Resoundingly Human: Recent Episodes

INFORMS

Resoundingly Human, the podcast from INFORMS, is dedicated to bringing O.R. and analytics to life by highlighting the incredible contributions of the men and women who are using O.R. and analytics to save lives, save money, and solve problems.

As we are well into the first half of the year – and here at INFORMS we have packed a lot into these first few months – now is a terrific time to circle back and check in with the 2025 INFORMS President Dave Hunt. We kicked off a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human podcasts back in January with a special double header featuring Dave where we discussed both his goals and objectives relating to INFORMS as well as heard his perspective on the unique and exciting ways INFORMS members are going to continue to help make smarter decisions for a better world.

Welcome to the final episode in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics.

These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities.

Prior to the 2025 Analytics+ Conference, I had the opportunity to sit down with 5 of the 6 teams and today I’m joined by members of the team representing Flipkart to share some insight into their incredible work.

Looking back, when you were younger, do you wish you had some guidance when it came to making the really important decisions for your future? What college should I attend? Should I buy the reliable hatchback or the fire engine red mustang? Is this job offer right for me and my future?

My guest today has created a tool that can do just that, by leveraging decision science technology to support and empower students as they make these important choices! Joining me today is Matthew Brady, tech entrepreneur, whose career has spanned both sides of the aisle from industry to education.

Welcome to the latest in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics, which will be awarded at the upcoming 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis this April.

These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Today I’m joined by members of the team representing Amazon to discuss their finalist project in the leadup to the Franz Edelman competition.

Welcome to the latest in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics, which will be awarded at the upcoming 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis this April.

These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Today I’m joined by members of the team representing WM to discuss their finalist project in the leadup to the Franz Edelman competition.

Welcome to the latest in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics, which will be awarded at the upcoming 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis this April.

These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Today I’m joined by members of the team representing USA Cycling to discuss their finalist project in the leadup to the Franz Edelman competition.

Welcome to the latest in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics, which will be awarded at the upcoming 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis this April.

These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Today I’m joined by members of the team representing Lufthansa to discuss their finalist project in the leadup to the Franz Edelman competition.

Welcome to the latest in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics, which will be awarded at the upcoming 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis this April.

These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Today I’m joined by members of the team representing SF Express to discuss their finalist project in the leadup to the Franz Edelman competition.

We’re in the countdown to the 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference, in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 6-8, when more than 700 leading analytics professionals and industry experts will come together to discover new solutions to business problems, connect and network, and celebrate excellence in the field.

Joining me to help build the excitement for this year’s conference is Dick den Hertog, professor of Operations Research at the University of Amsterdam, who will be sharing a sneak peek of his keynote presentation titled, “Analytics for a Better World,” which will showcase the transformative potential of analytics in enabling non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to make a greater impact on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Welcome back to part two of a very special interview with our 2025 INFORMS President Dave Hunt. Earlier this month, we released part one of our conversation, during which we took a look at Dave’s goals and objectives for INFORMS in the year ahead, as well as answered some informative but FUN questions about Dave to help our listeners and INFORMS members get to know him a little better. Today, we continue our conversation with a look at how Dave came to be into the field of OR/MS and analytics, what shaped his career path, and what the exciting new ways he sees INFORMS members continue to contribute to making smarter decisions for a better world.

Welcome to a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human podcasts! Whether this is your first episode, or you are a long-time listener, thank you for joining us and I hope you’ll subscribe for even more great content highlighting the incredible contributions of INFORMS members.

To kick off our first episode of the new year, joining me is the 2025 INFORMS President Dave Hunt, vice president at Oliver Wyman, and a 30+ year INFORMS member who received the INFORMS President’s Award for his role in founding INFORMS Pro Bono Analytics and chairing the INFORMS Ethics Guidelines committee.

As we close out another year of Resoundingly Human podcasts, I am joined once again by the 2024 INFORMS president Julie Swann, to share a final look back over the past year at INFORMS and reflect on Julie’s time as president.

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming back to Resoundingly Human long-time INFORMS member Jim Cochran, professor with the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Business. In addition, I’m joined by Ryan McNeill, deputy editor for the Reuters global data journalism team.

Jim and Ryan are members of an investigative team that was recognized with the 2024 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Multimedia Journalism for their work on The Bat Lands, a groundbreaking science series exploring the origins and potential outbreak sites of bat-borne viruses.

Welcome to the latest episode of Resoundingly Human, the podcast brought to you by INFORMS, the leading association for professionals and students who apply science, math, technology and analytics to make smarter decisions for a better world. I’m your host, Ashley K. and thank you for joining me to explore how INFORMS members are saving lives, saving money and solving problems.

I’m pleased to introduce Tom Stephenson, director of services and strategic partnerships at Simul8 Corporation, who joins me today to take a look at how simulation is being leveraged to help to improve healthcare outcomes in a wide variety of applications.

We’re continuing our countdown to the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting, in Seattle, Washington, October 20-23, when more than 6,000 INFORMS members, students, prospective employers and employees, and academic and industry experts will share the ways O.R. and analytics are fueling Smarter Decisions for a Better World.

In this episode, I’m joined by Cynthia Rudin, with Duke University, Charles Isbell, with the University of Wisconsin, and Michel Littman, with the National Science Foundation, for a preview of their plenary session, “Making the Most of this AI Moment: A Fireside Chat.”

Charles serves as the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs with the UW-Madison, and Michael is the division director for information and intelligent systems at NSF.

Cynthia, the session moderator, is a longtime INFORMS member and the Gilbert, Louis, and Edward Lehrman Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Duke University, as well as heads the Interpretable Machine Learning Lab.

We’re continuing our countdown to the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting, in Seattle, Washington, October 20-23, when more than 6,000 INFORMS members, students, prospective employers and employees, and academic and industry experts will share the ways O.R. and analytics are fueling Smarter Decisions for a Better World.

Joining me to give a sneak peek of this year’s meeting is Harriet Nembhard, professor and president of Harvey Mudd College.

Harriet is Harvey Mudd College’s sixth president, and a nationally recognized leader in the field of industrial and operations engineering, an expert in health systems, a voice on the national level for transforming undergraduate STEM education, and a champion for Harvey Mudd’s mission. She is leading the development of an ambitious strategic plan to fortify Harvey Mudd’s standing as a distinctive liberal arts college for science, engineering, and mathematics.

Harriet will be presenting the plenary session – Preparing Interdisciplinary Leaders: Reimagine Your Department As A Place For Educating Future Operations Research Leaders Who Can Tackle Complex And Nuanced Problems – at the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting.

We’re in the countdown to the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting, in Seattle, Washington, October 20-23, when more than 6,000 INFORMS members, students, prospective employers and employees, and academic and industry experts will share the ways O.R. and analytics are fueling Smarter Decisions for a Better World.

Joining me to give a sneak peek of this year’s meeting is Koen Peters, head of optimization for the World Food Programme’s Supply Chain Planning & Optimization branch. For the last decade he has been leading initiatives in the area of optimization and analytics, including tools that are now used to inform the design of food baskets, sourcing strategies, and delivery networks. These user-friendly solutions ensure that WFP can reach as many people in need as possible with available resources, and were awarded with the 2021 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science. Koen holds a Master of science degree in operations research and management science from Tilburg University, and is pursuing a PhD in humanitarian analytics at Tilburg University’s Zero Hunger Lab.

We’re in the countdown to the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting, in Seattle, Washington, October 20-23, when more than 6,000 INFORMS members, students, prospective employers and employees, and academic and industry experts will share the ways O.R. and analytics are fueling Smarter Decisions for a Better World.

Joining me to give a sneak peek of this year’s meeting is Ann Tracy, Colgate-Palmolive’s Chief Sustainability Officer. Ann leads Colgate’s Global Sustainable Strategy and Key Initiatives, integrating a strong technical foundation across their Enterprise Sustainability and Social Impact Strategy Core Ambition Pillars – driving social impact, helping millions of homes, and preserving our environment.

In this episode, I’m joined by a longtime member of the INFORMS community, Richard Larson, post-tenure professor with MIT, past-president of both ORSA and INFORMS, recipient of the INFORMS Lanchester Prize, and author many times over, including his most recent book, Model Thinking for Everyday Life.

What’s wonderful about Dick’s latest book, is its innovative and accessible approach to showing you how to think like, well an INFORMS member! The book combines real life examples with Dick’s own personal experiences to show you how to shift the way you problem solve and improve your own decision making processes. But most of all, it’s a fun and entertaining read!

