All Annual Meeting attendees receive exclusive early access to the 2010 TutORials online book concurrently with the Meeting. Entitled "Risk and Optimization in an Uncertain World," the 2010 volume is the perfect complement to the series of talks. All INFORMS 2011 members receive access on January 1, 2011. For access, go to www.informs.org/tutorialsonline and enter your INFORMS member username and password. If you do not know your username or password, you may request it at that link. You can order the 2010 book or CDs of previous volumes (2005-2009) through the TutORials website http://www.informs.org/Journal/Tutorials-in-OR. For more information, visit INFORMS Booth #46.

9am-5pm, Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 3
Over 50 exhibitors are on hand to share their expertise and services. Name badges must be worn for admittance to the Exhibit Hall. Free Internet WiFi in Exhibits area and E-mail Center.

9am-5pm, Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 3
Employers and job seekers get together for their prearranged interviews. Good luck to all.

Two Sessions - University of Texas at Austin

8am-3pm
Deterministic and Probabilistic Real-World Decision Models

4:30-7:30pm
Deterministic Real-World Decision Models

This workshop is based on a curriculum developed under NSF-funded Project MINDSET.

See rooms below (C = Convention Center; H = Hilton)
Don't miss your Community Business Meeting. Communities are the lifeblood of INFORMS.

George Nicholson Student Paper Competition

Bo Zhang

George B. Dantzig Dissertation Prize
Minsun Kim

Doing Good with Good OR

Jonathan Turner

INFORMS Computing Society Prize
Jesus A. De Loera, Jon Lee, Peter N. Malkin, Susan Margulies, and Shmuel Onn

INFORMS Computing Society Student Paper Award
Yongqiang Wang

Decision Analysis Publication Award
George Wu and Alex B. Markle

Decision Analysis Student Paper Award
Sam Aflaki

Frank P. Ramsey Medal
Elisabeth Pate-Cornell

Military Applications Society 2009 Koopman Prize
Roberto Szechtman and Moshe Kress

2009 J. Steinhardt Prize
Wayne P. Hughes Jr. and Alan R. Washburn

Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in
Military Applications
David Myers

Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Health Services
Turgay Ayer

Technology Management Section Best Dissertation Award
Winner: Anant Mishra
Runner-up: Bradley R. Staats

Technology Management Section Distinguished Service Award
Michael L. Tushman

7:30-10:30pm, Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 5
Join us tonight for a Wild West Party at this year's General Reception. We'll enjoy a great Texas barbecue buffet and cash bar as well as entertainment from the Texas Unlimited Band, live armadillo races, mechanical bull rides, and more. Don't miss it!

by Kyle Naumann
INFORMS Austin began Sunday with Ed Kaplan's Phillip McCord Morse Lecture on intelligence operations research. Lecturing to a standing room-only crowd, Kaplan covered topics ranging from the National Security Agency's analyst training manual, historical papers that present applications of O.R. techniques in intelligence analysis, the current state of signal collection, and growth opportunities in the field.

Kaplan presented a four-step process that intelligence agencies follow to aid in intel analysis. These steps are planning and direction, collection of signals, processing and exploitation, and analysis. Collection is a daunting task, as 1.7 billion signals are collected per day. Currently, signal capacity exceeds time to analyze; thus, there is a necessity to provide an efficient technique. Kaplan instructed on the two trains of thought of intel analysts: what do the terrorists intend to do versus what is the worst thing the terrorists can do. He also discussed the roles deception, interdiction, and the importance of focusing on terrorist communities versus a specific terrorist play in current intelligence agencies.

Kaplan finished his lecture by presenting opportunities for growth in the intelligence operations research field. He feels strongly that analysts, who typically hold bachelor's degrees in political science or history, should be instructed in the basic "back-of-the-envelope" O.R. techniques, which would provide scientific rigor to intelligence analysis. He feels that utilizing O.R. techniques to balance collection and analysis of signals, plan collection efforts, evaluate performance, and model specific intelligence tasks is crucial to the success of intelligence agencies in the future. He encourages anyone interested in applying O.R. to our nation's intelligence processes to contact the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) for funding options.

