Dear QSR Section members,
It is my pleasure to report that the QSR section had a productive year in 2022-2023. We manage to propose and implement various initiatives, activities, and events toward improving our service to the members and friends in the community.
This year, the QSR Section has sponsored 67 sessions at the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2023, including 66 regular-talk sessions and 1 flash-talk session. The regular-talk sessions include 15 joint sessions with other sections and societies, such as the Data Mining Section, Energy, and Optimization Society. The sponsored sessions include 3 panel discussions, encompassing topics such as Starting Academic Career for New QSR Faculty Members 2022 and Student Introduction and Interaction Session. The QSR sessions also feature 3 competitions, including the QSR Best Refereed Paper competition, the QSR Best Student Paper competition, and the QSR Best Student Poster competition. There are also 2 journal-focused sessions (originally 3) among QSR-sponsored sessions, including IISE Transactions and Journal of Quality Technology (JQT).
25th Year Luncheon Workshop
In 2023, the QSR is sponsoring the 25th Anniversary Luncheon. It has been an incredible journey over the years, with our society thriving thanks to the dedication, collaboration, and shared commitment of our members to advance our field. The anniversary luncheon will host activities ranging from panel discussions reflecting the past, present, and future of the society, to sharing stories through videos and brochures. We look forward to celebrating this joyous occasion with you.
In 2023, the QSR Section organized the 1st INFORMS Conference on Quality, Statistics, and Reliability (ICQSR), hosted by the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the North Carolina State University (NCSU).
This inaugural ICQSR was made possible thanks to the Conference Co-Chairs, the Organization Committee from NCSU, the Advisory Committee, the Program Committee, and many volunteers who contributed to the success of the event. The conference attracted more than 120 attendees from 10 countries and regions around the world. The ICQSR 2023 program consists of 42 sessions.
The Best Student Paper Competition and the Best Referred Paper Competition have generated significant interests in QSR community. Most of the papers in the competition were eventually published in top-tier journals in our field. Many awardees and finalists come from or finally joined reputable academic programs in engineering, statistics, and business schools, including Harvard University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Rutgers, Iowa, Arizona State, Washington, Michigan, to name a few. The Student Introduction&Interaction Session, jointly with the Best Student Poster Competition, has become a featured session of QSR, and was even highlighted by INFORMS at the annual meeting.
QSR has been organizing a number of journal sponsored paper sessions as well as journal special issues. The journals include Technometrics, IIE Transactions, Journal of Quality Technology, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science & Engineering, Quality Engineering, and Quality & Reliability Engineering International (QREI). The presentations brought in by these selected high-quality papers have greatly enhanced the knowledge-sharing experience of our members at the meeting.
QSR has a very visionary advisory board of senior individuals, including (current & former) journal editors, National Academy members, Elected ISI members, ASA/ASQ Fellows, INFORMS Fellows, IIE Fellows. Five senior members from outside U.S. also sit on the board, which is reflection of the diversity of the community. These leaders in the community contributed significantly to the development and growth of QSR section by providing timely guidelines on the initiative and activities and nurturing the junior researchers in the QSR field.
With the joint efforts of all, QSR will continue to be the warm home to all members, and devote itself to the growth of all members.
Jian Liu
INFORMS QSR Chair 2023
Systems and Industrial Engineering
University of Arizona