Lehigh ISE chair was recently elected president of the Association of Chairs of Operations Research Departments (ACORD), a forum hosted by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Luis Nunes Vicente, Timothy J. Wilmott Endowed Chair Professor and Chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at Lehigh University, was unanimously elected president of ACORD for a 2-year term (2024-2025).
INFORMS is the world’s prime society for researchers and practitioners in the fields of operations research and management science, and it forms the largest professional association for the decision and data sciences. INFORMS grants prestigious prizes and awards for meritorious achievement and publishes several of the best journals in the field.
ACORD’s mission is to encourage interest in the field of operations research and the management sciences, to encourage discussion and interaction among individuals who serve as chairs, directors, and heads of academic programs in the field, and to advise the INFORMS on aspects of the academic environment for operations research and the management sciences.
“It is a great honor and responsibility to lead ACORD during the next two years. In the US, operations research sits mostly in departments of industrial engineering as well as in business schools, and my greatest challenge is to bring these two communities closer. ACORD has around 50 active members but there are another 50 OR programs in the business schools that would fit well.” says Luis Nunes Vicente.