This episode of the podcast was recorded live in Phoenix at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting. Keynote speaker Dr. Les Servi shared special insight on his talk, ‘Operations Research and National Security,’ which provided an informative, and dare I say fun, first-hand look at the role of O.R. in National Security! Les is the Chief Scientist Cyber Operations Research at The MITRE Corporation and the immediate Past President of the Military Operations Research Society (MORS), as well as an INFORMS Fellow.

This video has been created with the approval and consent of The MITRE Corporation. The views and opinions expressed in the video are those of the individual featured and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of MITRE.

I am thrilled to welcome back to Resoundingly Human the 2024 INFORMS President Julie Swann, who is also the A. Doug Allison Distinguished Professor and Department Head of the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University, to share some behind the scenes updates on all that’s been happening with INFORMS!

The opioid epidemic is a decades long public health crisis that is only continuing to grow in severity and impact. It is currently the foremost public health crisis in the United States, with its roots tracing back to mid to late 1990s when the highly concentrated prescription pain killer Oxycontin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in conjunction with the controversial pain as the fifth vital sign campaign, among other factors.

As the U.S. government, healthcare system, and general public struggle to combat this epidemic, members of the OR/MS and analytics community are leveraging data and research to help provide support and solutions.

Joining me to share their unique insight into a data-driven approach to help combat the opioid epidemic are Joyce Luo with MIT and Bartolomeo Stellato with Princeton University. Their study, “Frontiers in Operations: Equitable Data-Driven Facility Location and Resource Allocation to Fight the Opioid Epidemic," was recently published in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Welcome to today's episode! We have an exciting discussion lined up as we dive into a fascinating study on TikTok, the wildly popular consumer-to-consumer media platform. My guests today explore how the length of videos impacts their performance on the platform. By modeling viewer behavior and analyzing market performance, they uncover intriguing insights including different optimal video lengths for maximizing viewer traffic. Stay tuned as we unpack these findings and their implications for content creators and platforms alike!

I’m excited to introduce Xuying Zhao with Texas A&M University and Jane Gu with the University of Connecticut, to discuss their study in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research, called Content Length Limit: How Does It Matter for a Consumer-to-Consumer Media Platform?

Looking back, I think we can all recognize and appreciate the role that our parents played in shaping who we are. But have you ever thought about the impact you had on your parents, how they view themselves and others?

For this episode, we’re going to turn the tables and take a look at the role that children can have on shaping and influencing their parents, specifically, how having daughters can shape how men view and interact with women in the workplace, especially men in leadership roles. This is also known as the daughter effect.

I’m thrilled to introduce Zhiyan “Z” Wu with Erasmus University and Lucia Naldi with Jönköping University, who collaborated with their fellow authors on a study recently published in the INFORMS journal Management Science titled “Learning from Their Daughters: Family Exposure to Gender Disparity and Female Representation in Male-Led Ventures.”

As we start to gear up for the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle later this year, this week's interview is the latest episode in a special series of the Resoundingly Human podcast, recorded in person at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix. For this episode I am absolute delighted to be joined by Jeff Camm with Wake Forest University. Jeff is delivering the Omega-Rho Lecture: Reflections on the Profession of Operations Research and Some Thoughts on its Future and he is joining me today to share a special behind the scenes look at his presentation.

Welcome to the latest episode of Resoundingly Human, the podcast brought to you by INFORMS, the leading association for professionals and students who apply science, math, technology, and analytics to make smarter decisions for a better world. I’m your host Ashley Kilgore and thank you for joining me for the next episode in a special series highlighting the 2024 Franz Edelman Award finalist teams!

The Franz Edelman Award is presented each year to an organization that has made a transformative contribution to society, all with the power of advanced analytics. In the leadup to the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in sunny Orlando this April, we’ll be highlighting the incredible contributions of this year’s finalists. The winner will be announced at the conference, during the Edelman Gala.

Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with representatives of the Edelman Award finalist team from American Airlines to share some special insight into their project, which utilizes optimization and AI techniques to develop industry-leading technology called HEAT, which is short for Hub Efficiency Analytics Tool, that helps the airline more effectively manage irregular operations during severe weather.

Welcome to the latest episode of Resoundingly Human, the podcast brought to you by INFORMS, the leading association for professionals and students who apply science, math, technology, and analytics to make smarter decisions for a better world. I’m your host Ashley K. and thank you for joining me for the next episode in a special series highlighting the 2024 Franz Edelman Award finalist teams!

The Franz Edelman Award is presented each year to an organization that has made a transformative contribution to society, all with the power of advanced analytics. In the leadup to the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in sunny Orlando this April, we’ll be highlighting the incredible contributions of this year’s finalists. The winner will be announced at the conference, during the Edelman Gala.

Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with representatives of the Edelman Award finalist team from Transvision to share some special insight into their project, which developed an analytics solution to improve mobility for elderly and disabled citizens in the Netherlands.

With the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in Orlando, FL, now just weeks away on April 14-16, here at INFORMS we are looking forward to welcoming more than 700 leading analytics professionals and industry experts for opportunities to connect, network, and celebrate excellence in the field.

Joining me for a special behind the scenes look at one of this year’s conference sessions is keynote speaker Colonel Kristin Saling, Acting Director, Innovation Directorate, United States Army Recruiting Command, who has been introducing analytics, automation, and transformational business processes into Army human resources for years.

She is an Army operations research and systems analyst with experience as an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. She has led modernization programs at US Indo-Pacific Command, Headquarters Department of the Army, and is currently with Army Recruiting Command.

My guest today is going to help us explore the fun side of data analytics. Evan Wimpey is not only an analytics professional with Elder Research but is also a stand-up comedian! After spending years analyzing data and delivering statistical models, Evan realized that humor is often the most effective way to make dry or technical topics more accessible ... and more fun! Now in addition to his analytics day job, he performs data science comedy at conferences and events around the world, to include the upcoming 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference, April 14-16 in Orlando, FL.

We’re in the countdown to the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference, in Orlando, FL, April 14-16, when more than 700 leading analytics professionals and industry experts will come together to discover new solutions to business problems, connect and network, and celebrate excellence in the field.

Joining me to give a sneak peek of this year’s conference is Tom Koulopoulos, the INFORMS Roundtable-sponsored keynote speaker. Tom is an author, futurist, and leader who serves as chairman and founder of Delphi Group, a 30-year-old Boston-based think tank named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. Magazine, and the founding partner of Acrovantage Ventures, which invests in early-stage technology startups. He is also the author of 14 books, an inventor with several patents, an Inc.com columnist, the past Executive Director of the Babson College Center for Business Innovation, the past director of Dell Innovation Lab, and a professor at Boston University.

I’m excited for the opportunity to get to know Tom, explore his own professional journey, and share an exciting sneak peek at what he’ll be presenting at the upcoming conference.

Welcome back to Resoundingly Human, the podcast brought to you by INFORMS, the leading association for professionals and students who apply science, math, technology, and analytics to make smarter decisions for a better world. I’m your host Ashley Kilgore and thank you for joining me for the next episode in a special series highlighting the 2024 Franz Edelman Award finalist teams!

The Franz Edelman Award is awarded each year to an organization that has made a transformative contribution to society, all with the power of advanced analytics. In the leadup to the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in sunny Orlando this April, we’ll be highlighting the incredible contributions of this year’s finalists. The winner will be announced at the conference, during the Edelman Gala.

For the next episode in this year’s Edelman finalist series, I have the pleasure of speaking with the team from McDonald’s China to share some special insight into their finalist project, which accurately forecasted and delivered on record growth in the Chinese market for McDonalds.

The Franz Edelman Award is awarded each year to an organization that has made a transformative contribution to society, all with the power of advanced analytics. In the leadup to the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in sunny Orlando this April, we’ll be highlighting the incredible contributions of this year’s finalists. The winner will be announced at the conference, during the Edelman Gala.

To kick off this very special series, which just so happens to feature my favorite episodes throughout the entire year, I have the pleasure of speaking with the team from Tata Steel Limited to share some special insight into their finalist project.

Welcome to a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human, the podcast brought to you by INFORMS, the leading association for professionals and students who apply science, math, technology and analytics to solve the world’s most critical challenges. Basically, our member’s work informs smarter decisions to make our world a better place and the Resoundingly Human podcast is dedicated to sharing their amazing stories. I’m your host Ashley Kilgore and thank you for joining us as we kick of another great year of thought-provoking and inspiring content!

Joining me for our first episode of the new year is the 2024 INFORMS President Julie Swann, the A. Doug Allison Distinguished Professor and Department Head of the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University.

