Leon McGinnis, professor and Eugene C. Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems inthe H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering,was the invited keynote speaker for the PhD Colloquium at the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference. Speaking before 100 recent or soon-to-bePhD's on the topic, “Life After the PhD: What I Wish I had Known Sooner,” McGinnisidentified some lessons learned in his 35 years at Georgia Tech that hereally would like to have known sooner.

For example, McGinnis said that he wished it hadn't taken him 20 yearsto realize that the business he really was in was not the business of teachingand learning, but the intellectual capital business, and he wishes he had knownearlier how to distinguish the important calls for his time from the urgentones.

The Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) is thepremier international forum for disseminating recent advances in the field of systemsimulation, and the PhD Colloquium & Poster Session provides PhD studentswith the opportunity to present their work to the public. In addition to atechnical program of unsurpassed scope and quality, WSC provides the centralmeeting place for simulation practitioners, researchers, and vendors working inall disciplines in industrial, governmental, military, and academic sectors.