OR/MS Today articles from December 2003

OR/MS Today archives from December 2003

Good, better & best.(Inside Story)(Short Story)
December 1, 2003... It was the night before INFORMS formally presented an ambitious initiative to market the profession at a special session during the Institute's annual meeting in Atlanta, and the campaign was already helping operations research make friends and...

Operations research: the science of better.(President's Desk)(Transcript)
December 1, 2003... It's hard to believe that the year is almost over. I chaired my last board meeting in Atlanta and this is my last President's Desk Column. It has been a very good year for INFORMS, thanks to hundreds of our members that volunteer to help the...

More on software patents.(Informs Online)
December 1, 2003... If you work at a university involved in distance learning, or if you work at any company involved in serving streaming media, then your employer is likely to be hearing soon from a company called Acacia Research Corp. About two years ago,...

IT matters, but only in frame.(Cyberspace)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... A thought-provoking article in Harvard Business Review, "IT doesn't matter" by Nicholar Carr [1], has generated much response in letters to HBR and in various magazines and newspaper columns. Much of this response is thought-provoking as well....

Column welcomes wide range of topics.(Issues In Education)(Column)
December 1, 2003... Traditionally, the incoming editor of the "Issues in Education" column uses his or her first column as a combination mission statement/call for papers/motivational speech. Rather than break with such a distinguished tradition, I will use this...

Just say no? No way!(Was It Something I Said?)
December 1, 2003... One key objective for my first semester as a professor was to take on no additional commitments in order to focus on my teaching, research and consulting. Alas, I am by nature drawn to new projects like a moth to a flame, and this semester has...

USC named Homeland Security Center of Excellence.(Real World)(UNITED STATE CODE)(DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY)
December 1, 2003... The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has chosen the University of Southern California as the first Homeland Security Center of Excellence. USC is expected to receive $12 million over the course of the next three years for the study of risk...

Andrew Vazsonyi: 1916-2003.(In Memoriam)(Obituary)
December 1, 2003... Andrew Vazsonyi, 87, of Santa Rosa, Calif., an internationally recognized author, researcher and educator and a founding father of The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS), died Nov. 13, 2003. Dr. Vazsonyi authored more than 70 technical...

Dana R. Clyman: 1952-2003.(In Memoriam)(Obituary)
December 1, 2003... Dana Ross Clyman, 51, died Nov. 11, 2003, at the University of Virginia Hospital. Dr. Clyman was an associate professor of business administration at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, where he...

Diagnosis: mismanagement.(Real World)
December 1, 2003... The health care system in the United States and Canada could cut ballooning hospital expenditures more than 10 percent if management adopted the same proven techniques for managing limited resources that are commonly used in manufacturing,...

Special issue of Transportation Science honors first flight.(Real World)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Transportation Science has published a special issue devoted to the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight. "The strong link between operations research and aviation makes it very natural and perhaps mandatory to commemorate the...

CPR continues on the Right Track.(Real World)(Canadian Pacific Railway)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Canadian Pacific Railway--the winner of the 2003 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences (see "On the Right Track;' OR/MS Today, June 2003) was featured on the cover of the September 2003 issue of...

Book reprinting, Atlanta session salute 'father of OR' in U.S.(Real World)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The seminal OR book, "Methods of Operations Research" (ISBN 0-48643234-3) by Philip M. Morse and George E. Kimball, has been reprinted by Dover Publications. The book, originally published by Wiley and MIT in 1951 based on the classified...

'The science of better': informs unveils ambitious new campaign to market the profession. Will it reach its target audience and change the hearts and minds of business executives? Stay tuned.(Marketing the Profession)
December 1, 2003... HOW DO YOU MARKET, LET ALONE PACKAGE AND sell, a "product" that defies description? That's the problem facing INFORMS as it grapples with an apparent conundrum that's almost as old as operations research itself. For more than 50 years, leaders...

Life after Edelman: they once played in the "Super Bowl of OR," but where are they now? Researchers track down nearly two dozen former Edelman finalists in the not-for-profit sector to see if their contributors stand the test of time.
December 1, 2003... THE FRANZ EDELMAN PRIZE COMPETITION IS A showcase for the very best applications of operations research/management science, We set out to find out what had happened to the private sector finalists from the 1989-1998 competitions following...

And justice for all: Supreme Court's decisions on affirmative action in college admission cases raise challenges for quantitative analysts.
December 1, 2003... THE U. S. SUPREME COURT RECENTLY DECIDED TWO CASES redefining the acceptable limits of affirmative action in admissions to higher education. The Court's reasoning raised a number of statistical and assessment issues that could keep OR/MS...

Linear programming: seventh in a series of LP surveys spotlights trend toward broadening scope of optimization software.(2003 Software Survey)
December 1, 2003... This is the seventh in a series of surveys of software for linear programming, dating back to 1990. As in the case of earlier surveys, information has been gathered by means of a questionnaire sent to LP software vendors by the editors of OR/MS...

Mathematica 5: 'Mathematical system' offers wealth of features for operations research professionals.(Software review)
December 1, 2003... MATHEMATICA FROM WOLFRAM RESEARCH IS well known as a "mathematical system" for mathematicians, but it is perhaps not as well known for its wealth of features for OR professionals. The new version 5 is even more compelling for OR professionals...