As 2023 draws to a close, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year with our 2023 INFORMS President Laura Albert, professor and department chair of industrial & systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Welcome to the latest episode in a special series of the Resoundingly Human podcast, recorded in person at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix. For this episode I am joined by Hamsa Balakrishnan with MIT. Hamsa is delivering the keynote session, “Advanced Air Mobility: Are We There Yet?” and she is joining me today to explore this topic.

In a special episode recorded at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ, I have the opportunity to sit down with long time INFORMS member and professor and dean with the Culverhouse College of Business at the University of Alabama, Jim Cochran. We cover a lot of ground from adventures abroad with Visiting Scholar opportunities, to combatting urban blight and human trafficking, to increasing access to dental care and food donations for those in need, but most importantly explore the power of analytics to give back and make a difference.

If you’re anything like me, a glass of wine at the end of a long day is a terrific way to relax and unwind.

And whether your glass contains a deep, rich Cabernet, a crisp, floral Sancerre, or a dry, refreshing Pinot Grigio, they all share one thing in common, and that is – you guessed it – analytics!

That’s right! Just like a delicious charcuterie or cheese plate, analytics also pairs great with wine! From the grape all the way to the glass, analytics play an important role in the modern production of wine.

Joining me to walk us through the wonderful world of wine analytics is Burak Kazaz, professor of supply chain management, and the executive director of the Brethen Institute at Syracuse University.

It’s been a busier (and more exciting) summer than usual for INFORMS! INFORMS president Laura Albert, professor and department chair of industrial & systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides an update on the latest and greatest at INFORMS.

This episode is a continuation of our previous episode, featuring our incoming 2024 INFORMS president, Julie Swann, our current president Laura Albert, and two past presidents, Radhika Kulkarni and Ramayya Krishnan, in which we'll be discussing their recent meetings on Capitol Hill related to artificial intelligence.

INFORMS as an organization has a mission of elevating our members and our brand. As part of that goal, we work to educate policymakers about the value of operations research and analytics in decisions that they make that impact the American people. We have had great success in nurturing relationships in Washington and making a real difference. As of late, a big focus has been on artificial intelligence and some of INFORMS most prominent members are involved in the work.

On this episode, I’m pleased to welcome our incoming 2024 INFORMS president, Julie Swann,, our current president Laura Albert, and two past presidents, Radhika Kulkarni and Ramayya Krishnan, to discuss their recent meetings on Capitol Hill related to artificial intelligence.

Human trafficking is a global crime, impacting an estimated 27.6 million individuals each year. And while we might think that trafficking is a problem present in distant locations far from home, the sobering fact is that it is everywhere including in our own communities.

And while I think most are familiar with the existence of some of the perhaps better recognized forms of human trafficking – including sex trafficking and labor trafficking - it might surprise listeners that organ trafficking – in particular, kidney trafficking – is another significant form of human trafficking. In fact, it’s a $1.7 billion industry worldwide.

Joining me to share some insight into organ trafficking, it’s prevalence and impact, and the complications in combatting it, is Naoru Koizumi with George Mason University. A specialist in in medical policies – including those relating to organ transplantation and end-stage kidney and liver diseases – Naoru is leading a team of researchers awarded NSF funding to learn more about organ trafficking and most importantly, how to combat and disrupt the associated supply chains.

With members in more than 90 countries, INFORMS truly represents a global and diverse community of OR/MS and analytics students, researchers, educators, practitioners and industry leaders. Members whose work is saving lives, saving money and solving complex problems, through ground-breaking research and transformative applications.

And if you are part of this community, you know just how significant opportunities to connect, collaborate and grow your professional network are for furthering this incredible work.

But for some, especially students or those just starting out in their career, or even experienced researchers who want to branch out into new areas, you might feel uncertain or even uncomfortable taking the first steps towards building professional relationships with new people. Luckily, events like the upcoming 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting, which will bring together thousands of members of the INFORMS community from October 15-18 in Phoenix, AZ, provide myriad opportunities to meet potential collaborators and friends from around the world.

Now, if you listened to the most recent episode of the podcast, you’ll already have heard me discuss this week’s guest, a professor with Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil, and host of my new favorite podcast, Subject To: as well as author of the new OR/MS Today column of the same name, Anand Subramanian.

Anand and I will be discussing the importance of meeting and connecting with others in your field for idea exchange, collaboration, or even just sharing admiration for another’s work, and how to best leverage both in-person and virtual networking opportunities in order to do so.

Summer is here and the time is right … for getting the heck out of dodge! With temperatures soaring and kids off for summer break, scores of people are planning to travel at some point this summer. In fact, 85% of Americans are planning to take a trip this summer and of those more than 50% plan to travel to their destination by plane.

But in their efforts to get away from it all, many might be experiencing more of a stressful scenario than they had anticipated, as airports across the country are experiencing at worst, canceled flights and at best significant delays. What’s surprising is that these disruptions are even extending to folks who are registered for TSA PreCheck. Joining me today to take a look behind the scenes at what is causing these delays and cancelations, what can be done to address them, and what would-be vacationers can do to limit the impact and stress on their vacations, is Laura Albert, professor and department chair of industrial & systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the 2023 INFORMS president.

It feels like in the blink of an eye, ChatGPT is everywhere. This AI-driven natural language processing tool can answer questions and help you create written content at lightning speed and is proving a valuable tool that is transforming content creation across the board. But where the heck did it come from?! How long has this technology actually been around? And while this is a fantastic tool, as with all things, is there the potential that this technology that could be leveraged negatively?

Joining me from Temple University is Subodha Kumar, to share special insight on how ChatGPT came to be, how its currently being leveraged and where it is taking us!

Move over AI and supply chain, there’s a new buzzword in town! Digital twin, a term that’s been popping up more and more in mainstream media in recent months. But what is digital twin technology? Basically, it’s using data to create a digital version of a real world, physical object, process or system for a wide range of purposes.

Now that’s a pretty basic explanation of what really is pretty complex technology, so today I’m joined by Michael Heiner, with Heiner Innovation Company, who will help us take a deeper dive into digital twin technology, what it is, why it has recently found itself in the spotlight, the potential for future developments and what makes him excited about the work he is doing in this space.

In honor of Pride month, this week’s episode will feature audio from a previous video interview I conducted for the INFORMS Community Showcase highlighting the newest INFORMS community, the PRIDE Forum! In this interview I’m joined by Priyank Arora, President of the INFORMS Pride Forum, and Pritha Dutta, Board Member of the INFORMS Pride Forum. We take a look inside this new forum and its role in the INFORMS membership, and its goals in the larger OR/MS and analytics community. It is truly an honor to work for an organization that not only embraces, but prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion in its membership. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I do!

Historically, baseball has been described as America’s national past time. However, there might be another activity better suited to this title … and that is playing video games. That’s right, video games.

Over 227 million people in the U.S. play video games for at least one to a few hours per week, which equals out to about 70% of all Americans are video game fans. But what I’d bet most gamers don’t know, is the role that operations research (O.R.) plays in nearly every aspect of video game development, from design to production to selling.

Joining me today to dive into the world of O.R. and video games is Xiao Lei, assistant professor with the University of Hong Kong, a self-confessed lover of video games who is also lucky enough to get to help advance the role O.R. in gaming.

The U.S. Coast Guard is the oldest continuously operating naval service of the United States and has deployed to support and fight in every major U.S. war since 1790. In this episode, we explore the role analytics plays in supporting the Coast Guard as it achieves its many missions and learn how the U.S. Coast Guard Academy is preparing the next generation of those serving in its ranks to employ analytics in new and exciting ways. Joining me for this episode are Commander Matthew Williams, head of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s Department of Mathematics; Ian Frommer, professor in the mathematics department; and Elise Birkhaeuser and Clayton Forfinski, who are both first-class cadets majoring in operations research and data analytics at the Academy.

With 2023 well underway, it’s time to circle back and check in with the INFORMS president Laura Albert, professor and department chair of industrial & systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for an update on the latest and greatest at INFORMS.

My guest for today’s interview is Shima Mohebbi, with the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research at George Mason University who recently completed a collaborative National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded study that explored how to improve community and infrastructure resiliency by better understanding and identifying the underlying dynamics and causal relationships to improve responses during disruptions, with a focus on mobility and public water resources.

We’ll be taking a look not only at her work, but sharing some insight on the experience of receiving (NSF) funding to support your research.

So today’s interview is going to make – heck it already has made – a lot of folks in INFORMS hometown of Baltimore jealous, because I will be speaking to none other than the Baltimore Orioles assistant GM and head of analytics Sig Mejdal. With Baltimore’s 2023 season opener literally on top of us, I am thrilled to sit down with Sig and talk about analytics at the Orioles, as well as his own professional journey to an outstanding career in sports analytics.