by Michael Lim
Will Dell be able to change the rules of the game and stay ahead of the curve? Perry Noakes, the director of Global Business Excellence at Dell, believes that the company is changing the rules again just as it did when it successfully pioneered the direct customer relationship, configured-to-order computer notebooks, and just-in-time production. Dell has been going through a major transformation over the last three years after reviewing its global market share. This time around, Dell is pioneering the segmented supply chain, which has the ambidextrous capability of catering to two segments of customers - those who value configure-to-order and those who prefer to buy off the shelf. Noakes also shared with us how the organization utilized executive sponsorship, culture change management, cross-functional collaboration, and end-to-end process re-engineering to bring about this major transformation in Dell. Furthermore, Dell is working with trusted partners in developing in-house capability to tackle the exponentially growing smartphone and mobile Internet market. Noakes's vast experience of working globally has given him a unique perspective of the value of people and relationships, and it has become a cornerstone of this transformation in Dell. He sums up his presentation with the words of Michael Dell, "When you're dealing direct, there's no place to hide from change. Nor should we want to, as change promotes growth." Since embarking on this transformation, Dell has seen an increase in its market share. Perhaps Dell is once again changing the rules of the game in order to stay ahead of the competition.

by Kyle Naumann
Sunday afternoon's breakout session focused on the future planning of our ever-changing energy infrastructure.

Transmission Network Expansion Planning (TNEP) with Simulation Optimization: Russell Bent from Los Alamos National Laboratory highlighted how power flow models are different from network flow models because they are determined by complex, nonlinear laws of physics. Because flows may be controlled indirectly in power flow models, expansion of the system may introduce physical violations (Braess's paradox).TNEP seeks to solve the expansion of power flow systems by encapsulating portions of the model that are difficult to represent in a "black box" during simulation for optimality. Then by utilizing a construction heuristic, a discrepancy local search is used to explore expansions solutions. This research was conducted because the development of an independent assessment of transmission paths is critical to obtain the government's goal of 30% wind energy by 2030. Bent closed by discussing the possibilities of future work in utilizing information about diverge behavior in the simulation results, adaptive simulation approaches, multiscenario expansion planning, intermittent generation (e.g., when wind stops or clouds block solar panels), and the resiliency and robustness of TNEP.

Comparing the p-Median and Flow-Refueling Models for Locating Alternative-Fuel Stations: Singular fuel usage, foreign oil dependence, air pollution, and global environment change are the four major motivators for finding an optimal way to build alternative-fuel stations. Despite these motivators and interest in alternative fuels, where to place alternative-fuel stations is still uncertain. Michael Kuby presented research on using the flow-refueling location model (FRLM) to place alternative-fuel stations optimally in the state of Florida. The strategy of FRLM is to locate stations at intersections of high flow roads, minimize the cannibalization of flows, and space stations to coordinate long multistop trips. He showed that FRLM performs better on p-median objectives than the p-median model performs on FRLM objectives. Kuby feels that by using this strategy, we will be able to break the chicken-versus-egg cycle of whether we should produce alternative-fuel cars or stations first. He also discussed the numerous opportunities for future research, such as using multiobjective programming to combine the p-median model with FRLM, setting maximum separation constraints between stations, incorporating the preference of consumers to refuel near home, and allowing for detouring off shortest paths in FRLM.

Approximate Dynamic Programming for a Stochastic Multiscale Energy Policy Model: Warren Powell of Princeton University presented a model for policy making that factors numerous energy sources, wind variation using stochastic forecasting, and standard linear programming techniques. The objective of the model is to optimally use energy sources like nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar, propane, and coal to eliminate the concern of nonconstant wind speeds and wind energy storage. He argues that there are four ways that policies are created to make decisions: myopic, lookahead, policy function approximations, and policies based on value function approximations. The model he presented simulates every hour of every day of every year for at least 25 years. Remarkably, these calculations were performed on a standard personal computer with no additional hardware.

by Isaac Laughlin, MSIE, INFORMS Student Reporter
The future strategic direction of INFORMS was the subject of a lively exchange at Monday evening's session "Analytics: The Future of INFORMS?" Jack Levis, INFORMS VP, Practice Activities and Anne Robinson, INFORMS VP, Marketing, Communications, and Outreach presented a strategic report on the decision of INFORMS to dive into the red-hot business analytics movement.

