INFORMS Open Forum

We cordially invite you to organize a session in the Decision Analysis cluster at the 2026 INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, November 1-4, 2026. 

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Organizing a session is a great opportunity to strengthen our Decision Analysis community and network around a research theme. Please let us know by Monday, April 20, 2026, if you are interested in organizing a session, along with the type of session and your session's title/theme. The four session types are (i) invited, (ii) panel, (iii) poster, and (iv) job talks. There is a cap on the total number of sessions for each cluster, so we will plan the sessions on a first-come, first-served basis with complete sessions taking priority. 

For invited sessions, INFORMS expects 5 speakers per session. Responsibilities of session chairs include:

• Organizing a research presentation session with 5 speakers. Submit the speaker information by 11:59 pm EST on May 4, 2026. Note that an attendee may present only one talk at the conference and may also be on only one panel (in addition to their one talk). Please make sure your speakers have not committed to present in another session. We will contact you about the possibility of merging sessions with similar topics if there are not enough speakers in your session.
• Ensuring all committed speakers have entered title, abstract, and co-authors by 11:59 pm EST on May 20, 2026.
• Encouraging all speakers to complete registration by July 22, 2026, 11:59 pm EST.
• Chairing the session at the conference, which includes briefly introducing speakers and keeping track of time.

If you are not interested in organizing a session but are interested in contributing an individual presentation in the Decision Analysis Society cluster, you are very welcome to do so. You are encouraged to contact us early to see if your talk fits into an existing session. Please submit an abstract by May 20 at 

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Senior PhD students, post-docs, and recent PhD graduates who anticipate searching for a job are encouraged to present their work in the Job Market Showcase Track. Sessions in the Job Market Showcase Track can be organized by and cross-listed with the Decision Analysis Society cluster, so please consider organizing a job talk session if appropriate. Applications are due by April 30, 2026. To apply, an interested INFORMS member should fill out the form in the INFORMS abstract system (linked above) and mark this talk as a "Job Talk". The co-chairs of the track will contact supervisors to verify eligibility. Questions about the Job Market Showcase Track should be directed to the track co-chairs, Swati Gupta and Lacy Freening at JobTalks@informs.org.

 
Please let us know if you have any questions, and we hope to hear from you soon!
 
All the best,

Kyle and Mavis (Decision Analysis Society Cluster Co-Chairs)
 
Kyle Hunt (University at Buffalo) – kylehunt@buffalo.edu