We’re in the countdown to the 2023 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, in Aurora, CO, April 16-18, and this year’s conference is particularly special for the INFORMS community as this was the site of our 2020 meeting … or it was supposed to be, but unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas. Now, here we are three years later and we’ve come full circle and I think I speak for many in the INFORMS community when I say that I have never been more excited to attend an Analytics Conference.

With that in mind, I’m thrilled to be joined by Hilary Mason, the INFORMS Roundtable sponsored keynote speaker and co-founder and CEO of Hidden Door, a game technology studio using machine learning to build the future of immersive entertainment. We’re taking this opportunity to get to know Hilary a little bit, talk about her analytics journey, and get a sneak peek at what she’ll be presenting at the upcoming conference.

We’re coming up on International Women’s Day on March 8 and here at INFORMS we’re excited to recognized and celebrate the incredible contributions of women in STEM! This year’s theme is Embrace Equity, highlighting how embracing gender equity will help create an inclusive world. Joining me to explore the growing impact of women in the STEM fields, and share her own incredible work is Lauren Czerniak, a PhD candidate with the University of Michigan. Lauren’s research focuses on developing and applying stochastic models to address current challenges in healthcare with applications in pharmaceutical drugs, glaucoma, and concussion management. In addition to her incredible work in industrial and operations engineering, Lauren as she is a tremendous advocate and mentor for other women in STEM.

Filmed in-person during the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Indianapolis last fall, in this episode I am joined by Thiago Serra, professor of analytics and operations management at Bucknell University, and Carol DeZwarte, data science leader at Shopify. We explore a topic that most in the field of analytics/OR/MS have or will face during their career, and all the questions and uncertainty that come along with it. And that is, what direction do I want my career to take, more specifically, am I interested in pursuing a career in industry or in academia?

Carol and Thiago share their personal stories about their professional journeys. We discuss choices made, challenges faced, moments of uncertainty, and of course, celebrate their successes! And then at the end, Thiago and Carol answer some questions submitted by listeners.

At the time of this recording, we are well into this year’s football playoffs with the Super Bowl now just a couple of weeks away. There are four teams still in the playoffs – Bengals, Chiefs, Eagles and 49ers – with the next round coming this weekend. I invited my previous guest Walt DeGrange, director of Analytics Capabilities at CANA, to take a look at the continually evolving role of analytics in football as we continue our countdown to the Superbowl. We’ll also take a few minutes to discuss Walt’s new book, Field Guide to Compelling Analytics.

*A note to listeners, this episode was recorded on January 26, 2023 and posted the following week.

As we live in an increasingly internet-driven world, it should come as no surprise that online or cyberbullying is a problem of growing significance and impact, one that actually seems to have worsened during the pandemic. In 2022, nearly half of all teenagers experienced some form of online bullying or harassment. But what may be less well understood is beyond the mental and emotional impact, online harassment can also pose a risk to an individual’s personal data and financial security.

Joining me to help explore this topic is Lisa Yeo, a professor with the University of California MERCED. We’ll talk about the work she has been doing to combat online bullying and harassment and how this fits into the larger discussion of security and privacy.

Welcome to a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human podcasts! Whether this is your first episode, or you are a long-time listener, thank you for joining us and I hope you’ll subscribe for even more great content highlighting the incredible contributions of INFORMS members.

To kick off our first episode of the new year, joining me is the 2023 INFORMS president Laura Albert, professor and department chair of industrial & systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As we near the end of the year, I’m once again joined by our 2022 INFORMS president Radhika Kulkarni to take a look back at the past year, her favorite moments and memories, what insight she gained, what she’ll take with her, and finally, any special insight she might have for our incoming 2023 president.

This week’s podcast is an incredible example of the power of O.R. and analytics to unite and empower people and communities across the globe, and I’m excited and honored to share this story with you! I’m joined by Andrew Wiley, a simulation consultant at Simul8 Corporation which develops simulation software to provide unique, evidence-based approaches to decision making, and William Taylor, head of operations at Shout-It-Now, which uses innovative approaches to provide South African communities with free sexual and reproductive health services. We’ll be discussing the unique partnership between these two organizations, which is leveraging O.R. and analytics to make a lasting impact and help save lives.

Welcome back for another in a special series of the Resoundingly Human podcast, filmed and recorded in person in Indianapolis at the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting. I’m joined by Brian MacDonald at Yale University. He is a keynote presenter at this year’s Annual Meeting, Sports Analytics, and he has kindly taken some time out of his busy meeting schedule to share special insight into, well, all things sports analytics!

Special series featuring in-person interviews from #INFORMS2022 in Indianapolis! I was delighted to be joined in person in Indianapolis at the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting by Prashant Yadav with INSEAD. He was a keynote presenter at this year’s Annual Meeting, Global Health Security and Healthcare Supply Chains: Perspectives and Opportunities for Operations Research, and he kindly took some time out of his busy meeting schedule to sit down with me and explore the topic of his presentation.

With just days to go before the INFORMS community gathers in Indianapolis for the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting, the first fully IN PERSON Annual Meeting since 2019, I am delighted to be joined once again by the 2022 INFORMS President Radhika Kulkarni. We’ll take a look at this year’s meeting, what’s new and different this year and what we’ve missed about meeting face-to-face, as well as a quick update on INFORMS as we enter the latter half of her year as president.

Semiconductors. Everyone uses them, but how many of us really know what they are, what they do, and the increasingly important role they play in our modern world? Much like supply chains, artificial intelligence and other O.R. buzzwords that are making their way into the public conscious, semiconductor is a term that most of us have probably heard, but their actual significance might remain a bit of a mystery.

And perhaps even less well known are the challenges associated with their manufacturing, especially with the ongoing issues relating to supply chains, and alarmingly, the risk this could pose to national security.

In this episode I’m joined by Zachary Collier, professor with Radford University and a visiting scholar at the Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust (CHEST), to take a deep dive into all things semiconductor and tackle some of these questions and growing concerns.

It’s the end of a long day, or maybe the start to a fun weekend … you lean back in your chair, hammock, front porch step, wherever, and crack open your favorite brew. Life. Is. Good.

But have you ever thought why your favorite beer IS your favorite? Nowadays, chances are (especially if you are a millennial) you’re drinking the product of one of nearly 10,000 craft breweries here in the U.S. and NOT one of the large traditional beer companies that have been such a significant part of the history of brewing in America (Budweiser Clydesdales, anyone?). And why are the beers that are popular today are so different from those our parents and grandparents enjoyed in previous decades?

Today I’m excited to dive into the takeoff of craft beer brands with Bart Bronnenberg, a professor with the Tilburg School of Economics and Management at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. His study “Millennials and the Takeoff of Craft Brands: Preference Formation in the U.S. Beer Industry” looks at the rise of craft brands, particularly beer, in the U.S. and their impact on the market.

Operations research, analytics and data science can provide a wide range of solutions to many of the challenges facing organizations, from staffing to resource allotment to evaluating success and failure, if you have a business problem, O.R. and analytics can provide an effective, data-based solution.

But making sure you are picking the correct solution, the right approach for your unique problem, is just as important. Sure, having AI or machine learning-based solutions might sound super cool, but how do you know it’s actually the right answer to your problem? And when organizations are investing thousands if not more in these solutions, a lot is riding on the choice you make.

We’ll be exploring the answers to these questions and more, with a particular focus on data-centric vs. decision-centric analytics and solutions, with Karen O’Brien. Karen O’Brien is an analytics leader and a 20-year public servant, having served in diverse analytics and leadership roles within the Department of the Army as a member of the Army Civilian Corps. Her applied operations research experience ranges from ballistics to logistics and she has built advanced data analytics capabilities in multiple organizations. By training, her undergraduate work was in physics and chemistry, and she leverages her MS in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University to bridge the worlds of big data analytics and classic operations research.

Today’s episode will be a little different than most, we’re going to take a bit of a detour but stick with me and I promise, I’ll bring us back around to data science.

I’m going to take us back in time a little, back to the first time I watched what was to become my favorite movie, Jaws. It was the summer between 4th and 5th grade (probably way too young to be watching a movie about a killer shark) and I was at a sleepover where the next day, after being thoroughly terrified by this movie, we went to the beach where, wait for it, a shark had washed up on shore! Needless to say, I spent much of the rest of that summer playing in the dunes, BUT, it cemented in me an absolute fascination and, let’s be honest, fear of sharks.

