I’m excited to begin my term as President of TSL. I consider it quite an honor. TSL has been a big part of my academic career – from using the business meeting to nervously introduce myself to my heroes as a PhD student, to serving the society as clusterchair, on various committees, as secretary/treasurer, as a workshop organizer, and now in this role. I’m glad to have on the board numerous colleagues who have long been active TSL members, with considerable experience guiding the society.
Thanks to the hard work of so many past and current officers I take on this role at a time when TSL is in great shape. Our financial situation is strong, and the Society is doing more than ever. We will be hosting the second TSL Conference this year, on the Arlington campus of George Mason University. We are looking forward to hosting several hundred members at the conference May 27-May 29, 2020 (make sure to mark your calendar). I’m particularly excited for the dinner at the National Press Club that students will also attend. A special shout-out to Barry Thomas for not only serving as the general chair for the conference, but also securing financial support for 30 PhD students to attend the conference. And thanks to the National Science Foundation for providing this support.
The TSL Cluster Chair for INFORMS, Joseph Chow, will be sending out a call for abstracts for INFORMS 2020 before you know it. The 2020 INFORMS Annual Meeting will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland Novem-ber 8-11, 2020. We are already discussing prize committees and potential new prizes to be given out at our business meeting. This is always such a wonderful event for seeing old friends and making new ones in the community.
So, what’snext? Despite the number of activities we are already doing, there is much more that we can accomplish. I would like to promote greater participation across our membership in the various activities of our organization. I also want TSL to offer our members more information about the different activities and opportunities that are going on and are of interest to our members. This could be through Twitter or other avenues.
I look forward to working with the TSL Board, SIG Chairs, International Liaisons,and our membership on these efforts over the coming year.
Ann