Version 2.0.
IBM ILOG Optimization - Booth #20-21
ILOG is now a part of IBM: the combination of ILOG and IBM brings together a global, full-service technology company with award-winning OR products, services, expertise, and dedicated support, to better serve you.
Imagine That, Inc. - Booth #25
Imagine That, Inc. creates the professional tool for real-world simulation modeling - ExtendSim.
INFORMS- Booth #41-43
Visit the booth to talk to INFORMS staff about our journals, membership benefits and services, continuing education, communities and networking opportunities. We will be available at the bookstore to assist you with purchasing print and electronic products and will have the latest information about INFORMS products and services. We look forward to seeing you!
Come to the booth for a preview of our future meetings.
Innovative Scheduling is engaged in building decision support systems for solving planning and scheduling problems arising in logistics, distribution, and transportation.
Use JMP to teach, learn, and perform research projects.
Come see the newest enhancements to our optimization software including updates to our suite of solvers and new stochastic programming capabilities.
LINKS-simulations.com markets 14 large-scale, team-based, state-of-the-art, customizable, Web-based, competitive business management simulations for academic courses and corporate ExecEd programs.
Serious analysts prefer Analytica to spreadsheets because of its intuitive visual influence diagrams, intelligent Arrays for managing multiple dimensions, fast Monte Carlo for risk and uncertainty, and scalability to handle large problems.
Lyzasoft - Booth #47
Lyza empowers analysts to combine data from disparate sources - visually and iteratively - using a step-by-step analytic approach.
Maximal Software has decided to give away a FREE perpetual license of the MPL Modeling System (a $7,800 value) to every registered participant at the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2009!
McGraw-Hill/Irwin - Booth #12
McGraw-Hill is a premier publisher in operations management and decision sciences with leading textbooks and technology for operations management, supply chain management, service operations, project management, operations research, spreadsheet modeling and decision analysis, and simulation.
McGraw-Hill enables professionals to succeed in complex global industries by structuring the most current information into concise and authoritative resources.
Microsoft Solver Foundation is a pure, managed-code runtime for mathematical programming, modeling, and optimization.
Oracle - Booth #49
Crystal Ball software is a leading spreadsheet-based software suite for predictive modeling, forecasting, Monte Carlo simulation, and optimization.
Palgrave Macmillan - Booth #46
Palgrave Macmillan is a leading publisher of journals in OR/MS, including the new and improved IAOR (in connection with IFORS) and the prestigious journal portfolio of The Operational Research Society.
Palisade Corporation - Booth #30
Palisade Corporation is the maker of the market-leading risk and decision analysis software @RISK and the DecisionTools Suite.
Excite and engage your operations and supply chain management students with our award-winning, competitive Web-based games.
Salford Systems - Booth #33
Salford Systems develops advanced statistical and data mining software, including the CART� decision tree, MARS� non-linear automated regression, TreeNet� boosted decision trees, and Random Forests�.
SAS provides operations research methods - including optimization, simulation, and scheduling-integrated with these critical capabilities.
SAS is the market leader in providing business intelligence software and services.
SIAM - Booth #38
Visit the SIAM booth to check out our new books and journals.
South-Western Cengage Learning strives to provide you the materials needed to make decision sciences relevant and interesting to your students as they prepare for the world of work.
Springer - Booth #27-28
Springer is one of the largest scientific publishing companies in the world, with a portfolio of 4,000 new books per year and more than 1,200 journals. Syncopation Software, Inc. - Booth #44
Syncopation Software is a leading provider of business analytic tools for decision analysis, risk analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, and real option valuation.
Taylor & Francis Group LLC-CRC Press - Booth #18-19
Taylor & Francis publishes books and journals in operations research and mathematics.
Vanguard Software Corp. - Booth #37
Why Vanguard? Because you have outgrown your desktop modeling tools and are ready to bring your best OR/MS techniques out of your lab and into the enterprise.
Wiley-Blackwell - Booth #16
Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world's leading societies.
Ziena Optimization, Inc. - Booth #5
The KNITRO� 6.0 solver handles the world's most difficult large-scale optimization problems.
In This Issue
Today's Key Events
Community Awards to be Presented on Monday
INFORMS Awards Presented on Sunday
Community Awards Presented on Sunday
Omega Rho Distinguished Lecturer: Hau Lee
There Is More Mathematics in the Future of Biotechnology
Worldwide Reach into High School Math and Science Classes
Doing Good with Good O.R. Student Competition
2009 George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award Finalists
Competitors as Whistle-blowers in Enforcement of Product Standards
Free -- 2009 TutORials in Operations Research CD!
FREE Internet at Convention Center
FREE Internet at Convention Center
COIN-OR Cup
Engage with Online Tools at the Annual Meeting
Today's Guest Tour
INFORMS Booth Activities
Spotlight on Exhibitors
Quick Links
INFORMS Meetings
2009 INFORMS Annual Meeting
Schedule Changes

New Plenary Speaker: Richard O'Neill, Federal Energy Regulatiory Commission, replaces Mark M. Little, GE, with "Better Smarter Electricity Markets: Efficiently Capturing Wind, Rain and Fire," Monday, October 12, 10-10:50am, Hilton Sapphire I, 4th floor.

Also follow the INFORMS Meeting announcements on Twitter.

Lumina Ad
 
INFORMS Booth/Bookstore Sale!

Stop by the INFORMS Bookstore for savings on print and electronic products. The bookstore is located at the INFORMS Booth #43. Attendees will receive a 50% discount off select book titles while supplies last. Plus pick up your complimentary TutORials in OR CD and Edelman DVD, purchase recently published books, and register for the INFORMS PubsOnLine Suite (all 12 journals online) for just $99.
 
Weather in San Diego, CA

Click here for current weather in San Diego, CA

 
Social Networking Links
 
Follow the Annual Meeting on Twitter 

Become a fan of INFORMS on Facebook

LinkedIn

H1N1 Flu Precautions

We recognize that some people at the INFORMS meeting have concerns about the H1N1 flu. We encourage all attendees to use common-sense precautions to protect both yourself and those around you:
 
+Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective and can be purchased at any drug store. There will be convenient Purell hand sanitizing stations available at the San Diego Convention Center and Hilton.
 
+If you sneeze or cough, use a tissue to cover your mouth; then safely discard the tissue and wash your hands.
 
+If you feel ill, with a fever and flu-like symptoms, please inform the INFORMS meeting organizers that you are ill so we can assist you if needed. Contact the INFORMS Registration Desk at 619.525.6333.
Win a Kindle!

Visit the exhibits and get in the running to win a Kindle! INFORMS will award two Kindles during the afternoon coffee breaks in the Exhibit Hall. Just follow these easy steps:
 
+Stop by one of the booths to pick up a raffle coupon (different coupon for each day).

+Fill out the coupon and get it stamped by the exhibitor.

+While you're at the booth, give the exhibitor an opportunity to tell you about their company's products!

+Place your completed coupon in the Kindle raffle bin.

+You must be present to win.
 
Schedule:
+Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday afternoon coffee breaks.

+Submit your coupon by 3:45pm.

+Drawing: 4:15pm. Location in the Exhibit Hall to be announced.

Note: There is a different coupon for each day. Only coupons for that day will be eligible.
You must be present to win.

Enjoy your time at the 2009 INFORMS Annual Meeting. If there is anything we can do to make your experience better, please stop by the INFORMS booth or the Registration Desk.

Next Issue: Tuesday, October 13, 5am PDT.