MS/OR Academic and Practitioner Interactions: A Promising New Approach

The College on Practice of Management Science (CPMS) of TIMS has listed the objective of “more effective relationships between MS/OR academics and practitioners.” This objective has been stated for a number of years, and in 1985 a creative approach to implementing the idea was proposed. A planning committee consisting of academics and practitioners developed the concept for a new type of interface, and a smaller steering committee was charged with organizing the first practitioner-academic-liaison symposium (PALS). The first symposium was held at Kent State University in October 1985, and post-symposium activities which indicate positive results have been initiated.