OR/MS Today articles from August 2005

OR/MS Today archives from August 2005

Don't shoot the messenger.(INSIDE STORY)(Editorial)
August 1, 2005... By now, long-time readers of OR/MS Today are used to the question: If operations research is so good at solving so many critical business problems, why aren't more O.R. professionals on CEOs' speed dials? Depending on whom you talk to, two...

A society of learners.(PRESIDENT'S DESK)
August 1, 2005... Think of it. Ten years ago most of us had not visited the World Wide Web! Now we use it everyday, and some of our nation's most successful private firms are Web-based businesses. In many ways INFORMS is becoming a Web-based society. Not so long...

The Internet is going to the dogs.(INFORMS ONLINE)
August 1, 2005... It seems like there was a time when the Internet was a playground for researchers, start-up businesses and technology mavens, but that time is lost to memory. Where there is Internet innovation, Internet lowlifes are certain to follow. I...

O.R. confidential.(CYBERSPACE)(operations research)
August 1, 2005... "So why did you join the [police] force, Jack?" "... I don't remember." --"L.A. Confidential" In today's society with its mass education, universities are intended to cater to students. This may be shocking news to some people, but we...

'Crafty' approach to work, play, life.(WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID)
August 1, 2005... Everywhere I look--and I look in some odd places--everyone is working on (and/or talking about) their "craft." On the the show "Inside the Actor's Studio," one performer after another after another claims to be continually working on their...

'Will this be on the test?' A professor's pet peeve in the classroom becomes a business essential in the real world.(ISSUES IN EDUCATION)
August 1, 2005... If someone were to poll professors from all fields of study to determine their most loathed questions from students, variations of "Will this be on the test?," "Do we have to know this?," and the ever-insulting "Is this important?" would...

Health care industry pays steep price for ignoring IT.(REAL WORLD)(information technology)
August 1, 2005... The U.S. health care industry has neglected engineering strategies and technologies that have revolutionized quality, productivity and performance in many other industries, says a new report from the National Academy of Engineering and...

Sophisticated sensors, schemes can't stop suicide bombers.(REAL WORLD)
August 1, 2005... Hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed by suicide bombers in Iraq during the current insurgency. Suicide bombers have murdered more than 500 Israeli civilians since 2001. Untold numbers of people around the world have been killed...

The science of better politicking.(REAL WORLD)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Republican Town Councilman George Franek Jr. recently kicked off his campaign for mayor of East Hartford, Conn. Franek, 59, who has served for a dozen years on the Town Council, announced his candidacy before a "crowd of 50 or so supporters" at...

The right O.R. stuff.(Eileen Collins the great person)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Eileen Collins, commander of the shuttle Discovery that recently returned the United States to manned space flight 2 1/2-years after the loss of the shuttle Columbia, has "the right stuff" as far as the O.R. profession is concerned. Collins...

Second thoughts on citation counts, impact factors.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... To the Editor: In the April issue of OR/MS Today an article by ManMohan Sodhi [1] outlines the case for U.K. academics to use citation counts as provided by impact factors in order to rank OR/MS journals. In that article certain aspects...

My favorite George Dantzig story.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... To the Editor: Everyone has a favorite George Dantzig story. Here's mine. It was the summer of 1968, and I was doing the final oral defense of my dissertation. George was one of the members of the committee. It was his turn to ask...

Operations research for everyone (including poets): seven really useful O.R. frameworks that can be effectively employed by anyone.(CLASSROOM DILEMMAS)
August 1, 2005... Operations researchers have now been at it for more than 65 years and have developed a huge body of knowledge that many of us believe is really useful. However, although we can certainly argue that operations research has improved living...

O.R. in biz school: the good, the bad and the ugly; A research call to arms: the time has come for rigorous empirical research on business analytics to identify commonalities, opportunities, problems and solutions.(CLASSROOM DILEMMAS)(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)
August 1, 2005... INFORMS is running a campaign called "The Science of Better" to educate business executives about the benefits of O.R. This is a welcome and important initiative, and I wish it had happened many years sooner. Back in the days when I was an O.R....

