Institute for Operations Research and

The Management Sciences

INFORMS - UPRM

 Mission

To encourage students to participate in undergraduate research as well as pursue graduate degrees in fields related to operations research and management sciences.

Vision

INFORMS-UPRM will market OR in order to better communicate the competitive advantage for industry arising from having experts in OR.

A brief history

 In August 2006, a group of students from the industrial engineering department at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez got together to create the first collegiate chapter of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences in the Island.  Dr. Alexandra Medina-Borja, a member of INFORMS for many years before became the chapter’s advisor and Yesenia Cruz, a graduate student, became its first president. 

That same year, INFORMS had decided to hold their international conference in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.  UPRM became the hosting institution and the members of the chapter where the volunteers, acting as session monitors and teaching conference attendees to salsa. Over 700 members attended the conference.  Many presented their research including members of our chapter.  INFORMS International conference staff declared this “the best conference ever” and stating that the volunteers had been the best in the conference history.