................................ A PPPPP NN N A A P P N N N A A P P N N N AAAAAAA PPPPP N N N A A P N NN A A P N N ...................................... THE APPLIED PROBABILITY NEWSLETTER The Official Communication of the Applied Probability Society of INFORMS Volume 21 Number 1 October 9, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE: -------------------------------------------------------------------- COUNCIL NEWS MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR MESSAGE FROM THE NEWSLETTER EDITOR NEW URL FOR APPLIED PROBABILITY HOME PAGE OBITUARY: CARL HARRIS, 1940-2000 MUSINGS INFORMS CONFERENCES MINUTES OF SALT LAKE CITY BUSINESS MEETING TALKS FOR SAN ANTONIO SPONSORED SESSIONS CALL FOR PAPERS: 11TH INFORMS APPLIED PROBABILITY CONFERENCE (NYC) CALL FOR SESSION CHAIRS FOR MIAMI CALL FOR SESSION CHAIRS FOR INFORMS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN HAWAII OTHER CONFERENCES IIE CONFERENCE EURO 2001 CONFERENCE CORS 2001 CONFERENCE MISCELLANEOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS NEW BOOK: INTRODUCTION TO STOCHASTIC NETWORKS OPENINGS: ACADEMIC POSITIONS EDITOR'S COORDINATES -------------------------------------------------------------------- MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear friends and colleagues: I feel a great honor and responsibility to serve as your next chair. I thank Rhonda Righter for so ably leading APS with such sound wisdom, organization, and judgment during the past two years. Our society is one of the oldest, approaching its 30th birthday next year, and one of the most respected within INFORMS and the world at large. I believe that our strength ultimately comes from the quality of technical exchange promoted by the large number of volunteers who help run our council, organize sessions, organize clusters, plan meetings, deliberate on our prizes, and assist in new initiatives. Among our many activities, I wish to highlight plans for the next special meeting in New York under the leadership of Karl Sigman, preliminary plans for a subsequent special meeting in Israel run by Gideon Weiss, and tentative plans to initiate a new e-paper / e-journal repository. During my term as chair, I hope to promote more international participation in both our meetings as well as the infrastructure of volunteers guiding our society. This will acknowledge the ever-shrinking size of the world as well as promote new membership. I encourage members to contact me with suggestions and initiatives for further improving our society. Finally, I thank all volunteers present and past for making APS what it is today. Sincerely yours, Les Servi Verizon Laboratories lds0@gte.com 781-466-2970 -------------------------------------------------------------------- MESSAGE FROM THE NEWSLETTER EDITOR -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear friends and colleagues, I am happy and honored to be the Applied Probability Society newsletter editor and website editor. I am grateful to the APS council members for all their support and encouragement. Special thanks to Bernard Lamond for all the help he has given in taking up this position as well as in making this edition of the newsletter possible. In fact, my predecessors have done such a fabulous job that it is going to be a major challenge to live up to the standards they have set. I would appreciate your comments and suggestions with respect to the newsletter and the website. Also if you know of anyone who should be receiving APS related information (such as the newsletter) but is not currently doing so, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you about the newsletter and webpage. Also, please send me any information that you would like to be sent to the Applied Probability community. Thank you very much. N. Gautam Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 Email: ngautam@psu.edu Phone: 814-865-1239 Fax: 814-863-4745 -------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW URL FOR APPLIED PROBABILITY HOME PAGE -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Applied Probability Society web page has recently moved to a new location. Thanks to Bernard Lamond for all the help in setting up the web page. In fact some of the documents are still residing in his site in Quebec City. Please update your files, links and bookmarks to the new APS URL: -------------------------------------------------------------------- OBITUARY: CARL HARRIS, 1940-2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------- The following messages were received by the Applied Probability Society from our colleagues Karla Hoffman, Don Gross, David Stanford and Maria Fernanda Ramalhoto. The AP Cluster sessions as well as other sessions in the San Antonio INFORMS conference will be in honor of Carl Harris. Received from Karla Hoffman: We are very sorry to announce the death of our friend and colleague, Carl M. Harris. Carl was a superb researcher and teacher, but most of all Carl was a friend to all of us, a man willing to help out anyone at any time. Carl is survived by his wife Alice, his brother Paul, and two daughters Naomi and Margo. Carl Harris was the BDM International Professor of Operations Research in the Department of Systems Engineering and OR, in the School of Information Technology and Engineering at George Mason University. Carl has served as Associate Dean and as Department Chair at GMU. Before coming to GMU, Carl had been Professor of Systems Engineering at University of Virginia, Department Chair of the Industrial Engineering Department of Syracuse University, and Professor of Operations Research at George Washington University. Both of his graduate degrees are in mathematics, with minors in industrial engineering and operations research from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is the author or co-author of approximately 80 papers in the refereed professional literature, co-author with Donald Gross of three editions of a prominent textbook on queueing, Fundamentals of Queueing Theory, co-editor of three volumes of research