So fast forward a couple of decades to this summer, I’m on my morning run through the Pennsylvania woods, far from any beach, and listening to my newest podcast obsession, “Reunion: Shark Attacks in Paradise,” which is about a series of unprecedented shark attacks on the French island of Reunion. All of a sudden, I hear the host mention “the totally fascinating academic journal Management Science.” That’s right, the INFORMS journal Management Science! He’s referring to an article by UC Berkey professor Charles West Churchman titled “Wicked Problems” and proceeds to lay out the shark attacks on Reunion as a wicked problem! I literally stop dead in my track, I’m texting my coworkers, “The coolest thing ever just happened!” and of course, I keep bingeing the podcast.

So needless to say, I am beyond excited to welcome Daniel Duane, award winning journalist and author, and host of my new favorite podcast, to talk about what exactly data science has to do with a series of shark attacks on a small island in the Indian Ocean.

We’re just about halfway through the summer, and with many days of warm weather still ahead, most of us are planning fun outdoor activities or family adventures, or maybe just working toward our summertime fitness goals.

But for some, ok many of us, staying active can be a struggle, not only to reach our fitness goals, but to stick to our good exercise habits in the long run. The use of wearable heath devices, such as a Fitbit can serve as a valuable tool not just for tracking progress, but of setting goals and helping motivate users to meet them.

However, new research shows that there are ways to enhance the effectiveness of these tools, for even longer-term benefits through a process called gain-loss incentives. I’m pleased to introduce Idris Adjerid from Virginia Tech to discuss the findings of his study, “Gain-Loss Incentives and Physical Activity: The Role of Choice and Wearable Health Tools,” which will be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science.

There is not a single country in the world that is not touched by human trafficking. Let that sink in. The number of people victimized by human slavery across the globe is currently greater than the populations of London, New York and Los Angeles combined. This is not a problem affecting people on the other side of the world, it’s one here at home, very likely in our own communities. One that will require collaboration and diverse and innovative approaches to combat.

Joining me today is Renata Konrad, professor of industrial engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who is using her background and experience to explore the role that engineering can play in combatting the complex and growing challenges involved in combatting human trafficking.

It’s no secret that women are making great strides forward in the workplace. In major cities across the country, analysis shows that the gender pay gap is closing. The number of women in mathematics, science and other STEM occupations is continuing to grow as well. In addition, the number of women entrepreneurs has increased by 48% year over year. That means the number of women taking the jump to start their own businesses each year is growing in leaps and bounds!

However, it’s also no secret that there are still hurdles to cross, many more milestones to reach, and unfortunately, continued negative assumptions to overcome. In today’s episode, we’ll be exploring new research in the INFORMS journal Organization Science has revealed that when a female investor supports a female entrepreneur, it can negatively affect the business owner’s ability to obtain further investments.

Joining me to discuss her study, “Does Investor Gender Matter for the Success of Female Entrepreneurs? Gender Homophily and the Stigma of Incompetence in Entrepreneurial Finance” is Kaisa Snellman of INSEAD. We’ll discuss her findings, what insights or awareness we can gain from this new data, and ultimately, how we can enact positive change so we don’t take steps backward in the upward trajectory of professional women.

As the host of this podcast, I am in a unique position to hear first-hand from people who are having an incredible impact on the world in such an amazing variety of ways, which in my role, I then have the pleasure of sharing with our listeners. While each episode of the podcast communicates an important discovery or significant impact, it’s seemed like a number of recent episodes, at least in my eyes and ears, have captured stories of the impact of O.R. and analytics that regardless of whether you have a background in these fields, are pretty inspiring.

From reducing poaching to help revitalize populations of wild tigers, to helping teach AI to think more like we do, to helping craft better policies to protect and better serve some of our most vulnerable dialysis patients, to interviews featuring the 2022 Franz Edelman Award finalist teams, these episodes have shared stories of brining together skilled people from a variety of fields, organizations and backgrounds to collaborate on addressing significant problems across the globe.

And I’m excited to share that today’s episode, is no exception. Joining me is Ayan Mukhopadhyay, a research scientist with Vanderbilt University and one of the recipients of the 2021 Google AI for Social Good Impact Scholar Award. Ayan is involved in a number of projects that are having a significant positive impact on the world around us, but today we’ll be talking in particular about his work with HelpMum, a non-profit organization based in Nigeria dedicated to improving the lives of African mothers and children.

Common sense. A highly valued trait among our peers, partners, friends, and honestly anyone we interact with on a regular basis. Difficult to define at best, common sense is a necessary component to decision-making, helping us navigate any number of choices we must make day to day, to presumably achieve the best outcomes.

And while common sense is an inherently human trait, much like our emotions, as applications of artificial intelligence in our daily lives continue to grow, from customer service interface to smart home technology, can common sense be introduced to this technology to improve their decision-making capability? Or will technology’s inability to incorporate common sense place a hard stop on the role that AI will ultimately play?

Joining me to take a closer look at the challenges of introducing common sense into AI decision-making is Mayank Kejriwal with the University of Southern California, who is leading a research team exploring this very topic.

For this episode, I am so pleased to once again be joined by the 2022 INFORMS President Radhika Kulkarni. We started 2022 off with my first interview with Radhika as president and discussed what was in store for INFORMS in the coming year. Radhika joins me once again to share some important INFORMS milestones and updates on a few of the topics we discussed earlier this year.

Wildlife conservation is an enormous global undertaking, vital to ensuring the health and longevity of our planet, and that the incredibly diverse plant and wildlife species we share our world with are here for generations more to come. A significant threat to conservation efforts is the poaching of wildlife, which can be difficult and even dangerous to combat and is pushing many species towards extinction, while also helping to support a multi-billion-dollar illegal wildlife trade.

I’m pleased to introduce my guest for today’s podcast, Lily Xu with Harvard University, whose work to create a data driven approach to combat poaching in protected areas around the world led to the development of PAWS, the Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security. Perhaps most exciting is the hope that, with the help of PAWS, not only can we reduce the impact of poachers but ultimately reintroduce populations of wild tigers back into areas where they once thrived.

I’m also thrilled to share that Lily’s work was awarded the INFORMS Doing Good with Good O.R. prize – which recognizes outstanding student projects with a significant societal impact – and I’m excited for the opportunity to speak with her about it.

End-stage renal disease, or ESRD, is a serious medical condition caused by failure of the kidneys that also has significant social and economic implications. The only treatments for end-stage renal disease are regular courses of dialysis or a kidney transplant. For individuals with ESRD who do not have access to treatment, either because they are uninsured or they may not be a legal residents of the U.S., often their only option is to resort to going to the emergency room in order to receive dialysis. However, mandatory hospital and even county protocols structured to prevent emergency room congestion can result in an individual seeking dialysis treatment being sent home if their medical status is not deemed life-threatening at that time. Unfortunately, these policies for the most part are ineffective at preventing ER congestion and also have the potential to negatively impact these patients’ health by delaying treatment.

So is there a way to strike a balance between alleviating already strained emergency room resources while still providing life-saving care to vulnerable patients with very limited options?

Joining me to discuss their research on this very topic are Sila Çetinkaya with Southern Methodist University and Olga Bountali with the University of Toronto.

This podcast is part of a special series featuring the 2022 finalist teams for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, the most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of O.R. and advanced analytics.

For more than four decades, the Edelman Award has recognized contributions that are transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $336 billion since the award’s inception, as well as countless other nonmonetary benefits. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at the 2022 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, April 3-5.

Joining me for this episode are Dimitris Bertsimas, professor with the MIT Sloan School of Management and Najat Khan, Chief Data Science Officer and Global Head, Research and Development Strategy & Operations with Janssen Research and Development, LLC, to discuss the finalist entry from the team at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson (Janssen).

To accelerate the development of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, the Research and Development Data Science team at Janssen worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to co-develop and refine a machine learning-based COVID-19 epidemiological disease spread model, building on MIT’s DELPHI scenario analysis tool, capable of predicting future COVID-19 infection spread months in advance at a global level. This model enabled Johnson and Johnson to expedite a highly accurate clinical trial for the first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, as well as gain valuable insight on virus variants.

This podcast is part of a special series featuring the 2022 finalist teams for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, the most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of O.R. and advanced analytics.

For more than four decades, the Edelman Award has recognized contributions that are transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $336 billion since the award’s inception, as well as countless other nonmonetary benefits. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at the 2022 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, April 3-5.

Joining me for this episode are Peiling Wu-Smith, Research Manager and Technical Fellow, and Kathryn Schumacher, Staff Researcher, both with the Advanced Analytics Center of Expertise in Chief Data & Analytics Office, to discuss the finalist entry from the team at General Motors.

