PRELIMINARIES: The meeting was called to order by President Michael Taaffe. The other six in attendance introduced themselves to the group.
REPORTS: Susan Sanchez circulated the minutes from the Cincinnati `99 business meeting for approval, and gave the Treasurer's report. An updated version is available in this newsletter. Mike Taaffe had several announcements. He requested that those interested in organizing sessions or presenting papers at the Spring INFORMS conference in Salt Lake City should submit proposals as soon as possible. He also reported that a new committee would be formed to look at society (rather than subdivision) status for the College. Finally, he mentioned that at WSC`99, all awards except the Lifetime Achievement Award would be given out at the business meeting.
OLD BUSINESS: The INFORMS-CS home page address is www.informs-cs.org. Updates on the status of the INFORMS-CS Archive and History projects were given.
NEW BUSINESS: The new members of the Publication Award Committee were announced. They are Perwez Shahabuddin (Columbia University) and Michael Fu (University of Maryland at College Park).
OTHER BUSINESS: The meeting concluded with a discussion about the role of INFORMS-CS at the INFORMS conferences. The number of Simulation sessions have been dropping over the years, and one concern with the INFORMS move to a single large Fall meeting (with specialty conferences in the Spring) is that the College on Simulation presence will deteriorate further. On one hand, the College has a chance to exert more influence, particularly if it becomes a Society. On the other hand, timing issues may make it difficult for many to attend INFORMS in early November, followed by WSC in early December. If papers given at the Fall INFORMS meeting duplicate or preview those at WSC, then it's difficult to attract people to both. Attendees briefly discussed possible themes for College participation in the Spring specialty conferences, as well as the relative attractiveness of the job fairs to different constituent groups. The meeting was then adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by Susan M. Sanchez, Secretary/Treasurer