Pitt INFORMS Chapter Clinches Another Annual Student Chapter Award

PITTSBURGH (Nov. 2, 2020) … For the third year in a row, the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering was selected for a Student Chapter Annual Award from the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS). The award recognizes achievements of student chapters and will be presented at a virtual ceremony in November. The group’s 2020 award is at the Cum laude level, and it is their fourth award since 2015.

The Pitt INFORMS Student Chapter provides networking opportunities and social events for students who are interested in operations research and management science. The group also serves as a liaison between Pitt and the national INFORMS organization.

“The INFORMS student chapter serves as the de facto graduate student organization in our department,” said Jayant Rajgopal, INFORMS member, advisor and professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering. “The chapter is very active and organizes a number of academic events such as software tutorials, seminars and mock PhD qualifying exams over the course of the year.

“They also organize social events, and in the past, they have reached out to other local groups in the operations research community, such as graduate students at Pitt’s Katz School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University,” he continued. “The chapter is consistently recognized at the national level for their contributions.”

INFORMS is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to best practices and advances in operations research, management science, and analytics. Pitt’s is one of dozens of student chapters across the U.S. and internationally.

“We are very proud to follow-up on the legacy of the previous Pitt INFORMS Student Chapter, and this award reflects all the effort they made to keep high standards,” said Tomás Lagos, the current chapter president. “Sadly, the current safety guidelines do not allow us to fulfill the chapter’s mission, as face-to-face activities are no longer possible. Currently, we are adjusting our plans for revitalizing the chapter next semester in order to keep up the great work done so far.”

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