The 2006 INFORMS spring conference on "Applying Science to the Art of Business" will focus on the competitive advantage of analytics in an intensive three-day program. It will also launch the new Franz Edelman Competition, with six finalist presentations on high-impact O.R. followed by a gala awards ceremony and banquet on Monday evening. Conference registrants, past Edelman winners and finalists, INFORMS leaders and members of the media are invited to both the competition and the ceremony.

The conference will be held April 30-May 2 at the InterContinental Hotel in Miami. Executives from Shell, UPS, Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com, Intel, the U.S. Army, Washington Mutual, IBM and other leading companies will offer advice on O.R. applications and best practices. Well-known academic speakers from schools such as Columbia, MIT, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Georgia Tech and Wharton will provide training on strategy and O.R. methodologies.

Three plenary speakers will headline the conference program: Glenn Wegryn, associate director of global analytics at Procter & Gamble; Marshall Fisher, UPS professor at Wharton; and Thomas Davenport, director of research at Babson College and author of a recent study on the growth of analytics as a competitive advantage. Wegryn will share perspectives on principles for sustaining a vibrant O.R. practice within an organization, based on his 20+ years of experience at P&G. Fisher will explore the practices that separate success from failure in applying O.R. solutions to business problems. In the final plenary, Davenport will describe how organizations are beginning to compete on the basis of their analytical capabilities and fact-based decision making.

The conference program, incorporating more than 80 sessions, has been designed by a 20-member council of practitioners and academics, chaired by Karl Kempf, director of Decision Technologies at Intel. Most presentations will be given by invited speakers, all of whom have been selected to address specific topics defined by the council. An additional 22 sessions were submitted as contributed presentations, and then selected through a rigorous review process. About half of submitted presentations are accepted.

"Our goal is to put together a cohesive program that emphasizes real-world applications across the scope of O.R. work, along with skill-building tutorials and software training," says Kempf.

The Edelman competition, dubbed the "Super Bowl" of applied O.R., is always a highlight of the conference and will provide special excitement this year. Six finalists will present their work during the day on Monday: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Travelocity, Cardinal Health, OMYA, Animal Health Institute and Warner Robins Air Logistics Center. That evening, all the finalists will be honored and the winner announced at a gala ceremony and banquet. Admission to the banquet is included in the conference registration fee.

Attendees can take advantage of two types of software training sessions: tutorials presented during the regular conference and half-day workshops offered on April 30. Presented by exhibiting companies, both the tutorials and workshops are popular value-added features.

Two special programs are designed for young researchers and graduate students, who are nominated by department chairs or senior faculty (the nomination deadline for both programs is March 1). The Young Researcher Roundtable provides junior faculty with new perspectives into critical problems facing industry today. The program offers exclusive networking opportunities and includes registration to the conference at a discounted rate.

The INFORMS Professional Colloquium, now in its second year, is designed for master's and doctoral students who are interested in practice careers (see page 40 for more details). The full-day, intensive program on April 30 provides career guidance with talks on the O.R. job search, best practices, mentoring and more. In addition to discounted conference registration, IPC attendees receive INFORMS membership. Limited scholarship assistance is available.

The conference location, the InterContinental Miami, is a world-class hotel located on Biscayne Bay in the heart of the city's financial district and just minutes from South Beach, Coconut Grove and the airport. The deadline for making hotel reservations is March 29. Rooms are $172 single/double occupancy.

For continuing updates and to register, go to: www.informs.org/Conf/Practice06; 800-343-0062 or 410-722-2595; meetings@informs.org. The early registration deadline for discounted rates is April 17.

Conference Full-day Tracks Theories of O.R. Practice Intel's supply chain theory of practice, John Bean, Intel O.R.-based client engagements, Gary Cross, IBM Business Consulting Services Retail's journey from art to science, Kevin Freeland, independent consultant The art and science of the decision conference, Terry Bresnick, Innovative Decisions O.R. solutions in automotive manufacturing, Giuseppe Rossi, Ford Practical O.R., Harlan Crowder, Dieselbrain Partners Supply Chain Management with "O.R. Inside" Accelerating the use of O.R. within the enterprise, Barrett Crane, HP Integrating inventory, distribution and service, Louise Totten Knabe, Gillette Auction theory for O.R. practice, Michael Rothkopf, Rutgers University The impact of outsourcing to China on supply chains, Michael Jones, St. Onge RFID and its impact on the supply chain, Sanjay Sarma, OAT Systems Decision Analysis Applications Decision analysis-the master discipline, James Matheson, SmartOrg Military value analysis, Gregory Parnell, U.S. Military Academy Coherent modeling applied to the oil and gas industry, Daniel Zweidler, Shell DA to improve healthcare delivery systems, Francois Sainfort, Georgia Tech Creating a resilient supply chain, Jeffrey Roberts, Fujitsu Consulting DA in new product development, Ralph Morales, HP Applying Analytics in Services Detecting and preventing identity theft, Hollis Fishelson-Hostine, Washington Mutual Capacity and appointment management in healthcare, Diwakar Gupta, Univ. of Minnesota Workforce management solutions for IBM's services supply chain, Daniel Connors, IBM Research Public health O.R. for advancing emergency preparedness, Nathaniel Hupert, Weill Cornell Medical College Customer contact centers, Elaine Squittieri-Black, e-black.biz Logistics and Transportation Solutions Package flow technologies at UPS, Jack Levis, UPS 2005 Army BRAC, Robert Dell and William Tarantino, Naval Postgraduate School Benefits of optimization in e-retailing, Russell Allgor, Amazon.com USAF air mobility command, David Merrill, US Air Force Plus 11 methodology tutorials on simulation, revenue management, statistics, data mining, optimization and more.