UPS captures informs prize.(Informs News)(United Parcel Service)
December 1, 2003... The 2003 INFORMS Prize was awarded to United Parcel Service for its "sustained use of operations research and management science technologies throughout its organization?' The INFORMS Prize honors organizations for effective integration of...

Operations research in the news.(Informs News)
December 1, 2003... At our annual meeting in Atlanta, INFORMS President Tom Cook introduced our profession as "The Science of Better." The theme for the major marketing initiative that Tom and our committee has been planning was presented with great enthusiasm at...

Vieille, Whitt win Lanchester prize.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)
December 1, 2003... The Lanchester Prize for 2003 was awarded to Nicolas Vieille and Ward Whitt. The Lanchester Prize is awarded for the best contribution to operations research and the management sciences published in English. Committee Chairman Rakesh Vohra made...

Informs Bestows Kimball Medals on gray, Sauter.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)
December 1, 2003... Paul Gray, a former president of TIMS, and Vicki L. Sauter a former treasurer of INFORMS and secretary of ORSA, received the George E. Kimball Medal at the 2003 INFORMS Meeting in Atlanta. Kimball Medal Committee Chair Robert Abrams made the...

Nemirovski, Todd win Von Neumann prize.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)
December 1, 2003... The 2003 John von Neumann Theory Prize was awarded to Arkadi Nemirovski and Michael J. Todd "in recognition of their seminal and profound contributions to continuous optimization." The prize, presented by Committee Chair David Yao at the...

President-elect Larson receives President's Award.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Richard C. Larson, whose myriad contributions to INFORMS and its predecessors ORSA and TIMS is only matched by his contributions to society through his OR research and applied work, received the 2003 INFORMS President's Award at the INFORMS...

Blumstein receives Morse Lectureship Award.(Atlanta Meeting Award)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Al Blumstein, a former president of ORSA, TIMS and INFORMS. has received seemingly every honor the organizations had to offer during his long and distinguished career. When Blumstein was named the 2003 recipient of the Philip McCord Morse...

Teaching of OR/MS practice is 'Golden'.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)
December 1, 2003... Bruce L. Golden, who holds the France-Merrick Chair in Management Science at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, was presented the 2003 INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice for his "extraordinary...

Cinlar earns Writing Award.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)
December 1, 2003... Erhan Cinlar received the 2003 INFORMS Expository Writing Award for his book, "Introduction to Stochastic Processes;' published in 1975 by Prentice Hall. Committee Chair Robert J. Vanderbei made the presentation at the 2003 INFORMS Meeting...

Nicholson Student Paper Competition.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... MIT swept the 2003 George E. Nicholson Student Paper Competition, winning every thing in sight. Aurelle Thiele and Ramesh Johari of MIT shared first-place honors in the competition for the best student papers in operations research and the...

Dantzig Dissertation Award.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Paat Rusmevichiengtong of Stanford University won the 2003 George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award for his dissertation, "A Non Parametric Approach to Multi-Product Pricing: Theory and Application' The award, named for the "Father of Linear...

Roundtable Recognition.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Caption: At the INFORMS Meeting In Atlanta, the Roundtable's Chuck Beall (right In all photos) presented certificates of appreciation and commemorative glass globes to Roundtable leaders who have served on the...

UCLA's DOTM celebrates historic meeting.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)(University of California(Los Angels))(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... In September of 1953, Mel Salveson organized a meeting of friends and professional acquaintances he considered leaders in a new discipline known collectively as the "management sciences." Seven of them showed up at the Faculty Center in the...

Informs salutes more 'fellow' awardees.(Atlanta Meeting Awards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... INFORMS announced the 2003 recipients of the INFORMS Fellow Awards. The Fellow Awards recognize INFORMS members who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the fields of operations research and management science. The...

Summer workshop on teaching of management science.(Informs News)
December 1, 2003... Many educators within INFORMS are aware that the management science content of the business school curriculum generally declined during the 1990s. Fewer of us may know, however, that management science is thriving at a few schools like...

Meetings.(Informs News)(Calendar)
December 1, 2003... INFORMS Meetings 2004 April 25-27 INFORMS Conference on OR/MS Practice Applying Science to the Art of Business Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Mass. Chair: Grace Lin, IBM Business Consulting Services www.informs.ors/Conf/Practice04/...

Introduction to Optimization.(New Books)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Part of the Texts in Applied Mathematics Series, "Introduction to Optimization" is an undergraduate textbook that introduces students of science and engineering to the field of optimization. The book brings together the subfields of...

Innovations in financial and economic networks.(New Books)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Networks provide the foundation for the functioning of our societies and economies. Their study has had a long tradition in such fields as engineering, operations research, management science and computer science. More recently, the disciplines...

Quantitative models for performance evaluation and benchmarking: data envelopment analysis with spreadsheets.(New Bodes)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... It is difficult to evaluate an organization's performance when there are multiple inputs and multiple outputs to the system. The difficulties are further enhanced when the relationships between the inputs and the outputs are complex and involve...

The general's parable.(ORacle)
December 1, 2003... Late fall's chill was in the air, and the stiff breeze drove a steady, cold rain, but the OR/MS analyst and his host were warm and comfortable in front of the fireplace. The analyst had recently learned about the value of fear in the...