papers, and co-author of two large software packages for queueing analyses. He is also co-editor with Saul I. Gass of The Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Mangement Science published in 1996. His general research interests include applied probability and statistics, queueing theory, simulation, and public systems analysis, and queueing models for Internet traffic engineering. He is a past president of the Operations Research Society of America and an associate editor for three operations research journals. Over the years, Carl has also been a very active consultant to government and industry, most recently to the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, Justice, and Treasury, as well as to NASA and GAO. He is listed in "Who's Who in the World", "Who's Who in Engineering" and "American Men and Women of Science" and has been elected to membership in Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Omega Rho. He is winner of the 1999 INFORMS George E. Kimball Medal, in recognition of his many years of distinguished service to the society and to the profession of operations research. (Karla Hoffman would like to add that a scholarship in Carl Harris' name has been set up in GMU) ********************************************************************* Karla Hoffman (http://iris.gmu.edu/~khoffman) Chair, Sys Eng and Operations Res Dept George Mason University (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/seor) Past-President (Pres, 1998), The Inst. for Operations Res. and the Mgt.Sciences-INFORMS (http://www.informs.org) George Mason University - MS 4A6 Fairfax, VA 22030 (703)993-1679 (703)993-1521(FAX) (703)993-1670 (dept office) khoffman@gmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Received from Don Gross (Eulogy he gave at Carl's funeral and at the Applied Probability meeting in Salt Lake City): I first met Carl in late spring or early summer of 1967. He had just joined the Research Analysis Corporation (RAC) and I was consulting for RAC while on the faculty of George Washington University. After discovering our mutual interests in probability and statistics, we went to lunch and afterwards, walked around the grounds (RAC was in an industrial park and the grounds, as well as the day, was pleasant for walking). Thus began a 33 year professional relationship and personal friendship. To say Carl had a successful career as an operations researcher, is an understatement to be sure. He is internationally recognized in the profession, through his many research publications, excellence in teaching, and activities in INFORMS. He is the author or coauthor of approximately 80 papers in the refereed professional literature, as well as several books. He served as president of the ORSA and as associate editor for three operations research journals. He was a popular and conscientious teacher and an ardent committee (school and university) worker. But most satisfying of all were the many papers we worked on together and of course our text book on queueing theory. People seem surprised that we collaborated on three editions of this book over a span of almost a quarter of a century. They say that most coauthors of books end their relationship after the first edition and in many cases even before the fist edition hits the streets. But this never happened to us. The biggest arguments Carl and I ever had were over things like, Should we use above or aforementioned to refer to text that was cited previously. And on hyphens - Carl was undoubtedly the hyphen mavin (expert) in the world. Heaven help me if I wrote two adjectives before a noun without a hyphen between them. But I learned quickly. Through this collaboration, we shared many interesting professional adventures. Just to recount one, in 1973 during the gas crisis with the long lines at gas stations, Claude Pepper, then a congressman from Florida had a committee studying this problem and Carl and I were called to his office on the hill to see if we could offer suggestions to alleviate the long queues. The problem was really not solvable by queueing theory, since there was simply not enough gasoline. But we did say that every other day rationing was not going to help much since most people didn't fill up that often anyway, but it might help marginally by keeping folks from topping off. Also, it wasn't necessarily the shortest line one wanted to join, but things like number of pump islands were important too (one might be better off in a longer line at a station with more pump islands operating). But as we were leaving, Carl did offer one final comment: Congressman Pepper, if you can, pick a station at a bottom of a hill so you can turn off your engine and coast to the pumps thereby saving fuel. As theoretical as Carl was, he never lost sight of the practical. But even more than the excellent professional he was, Carl truly loved people. He would go to bat for the underdogs, be they students or colleagues. There are many in the profession (former students, colleagues, etc.) who owe Carl so much (not that Carl would feel that way - he did what he did out of genuine concern and not for any kudos). In fact, this charming, humanist side of Carl often caused minor annoyances if one was going with him to some timed event at a professional society meeting or on campus. On the way to the event, numerous people would greet Carl and he would always stop and chat for awhile. His interest in people took precedence over things like starting meetings on time. Accompanying Carl on a path always had its delays, but the delays were just more evidence of Carl's genuine interest in people - he would simply not blow off an acquaintance just to get to a meeting on time. I think the best word to describe Carl is the Yiddish word, Amensch. The word literally means Aman, but connotes much more than that. It describes a person who lives up to a set of high standards, is loyal, always sticks up for the underdog and helps those who need help. Carl certainly did this for colleagues, students and friends. He