What industry wants from O.R. grads: preliminary results from analysis of employment ads offer insight on job market for students, instructors, university program directors and employers.(CLASSROOM DILEMMAS)
August 1, 2005... As we go "back to school" with this issue of OR/MS Today, it may be useful to reflect on what we are going to school for. For students, school usually means gainful employment and for their instructors it means, or at least it should mean,...

The life and times of the father of linear programming.(IN MEMORIAM)(George Bernard Dantzig)(Obituary)
August 1, 2005... GEORGE B. DANTZIG (1914-2005)--OPERATIONS RESEARCH/MANAGEMENT SCIENCE PIONEER, MATHEMATICIAN, PROFESSOR, EDUCATOR, CONSULTANT AND AUTHOR--WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN ESTABLISHING THE O.R. PROFESSION AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING AND...

My 'George stories' now cherished memories.(Reminiscences of George B. Dantzig)(George Bernard Dantzig)
August 1, 2005... It was Jan. 16, 1952 when I reported to my new job in the Pentagon. I had just transferred from a position as a mathematician with the Aberdeen Bombing Mission, a U.S. Air Force unit in Los Angeles. I was a young, inexperienced mathematician,...

Gentle soul welcomed me into his research world.(Reminiscences of George B. Dantzig)(George Bernard Dantzig)
August 1, 2005... My earliest reminiscence of George Dantzig dates back to 1961 when I was a first-year doctoral student in mathematics at U.C. Berkeley. I was a part-time programmer in the Computer Services Department of the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory (BRL)...

He made powerful ideas seem simple.(Reminiscences of George B. Dantzig)(George Bernard Dantzig)
August 1, 2005... Imagine what it must have been like to meet Euler, Lagrange, Newton or any of the other great mathematicians or scientists of the 17th, 18th or 19th centuries. Those of us who have known George Dantzig had the 20th century equivalent. When...

Monumental contributions to LP met the test.(Reminiscences of George B. Dantzig)(George Bernard Dantzig)
August 1, 2005... In early 1962 I had offers from George Dantzig for a research position at U.C. Berkeley and from Stanford as a tenure-track assistant professor. I chose the latter. My disappointment at missing the opportunity to be involved with George didn't...

Never a dull moment with brilliant, caring, witty GBD.(Reminiscences of George B. Dantzig)(George Bernard Dantzig)
August 1, 2005... I can still clearly remember the first day I walked into George B. Dantzig's office. I had read about him in an undergraduate course on linear programming, so this was an opportunity I had looked forward to. I had just arrived at Stanford, from...

Xpress-MP 2005A: mathematical modeling and optimization suite serves many needs.(SOFTWAREREVIEW)(Product/Service Evaluation)
August 1, 2005... THE NEW RELEASE 2005A OF XPRESS-MP adds a number of enhancements to an already impressive suite of optimization and modeling software. Since its inception, Xpress-MP has distinguished itself for fulfilling the efficient implementation of...

New Orleans meeting: ecologies, economies & O.R.; New Orleans to host INFORMS Annual Meeting Nov. 13-16.(INFORMS NEWS)
August 1, 2005... The INFORMS Annual Meeting 2005 New Orleans, set for Nov. 13-16, promises to be the most extensive meeting to date, with 47 tracks containing more than 750 sessions and more than 2,600 presentations. The program also includes a wide variety of...

Technology management highlights at INFORMS New Orleans 2005.(INFORMS NEWS)(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)
August 1, 2005... Eric von Hippel, the head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at MIT Sloan School, will be the "distinguished speaker" for the Technology Management Section (TMS) and the New Product Development (NPD) group at the upcoming INFORMS...

Meetings exceed expectations.(INFORMS NEWS)(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)
August 1, 2005... The change of the millennium was accompanied by a major change in the INFORMS' meeting calendar. INFORMS moved from holding two national conferences a year (i.e., the "spring" and "fall" meetings) to holding one national conference in the...

WSC registration open.(INFORMS NEWS)
August 1, 2005... The 2005 Winter Simulation Conference registration is now open. Take advantage of the early registration savings and come join us in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 4-7. Visit (www.wintersim.org/registration.htm) to register today. With a packed...

