Everyone Had a Great Time at the WORMS Awards Lunch Including the Men

The WORMS (Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Awards Luncheon took place yesterday and it was fabulous. Interestingly, I have had quite a few emails from male members of INFORMS thinking that this is a “for women only” activity, which is not true. In fact, I had heard about WORMS years ago from my very savvy male doctoral students who told me that their favorite social events at INFORMS conferences were those organized by WORMS.

Every year, as soon as I register for the INFORMS conference, I make sure that I also purchase a ticket for the WORMS Awards lunch because the atmosphere is grand, the food delicious, and one gets to reconnect with so many terrific colleagues, some of whom started coming to this event as students and continue to do so as professionals.

Yesterday, I counted two males in attendance (in addition to our great INFORMS photographer, Max) and a few waiters. One of my former doctoral students, now Professor Patrick Qiang, joined our table, and he was one of the two males. We eagerly awaited the announcements of the award recipients.

Congrats to all the students receiving travel awards and thanks also to Monsanto for sponsoring additional travel awards. A special shoutout to Dr. Karen Smilowitz of Northwestern University on her receipt of the 2016 WORMS Award for her leadership and mentoring activities!

The smiles below show the fabulous community that WORMS is!