INFORMS commissioned Capgemini, an independent consulting company, to produce the strategic report in the hopes that it would represent a way to grow the membership of INFORMS beyond the level at which it has existed for the past few years. Capgemini recommended that INFORMS "expand their present business into the analytics market." Levis and Robinson are enthusiastic about the prospect, but they were still eager to solicit comments from the audience. Among the issues raised in comments were the importance of the link between industry and academia, the anxiety among hiring firms that the demand for qualified analysts will outstrip the supply, and the best ways INFORMS can serve this new market.

Even after the official question period ended, the 80 members who attended engaged in a lively exchange of ideas. Although the decision to proceed seemed to garner mostly positive comments, and three-quarters of those in attendance signed up to join the new analytics section of INFORMS (although, as this analyst would note, this is a biased sample), there was a diverse set of suggestions about how to proceed. This discussion is ongoing, and those with comments or suggestions are urged to share them with Anne Robinson, Jack Levis, or Gary Bennett. For those interested in learning more about, or helping with this initiative, the October 2010 issue of OR/MS Today includes the full article describing the decision to move forward.

by Kyle Naumann
The University of Texas and Austin's own Charles G. Groat gave a keynote lecture on the current state of affairs of our nation's energy resource supplies. His presentation was in stark contrast to what the media and other researchers feel about the use of coal and natural gas as the two main fuels for energy. One difference he showcased is that we are not at peak oil but rather plateau oil. This plateau is caused by the advancement of mining and refining and the efficiency of engines to "milk" the current resources.

Groat feels that electric cars are not sustainable for global conception for decades; thus, we must depend primarily on cleaning up old our old reliable fuels. One old fuel seeing a transition from scarcity in some areas to a global glut in others is natural gas; increased technology like formation fracturing and horizontal drilling has opened up vast supplies of the fuel. He acknowledged the fact that non-fossil energy use is growing rapidly, but fossil fuels still provide 78% of our energy source, and emerging transportation technologies will only minimally impact global emissions for several decades.

Groat also discussed the large number of viable energy options that are only a few advancements in technology away, such as the Alberta oil sands, clathrate (methane trapped in ice lattices), and the boom/bust-prone Colorado oil shale. Also, with the increase from 1.5 bbl/day in 2000 to over 5 million bbl/day in 2009 of global deepwater drilling, Groat feels our fossil fuel reserves will last for the next 100 years.

by Isaac Laughlin
"Flipping a switch" is shorthand for something that is so easy it can be taken for granted. We've been thoughtlessly flipping that switch practically since the time of Edison, so what challenges could possibly be looming for electric utilities? In her Monday plenary, Joan Woodard described the exciting conditions that exist in this venerable industry and made the case that operations research will play a central role in what will inevitably be a sea change in the way power is produced and consumed.

Recent technological and regulatory developments have made some pieces of the puzzle the stuff of watercooler discussions: the smart grid, electric cars, battery technology, alternative energy, and even cyberwar are all developments that will be a part of our electric lives in the near future. The challenge facing these businesses is to respond to these new developments at both ends of their wires and to utilize them to create a grid that is more efficient, secure, and environmentally sound.

That these massive changes are happening in a mature industry with an aging workforce only adds an additional hurdle. With an employee base that is an average of five years older than the national average, and a flurry of innovations coming from places as diverse as Silicon Valley tech companies, sunny deserts, and the garages of electric car owners, how to acquire talent equal to these challenges will continue to be an important question for these companies. Given the expertise of INFORMS members in answering these types of questions, it's likely that electric utilities will find themselves drinking deeply from the INFORMS talent pool for quite some time.

by Kyle Naumann
Currently, there is a global push for environmental protection by limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases, namely, carbon dioxide (CO₂). Policy makers seek to implement strategies to limit the creation of these gases or charge the offending party monetarily. The Section on Energy, Natural Resources and the Environment sponsored a technical session Monday morning to discuss viable options. In short, the four presentations covered a wide range of topics, from bilevel games to model allowance and electricity uses in specific markets, alternative fuel batteries and their future in vehicle transportation, simulation of hydroelectric reservoirs and the related cost of emissions through dynamic programming, and comparisons between cap-and-trade strategies to tax cuts through GEP models.

