New Orleans, home to world-famous cuisine, music, architecture, art and nightlife, is preparing to host the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2005, Nov. 13-16. The mild November climate and New Orleans hospitality, combined with an exciting technical program and special activities, will make INFORMS New Orleans one meeting that you won't want to miss.

Selection of the meeting theme, "Ecologies, Economies and O.R.," was motivated by Louisiana's vanishing coastline and the imminent threat this loss poses to the environment and energy sources. The goal of the meeting is to introduce OR/MS professionals to this promising research area by highlighting some of the current important problems and ongoing research efforts, as well as providing some direction for future critical research needs.

The meeting will feature a wide variety of exciting events, including:

• several plenary and keynote speakers, many of whom will address various aspects of the meeting theme;
  
  
• an increased practitioner orientation;
  
  
• a wide range of tutorial sessions that will span the entire meeting;
  
  
• Research Clinic Sessions in which practitioners and researchers will present potential research problems for consideration and discussion;
  
  
• Lunchtime Interactive Sessions including posters, media loops on laptops, 3-D models and other creative exhibits;
  
  
• several new topics for invited clusters;
  
  
• Sponsored Sessions organized by more than 30 subdivisions of INFORMS on topics ranging from applied probability to decision analysis to aviation application;
  
  
• the Sunday evening welcome reception in the exhibit hall — a great opportunity to meet your colleagues; and
  
  
• the general reception on Monday evening at Mardi Gras World, where Mardi Gras floats are designed, built and stored.

There is still time to contribute to the program; the abstract submission deadline is May 16, and abstracts received by this date will receive preference in scheduling. We will continue to accept contributed abstracts after the deadline as long as space is available on the program. We encourage everyone to submit early.

Research Clinic Sessions: Karen Chinander (kchinand@fau.edu) and Dan Guide (dguide@psu.edu) are continuing to organize these sessions. Contact either Karen or Dan to suggest possible topics or speakers. Lunchtime Interactive Sessions: contact George Polak (george.polak@wright.edu) for more details on these sessions.

The Organizing Committee is very excited about the program for the INFORMS Annual Meeting in New Orleans We look forward to seeing you there! For all the latest meeting updates, please go to www.informs.org/Conf/NO2005/.



James J. Cochran is the general chair, INFORMS Annual Meeting 2005 New Orleans.







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