was a true, Amensch. I feel so privileged to have been his friend and colleague for 33 years. I only wish it could have been 53! I think the following email response from a former student to the notice we sent out to our alumni telling of Carl's untimely death says it all: Dr. Harris was my teacher, a teacher who kept a sense of humor, and somehow got his night students through, week after week. Whenever I look at my class ring, and think back on my nights at George Mason, I always picture dear Carl. He even made graduation ceremonies fun. I recall on stage that evening, and for only a second, he smiled at me and tugged at my diploma as I reached out to take custody. It was as if to say with a twinkle in his eye, not so fast old man. Then he shook my hand, and again, didn't let go. He was wishing me well, and it meant as much to me as the diploma itself. There is a very special bond that grows between faculty and grad students after years of night school. I'm living in Texas now, but I suspect I'll always wear my GMU class ring, remember Fairfax, Virginia, and think of Professor Carl handing out kudos and critique in class. He was a Teacher and all else is rubbish in comparison. Sincerest sympathies, Beau (Don Gross and Saul Gass wrote another article in the INFORMS Journal on Computing.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Received from David Stanford: I met Carl Harris in 1980 at my first ORSA/TIMS meeting in Colorado Springs, when I was told by my supervisors at Carleton University that "Dr. Harris" was to be my external examiner. I was, frankly, scared to have such an illustrious name as my external. "What sorts of holes is he going to find?" I also thought he might not appreciate the fact that I had foolishly used Kleinrock as my standard reference for queues! (It had been the text in the course I took.) When the big day came in July of 1981, my fears were quickly put to rest as Carl prefaced his questioning with the remark: "David, this is a nice piece of work. I just have a few questions to clarify a few points." That, I would come to know, was typical of Carl: he didn't set himself above others. He saw that in putting the candidate at ease, he might be able to actaually answer something meaningful. Over the ensuing 20 years, I have run into Carl at numerous ORSA/TIMS and INFORMS conferences (and even a baseball game!). Even when he was President of ORSA, he still managed to spare the time for a quick "How are things going?". Through all of these experiences I came to see that this smart researcher was also friendly, funny, honest, and ALWAYS approachable. He agreed to every personal request I made, most recently by agreeing to be a plenary speaker at last June's Canadian Operational Research Society 1999 annual meeting in Windsor, Ontario. Needless to say, he gave a great plenary, full of interesting anecdotes. No doubt others will be able to comment on Carl's role working for many U.S. governmental agencies. I'd like to complement that by bringing a bit of his international role to the fore. To start, Carl was a great friend to Canada. He had contacts like Brill in Windsor, Pagurek and Woodside in Ottawa, and numerous others. I remember him dropping in on the wine and cheese arranged by CORS during the 1998 Montreal meeting, to catch up on his Canadian friends. He had a great French accent for a guy from Brooklyn! Lastly, but certainly not least, he once wore a statistician's hat, working on the "jewel" of our shared North American heritage, the Great Lakes. His work for the International Joint Commission dealt with pollution levels in the Lakes. The long-tailed behaviour of pollution he encountered there had surfaced again recently in his interest long-tailed distributions for queues and Internet traffic. In addition, Carl was a frequent attendee at international conferences such as IFORS meetings. He was to chair a session at this summer's EURO 17 meeting in Budapest, Hungary. While that session will hopefully proceed in his honour, EUEO 17 will miss his presence. I know that the sense of loss that we feel is shared in Mexico and many other countries around the world. In short, Carl Harris was an academic who "did America proud" on the international stage. I am sure that many of you, like me, will miss Carl in the coming months and years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family at this time. May he rest in peace and remain in our hearts, and may we learn from the example he set. David Stanford, Associate Professor, Statistical & Actuarial Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Received from Maria Fernanda Ramalhoto: Carl Harris, apart from His great qualities as a scholar, He was a great person and a great friend. The world gets poor when somebody like Carl passes away. At the begining of my academic research life he helped me to participate in the American Academic Research Community in Stochastics. I treasure the several conversations that I had with Carl over more than ten years. It is not easy to say how much sad I feel today. Indeed, forever is a very strange word. All the best to you, Maria (M.F.Ramalhoto) ====================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------- MUSINGS -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Applied Probability Colleagues: As you may know, each Society of INFORMS has been asked to provide a chapter of "musings", the original idea being that these would be published as a book around the time of the San Antonio INFORMS meeting in November, 2000. The latest idea is that they will be published in the next year or so in Operations Research. (For more details about what they have in mind, see the copy of Tom Gulledge's message below). I have been asked to coordinate our efforts in this regard. I am pretty open minded about what we should say, so I am hoping for some suggestions from the membership of the Applied Probability Society. Aside from a chronology of the growth and development of our group, especially our very successful conferences, what