Erin Baker from the University of Massachusetts highlighted how there is a need for high carbon abatement of 50% or more because it will create the demand for electric vehicles and ultimately end the mass use of internal combustion engines. Steffen Rebennack from the Colorado School of Mines also feels that a strategy to implement strict constrictions on CO₂ emissions will force the market to switch from cheap dirty technology like coal to expensive clean technology such as solar.

Lizhi Wang and Yanyi He, both from Iowa State University, showed that the electric grid is the biggest culprit of emissions; thus, finding an optimal cap-and-trade strategy is critical. Optimality is challenging during expansion of the power grid because many factors play a pivotal role, such as total energy generation, generation companies' and grid owner's total profit, government revenue, and social and environmental welfare.

by Michael Lim
There is a growing drive toward the harvesting of renewable energies such as wind energy to reduce greenhouse emissions. However, as pointed out by Professor Ross Baldick of the University of Texas at Austin, there are still some complex issues to be worked out, such as wind power transmission constraints, production tax credits, wind supply and electricity demand correlation, intermittency of wind power, and the sustainability of increasing the exploitation of wind power. Baldick has an interest in the interactions of policy decisions, economic implications, and the optimization of the electricity market. Over the last three years he has focused on the renewable energy markets, noting that large amounts of capital have been committed to the cause of reducing greenhouse emissions. He noted that the time is ripe in Texas to evaluate and refine the renewable energies policies. Using a model of real-time market with wind resources, he pointed out that "locational marginal prices" reflect the market effect of the current limited transmission capacity of wind power from different locations in Texas. He also noted that the Federal Production Tax Credits and State Renewable Energy Credits have enabled the short-run sustainability of wind farms from unfavorable locations. Baldick is of the opinion that in the long run, policy decisions on subsidizing the use of renewable energies may not play well with market forces. He suggests that future research can examine the long-term self-sustainability of wind farms, the correlation between the demand and supply of wind energy, and the possibility of a flexible system to cope with the variability of wind supply.

"Avoiding bunches of buses," by Mike Trick.
While the INFORMS conference is big enough to stay within a narrow research area, it is also a great place to get inspiration outside your focus.  I hopped in to see a talk given by Don Eisenstein on work he has done with John Bartholdi on "scheduling" buses.  Don and I were in graduate school together, and we each had John as our advisor, but we work in completely different areas.

Don talked about a system they have put in place to handle buses, trollies, and other transportation systems that have multiple vehicles going over the same routes.  I am sure we have all had the frustration of waiting a long time for a bus, only to have three buses (all running the same route) appear in quick succession. Read more.

INFORMS is using the latest in social networking technology to keep you informed and connected as never before at the Annual Meeting.

Blogs - Visit the Annual Meeting website during the meeting for commentary from your friends and colleagues.

Tweets - All attendees are invited to share what they are doing and seeing in real time. Remember to add hashtag "#informs2010" to your tweets, and they will appear on the Annual Meeting homepage during the meeting. Also "follow" the official conference Twitter feed, INFORMS2010, to receive important conference announcements.

LinkedIn - Connect with other attendees on the Annual Meeting LinkedIn Group to discuss key topics.

Photos and Video - Attendees are encouraged to take photos and video at the meeting; send your photos to photosandvideo@mail.informs.org, and we'll post them on the Annual Meeting website.

Free Wireless Internet - It's easy to stay connected. The Austin Convention Center features free wireless Internet throughout, including all meeting rooms.

Stop by the INFORMS booth in Exhibit Hall 3 (Booth #46) to receive valuable products and information:

• Speakers Book Store - over 30 titles on display!
• 50% off INFORMS books sale
• Free sample journals
• Free 2009 Edelman DVD - just ask!
• Information on volunteering
• Free Community newsletters
• Membership information (what's changing in 2011)
• Renewal assistance
• Presidents slide show
• 25+ Year Ribbons

Eleven new INFORMS fellows were inducted at the Fellows Luncheon on Monday. Congratulations to the new fellows:

John A. Buzacott      
Jonathan Caulkins  
W. Peter Cherry        
William J. Cook        
Brenda Dietrich        
Jehoshua Eliashberg

Michel Gendreau

Benjamin Hobbs

Ronald L. Rardin

V. "Seenu" Srinivasan

Glen L. Urban

The Fellow Award is reserved for distinguished individuals who have demonstrated outstanding and exceptional accomplishments and experience in OR/MS.