Student Professional Chapter Takes Cum Laude Award for Second Year
The student chapter of INFORMS, a graduate student professional organization at the U of A, recently won the Annual Chapter Cum Laude award for the second consecutive year. The award is based upon the activities throughout the previous year. Items rated include communications, special events and initiatives, community service, meetings and elections.
Open to all graduate and undergraduate students at U of A who are interested in operations research and the management sciences, the chapter was very active during the 2021-22 academic term. The group hosted nine seminars with speakers from academia and industry. Industry partners included Tesla Inc. and Wolfspeed.
In addition to their seminars, the chapter hosted practice sessions, which permit students presenting research at conferences to practice with students and faculty, allowing for peer feedback and guidance from advisers and other faculty members.
The group also hosted a hike and barbecue picnic at Devil's Den State Park and the annual student, faculty and staff pingpong tournament.
The chapter's faculty mentor, associate professor Shengfan Zhang, commented, "We feel greatly honored for our chapter to receive this award from the national INFORMS organization. We have a great team of dedicated student officers who have provided outstanding leadership and services to the chapter, and I am glad their efforts are being recognized. We are also thankful for the tremendous support from the industrial engineering department, Arkansas Association of Industrial Engineers and the national INFORMS organization."
Ed Pohl, head of the Industrial Engineering Department, stated, "I am extremely proud of our INFORMS student group of officers, who played a key role in bringing students together as we rolled out of the pandemic. The professional and social activities they organized have had a significant impact on their colleagues."
The 2021-22 officers of the chapter were: Maryam Alimohammadi, president; Reza Iranzad, vice president; Adetola Odebode, treasurer; and Xiaotong Sun, secretary. The chapter is also supported by staff member Tamara Ellenbecker.
Student chapters are an important component of a large international association like INFORMS. Student groups make it possible to maintain networking, professional dialogue and defining operations research, all activities that take place intensely within student chapters. It is within these chapters students can meet frequently to forge intellectual connections with faculty and professionals that lead to publications, job opportunities, consulting relationships, internships and personal friendships.
About INFORMS: The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the leading international association for professionals in operations research, analytics, management science, economics, behavioral science, statistics, artificial intelligence, data science, applied mathematics and other relevant fields. The association promotes best practices and advances in operations research, management science and analytics to improve operational processes, decision-making and outcomes through an array of highly cited publications, conferences, competitions, networking communities and professional development services.
About the Department of Industrial Engineering: The Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas was founded in 1950, led by department head John L. Imhoff who believed deeply in the global impact of industrial engineering. Today, the department averages over 200 undergraduate students and over 40 doctoral and master's students. In addition, the department has three online master's degrees: the Master of Science in Operations Management, Master of Science in Engineering Management and Master of Science in Operations Analytics. These three programs alone enroll over 600 students each academic year. To learn more about the Department of Industrial Engineering please visit our website.
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Contacts
Tamara O. Ellenbecker, website developer
Department of Industrial Engineering
479-575-3157,
tellenbe@uark.edu
Jennifer P. Cook, director of communications
College of Engineering
479-575-5697,
jpc022@uark.edu
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