This grant provides funding to support 10 underrepresented minority graduate students to attend the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) annual meeting in Denver from October 24, 2004 to October 27, 2004. The students will give poster presentations at the welcoming reception of the Minority Issues Forum of INFORMS and also attend the doctoral colloquium conducted at conference. Thus, the students supported by this grant will acquire necessary professional development skills to become an integral part of the operations research profession and the opportunity to disseminate their research to a broad audience in the profession.
This grant will assist in increasing the number and diversity of operations research professionals. Also, the professional development gained from the experience along with the interaction with role models in the field will positively affect the students' persistence to a degree and practice in the field.