would you like to see included? Anecdotes, personal vignettes, etc., would be most welcome, especially from those who were "in at the beginnings". Thanks in advance! Sandy Stidham > > Hello Colleagues, > > > > As the INFORMS VP for Meetings I am writing on behalf of the INFORMS > > Board. Our first annual meeting is scheduled for San Antonio next fall. > > The INFORMS Board has suggested a number of events and offerings to > > inaugurate this meeting. This message is addressed to our six > > Societies, to ascertain their willingness to provide one of these > > offerings. > > > > Tom Magnanti has suggested that we publish a book of "musings," with > > one article sponsored by each society. The articles, similar in style > > to Dantzig's classic article on "Reminiscences on the Origins of Linear > > Programming," would be provided by a senior member of each society. > > INFORMS would handle the publishing, and a copy would be distributed to > > each attendee at the San Antonio conference. The Societies would > > identify the authors and issue the invitations. Since only six paper > > would be included, we are hoping that the book could be completed over > > the summer. > > > > The INFORMS Board likes Tom's idea, and they have asked me to contact > > you to see if you are interested in participating. I am hoping that you > > will agree that this is a good idea, and if possible, make a decision > > and issue the invitation at the SLC meeting. I would appreciate your > > thoughts on this idea. > > > > Sincerely, > > Tom Gulledge > >" -- Shaler Stidham, Jr., Professor Department of Operations Research CB #3180, Smith Building University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3180 USA tel: (919) 962-3834 fax: (919) 962-0391 e-mail: sandy@email.unc.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------- MINUTES OF SALT LAKE CITY BUSINESS MEETING -------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes of the Applied Probability Society's Business Meeting Salt Lake City, May 8, 2000 Submitted by: Hayriye Ayhan 1. Rhonda Righter opened the meeting at 6:00pm in Room 254B of Salt Palace Convention Center. 2. Rhonda Righter announced the deaths of Carl Harris and Doug Miller. Carl Harris died unexpectedly on April 25th, 2000. Doug Miller died in November 1999. Don Gross and David Stanford eulogized Carl Harris. Winfred Grassman paid tributes to Doug Miller. 3. 11th INFORMS Applied Probability meeting: Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York July 25-27 2001. Karl Sigman (sigman@ieor.columbia.edu) is the organizer of the meeting. There will be 10 break out sessions. 4. Susan H. Xu was the Applied Probability Cluster chair for the Salt Lake City meeting. Jim Dai is the Applied Probability Cluster chair for the San Antonio meeting, San Antonio, November 5-8 2000. There will be 12 sessions in the cluster. Emmanuel Fernandez (emmanuel@sie.arizona.edu) is the Applied Probability Cluster chair for the Miami meeting, Miami, November 4-7 2001. Contact him if you are willing to organize a session. Hayriye Ayhan is the Applied Probability Cluster chair for the INFORMS/KORMS meeting, Seoul, Korea June 18-21 2000. Since no one volunteered to organize a session, the conference organizers agreed to list ten of the contributed sessions on Applied Probability/Queueing Systems in the Applied Probability Cluster. 5. Ward Whitt (wow@research.att.com) is the contact person for the Erlang prize nominations. The award committee needs nominations by July 31, 2000. 6. Rhonda Righter mentioned that Applied Probability Society is in the Division B subdivision of INFORMS together with College on Simulation, Quality, Statistics and Reliability Section and Military Applications Society. Division B needs two representatives to communicate with other subdivisions. One representative is Dean Hartley from the Military Applications Society. Applied Probability Society would also like to have a representative. Rhonda Righter suggested that Shaler Stidham may be a good candidate. 7. The location of the 2003 Applied Probability was discussed. One possibility is Madrid (Spain). Jesus Artalgo and Laurano F. Escudero from Universidad Complutense de Madrid are the potential organizers. In this case some Dutch colleagues will also be in the organizing committee. Michael Katehakis suggested the possibility of holding the meeting in Greece. The possibility of holding the meeting in Isreal or France was also discussed. 8. Rhonda Righter announced that INFORMS is planning to publish a book of musings with one article from each society. Each article will be about 25 pages and can be modeled on Dantzig's "Remissions on the Origin of Linear Programming". 9. On the behalf of the committee (consisting of Dan Heyman, Les Servi, David Stanford) exploring the possibilities of an electronic journal, Les Servi proposed that the society can have a site with extended abstracts APEA (Applied Probability Extended Abstracts). The committee suggests that the submissions should be at most two pages with a detailed problem description and related references. Larry Wein suggested that it would be better to submit just a short abstract with keywords since this will not create additional work for the authors. Rhonda Righter suggested that the society should have a quality electronic journal. Les Servi mentioned that this would require an editorial board. More discussions were postponed to the San Antonio meeting. 10. Members of the Applied Probability Society who were present at the meeting welcomed Les Servi as the new president of the society. 