General Motors (GM) is on a journey toward helping to create a world with zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion. Decisions on new product content, packaging and pricing are central to this goal and the GM customer experience. Vehicle Content Optimization (VCO) helps GM make these decisions while offering a full-line portfolio of vehicles that meet the vast diversity of customer needs and preferences. Developed entirely within GM, VCO combines advanced consumer market research, discrete choice models and novel optimization algorithms into a user-friendly, fully productionized system which has had a significant impact on GM’s Global Vehicle Development process.

This podcast is part of a special series featuring the 2022 finalist teams for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, the most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of O.R. and advanced analytics.

For more than four decades, the Edelman Award has recognized contributions that are transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $336 billion since the award’s inception, as well as countless other nonmonetary benefits. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at the 2022 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, April 3-5.

Joining me for this episode are Vicki McIntire, Assistant Regional Director for the Denver Regional Office, and Tammy Adams, Senior Advisor for IT and Operations, to discuss the finalist entry from the team representing the U.S. Census Bureau.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Decennial Census every 10 years as mandated in the U.S. Constitution. Prior to the 2020 Census, this was done with manual assignments. In 2020, optimization and machine learning techniques automated the scheduling, workload assignments and management of field data collection. MOJO, an operational control system based on these techniques, provided optimization of caseloads handled by enumerators through a geographic information system. The 2020 Census resolved 99.9% of all addresses in the nation and MOJO, via assignment optimization, provided a productivity increase of over 80%. The system was developed in collaboration with Princeton Consultants as well as others in the private sector and academia.

This podcast is part of a special series featuring the 2022 finalist teams for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, the most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of O.R. and advanced analytics.

For more than four decades, the Edelman Award has recognized contributions that are transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $336 billion since the award’s inception, as well as countless other nonmonetary benefits. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at the 2022 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, April 3-5.

Joining me for this episode are Andrés Couve, the Chilean Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Leonardo Basso, Professor with the Universidad de Chile in the Civil Engineering Department and Director of the Complex Engineering Systems Institute, to discuss the finalist entry from the team representing the country of Chile.

During the COVID-19 crisis, the Chilean Ministries of Health and Sciences partnered with the Complex Engineering Systems Institute and telecom company Entel to develop innovative methodologies and tools that placed operations research and analytics at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic. These innovations have been used in key decisions that helped shape the strategy against the virus, including tools that shed light on the actual effects of lockdowns in different municipalities and over time; helped allocate limited intensive care capacity; allowed multiplying the testing capacity; provided on-the-ground strategies for the active search of asymptomatic cases based on anonymized mobility data; and implemented a nationwide serology surveillance program that greatly influenced Chile’s decision regarding booster doses and provided valuable insight to the rest of the world.

This podcast is part of a special series featuring the 2022 finalist teams for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research, and Management Science, the most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of O.R. and advanced analytics. For more than four decades, the Edelman Award has recognized contributions that are transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $336 billion since the award’s inception, as well as countless other nonmonetary benefits. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at 2022 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, April 3-5.

Joining me for this episode are Xinhui Zhang, Senior Director, Head of Supply Chain Management and Operations Research Committee, and Yuming Deng, Director, Digital Supply Chain, to discuss their team, Alibaba’s, finalist entry.

Alibaba, which aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce, has designed many multiplatform retail business models. These range from mobile apps to brick-and-mortars and more. Merchandise on Alibaba’s platforms covers general supplies to fresh produce. Each of these different channels and their products brings unique features regarding demand forecast and inventory management. These challenges are being solved through a series of algorithms to align supply with demand, which in turn has had a significant impact on the business.

This podcast is part of a special series featuring the 2022 finalist teams for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, the most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of O.R. and advanced analytics.

For more than four decades, the Edelman Award has recognized contributions that are transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $336 billion since the award’s inception, as well as countless other nonmonetary benefits. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at the 2022 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, April 3-5.

Joining me for this episode are PK Yegneswaran, Vice President of Manufacturing Science and Technology, and Oscar Repping, Executive Director Biotech Solutions, to discuss the finalist entry from the team at Merck Animal Health.

Merck Animal Health offers veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions. After four years of collaboration where vision met opportunity, a portfolio of optimization and decision support applications were implemented that substantially improved biomanufacturing effectiveness. Biomanufacturing uses living organisms (i.e., viruses and bacteria) to grow active ingredients in vaccines and therapeuticals. This high-tech manufacturing process generates challenges not found in many other industries. Additionally, the high cost of equipment and labor-intensive nature of operations precluded the ability to just add capacity. Operations research played a critical role in helping Merck Animal Health increase the output of critical medicines in specific areas.

For nearly 3 weeks during the summer of 2018, the attention of millions across the globe was focused on northern Thailand where a massive effort was underway to locate and rescue 12 members of a boys’ soccer team and their coach who were trapped underground in the rapidly flooding Tham Luang cave.

Among those watching was Yael Grushka-Cockayne with the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Management. As she watched this incredible rescue effort unfold, she recognized it as a massive and complex study in risk management and decision-making, one in which the highest stakes were involved. Today I’m thrilled to be joined by Yael to take a look back at this event and share the insight gained from her own case study of a rescue that, had different decisions been made at key points along the way, could have had a very different outcome.

Plastic pollution is a complex and growing global issue, with millions of tons of plastic waste reaching our oceans each year, killing thousands of seabirds, turtles, seals and other marine mammals.

However new research has identified an approach to removing, recycling and reutilizing plastic that not only has a positive impact on the environment, but can also benefit communities in need in developing countries.

Joining me to discuss how supply chain and block chain technology are being leveraged in innovative new ways to address the issue of plastic pollution is Opher Baron with the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Cardiovascular disease, a term for a number of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, is a serious and steadily growing threat to global health, causing even more deaths every year than cancer. In the U.S. alone, nearly 660,000 people, or 1 in 4, die of heart disease annually.

In particular, cardiovascular disease can lead to cardiac arrest, a serious condition in which the heart suddenly stops beating. One of the most effective methods of treatment for cardiac arrest is an automated external defibrillator, which can not only correct an episode of arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, but can restore the heart’s beating if it suddenly stops.

As with any medical emergency, time plays a critical factor and this is particularly true when someone is experiencing cardia arrest. Even a minute delay in defibrillation can leading to a 10% decrease in survival.

My guest today, Tim Chan with the University of Toronto, is conducting incredible research exploring how drone technology can minimize delays in defibrillation for individuals in crisis, potentially even faster than traditional EMS can respond.

Even with the COVID-19 vaccine readily available throughout much of the country, and the age ranges of those who can receive it expanding, research shows that in the face of a new wave or variant of the coronavirus, the tools that we used at the onset of the pandemic, masking and social distancing, are still key to helping mitigate the spread of the virus. Joining me to share his research to help develop a model for social distancing policies to prevent surges in new cases and hospitalizations is Dave Morton with Northwestern University.

When you take a look back, even just over the past couple of years, the devastation caused by the seemingly growing threat of large-scale wildfires has made headlines around the world. From the unprecedented brushfires in Australia in 2019-2020, to California’s record setting wildfire season later that same year, and most recently the Colorado prairie grass fires which occurred well outside of the traditional fire season, the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfire incidents are a growing global concern.

Not only are these fires capable of causing billions of dollars in damage each year, but contribute to the deaths of thousands of people, not to mention have a devastating impact on local wildlife and ecosystems.

But are there steps that can be taken to better prepare and position first responders and others involved in combatting and minimizing the physical and financial impact of these fires?

Joining me to discuss his work using stochastic optimization to support better decisions regarding resource deployment both in the stages before a fire occurs as well as when multiple fires are underway is Lewis Ntaimo with Texas A&M University.

In this week’s episode I’m thrilled to be joined by a very special guest, Sam Buttrey, an associate professor of operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School and winner of the first-ever Jeopardy! Tournament of Professors. Sam competed against professors from across the country and in a variety of disciplines to win not only the $100,000 grand prize, but an opportunity to further compete in the 2022 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.

Welcome to a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human podcasts! Whether this is your first episode, or you are a long-time listener, thank you for joining us and I hope you’ll subscribe for for even more great content highlighting the incredible contributions of INFORMS members.

To kick off the first episode of the new year, joining me is the 2022 INFORMS president Radhika Kulkarni, a member of the analytics industry for 35+ years, most recently as the VP of Advanced Analytics R&D at SAS.

What a year this has been!

