Operations Research Management Science Today - President's Desk

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - December 2002</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>President's Desk</B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+2"><B>An Educational Experience</B></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>By Mike Trick</FONT><br> <I>INFORMS President<BR> <A HREF="mailto:trick@cmu.edu">trick@cmu.edu</A></I></B></FONT><br> <hr size="1"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    <IMG SRC="../art/trick.jpg" WIDTH="122" HEIGHT="178" HSPACE="3" VSPACE="0" ALIGN="Left" ALT="INFORMS President, Mike Trick">It is hard to believe that my year as president is almost over. It certainly has been an educational experience. I have learned a lot about people and organizations and, while I am not quite ready to tackle the Iraq situation, I think I am a little better at negotiation and crisis handling than I was a year ago.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> I learned what to do when three breakfast meetings show up on my schedule (have breakfast in my room, then just drink orange juice at the meetings). I have had the chance to meet a lot of interesting, creative people, and I hope I take their drive and energy back to the rest of my life.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Two years ago, when devising my election statement, I wanted to work on issues of membership satisfaction. Seeing where we are now, I am happy with the progress we have made. We have fixed some of the little things, making it easier to renew your membership online and automating some of the routine interactions with the office. We have provided new services, such as providing access to <I>International Abstracts in OR/MS</I> and expanding our list of journals you have access to at a discount. We are providing more information online, through INFORMS Online and its online guide to the OR/MS world.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> We have improved our recognition of our history and success stories through our new Fellows award and through our celebration of the 50th anniversary of operations research in the United States. We are providing more subdivision autonomy and activity through the new Subdivision Council. We are reaching out to high school teachers in order to educate the next generation of OR/MS researchers and practitioners, and we have been active in the shaping of educational policy on all levels.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> All of this, and more, was done on top of our ongoing operations in journals, conferences, prizes and other services. The result of this appears to be a sharp increase in member retention, reversing six years of membership declines. There is a lot more to do to meet the needs of our members, but we are better now than we were two years ago, and we will be better still two years from now.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> One key aspect of INFORMS that I would like to reiterate is "social capital," the glue that binds individuals into groups. People, particularly in the United States, are less likely to partake in activities that lead to social capital than they were 25 years ago. They are less likely to invite people to dinner, be active in a political party, join organized sports or be members of professional societies.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> For those of us in OR/MS, this change has a profound effect on our professional lives. We thrive on interactions; if we do not interact with others, we lose the ability to generate new ideas and solve problems. We all know that our methods and approach to problem-solving can have a far broader impact than they currently have (though the current impact is very large).<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> "If only more people knew about us," we complain. Without broad interactions within and outside our field, people will not know about us, and we will not have the effect we should have. INFORMS is working to make our field better known, but we need all of our members to help spread the word that what we do is valuable, useful and interesting.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Of course, the key word in this column is "we." None of the successes we have had in the past years could have been done without the dedicated efforts of volunteers and staff. The volunteers of INFORMS spend countless hours editing journals, organizing conferences, creating new initiatives through dozens of committees, and having local activities through our subdivisions. The energy and activity of this group is truly outstanding. The INFORMS Board has been particularly effective, and I have greatly enjoyed our discussions and meetings.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> I am particularly proud of the partnership we have in INFORMS between our volunteers and staff. INFORMS Executive Director Mark Doherty has put together a tremendous group of people to support and enhance volunteer efforts. Without staff work, most volunteer initiatives would amount to nothing. With the high quality staff we have, INFORMS can work to meet its goals of advancing OR/MS. Personally, I have greatly enjoyed working with the staff, and will miss that aspect of this job most of all.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> My time as president is almost over, leaving me to act as the "wise old man" as past president next year. I think we have an exciting and interesting year coming up. President-elect Tom Cook has a tremendous number of ideas on how to make people aware of OR/MS and how to support all of our members, with an emphasis on the practical aspects of what we do. There is no question in my mind that what we do is important, and I am excited to see concerted efforts to let others know about our successes.<BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <font face="verdana, arial, helvetica" size="1"> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</I></A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2003 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. 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