11. The meeting was adjourned at 7:15pm. -------------------------------------------------------------------- TALKS FOR SAN ANTONIO SPONSORED SESSIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------- Conference: INFORMS San Antonio, Nov. 5-8, 2000 Session cluster sponsored by the Applied Probability Society In Honor of Carl M. Harris Cluster organizer: Jim Dai Address: School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332 Email: dai@isye.gatech.edu Phone: 404-894-9139 (Fax: 404-894-2301) WWW: http://www.isye.gatech.edu/faculty/dai/san_antonio/ Session 1 Title: Analysis and Control of Communications Networks Session Chair: Doug Down, McMaster University Authors: A. J. Ganesh; David M. McDonald; Gregory Richardson, Takis Konstantopoulos; Woojin Chang, Doug Down Session 2 Title: [Tutorial] Moment Problems & their Applications in Probability Theory, Finance, Stochastic Networks and Combinatorial Optimization Author: Dimitris Bertsimas, MIT Session 3 Title: Analysis and Control of Queueing Systems Session Chair: Hayriye Ayhan, Georgia Tech Authors: Amy L. Ward, Peter W. Glynn; Mark E. Lewis; Jerome D. Coombs-Reyes, Robert D. Foley; Hayriye Ayhan, Dong-Won Seo Session 4 Title: Computational Finance Session Chair: Benjamin Van Roy, Stanford Univ. Authors: Yaser S. Abu-Mostafa, Malik Magdon-Ismail; Dimitris Bertsimas, Georgia Mourtzinou; Michael C. Fu, Scott B. Laprise, Dilip B. Madan, Yi Su, Rongwen Wu; Benjamin Van Roy Session 5 Title: Probabilistic Models in Networks Session Chair: Harold Mortazavian, UCLA Authors: Brian Mark, Shun-Zheng Yu, Hisashi Kobayashi; Khosrow Sohraby; Harold Mortazavian; Benjamin Melamed Session 6 Title: [Tutorial] Traffic Modeling for Queues and its Impact on Performance Analysis Author: Peter W. Glynn, Stanford Univ. Session 7 Title: Dynamic Control for Stochastic Networks I Session Chairs: Sunil P. Kumar, Stanford Univ.; Ruth J. Williams, University of California - San Diego Authors: Erica Plambeck; Ruth J. Williams, Steven L. Bell; Constantinos Maglaras; Sunil P. Kumar, Muthukumar Muthuraman Session 8 Title: Stability of Queueing Networks Session Chair: John J. Hasenbein, University of Texas - Austin Authors: David Gamarnik; Otis B. Jennings; Sunil P. Kumar, Hao Zhang; John J. Hasenbein, Valerie Tardif, Elizabeth Campbell Session 9 Title: [Tutorial] Some Mathematical Models of Cancer Treatment Author: Lawrence M. Wein, MIT Session 10 Title: Dynamic Control for Stochastic Networks II Session Chairs: Sunil P. Kumar, Stanford Univ.; Ruth J. Williams, University of California - San Diego Authors: Thomas G. Kurtz; Jim G. Dai, Caiwei Li; Ioannis Paschalidis, Yong Liu; Alexander L. Stolyar Session 11 Title: Analysis and Control of Flexible Service Networks Session Chair: Constantinos Maglaras, Columbia Business School Authors: Sunil P. Kumar; JMartin I. Reiman; Noah F. Gans, Yongpin Zhou; Mor Armony, Constantinos Maglaras Session 12 Title: Dynamic Control and Performance for Stochastic Networks Session Chairs: Sunil P. Kumar, Stanford Univ.; Ruth J. Williams, University of California - San Diego Authors: H. Christian Gromoll; Jenny Steichen; Vlada Limic, Ruth J. Williams; Yih-Choung Teh Session 13 Title: Numerical Applied Probability Methods: In Honor of Carl M. Harris Session Chair: L. D. Servi, GTE Laboratories Authors: Srinivas R. Chakravarthy, Atul Agarwal; David A. Stanford, Kandiyan P. Sapna, Karuna Ramachandran; Attahiru S. Alfa, Qi-Ming He; L. D. Servi -------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR PAPERS: 11TH INFORMS APPLIED PROBABILITY CONFERENCE (NYC) -------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR PAPERS 1 11TH INFORMS APPLIED PROBABILITY SOCIETY CONFERENCE Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City JULY 25 - July 27, 2001 NEWS!! People residing outside of the USA who register for this conference will received a FREE one-year membership to the Applied Probability Society of INFORMS: http://www.ie.psu.edu/aps/ The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Applied Probability Society (APS) will hold its eleventh conference in New York City at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on July 25 - July 27, 2001 (Wednesday-Friday). The conference is co-sponsored by the Center for Applied probability (CAP) at Columbia University (http://www.cap.columbia.edu), AT&T Labs and IBM Research. PRE-REGISTRATION, HOTEL INFORMATION and SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS AND ABSTRACTS is ONLINE at: http://www.conference.com/informsApplied/ (this link, if under construction, will be up and running soon) Conference WEB Site (containing updated information about the conference): http://www.cap.columbia.edu/informs-aps/ap-2001.html TOPIC AREAS The topics of interest include but are not limited to: * Markov Processes * Point Processes * Particle Systems * Stochastic Comparison * Stochastic Control * Discrete Event Systems * Markov Decision Processes * Queueing Networks * Stochastic Petri Networks * Large Deviations * Financial Engineering * E-Commerce * Probabilistic Models in Biology * Modeling of Telecommunication Systems * Modeling of Manufacturing Systems * Modeling of Computer Systems * Modeling of Transportation Systems * Stochastic Simulation * Perturbation Analysis * Probabilistic Combinatorial Optimization * Probabilistic Analysis of Algorithms * Stochastic Scheduling * Reliability, Risk and Survival Analysis * Information Theory PLENARY SPEAKERS John Hull (U. Toronto, Canada. Director, Bonham Centre for Finance), author of "Options, Futures and other Derivatives". Tom Leighton (MIT, Akamai.com) Benoit Mandelbrot (Yale U., IBM Research) Ward Whitt (AT&T Labs-Research) GUIDELINES FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION Two kinds of submissions will be accepted: 1. proposals for organized sessions; 2. proposals for single papers. A proposal for an organized session should include one-page abstracts for all presentations (20 minutes each). A proposal for a paper should include a one-page abstract. (ONE PRESENTATION PER AUTHOR.) All submissions will be reviewed by the program committee. DEADLINES FOR ABSTRACTS: February 1, 2001 Submission of abstract(s) for single papers and organized sessions. April 15, 2001, Acceptance notification The session proposals and abstracts should be submitted online (this link, if under construction, will be up and running soon): http://www.conference.com/informsApplied/ Organizing Committee: * Ed Coffman, Columbia University * Chris C. Heyde, Columbia University * Dan Heyman, AT&T Labs * Michael Pinedo, New York University * Perwez Shahabuddin, Columbia University * Larry Shepp, Rutgers University * Karl Sigman, Columbia University (Conference Chair) * Mark Squillante, IBM Watson Research Center * David Yao, Columbia University Overseas Program Advisors: * Asia: Masakiyo Miyazawa (Science University of Tokyo, Japan ) * Europe: Volker Schmidt (University of Ulm, Germany) Program Committee * CAP Questions should be directed to: Karl Sigman, Chair of the Conference and cc'd to (CAP Administrative Assistant) -- ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Karl Sigman Professor and Secretary of the Center for Applied Probability (CAP) Columbia University Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research S.W. Mudd Building 500 West 120th Street, MC: 4704 New York, NY 10027 Phone: (212) 854-3556 FAX: (212) 854-8103 Email: sigman@ieor.columbia.edu URL: http://www.ieor.columbia.edu/~sigman CAP URL: http://www.cap.columbia.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CALL FOR SESSION CHAIRS: APPLIED PROBABILITY, INFORMS MIAMI MEETING, 2001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CALL FOR SPONSORED SESSION CHAIRS Applied Probability Society Institute for Operations Research & Management Science (INFORMS) 2001 INFORMS Meeting November 3-7, 2001 Fontainebleau Hotel Miami Beach, FL URL: http://128.227.36.67/Informs2001 Dear Colleagues, The INFORMS Applied Probability Society cordially invites your proposals to organize and chair sessions under the sponsorship of the Society. All topics, from basic research to applications to roundtables, of interest to Society members are appropriate. Please contact me, preferably via electronic mail, no later than May 1, 2001, if you would like to organize a session. Please include a tentative session title, short description of the session theme(s), and list of speakers (if possible). Other deadlines for session chairs are: June 15, 2001 : Submit final session title and list of speakers (usually 4) July 31, 2001 : Submit abstracts of all session talks The Conference and Society depend on the excellent contributions from you and other members for their success, and your efforts are indeed valued and appreciated. With best regards, Emmanuel Fernandez Council Member Applied Probability Society P.S. please note my new institutional affiliation ***************************** Emmanuel Fernandez, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering & Computer Science 811L Rhodes Hall University of Cincinnati P.O. Box 210030 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0030 Voice: (513) 556-4785 Fax: (513) 556-7326 Email: emmanuel@ececs.uc.edu Web: www.ececs.uc.edu/~emmanuel ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CALL FOR SESSION CHAIRS FOR INFORMS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN HAWAII ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session chairs for INFORMS Interational Conference: As the Applied Probability cluster chair of the INFORMS International Hawaii Conference, to be held in Maui June 17-20, 2001, I invite people interested in organizing sessions to contact me by the end of October, 2000. Les Servi lds0@gte.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- IIE CONFERENCE -------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR CONTRIBUTED PAPERS 10th Annual Industrial Engineering Research Conference IERC-2001: May 20-22, 2001; Dallas, Texas For details and submission guidelines, please check the web-site at http://ie.pitt.edu/ierc2001/ or link to this from the main IIE web page at http://www.iienet.org. Contributions may be of three types: (1) presentations accompanied by full papers, (2) presentations with extended abstracts, (3) poster presentations. An initial abstract of 50 or fewer words is required in all cases, and contributors must specify the type of contribution. Please note that priority WILL be given to presentations accompanied by full papers, and that the second category is meant primarily for reporting on work-in-progress that is not yet in publishable form. ALL contributions will be peer-reviewed. We request you to keep in mind that submission of a paper implies that (a) if it is accepted, you or a co-author will definitely attend the conference and present the paper, and (2) you are also willing to act as a reviewer and follow review deadlines. DEADLINES: The tentative deadlines are as follows: Submission of initial abstract: Sep 15, 2000 Submission of full paper/extended abstract: Dec 1, 2000 Completion of peer-reviews: Jan 19, 2001 Indication of final acceptance: Jan 26, 2001 Final papers due: Feb 28, 2001 Final date for withdrawals: March 31, 2001 All submissions and reviews will be done electronically. The conference will have its own web page with complete instructions. Please be sure to bookmark and regularly check the main IIE web page (http://www.iienet.org/)as well as the conference web site at http://ie.pitt.edu/ierc2001/ for details. We look forward to making this a great conference for all! cheers Jay and Kim -- Jayant Rajgopal (rajgopal@engrng.pitt.edu) Kim L. Needy (kneedy@engrng.pitt.edu) Program Co-Chairs, IERC-2001 http://ie.pitt.edu/ierc2001/ Department of Industrial Engineering University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15261 Tel.(412) 624-9830 Fax.