This article describes what I remember about the origins of the INFORMS Computing Society (ICS) with help from colleagues (see acknowledgments). It began with informal conversations among Jerry Brown, Milt Gutterman and others at the 1974 San Juan ORSA meeting. Following the ACM structure (and some other organizations), they discussed the formation of a special interest group (SIG) within ORSA, which did not yet have any formal structure for a SIG. Samuel Gorenstein started the official ball rolling at the 1975 Las Vegas ORSA-TIMS meeting.He was with IBM, and his background was queueing theory. He wanted to include people in mathematical programming systems – a natural interface of operations research and computer science (CS). I was eager to be involved.
Volume 33, Number 6, December 2006
FEATURE ARTICLES
DIGITAL EDITION
DEPARTMENTS 
Inside Story
Nerds Gone Wild
Another round of quick shots and bon mots from the Three-Dot Lounge, this time located on an outbound flight from Pittsburgh, site of the fall INFORMS meeting:
President's Desk
Volunteerism Alive and Well
In the afterglow of the 2006 Annual INFORMS meeting in Pittsburgh, I can only marvel at the dedication and energy of the numerous volunteers in our community and the professionalism of our staff. At last count, we had a record attendance of 3,781 registrants. This represents more than onethird of our membership and is the largest operations research/management science meeting ever held. Michael Trick, the general chair, did a superb job of organizing what many people have told me was the “best INFORMS meeting I have ever attended.”
Issues in Education
Teaching MIP Modeling and Solving
Dear reader, do you know what the maximum sizes of linear programs are that can be solved at present in acceptable running time? What about instances of integer or mixed integer programming? What about special combinatorial optimization problems such as the min-cost flow, the max-cut or the traveling salesman problem? If a colleague, customer or student asks, what would you answer?
INFORMS Online
Time for Change … Again
It’s closing on six years since I succeeded Mike Trick (of course, nobody could replace him!) as editor in chief of INFORMS Online, so this December marks the end of my second and final term. We’ve accomplished a lot in that time, but there is a lot more to do.
Was It Something I Said
The Imposter Syndrome
I can’t remember how I felt on the day of my college graduation but I do remember how I looked. That spring, I had played role in a stage production of Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale,” and our director had persuaded the men in the cast to grow beards to enhance our characters. The beards drove many of the guys insane, and without exception, everyone else shaved it off immediately after the last performance in late April. For reasons I could neither understand nor explain, I decided to keep mine.
Forum
The AIDS Pandemic: A Worldwide Challenge for O.R.
August saw Toronto play host to the XVI International AIDS Conference, attended by nearly 20,000 people from around the world, ranging from academic researchers, doctors, nurses and social workers to public officials and community and business leaders, all working in various areas of the response to the HIV pandemic. Like its predecessors, the 2006 conference sought to bring together advocates, researchers and practitioners from all areas of the AIDS response to discuss research findings, as well as clinical and field experience – with the collective goal of invigorating the global effort to care for and treat HIV-infected people, and to prevent new infections.
Roundtable Profile
O.R. Soars at Boeing
BOEING IS THE WORLD’S LEADING AEROSPACE COMPANY and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. With additional capabilities in rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems, the company’s reach extends to customers in 145 countries. In terms of sales, Boeing is the largest U.S. exporter.
ORacle
The Artists’ Parable
“So tell me,” an admiring colleague asked, “what was this award I just read about that you won?”