Dear Colleagues,
We are organizing sessions for the "Global Optimization", "Integer and Combinatorial Optimization", and "Network Optimization" clusters at the 2026 INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California (November 1-4, 2026). If you are interested in chairing a session or giving a talk in one of these clusters, please fill out the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/Fdap6UaDKPZnjp8P7.
As you may know, the INFORMS Strategic Planning Committee has allocated a limited number of sessions to each INFORMS community due to space constraints, evolving career services, and the goal of optimizing session quality and attendance. As a result, the Global Optimization, Integer and Combinatorial Optimization, and Network Optimization clusters will have approximately 19 sessions combined. Given this limitation, not all proposed sessions and talks may be accepted into the program. Once talks and sessions are proposed, we will select them based on several factors, including breadth of topics, institutional representation, and session chair seniority.
Key Points to Note:
- Job Market Showcase Track: INFORMS will again have a Job Market Showcase track. Details can be found here.
- One-Talk-Per-Speaker Rule: Each speaker may give only one talk. This means speakers in the Job Market Showcase track cannot also give a talk in a regular session.
- Session Chair Deadline: April 21, 2026. Please indicate your interest in chairing a session by this deadline. We encourage early proposals and will try to accommodate late proposals if space allows. Once you have identified speakers for your session, please update your Google Form submission with the speaker details.
- Session Size Requirement: Organized sessions are expected to include five talks. Individuals interested in being a session chair should make their best effort to propose a full session with five confirmed speakers by April 21. If a session is selected and includes fewer than five talks, then the remaining slots will be filled from the pool of contributed presentations.
- Tentative notification date for session chairs: April 22, 2026. We aim to notify all proposed session chairs of their acceptance decision by this time.
- Talk Proposal Deadline: April 30, 2026. Please indicate your interest in giving an invited talk by this deadline. After this deadline, session chairs who are still looking for speakers will be asked to form their sessions from the pool of proposed talks.
- Tentative notification date for proposed talks: May 1, 2026. We aim to notify all proposed talks of their acceptance decision by this time.
- Abstract Submission Deadline: May 20, 2026. Selected speakers must submit their title and abstract in the system by this deadline.
We understand that these changes may require adjustments, and we truly appreciate your cooperation. Please feel free to reach out with any questions:
Best regards,
Andre, Joe, and Rohit
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Joseph Paat
Associate Professor
University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business
Vancouver BC
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