(412) 624-9831 WWW: http://ie.pitt.edu/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- EURO 2001 CONFERENCE -------------------------------------------------------------------- EURO 2001: THE XVIII-TH EURO CONFERENCE ON OPERATIONS RESEARCH CONFERENCE WEBSITE: www.euro2001.org WHY VISIT EURO 2001 Meeting OR friends in convenient and well equipped conference center Participating in and contributing to high quality theory and practice sessions Learning more about smart logistics and innovative operations during special conference sessions, company visits, and excursions to the largest port in the world Reduced fee to a post conference seminar on Quantitative Financial Risk Management in Amsterdam Enjoying social events in Europe’s cultural capital of 2001 WHERE Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands WHEN July 9-11, 2001 HOW TO REGISTER The most convenient way to register is via our web site: www.euro2001.org. Alternatively, you may order a registration card via our e-mail address. FEES EARLY LATE REGULAR EURO 300 EURO 350 STUDENT EURO 200 EURO 250 ABSTRACT SUBMISSION Please refer to our web site for submission instructions, or ask for instructions on paper via our e-mail address: info@euro2001.org. FURTHER INFORMATION Email: info@euro2001.org Web site: www.euro2001.org DEADLINES EARLY REGISTRATION May 1, 2001 ABSTRACT SUBMISSION March 1, 2001 Please note that submissions that have been received passed the deadline cannot be accepted. Abstracts can be submitted via the web site www.euro2001.org, which also contains a list of topics and sub- mission instructions. We hope to welcome you at EURO 2001! -------------------------------------------------------------------- CORS 2001 CONFERENCE -------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR PAPERS: CORS - OPTIMIZATION DAYS 2001 Canadian Operational Research Society and Optimization Days Joint Conference Theme: "Decision-Aid for Performance Enhancement" Quebec City (Canada), May 6th-9th, 2001 The Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) conference will be held jointly with the Optimization Days (OD) in Quebec City (Canada), May 6th-9th, 2001. This conference will be held under the patronage of the Universite Laval and the Defense Research Establishment Valcartier (DREV). It will be followed immediately by the FRANCORO III Conference, May 9th-12th, 2001 also in Quebec City (Canada). Contributions to CORS-OD 2001 are welcome in traditional areas of operational research, optimization and applied probability, as well as in computer science, artificial intelligence, decision analysis, finance, human factors, etc. For more information, please contact: Conference Chair: Prof. Bernard Lamond, Program Chair: Dr. Adel Guitouni, Or visit the conference web site: -- Prof. Bernard F. Lamond, Directeur Tel.: 418-656-2131 x5472 Dep. Operations et Systemes de Decision Fax: 418-656-2624 Universite Laval, Quebec (QC) mailto:Bernard.Lamond@fsa.ulaval.ca CANADA G1K 7P4 http://www.fsa.ulaval.ca/personnel/lamondb -------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW BOOK: INTRODUCTION TO STOCHASTIC NETWORKS -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Introduction to Stochastic Networks" by Richard Serfozo Springer-Verlag, 1999. ISBN 0-387-98773-8, 300 pages, $79.95. Contents 1 Jackson and Whittle Networks Equilibrium behavior, performance parameters via algorithms and Monte Carlo 2 Reversible Processes Multivariate batch birth-death processes, networks with constraints, partition reversibility 3 Miscellaneous Networks Multiclass networks, Kelly/BCMP, general service times, bottlenecks, blocking/rerouting, partial balance 4 Network Flows and Travel Times New tools for Markov processes (extended Levy formula, Poisson functionals), network sojourn/travel times, Palm probabilities for Markov processes, MUSTA 5 Little Laws Omnibus laws for utility processes leading to laws for Markovian, regenerative and stationary networks 6 Stationary Systems Palm probabilities, Campbell-Mecke Formulas, sojourns and related functionals for MPs and networks 7 Networks with String Transitions Transitions involving multiple batch movements, negative signals that remove customers, splitting/merging 8 Quasi-Reversible Networks and Product Form Distributions NASC for network to have product form distribution, quasireversibility, multitype transitions 9 Space-Time Poisson Models Poisson modeling (translations, partitions, thinnings), network of M/G/infty stations, particle systems 10 Spatial Queueing Systems Customers moving in space (cellular phones, trucks), networks with nondiscrete parameters (temperature) -------------------------------------------------------------------- OPENINGS: ACADEMIC POSITIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------- THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM Department of Statistics The Department of Statistics at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem invites applications for an anticipated tenure-track position at all levels beginning October 1, 2001. Both senior and junior applicants, including those about to receive their Ph.D. degree, are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have a strong background in one or more of the following research areas: applied statistics, mathematical statistics, biostatistics, applied probability and mathematical programming; in addition, a background in computing or computer science is desirable. Preference will be given to applicants who show strong promise of creatively contributing to our research activities and to our teaching program at all levels. Since the language of instruction at the Hebrew University is Hebrew, only candidates who have a working knowledge of the language, or intend to acquire one within a reasonably short time, will be considered. The Department of Statistics comprises 20 faculty members with a wide range of research interests, and administers Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. programs in applied statistics, mathematical statistics, biostatistics and operations research. More information may be found at http://www.stat.huji.ac.il. For information about the Hebrew University, visit http://www.huji.ac.il. Screening of applications will begin November 15, 2000. Candidates for a junior position should send a CV, copies of research papers and three letters of reference. Candidates for a senior position should send a CV and contact information for three references. All material should be sent to: Professor David Assaf, Chair +972-2-5883313 (voice) Department of Statistics +972-2-5883549 (fax) The Hebrew University msdave@mscc.huji.ac.il Jerusalem 91905, ISRAEL **************************************************************************** DEPARTMENT