Born of applications, operations research is the world's greatest profession. As far as careers to choose, I can't imagine you or myself selecting a better one. I thank INFORMS for nominating me as a candidate for the presidency of INFORMS. I am deeply honored to be considered for this leadership position.

The president of INFORMS serves in effect for three years, as president-elect, president and past-president. He or she should provide two types of leadership. The first is sustaining leadership in the various strategic directions that have been selected by previous councils. Sustaining leadership is important to maintain the continuity and momentum of initiatives chosen by our elected leaders. Perhaps the most important of these is making our profession more well known outside of INFORMS. Some have said that operations research is the world's most important invisible profession. Let's lift the cloak of secrecy and let the world know of our many great accomplishments! I fully support current INFORMS President Tom Cook in keeping this as a major ongoing initiative.

The second role for an INFORMS president is focused or thematic leadership. Each president offers a theme as an important part of his or her candidacy, and this is often meant to make a lasting mark on the profession. In thinking about this, I am struck by our field's great accomplishments and yet at the same time by our increasingly precarious position. Our accomplishments are reflected in so many ways — in applications by the incomparable Edelman finalists; by major governmental policy changes brought about by our members; by the invention and implementation of so many important industry-specific decision-support processes, such as revenue management and supply chain management; and in methodology, we have scored numerous successes, basically building a variety of fields from scratch. Recall that 60 years ago there were no textbooks in OR, no linear or dynamic programming, no game theory, no search theory, very limited queueing results, rudimentary graph theory, not much transportation science, etc. Today, consider our incredible set of INFORMS journals, some of which are recognized in the national media as top tier in evaluating quality of faculty research.

Now for the precarious part. In some ways our riches may also become our vulnerabilities. As a profession we have increasingly become more academic, less applications-oriented, more inward looking and less interested in reaching out to those who cannot even spell OR. OR/MS groups in many business schools have been disbanded, perhaps because they are viewed as too theoretical and less relevant to the leaders of tomorrow's businesses. OR groups in industry have also become endangered species. The reasons are many, but the direction of change both on and off campus should be of concern to us all. We are now into the seventh generation of Ph.D. students in OR, a major accomplishment but one that may contain elements of in-breeding and self-satisfaction. Are we generating new results for ourselves only, or do we still recognize that our growth and very survival are dependent on our work being of major value to executives in industry, government and the military?

The 2002 survey of INFORMS members revealed that 59 percent of us have Ph.D.s. Another 12 percent are pursuing Ph.D.s and 5 percent have the "ABD." Adding this up, 76 percent of us are "in the culture" of Ph.D.s. Master's and bachelor's degrees represent 20 percent and 3 percent, respectively. How does this compare to other professions?

The IEEE is often cited as the largest and most respected engineering professional society in the world. In 2001, the IEEE had 377,000 members, 66,000 being students; of the remainder, 31 percent had a B.S. degree, 38 percent had a master's and 29 percent had a Ph.D. That is, the IEEE — with its distinguished reputation and much admired journals — has approximately a three-way tie among members in highest degree earned: B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. Of the non-student IEEE members, 54 percent are in industry, 16 percent in education, and the remaining are retired, self-employed, etc. In INFORMS, 64 percent of us are in academia, 12 percent in corporations, 4 percent in government, 4 percent in consulting and the remainder retired, undeclared, etc. Sixty-four percent of us are in academia vs. 16 percent in the IEEE. Our closest sister society is MORS (Military Operations Research Society). Of the 3,000 members of MORS, 12 to 15 percent have Ph.D.s. Yet MORS is well known for its many contributions to military OR.

Virtually every major OR methodology has been driven by real world need. Without new applications to conquer, we will shrivel and fade away. With the roots of OR in applications, we need to consider the human processes that bring real problems to our attention. The "academic/practitioner" breakout is too simplistic. Many of us are both. We need the involvement of professionals in industry who are managing complex operations, or writing computer codes for our algorithms, or forming new businesses. We need them so that we can grow and thrive.

I see hidden populations of new INFORMS members, members with B.S. and M.S. degrees, members throughout industry and government. Many will reveal to us problems that require new methodology and will be our customers in applications. Perhaps eventually we can achieve the IEEE's three-way tie. It is of interest to us all to determine what additional programs and services INFORMS can offer to attract and retain these hidden populations of future INFORMS members. To keep our profession current and vibrant, we who are academics need them as much as they need us. They are our source of new problems. We can develop OR solutions for those problems. It's a win-win situation. This will be the theme of my presidency if elected: to identify such potential new members of INFORMS and to initiate programs within INFORMS to recruit and retain them as members. If INFORMS could match its Ph.D. membership numbers with equal memberships at both the B.S. and M.S. degree levels, the total membership of INFORMS would swell from 10,250 to approximately 23,000.

His book "Urban Police Patrol Analysis" was awarded the 1972 Lanchester Prize of ORSA. He is an INFORMS Fellow, honorary member of Omega Rho and recipient of the George E. Kimball Medal. He was first listed in "Who's Who in America" in 1982. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.





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