To start, I want to thank everyone who has tuned into the podcast this year, and whether this is the first episode you’re listening to or the 50th, your support of the podcast has helped us share the incredible work of INFORMS members and the many ways their contributions are saving lives, saving money and solving problems.

In fact, I’m thrilled to share that in 2021 we didn’t just reach a major milestone, but blew it out of the water, when we surpassed 50,000 unique downloads of our episodes well ahead of our expectations!

This year’s episodes covered a wide spectrum of research, discoveries and ground-breaking applications in O.R., analytics, data science and more that are having a significant impact on the world around us. Let’s take a look back over some highlights from 2021!

Since I first met with the 2021 INFORMS president Stephen Graves at the beginning of the year, INFORMS has achieved several significant milestones despite the continued challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, to include the launching of a new strategic plan and a return to in-person meetings with the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Anaheim, CA earlier this fall.

Now as 2021 draws to a close, Steve joins me for his final interview as president for a look back over the past year and all that INFORMS has accomplished.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges to the restaurant industry, especially at its peak in early 2020 when indoor dining in much of the country was shut down. A shining light seemed to come in the form of food delivery services, which enabled restaurants to reopen and safely provide food to patrons even though their dining rooms remained closed, or open at a reduced capacity.

But is the relationship between restaurants and food delivery services really a healthy one, especially with indoor dining allowed once again? A new study selected for publication in the INFORMS journal Management Science titled “Food Delivery Service and Restaurant: Friend or Foe?” explores this relationship and in particular its impact on restaurants and the restaurant industry as a whole. Joining me to discuss this work is Manlu Chen with Renmin University of China’s School of Business.

According to the CDC, nearly half of all adults in the U.S. have hypertension or are taking medication to control it. Of these individuals, only about 1 in 4 actually have their condition under control, whether through improved diet and exercise, making different lifestyle choices such as not smoking, or with prescription medications.

Knowing when to start treating someone for hypertension is extremely important, as elevated blood pressure can lead to heart disease, stroke, and even death.

However, there can be some uncertainty in the medical community on when it is appropriate to begin medication, as guidelines are frequently revised, and that decision can also vary from patient-to-patient based on additional factors.

Anthony Bonifonte with Denison University joins me for this episode to discuss brand new research that can help guide a physician’s decision of when to begin medicating for hypertension, as well as when to increase dosages. This study, “An Analytics Approach to Guide Randomized Controlled Trials in Hypertension Management” will be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science.

With Halloween in our review mirrors and Thanksgiving fast approaching, the holiday season is officially upon us. And thanks to the widespread availability of coronavirus vaccines, to include boosters for many, I think we are all looking forward to spending time with family over the holidays in a way we haven’t since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it appears that the pandemic will still have an impact on this year’s holiday season as we’re seeing increasing reports in the media of continued if not worsening disruptions to supply chains across the globe that may significantly hamper holiday shopping.

Joining me to share some insight on these current supply chain disruptions, the impact to the holiday season, and if there are steps you can take to minimize the strain on your holiday celebrations, is Chris Tang, INFORMS Fellow and professor with the University of California, Los Angeles.

In an effort to address customer questions and concerns as thoroughly and quickly as possible, service centers such as call centers and back-office support organizations often employ frontline workers to handle some of the more common issues. These workers may end up addressing customer questions themselves, or transferring them to another employee with more expertise in that area. Since these workers provide a gateway to an expert, they are sometimes referred to as ‘gatekeepers.’

An important part of the gatekeeping process is knowing when to stop working on the customer problem and transfer. But, this presents the gatekeeper with some difficult tradeoffs. On the one hand, transferring too early can lead to expert employees in other departments tied up addressing customer issues that could have been handled without a transfer. On the other hand, transferring too late can frustrate customers who feel stuck with an employee who is unable to address their concerns as well as extend the waiting times of customers in the frontline queue.

For managers, an important part of their role is to design incentives that help these frontline employees manage this process to the benefit of the organization. These incentives can take the form of bonus compensation, shift assignments, and promotions. However, balancing these incentives can be challenging and if not managed correctly, can actually negatively influence the employees’ decision-making process. This is the topic of a recent study selected for publication in the INFORMS journal Operations Research from a team of researchers at the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University. It provides valuable insights on how to effectively incentivize frontline workers such as call center agents and customer service employees. Joining me is Brett Hathaway to discuss the team’s work titled: “The Gatekeeper’s Dilemma: ‘When Should I Transfer this Customer?’”

On this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with an INFORMS member whose work is truly saving lives, saving money, and solving [problems. Cynthia Rudin, professor of computer science and engineering at Duke University, has been awarded the 2021 Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity, an honor considered to be the New Nobel Prize. This award recognizes positive impacts of artificial intelligence to protect, enhance, and improve human life in meaningful ways with long-lived effects. In particular, her work with Con Edison, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Cambridge Police Department played a key role in firmly cementing interpretable machine learning as a mainstream field within artificial intelligence.

We’ve all seen movies that contain a pivotal moment when characters are united in a cause or moved to action, all as the result of an impassioned speech from a leading character.

The music builds as the words of this character flow forth, everyone’s eyes are fixed on them until finally there is a collective cheer as they come together to tackle a challenge, or their spirits are reignited for a seemingly lost cause, or they plunge headfirst into battle or some other dangerous endeavor, with no other incentive than these persuasive words.

But again, that’s the movies. Can the words of a charismatic leader really carry that much weight in real life, and serve as their own incentive (separate of any personal or financial gain)?

Joining me for this episode is Christian Zehnder with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, whose study, “Just Words? Just Speeches?” On the Economic Value of Charismatic Leadership, has been selected for publication in the INFORMS journal Management Science. We’ll explore just how much weight charisma carries in the real world, especially in a business setting when sometimes words are the only incentives available.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and shields was significantly impacted to the point that healthcare workers were forced to reuse their PPE. In fact, a survey found that 87 percent of hospital nurses in the U.S. reported reusing at least one type of single-use PPE, placing them at greater risk of contracting the virus.

In response to this global shortage, many manufactures who had not previously developed PPE supplies pivoted their operations to help meet the demand. However, as these organizations were not previously established providers, it was still difficult for them to connect with the hospitals and healthcare facilities in need. That was until the development of Shield-Net, a valuable new resource that helped create these connections and in turn meet the increased demand for PPE among healthcare workers. For this episode, I am joined by Rebecca Alcock with University of Wisconsin-Madison to discuss her work bringing this new resource to life.

The U.S. has a complicated history with cannabis. Designated an illegal substance for decades, in recent years we’ve witnessed a greater understanding of its medicinal potential with a growing number of states legalizing it for that purpose, as well as for recreational use. However, federally it remains classified as an illegal “Schedule 1 drug” under the Controlled Substances Act. I guess it’s still pretty complicated.

Last year however, a bill passed in the House of Representatives that would have legalized the use of cannabis federally (but died in the Senate). In addition, more senators and representatives on both sides of the aisle are expressing an interest in decriminalizing cannabis use, so it looks like things will continue to change.

Joining me to share some insight on what the future could hold for cannabis use in the U.S. – including the impact of legalized stores on overall cannabis usage and user numbers – is Michael Armstrong with Brock University in Ontario, Canada, where cannabis use was legalized three years ago.

During the earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed the world had ground to a halt as efforts were made across the globe to slow the spread of the virus, including stay at home orders, and in many areas the closing of nonessential businesses and services.

Unfortunately, this impacted many non-emergency medical procedures and appointments, including screenings, scans, tests and other measures deemed elective.

But what are the long-term implications of this gap in preventive medicine, a gap extended for many by an avoidance of medical facilities as potential sites of infection for the virus until the vaccine became widely available? Joining me to discuss the predicted impact on one of the most common cancers among women – breast cancer – for which preventative care including regular exams and early detection are key is Oguzhan Alagoz with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The fascinating history of operations research can trace some of its earliest applications back to the military during World War II. Since then, its role has continued to grow and evolve, and today it is still a vital tool in helping our modern military address some of its most complex challenges, from logistics, to equipment, to personnel, and more.

In this episode, I am joined by Phil Jenkins with the Air Force Institute of Technology to discuss a new study, “An Air Force Pilot Training Recommendation System using Advanced Analytical Methods,” that is slated for publication in the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics. We’ll discuss how the application of existing O.R. and analytics methods in novel new ways can help address challenges associated with training U.S. Air Force pilots.

In this episode, I am pleased to once again be joined by our 2021 INFORMS president Steve Graves. As we enter the latter half of the year, we’ll take a look at the current status of INFORMS, the continued progress of the goals outlined in the new Strategic Plan unveiled at the beginning of the year, and the upcoming 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting, featuring a flexible format for both in-person and virtual attendees.