HEAD Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering The College of Engineering invites nominations and applications for the position of Head of the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering. The College seeks an individual who will provide imaginative and energetic leadership with a strong commitment to established standards of excellence in research and higher education. The successful candidate must possess a distinguished record of research, teaching, and scholarship, as well as excellent administrative and interpersonal skills. An earned doctorate in Industrial Engineering or a related field is required. The Department holds the unique distinction of being one of only two endowed departments at Penn State. This $5 million endowment and the recently completed Leonhard Building present significant opportunities for continued development and innovation. The Leonhard Building is a state-of-the-art facility with 60,000 sq. ft. of laboratory, office, and classroom space. A distinctive feature is the 10,000 sq. ft. Factory for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), which is an integrated high-bay laboratory with most of the elements of a real manufacturing facility. The Department has 24 full-time faculty members, approximately 340 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students. The annual research expenditures are approximately $2 million with major thrusts in manufacturing, operations research, and human factors. The Department is consistently ranked among the top IE programs in the US, and continues to be a leading innovator in multi-disciplinary curriculum and research activities, both within Penn State and through partnerships with other universities and industry. For additional information, please visit the Department`s web site at http://www.ie.psu.edu. Nominations and applications received by October 15, 2000, will be guaranteed review. However, applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Desired start in advance of the 2001-02 academic year. Nominations and applications will be reviewed with the strictest of confidence and should be directed to: Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Chair Department Head Search Committee The Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Pos #:B-8116 310 Leonhard Building The Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802 Ph: 814-865-2108 Email: sjoshi@psu.edu Penn State is committed to Affirmative Action, equal opportunity and the diversity of its workforce. ============================================================ Sanjay Joshi Professor, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering 310 Leonhard Bldg. Penn State University Ph: 814-865-2108 Fax:814-863-4745 **************************************************************************** FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY Department of Computer Science and Engineering College of Engineering The Department of Computer Science and Engineering seeks applications for tenure-track faculty positions at the Assistant Professor level and for instructor positions. The tenure-track faculty positions require a doctorate in computer science, computer engineering, or a closely related field. In addition, applicants for assistant professor positions must show evidence of demonstrated teaching ability and research potential. Qualifications for the instructor positions include a Master's degree in computer science, computer engineering or a closely related field and, preferably, experience in high-tech industry and/or academe. The appointments will begin from January or August 2001. Review of applications will begin from October 2, 2000 and will continue until the positions are filled. Salary, fringe benefits, and teaching load are competitive. Florida Atlantic University, a member of Florida's State University System, is a multi-campus institution with its main campus located in Boca Raton, on the Atlantic coast, midway between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The University has over 20,000 students and offers a variety of degree programs at all levels. The Department currently has 22 regular faculty, with other visiting and research faculty normally in residence. It offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in computer science and in computer engineering. The Department also offers undergraduate computer science program at our Davie campus about 25 miles south of Boca Raton. At least on faculty position is for our Davie campus. Over 700 undergraduate, 125 master's, and 20 doctoral students are enrolled in the Department. The Department has several well-equipped laboratories. It interacts closely with many high-tech companies located in the area, which have helped provide state-of-the-art facilities. We have an active research program, with both federal and industrial sponsors. More information about the Department can be accessed through the World-Wide Web at http://www.cse.fau.edu. Applicants should send a resume and the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of at least three professional references, along with a cover letter specifying teaching and research interests, to Faculty Search Committee, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, 777 West Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991. Electronic mail communications should be addressed to . Florida Atlantic University is an equal opportunity/access/affirmative action institution -------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITOR'S COORDINATES -------------------------------------------------------------------- I look forward to receiving your input for the Applied Probability Newsletter and the Web page. Natarajan Gautam, Ph.D. Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 Phone: 814-865-1239; Fax: 814-863-4745 mailto : ngautam@psu.edu http://www.ie.psu.edu/people/faculty/gautam.htm Applied Probability Society Home Page: ====================================================================