The 2010 INFORMS Conference 2010 entrance
Mechanical Engineering faculty were the prime movers for the 2010 meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in Austin. The Austin Hilton Hotel and the Austin Convention Center saw four very busy days from November 7th through November 10th, with over 4400 professionals attending. The attendance was a record for INFORMS beating the 2008 meeting in Washington DC.
INFORMS is the professional society for operations research. Operations research uses tools such as mathematical optimization, simulation and statistics to evaluate alternative solutions to complex problems.
The four days of the conference were filled to capacity with over 4000 papers presented in 74 parallel tracks as well as three plenary sessions, eight keynote addresses, numerous special interest meetings and a trade show. The theme of the conference, Energizing the Future, was emphasized by plenary speakers Charles G. Groat, director of The University of Texas at Austin's Center for International Energy & Environmental Policy, and Joan B. Woodard, executive vice president emeritus of Sandia National Laboratories. Attendees relaxed at several social events. The general reception was a Wild West party featuring barbeque, mechanical bull riding, Texas dancing and armadillo races. Visitors from all over the U.S. and from many nations enjoyed the charms of Austin.
Faculty in the Operations Research and Industrial Engineering group of Mechanical Engineering spearheaded the conference. Jonathan F. Bard was General Chair of the meeting and David P. Morton was the Program Chairman. Other ORIE faculty on the organizing committee were John J. Hasenbein, Erhan Kutanoglu, Elmira Popova, John W. Barnes, Eric Bickel and Paul Jensen. Faculty from The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, Texas State University and Texas A&M University as well as representatives from industry joined the ORIE faculty on the committee. Planning began more than three years ago, but intensive meeting related activity mostly took place during the last year.
Table at the INFORMS Conference
