Volume 37, Number 2, April 2010

Whirlwind O.R Tour

• Peter Horner

What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you think of Brazil? Soccer.What’s the next thing you think of? The Amazon, carnivals and beautiful beaches.

Time for a new journal

Publications are very important to INFORMS, communicating our contributions to society and the trajectory of our field. My prime reason for joining INFORMS as a new Ph.D. was to be able to subscribe to the journals. I wanted my own copies to read and to display on my bookshelf, plus I didn’t want to walk all the way to the library. Now, through my university library system, I have access to all 12 journals, every issue, day and night, just a few clicks away.

Beyond Phase 1: What’s next?

• ManMohan Sodhi

The new INFORMS OnLine (IOL) Web site has been up since November 2009, and so far so good. In the October 2009 issue of OR/MS Today, I discussed Phase 1 – what you see as of this writing – a Web site that concentrates mostly on members-only features. This design preserves most of the content from the previous Web site but presents it in a way that makes it more accessible. I could gloat about what the IOL team has achieved, but instead I would like to raise the question: what’s next?

Education: Where do we go from here?

• Ellen Jordan

I recently read the article by Vijay Mehrotra in the August 2009 edition of OR/MS Today (www.lionhrtpub.com/orms/orms-8-09/frsomething.html). The title was “Education Under Siege.”His personal reflection of the move from a large state institution to a small private school reminded me of the journey I took in 1984.Vijay,may you enjoy your journey as much as I have over this quarter of a century!

Divestment decisions, idea generation

• Barry List

In the United States, many observers and journalists suggest that companies divest their divisions and factories solely in response to poor or struggling operations. In fact, there are additional reasons. This study looks more broadly at the issue, examining strategic reasons for divestment and coupling the divestment decision with one in investment as a company seeks to grow or stay competitive. The study shows that two key drivers of divestment are realizing lower cost production and finding new market opportunities, especially in foreign markets.

O.R.: Roots & Rebranding

• ManMohan Sodhi

As I get older, names and the past interest me more than the future. One question that interests me pertains to the name and the roots of operations research (O.R.), especially as the field pertains to or should pertain to business schools. The field is usually described as being rooted in military operations in World War II.However,“O.R. can be weaned from its military roots” (Nazareth 2005). Although WWII did give a big boost to O.R., the roots “can be traced back many decades when early attempts were made to use a scientific approach in the management of organizations” (Hillier and Lieberman, 1980).Another impact was the rise of modern computer. As such, we can talk about multiple roots and hence their implications for naming or renaming the field.

Little’s Law, Brainstorming Alone, Athletic Analytics & More

• Barry List

Members of INFORMS and the greater O.R. community are encouraged to share their news-making research with the INFORMS Communications Department. Contact INFORMS Communications Director Barry List at [email protected] or 1-800-4INFORMs. Following are some recent examples of “O.R. in the News”:

Time for a change

• Vijay Mehrotra

Anne Robinson from Cisco (and a member of the INFORMS Board of Directors) recently invited me to join an ad hoc INFORMS committee exploring the “market” for analytics. Prior to our first meeting, she e-mailed a slide presentation that included not only a provocative title (“Analytics Market Study: The Future of INFORMS?”) but also some strong validation about how important analytics are becoming, most notably the fact that Gartner has identified analytics as one of the “Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010.”

Neuroscience and operations research: a two-way street

In 1986,my brother Hubert, a professor of philosophy, and I wrote the book “Mind over Machine: The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer” [Dreyfus and Dreyfus 1986] in which we argued that the brain produces skillful coping behavior in familiar types of situations by using involved intuition rather than by detached thinking. By “thinking” we meant the kind of reasoning, symbol manipulating, rule-following, theory-based procedures, etc. that we are consciously aware of as we face novel problems. Our primary goal was to argue that the belief held by most researchers designing expert systems at that time – that experts use reasoning and rules – was misguided. Our argument was phenomenological, meaning based on careful observation of both novice and expert naturalistic behavior.

Patient No. 21

• John Toczek

Making a correct diagnosis on a patient is a very challenging task for a doctor. A complex disease can manifest through any number of symptoms that often leave “trial and error” as the only method for arriving at the correct diagnosis. To aid doctors in this daunting task, mathematical modeling can be used to help guide a diagnosis.

Princeton Consultants Inc.

• Peter Tobia

Princeton Consultants (www.princeton.com) is a consulting firm with offices in Princeton, N.J., and New York City. The firm specializes in optimization, combining information technology and management consulting in every assignment. Its goal: help clients to create operational and strategic advantage by using custom-produced software and business-process changes to improve decision making. Its mission: educate senior executives about how optimization enables companies to achieve competitive advantage, drive up the value of assets under management and provide a high priority strategic investment.

