Proud of my Masters Program in OR Winning the George D Smith Prize

This year's INFORMS Business Analytics and Operations Research conference was held in Huntington Beach, California. Excellent talks on really relevant topics. Great conference, networking and top organizers. :)

Best of all, my former masters program in Operations Research, the Centre for Operations Excellence at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, won this year's George D Smith Prize. This is the field's top prize recognizing some of the best education programs.

The UPS George D. Smith Prize is awarded to an academic department or program for effective and innovative preparation of students to be good practitioners of operations research.

I was honoured to be at the gala event, and ecstatic for the program's win. My career would not have looked quite the same without the program. So happy for them.

"I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well." - Alexander the Great

"There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can't move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies." - Robert Frost

YoungOR Conference 2011 - Talks in the Consultancy Stream

It's only 1 week away from the YoungOR conference in Nottingham, UK. I am looking forward to chairing the consultancy stream, so I finally get to meet the speakers I worked hard at recruiting.

It will be the busiest the consultancy stream has seen it! We have 2 keynote talks plus 5 titles lined up for the stream over the first 2 days of the conference. The conference schedule is packed, with 5-6 talks to choose from at any time (except for the plenary slots, of course). If you are young to OR, that is 10 years or less in Operational Research, come and check it out.

The Consultancy talks are as follows in chronological order:

• Keynote: OR Joining Analytics, by Russell Hodge, Capgemini Consulting
• Revenue Management At British Airways, by Peter Wilson, British Airways
• Pharmacy Service Cost Inquiry, by Nicholas Jones, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• Roundtable Panel Discussion Consultancy on "OR and Enterprise 2.0", "can OR people be leaders or are we destined to be the brains in the back room", and "Who is the boardroom champion for OR". Serving on the panel is a host of talent from various OR consultancies plus an independent, who is also giving a plenary talk at the conference
• Keynote: An OR Professional On ‘The Apprentice'?, by Dave Buxton, dseConsulting
• OR Consultancy For The Emergency, by Guy Bickerton and Graham Holland, OR in Health (ORH)
• Scottish Rugby: Tackling Meaningful Statistics, by Ursula Mulholland, Capgemini Consulting
• Day In The Life Of An OR Consultant, by James Lally

Also, if you're an experienced conference chair, care to share some of your tips on what to do / not to do, etc.?

Young OR Conference April 2011 - Consultancy Stream

The OR Society is hosting the biennial Young OR conference in the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, on 5-7 April 2011. I am organising the Consultancy stream, and I am looking for speakers, presenters and of course audience. If you are disregarding the conference because of the word 'young', think again, because the definition of 'young' in this context is <= 10 years in the field of OR. You can find more information for presenters here. Essentially, this is what you need to do:

• a 200 word abstract for the conference programme
• a presentation of max 20 minutes
  

I described the stream as follows:

The consultancy stream aims to attract speakers and audience interested in sharing their experiences in the practical application of Operational Research in a client-consultant setting. The consultant can be internal or external to an organisation. The problem at hand can be simple or complex, technically or organisationally.

The challenges we face as OR consultants are very similar no matter the industry, the organisation or the problem at hand. There are definite gaps between practical application and academic research in OR, but it is still one of the most rewarding jobs. The recommended format would be a case study presentation covering the entire cycle of the project where possible, but presentation creativity is absolutely encouraged.

• How did the problem find you or how did you find the problem? i.e. How was it sold?
• Steps taken to establish your course of action
• OR and non-OR techniques and methodologies used to structure and solve the problem
• How were your findings and recommendations communicated to the stakeholders and decision makers in an effective way?
• How did the client take your recommendations? Did they implement?
• Finally, what do you enjoy most about your job?

Most of all, have fun and meet some fellow Operational Research practitioners.

Please pass on the message. Better yet, please drop me a line to present! As you can see, the stream description is very wide, encompassing all real life applications of OR. You don't have to have 'consultant' in your title, neither does your company or organisation. Come and share your experience and the fun (or pain?) of applying Operational Research in anything from ordinary day to day life to extraordinary situations of, for instance, life and death and taxes. How have you helped with better and more informed decision making?

ORAHS 2008 in Toronto Canada

The 34th annual conference on Operations Research Applied to Health Services will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on July 28 - Aug 1, 2008. 

The ORAHS was formed in 1975 in Europe, and it is usually held in Europe as well. This year, however, Canada has the honour of hosting it.

Check here for more details on the ORAHS 2008 conference.

SiMMOR going to CORS Conference in Quebec City: May 12 - 14, 2008

The Canadian Operations Research Society (CORS) is holding its annual conference in Quebec City, Canada on May 12, 13, & 14th.

Team SiMMOR - Simulation by Masters of Management in Operations Research, is going to the beautiful and classy Quebec City! We are invited to present our simulation project as the top 5 finalists on the simulation competition of "Slim Nortons" restaurant operation on May 12-14th, 2008.

The team SiMMOR is composed of 4 members:

• Candice Chan
• Matthew Nelson
• Dawen Peng
• Marianela Pereira

Details of the conference can be found here.