Nov1996

MINUTES of Fall 1996 BUSINESS MEETING

Minutes of the Optimization Section (OS) business meeting during the INFORMS conference in Atlanta, GA, 4 November 1996:

1. The meeting was called to order by Leon Lasdon, OS chair, at 6:15 pm.

2. Lasdon introduced J.S. Pang as the new chair-elect of the section. Pang will serve as chair elect for a year before serving as chair for an additional year.

3. Sahinidis summarized progress on our web site, discussed its current contents and asked for suggestions for additions. Thanks were expressed to graduate students S. Ahmed and M. Tawarmalani from UIUC who helped set up the page. Lasdon suggested we include pointers to existing optimization pages such as the NEOS page and Greenberg's math programming glossary. Lasdon also asked whether it would be possibly to sign up new members through our web page.

4. Mike Todd asked what the section's relationship with the Mathematical Programming relationship and expressed a desire to see that the OS does not duplicate any other activities, such as the ones undertaken by the Mathematical Programming Society. The consensus was that the primary function of the OS is to promote the interests of optimization, especially through INFORMS, without duplicating any other existing activities.

5. Sahinidis presented numbers on total membership information. The total membership was approximately 100 as of the INFORMS New Orleans fall 1995 meeting. Birge (sometime after the meeting) mentioned our membership has grown to approximately 400+ members.

6. Lasdon summarized current OS activities in relation to conferences. The San Diego and Dallas meetings will have a significant optimization presence. Jonathan Bard (jbard@mail.utexas.edu) is still looking for a cluster chair for Networks for the Dallas 97 meeting, 26-29 October, 1997. Cluster chairs are needed for the spring 1998 INFORMS meeting which will take place in Montreal, April 26-29. A report by Siegfried Schaible (vice chair for NLP) can be found in the OS "Discussion Panel" page.***there is a link to this page on the web site***

7. Birge asked whether it would be useful to produce a newsletter. Lasdon pointed that there exist way too many newsletters. Instead, news and information will be posted on our web page.

8. Sahinidis proposed we establish an OS prize. Suggestions are welcome on what the prize should be for, how often and potential sponsors.

9. The meeting was adjourned at 7:00.

Respectfully submitted by Nick Sahinidis, OS secretary/treasurer.