INFORMS CHAPTER AT MSU ANNUAL NEWSLETTER Issue 2.0

It has been an exciting year for the INFORMS Student Chapter. This chapter has become one of the biggest and most renowned student chapters at Mississippi State University. Today, our chapter has more than 60 members, including some from other departments. We have invited a number of speakers with huge academic and industry experience and also have hosted a series of professional activities not only for the Industrial and Systems Engineering students, but also students from other departments. A brief summary of chapter activities is provided in this newsletter.

Outstanding Achievement

The INFORMS Student Chapter @ MSU has been awarded the “Outstanding Student Chapter Achievement,” the Cum Laude award, for the year 2015. We thank everyone involved in making this possible. Ex-president Dr. Eghbal Rashidi was awarded with the “Judith Liebman Award” for his outstanding and extraordinary service to the chapter. Both awards were given

INFORMS Chapter at

MSU Annual NEWSLETTER

Fall 2016INFORMS STUDENT CHAPTER AT MSU WINS THE INFORMS CUM LAUDE AWARD, 2015 IN THIS ISSUE: CHAPTER ACTIVITIES

INFORMS CHAPTER AT MSU ANNUAL NEWSLETTER Issue 2.0

at the INFORMS annual meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Student Highlights

Dr.Eghbal Rashidi got post doc position at Clemson University

David Schweitzer was awarded CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service offered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Sushil Raj Poudel got featured in the Our People series on Mississippi State University website

INFORMS Speaker Session with Dr. Heather Lyn Nachtmann

Dr. Heather Nachtmann is the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering and a Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Nachtmann serves as director of the Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC), the U.S. Department of Transportation University Transportation Center and the Mack-Blackwell Transportation Center. She gave a presentation entitled "Operations Research in Maritime Logistics." After the session, Dr. Nachtmann also provided useful career advice for INFORMS Student Chapter officers.

INFORMS Speaker Session with Mr. Shub Sengupta

INFORMS Student Chapter @ MSU held a session with Mr. Shub Sengupta on “Supply Chain Management for Tronox Titanium Dioxide plant at Hamilton, MS.” Mr. Sengupta is a Senior Supply Chain Manager at Tronox LLC with over 20 years of experience in leadership positions in Supply Chain Management in Global and domestic Engineering, Construction projects and the manufacturing sector.

INFORMS CHAPTER AT MSU ANNUAL NEWSLETTER Issue 2.0

INFORMS Speaker Session with Dr. Daniel Petrolia

Dr. Daniel Petrolia, Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at MSU, conducted a session on “An Economic Comparison of OCS Sand vs. Near shore Sand for Coastal Restoration.” He serves as an associate editor for Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, and is a past Director for Southern Agricultural Economics. His research and teaching efforts are centered in the area of environmental and natural resource economics – with a particular focus on using survey methods to analyze the benefits and costs of non-market goods such as coastal wetlands and ecosystem services – and market goods such as alternative fuels and oysters.

INFORMS Speaker Session with Dr. Chad Miller

Dr. Chad R. Miller, Associate Professor in Economic Development Program and Assistant Director of the Center for Logistics, Trade, and Transportation (CLTT) at The University of Southern Mississippi held a session for the INFORMS Student Chapter @ MSU on “The Evolving Mission of Rural Public Ports”. He has managed over $1m in sponsored research projects. He has extensive experience in both

the private and public sectors, including managing shipping and global distribution for American companies based in China and Vietnam. He was also an Army Officer stationed in the Pacific Rim.

INFORMS Speaker Session with Dr. Waheed Uddin

Dr. Waheed Uddin is a Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Center for Advanced Infrastructure Technology at the University of Mississippi. Previously a pavement expert for the United Nations, he has worked, lectured, and made presentations worldwide in 29 countries. He has over 35 years of professional experience in research and instruction, design, construction related to environmentally sustainable development, air quality, infrastructure asset management, and transportation infrastructure. He presented in a session entitled “Transportation, Infrastructure Asset Management, and Flood Disaster Resilience Projects at CAIT – University of Mississippi” organized by INFORMS Student Chapter @ MSU.

Roy Jaffari, a Ph.D. student of ISE department and VP of social affairs in the INFORMS student chapter, conducted a seminar on SQL.

FAREWELL

INFORMS CHAPTER AT MSU ANNUAL NEWSLETTER Issue 2.0

INFORMS Speaker Session with James A. Wiiliams

Assistant Chief Engineer-Operations at MDOT, James A. Williams, who is also an Alumni of Mississippi State University, presented "MDOT Research - Understanding the Past and Forecasting the Future". He is currently a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Mississippi. Since his graduation, James has been employed by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. His experience includes twelve years of working as an engineer in the Geotechnical Branch of Materials Division before moving into an administrative role in 2004, serving as the Assistant State Materials Engineer. In 2005, he became the State

Materials Engineer. In November 2013, his duties again changed as he was appointed to the position of Assistant Chief Engineer –

Operations, where he manages Materials, Research, Contract Administration, and LPA Divisions.

INFORMS Speaker Session with Dr. Kenneth Ned Mitchell

Dr. Kenneth Ned Mitchell, a Research Engineer at Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS presented “Dredging Program Optimization for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers” for INFORMS Student Chapter @ MSU.

A Google hang out with Dr. Gokce Palak former

PhD student at MSU and chapter’s president. The main theme of the meeting was about job hunting. We also talked about post graduate life.

FAREWELL

BBQ PARTY

INFORMS student chapter held a BBQ PARTY on 27th August, 2016 at Noxubee. A whole day full of fun activities and delicious food.

INFORMS student chapter organized a bowling event in Columbus, MS. A fun event with the chapter officers and faculty of ISE at MSU.

And our story continues…