What is operations research/management science (ORMS) and what role should INFORMS play with respect to it?

The scientific method provides an appealing straw man to frame this question. By the scientific method I mean: (i) gathering data, (ii) developing supporting hypotheses, (iii) deducing resulting consequences (e.g., proving theorems) and (iv) self-correcting based on inconsistencies between the predictions and new observations.

Should ORMS encompass the whole gamut of the scientific method? If so, what are the implications? If not, what is ORMS? Is this viewpoint consistent with current curriculums, Ph.D. decisions, tenure decisions, government funding decisions, hiring decisions and the operations of successful ORMS groups in industry and government, (under the ORMS name or not and within the United States or not)? INFORMS needs to create a new thoughtful society consensus and then to generate impact using it.

To have credibility and impact, such a serious strategic self-assessment must be framed by a panel of our most prestigious and influential members and headed by one of our few giants. If elected I will try to convince such a person to lead such a panel, to support the selection of members to join it, and to use my position to support its work and publicize its findings. After more than 50 years, it is time to look inward, assess and self-correct.

Believing ORMS encompasses the scientific method has a number of implications: It suggests institutionally facilitating transitions between the different steps of the scientific method and to spotlight superlative achievements in any step of the method. If one believes that tenure is ultimately granted not by deans but by the profession, it suggests identifying ways of impacting tenure decisions to be consistent with this view. It does not preclude INFORMS members choosing to work on a narrow slice as long as they understand how they fit into the bigger picture. Finally, it makes the concept of a practitioner or a theoretician a little murky and unimportant

I believe in subdivisions. New intellectual and applications directions depend critically on our subdivision structure. Our subdivisions provide a portal for new directions, new high-quality journals, new focused quality special meetings and new national INFORMS leaders. Subdivisions are a highly effective decentralized organizational response to our diversity that is a critical complement to our centralized operations.

Outreach is critical to ensure our members are invited to the room when the important decisions are being examined and to be sure that the best of the next generation choose to join us. To the general public, the world of CIOs and the next generation of high school students, our influence silently impacts many parts of their lives without enough of their awareness, appreciation or awe. Given that we can only afford a tiny fraction of the marketing budget of a major corporation we must have realistic, focused goals. We have a number of crown jewels that we must help the others learn more about. The Edelman Award is foremost. However, our Fellows and our best papers from our journals are also crown jewels that we should more visibly show the world.

It is a harsh reality that INFORMS is a complex organization. The operational business of INFORMS now has many millions of dollars of income, expenses and endowment. Leading INFORMS is a solemn responsibility that I pledge to take seriously. I will lean on my five years experience on the board, including two as treasurer, as well as the wisdom of board members, the staff and other INFORMS members to guide me.

By all standards our publications are phenomenal, and we have had a sustained demonstrated ability to launch new successful journals. However, is it an "inconvenient truth" that our publication business model will radically change in the not too distant future due to e-publishing and the open access movement? I don't know. I do know that our current financial model assumes substantial publication revenue. Also, are we suffering from our success with too many publication submissions relative to our capacity? These issues must be addressed.

ORMS is exciting. To read that one of our journals published an article statistically demonstrating that major corporations seemed to be illegally predating stock options and then see industrial giants be investigated and brought to justice, gets me excited about ORMS. To read that more than 15,000 teams from 150 countries are engaging in the Netflix Contest with training data of more than 100 items is exciting. To see our members impacting national policy in homeland security, aviation and revolutionizing inventory control is exciting. The fact that so much ORMS is externally invisible makes it more subtle but no less remarkable.

INFORMS is an extraordinary organization. It is honor to be nominated to run for president. I ask for your vote.

Les Servi works at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, currently leading a project related to the theory and application of tracking problems. Previously, he worked at GTE for 17 years interrupted by a sabbatical leave at both Harvard and MIT. He earned a joint Sc.B./Sc.M. in Applied Mathematics from Brown University and a Ph.D. in engineering from Harvard University. He is an INFORMS Fellow, a former treasurer of INFORMS (helping to change processes that led to the first of many balanced budget since the ORSA/TIMS merger), former and current INFORMS Board member for five years, former associate editor of Operations Research and INFORMS Journal on Computing, current associate editor of Management Science, former chair of the Applied Probability Society and the Telecommunication Section, and current chair of the Boston Chapter. He received GTE's highest technical award, presented by the CEO, for a telecommunication inventory policy solution with multi-million dollar savings. He authored more than 40 publications in operations research journals, many heavily focused on developing a theoretical basis for solving for real problems. He has 11 U.S. patents.






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