Risk Solver Platform V9.6 features new Guided Mode

Frontline Systems is shipping Version 9.6 of its Risk Solver Platform software for optimization and simulation in Microsoft Excel, featuring a new Guided Mode to help users understand and use the software’s advanced capabilities, especially for stochastic optimization. A free trial version is available for download from www.solver.com.

The piano teacher’s parable

The OR/MS analyst’s dinners with his Aunt Sarah had gotten less frequent in recent years as he spent more time on his job and with his now-growing family, but he still treasured these opportunities. She had been his first piano teacher, and from her patient but insistent coaching back then, he had come to rely heavily on her advice in general.Now they were dawdling over dessert, savoring the last of the wine and enjoying the cozy ambience of the restaurant.“So,”Aunt Sarah prompted,“tell me more about how work is going.”

INFORMS COMBINED COLLOQUIA

The 2010 INFORMS Combined Colloquia will be held Nov. 5-6, the Friday and Saturday preceding the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. This Combined Colloquia will feature the:

INFORMS WORKSHOP ON DATA MINING AND HEALTH INFORMATICS

The Data Mining (DM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Health Applications (HA) sections of INFORMS are sponsors of a workshop to be held Nov. 6 in conjunction with the 2010 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. The objectives of the workshop are to present state-of-the-art research and practice of health care applications; encourage research collaboration among DM, AI and HA members; publicize the sections; and attract new members within and beyond INFORMS.

2010 INFORMS IMPACT PRIZE

The INFORMS Impact Prize, awarded once every two years, is intended to recognize contributions that have had a broad impact on the field. The contribution could be an idea or technique that is widely used, or it could be someone who played a major role in bringing significant methodology into widespread use (e.g. by playing a major role in the design of a software package that is now widely used, or through extensive writings and lectures aimed at practitioners).

DOING GOOD WITH GOOD O.R. STUDENT COMPETITION

INFORMS is again sponsoring a competition to encourage student research and practice that has societal impact. The “Doing Good with Good O.R. Student Competition” will feature the most exciting work performed by students in partnership with public and private organizations that yields tangible and beneficial outcomes for individuals, communities and organizations. Such work will be infused with OR/MS methods and could appeal to multiple disciplinary and application area interests.

CIST 2010

The INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST 2010) will be held Nov. 6-7 in Austin, Texas. Information technology (IT) has facilitated innovations that have significantly transformed business as well as society as a whole. IS research today integrates ideas from several different research traditions and methodologies, and borrows from and contributes to computer science, economics, sociology, marketing, operations management and strategy.

CONFERENCE ON MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., will host a conference on “Engineering to Improve the Operations of Manufacturing Enterprises” on May 13. Leaders from government, industry and academic organizations will describe how operations engineering – the creation and use of models and principles from operations research and human systems integration disciplines – can help U.S. manufacturers succeed in the highly competitive global economy

SCHNEIDER NATIONAL, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY TEAM UP TO WIN WAGNER PRIZE

The Daniel H. Wagner prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice is sponsored by CPMS, the Practice Section of INFORMS. The first place award of $1,000.00 is made possible by endowments from Metron Inc., Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Inc. and Applied Mathematics, Inc

PEOPLE

Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois, was invited to serve on a blue-ribbon panel commissioned by the World Technology Evaluation Center to complete a study started in 2007 on the worldwide advances in vaccine development and production. The study previously analyzed the United States and Europe; Asia will be the focus of this latest phase. The director of his school’s Simulation and Optimization Laboratory, Jacobson has a distinguished record of research and expertise in the areas of vaccine economics, vaccine pricing, vaccine stockpiling and vaccine supply chain analysis. The panel of U.S. experts is scheduled to report its findings during a workshop in Washington, D.C., in May. The WTEC is the nation’s leading organization for conducting international technology assessments.

ALAN J. GOLDMAN

Alan J. Goldman, whose “passion for operations research and dedication to the use of mathematics to improve the human condition was an inspiration for all who knew him,” died Feb. 13 at his home in Baltimore. He was 77.

EDITOR IN CHIEF OF INTERFACES

The second term of Jeffrey D. Camm as editor in chief of Interfaces expires Dec. 31. Based on recommendations from the INFORMS Publications Committee, the president of INFORMS appointed a committee to conduct a full search for a new editor in chief. The committee intends to propose a candidate for approval by INFORMS no later than July 2. The deadline for nominations is May 3.