Smith School Makes Significant Contributions at Informs 2008 Annual Meeting

College Park, MD – October 13, 2008 – This year’s annual conference from the Institute for Operations Research and The Management Sciences (INFORMS), the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research (O.R.), is significantly influenced by contributions from University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Smith School Dean G. “Anand” Anandalingam and Professor Michael Ball serve as the program co-chairs. The INFORMS 2008 Annual Meeting, held Oct. 12-15 in Washington, D.C., offers more than 800 sessions and 3,000 papers covering OR research and practice. 

“I’m pleased INFORMS has invited the Smith School to play such an important role in contributing to this year’s annual meeting,” said Anand. “As leaders in developing leading-edge operations research and practice, Smith School faculty traditionally play a strong role in the event.” 

Anandalingman was appointed dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business on July 1, 2008 after a global search. He has been with the Smith School since 2001, serving in various key senior leadership positions as senior associate dean and as chair of the Smith School’s Decision, Operations and Information Technologies department. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. from Harvard University, and his B.A. and M.A. from Cambridge University 

Ball is the Smith School’s Orkand Corporation Professor of Management Science and director of research. Ball’s research interests are in network optimization and integer programming particularly as applied to problems in transportation systems and supply chain management. He has more than100 publications in the aforementioned areas and has made over 100 presentations on these topics. He received a BES in Engineering Science in 1972 and an MSE in Operations Research in 1972 from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in Operations Research in 1977 from Cornell University. 

INFORMS serves the scientific and professional needs of OR educators, investigators, scientists, students, managers, and consultants, as well as the organizations they serve. The society organizes national and international conferences and serves as a focal point for the profession’s research and practice. More information about the INFORMS 2008 Annual Meeting can be found at www.informs.org.