Position statement: Brenda Dietrich.(INFORMS NEWS)(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)
August 1, 2005... For the past 20 years I have found operations research to be an exciting discipline combining the beauty and rigor of mathematics with the creativity of models and algorithms, and harnessing the power of computation. Today our profession has an...

Position statement: Stephen M. Robinson.(INFORMS NEWS)(institue for operations research and the management sciences)
August 1, 2005... The president of INFORMS traditionally has suggested a theme for the term of office. In the discussion below I'll outline three aspects of connecting that seem to me to meet INFORMS' most critical current needs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

UCLA.(PEOPLE)(University of California (Los Angeles))(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Art Geoffrion, the James A. Collins Professor of Management at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, received an honorary doctorate from Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen during ceremonies held in Aachen, Germany. RWTH Aachen...

E. Andrew Boyd.(E. Andrew Boyd)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... E. Andrew Boyd, chief scientist and senior vice president of science and research at PROS, was named 2004 Executive of the Year by the PROS Board of Directors. The PROS Executive of the Year Award was established by the company to "recognize...

Anna Nagurney.(Radcliffe Institute fellow for the 2005-06 academic year)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Anna Nagurney, the John F. Smith Memorial Professor in the Department of Finance and Operations Management at the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has been selected as a Radcliffe Institute fellow for the...

Marlin U. Thomas.(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)(Professor of Industrial Engineering )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Marlin U. Thomas, INFORMS Fellow and professor of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University, was awarded the Institute of Industrial Engineering's Frank Groseclose Medallion Award at the annual awards banquet. Thomas was selected for making a...

Roundtable explores data mining.(INFORMS NEWS)(Institute for Operations Research and the management sciences)(Brief Article)(Panel Discussion)
August 1, 2005... The Roundtable hosted its winter retreat for 40 members and guests in February 2005 at Amelia Island Plantation in Florida. The meeting focused on data mining topics. Ranga Nuggehalli from the Roundtable Meetings Committee coordinated the...

Dissertation Award for O.R. in Telecommunications.(INFORMS NEWS)(Operations Research)(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)
August 1, 2005... Nominations are requested for the Ph.D. Dissertation Award for Operations Research in Telecommunications. The award is funded by the INFORMS Technical Section on Telecommunications and recognizes outstanding achievements of young people in the...

Meetings.(INFORMS NEWS)(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)(Calendar)
August 1, 2005... INFORMS National & International Meetings 2005 Nov. 13-16 INFORMS Annual Meeting 2005 New Orleans New Orleans Marriott & Sheraton New Orleans Chair: James J. Cochran, Louisiana Tech University www.informs.org/Conf/NO2005...

INFORMS 2003-2004 financial statements: independent auditors' report.(INFORMS NEWS)(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)(Illustration)
August 1, 2005... March 25, 2005 To the Board of Directors Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Hanover, Maryland We have audited the accompanying statements of financial position of the Institute for Operations...

What's Best 8.0 releases faster, more flexible solver.(INDUSTRY NEWS)(Lindo Systems Inc.)
August 1, 2005... LINDO Systems released What's Best 8.0--a new release of its Solver add-in for Excel that is faster and more powerful. The new release is, on average, five times faster than the previous release on large linear models using default settings....

New features enhance CACI's SIMPROCESS Version 4.(SIMPROCESS Version 4.2)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... CACI announced the release of SIMPROCESS Version 4.2 that contains the following new features: * "View" button appearing on the Documentation tab of Process and Activity properties dialogs will launch an appropriate application to handle...

New version of GoldSim targets user's requests.(INDUSTRY NEWS)(GoldSim Technology Group )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... GoldSim Technology Group has released Version 9 of GoldSim, a probabilistic simulation package that supports continuous, discrete and hybrid modeling. This latest version incorporates a number of new features specifically requested by users,...

Case study: ecological risk assessment.(INDUSTRY NEWS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... With over 2,000 acres along the shores of the Great Salt Lake, the Kennecott Southshore Wetlands is an important habitat for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl. Kennecott Utah Copper, the second largest copper producer in the United States,...

The secret of power.(ORACLE)
August 1, 2005... The O.R. analyst was doing well, but still he was not content. He decided to consult, again, the oracle (actually a retired business executive) who had, some time earlier, revealed to him the secret of wealth. The analyst had only to say,...