For today's episode, we'll be doing something a little different. Recently I was joined at INFORMS headquarters by Brad Weaber, our wonderfully dynamic and engaging host for the upcoming 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting.

This year's meeting features a flexible format, with the opportunity to participate in-person in Anaheim, CA, as well as a fully virtual meeting platform that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

A self-described cruise director on land, Brad will be helping bridge the gap between in-person and virtual attendees, igniting conversations and sparking lasting connections, as well as helping to highlight the many unique features of the upcoming meeting.

The following is an excerpt of the video recording of our conversation, where we discuss Brad’s background, his role in both the virtual and in-person meeting settings, what he’s most looking forward to, and what he’s enjoyed learning about INFORMS and its members.

To learn more or register for the 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting as well as to see video of our conversation, visit meetings.informs.org/anaheim2021.

Over 15 million infants around the world are born prematurely each year and can experience health complications and lengthy hospitalizations as a result of underdevelopment and immature immune systems.

One of the best resources for these babies can come from their mother’s breast milk, which has unique growth factors and nutritional qualities that can help combat a number of serious conditions that can impact premature infants.

But for babies whose mothers may be unable to produce milk due to their baby’s premature birth, or have health conditions or medications that preclude breastfeeding, and a physician recommends breast milk as the preferred choice for those infants’ needs, what are the options?

The answer comes from a resource that we might not all be familiar with. You’ve heard of blood banks where blood donated by the public is having a life-saving impact? Did you know the same resource exists for breast milk, with donor banks across the country providing this valuable resource to these tiny patients?!

Joining me to discuss work being done to help improve access to these donor milk resources and ensure their beneficial impact can reach even more infants in need is Lisa Maillart with the University of Pittsburgh. She and a team of researchers partnered with the largest donor milk bank in the U.S. to help improve their existing systems and processes and realize significant outcomes. Their work will be featured in an upcoming edition of the INFORMS journal Service Science.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has touched virtually every aspect of our day-to-day lives, its impact on the performing arts has been especially significant. At the height of the pandemic, many theatres and other venues were closed, including all Broadway theatres in the U.S., and London’s West End theatres, resulting in substantial financial losses.

As restrictions loosened and theatres across the globe began to reopen, the challenge then was how to begin successfully and safely welcoming patrons back into performances. Researchers in the Netherlands created an optimization model that was implemented by the Music Building Eindhoven (MBE), enabling the venue to ultimately return to 70% total capacity for an evening’s performances, resulting in significant financial benefit.

Joining me to share their research, how the team came together, and the impact of their work once implemented is Frits Spieksma with the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

In March of 2020, our lives were turned upside down when the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent stay at home orders necessitated that our homes also become our offices.

Over the ensuing months, we learned to balance the many new challenges of working from home – turning our couches and kitchen tables into our new offices, remembering to unmute on Zoom calls, managing interruptions from kids and pets – all under the cloud of a global pandemic.

But with many organizations beginning a return to the office after more than a year of working from home, it raises questions about what the future of work in the U.S will look like, with many employees reluctant to a return to the way things were.

Joining me to discuss lessons learned, where we found success and where we fell short, and what lasting changes we could see to how and where we work, is Anita Williams Woolley with Carnegie Mellon University.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 9.6 million U.S. workers between the ages of 16 and 64 lost their jobs.

But in the past several months as the majority of the country has opened back up, we’ve seen more and more darkened windows and closed signs replaced by help wanted notices.

What’s been surprising however is the number of these help wanted signs we see remain in place, followed by reports of a labor shortage here in the U.S.

So what happened? Have individuals taken the opportunity to transition to new positions or different fields? Are employees able to leverage the labor shortages into opportunities for better pay and working environments?

Joining me to help bring some clarity to the labor shortage questions is Robert Handfield with North Carolina State University.

Just over a year ago, I was joined by Julie Swann with North Carolina State University to discuss what, at that time, were fears of a second wave of the coronavirus, and to reflect on how the virus had changed nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives, seemingly overnight.

Now nearly a year later, I am so pleased to welcome Julie back to review what has occurred since we last spoke and to discuss, almost incredulously, growing concern over not just another wave of the virus, but a new variant of the virus, the delta variant, and its impact on steps taken this spring and summer toward reopening and a return to normal.

If you are anything like me, customer loyalty programs can heavily influence your purchasing habits. I may not even be planning to shop until I realize I have reward points to burn, or special members-only savings, and suddenly my virtual shopping cart is full (while my wallet is a little lighter).

Joining me to share some very intriguing insight into how these kinds of programs work and what the actual benefit is to the businesses that utilize them is Arun Gopalakrishnan with Rice University. His study, “Can Non-tiered Customer Loyalty Programs Be Profitable,” was recently published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science.

As we discussed in last week’s episode, “Using data to address risks in election security,” featuring Josh Dehlinger with Towson University, while the 2020 elections are months behind us, the topic of election security is still making national headlines with new legislation being introduced by a number of states that could impact future elections and raises concern about voter suppression. In fact, at the time of this recording, at least 30 laws have been enacted in 18 states that could potentially impact voter access.

In this episode we’ll highlight some additional ways that INFORMS members are leveraging O.R. and analytics to provide data-driven insight in support of secure and accessible voting for all. For this discussion I’m joined by Karthik Balasubramanian with Howard University and Chris Parker with American University to discuss their role with BlockPower, a nonprofit organization focused on increasing voter turnout in Black communities.

Even with the 2020 presidential election now months behind us, the topic of election security is still making headlines with numerous states introducing new legislation. While some are aimed at increasing accessibility, others would enact more restrictions, but overall these are all again raising questions about voter security and ballot integrity.

And as we look back at the 2020 elections, and ahead to the upcoming municipal and midterm elections, how can voter security be better ensured in a way that doesn’t lead to voter suppression?

Joining me to share valuable, data-based insight is Josh Dehlinger with Towson University. We’ll review what we learned during the 2020 elections when mail-in ballots played an unprecedented role due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, discuss some of what is currently unfolding on the national stage in regard to new legislation and election audits, as well as where efforts (and funding) should really be focused to ensure our voting system remains secure and accessible to all.

More than 61 million adults in the United States are living with a disability. To put that into perspective, that translates to 1 in 4 adults are pursuing their personal and professional goals and dreams, all while managing the unique challenges a disability. And while legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), prohibits discrimination to ensure they have the same employment opportunities as everyone else, the unemployment rate for Americans with disabilities is still nearly 18%.

As we strive to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in all settings and situations, there remain opportunities to identify and improve policies and conditions within every workplace setting to support those employees with disabilities in order minimize stigma, increase awareness and understanding of their unique challenges, and ensure their contributions are recognized and valued just as those of employees without disabilities.

Joining me to discuss his research into the employment of persons with disabilities and the valuable insight this work has provided is Dustin Cole with Michigan State University. We’ll explore some common misconceptions regarding persons with disabilities in the workplace, the value of employing these individuals at all levels within an organization, and additional steps employers can take to ensure they are supporting a productive and inclusive working environment.

Picture it, you look up to the sky at an airspace populated by both manned and unmanned aircraft of all shapes and sizes, delivering goods and people across the country, from the largest cities to the most rural locations.

Sounds like the backdrop to a great sci fi movie set far in the future right? Well, not exactly.

Earlier this year, NASA outlined an Advanced Air Mobility or (AAM) mission to support the safe development of air transportation systems within emerging aviation markets (such as automated aircraft) to navigate existing airspace as well as provide extended reach and service to areas that have been previously underserved.

And while this vision is exciting, there will certainly be many challenges to address in bringing it to life. And the key to tackling these challenges can be found in O.R. tools such as optimization and simulation.

To help explore what our future airspace might look like as well as our path to getting there, I am thrilled to be joined by John-Paul Clarke, a professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin.

While analytics has played a role in professional sports for years, one area seeing increasing adoption and expanding application is within the NFL and its professional football teams.

Joining me for this episode to provide a play-by-play on the growing role of analytics in football, as well as his own journey (with some interesting twists and turns) to working with the NFL is Zachary Steever, a recent graduate of the University of Buffalo. We’ll be discussing his exciting journey through earning his Ph.D. in operations research to a new adventure with the Philadelphia Eagles which will officially kick off with the start of training camp this summer.

At the start of the year, I held my first interview with the 2021 INFORMS president Stephen Graves where we discussed his goals and objectives for the year ahead, as well as got to know our new president a little better! Now almost six months into the year and his role as president, I am once again pleased to welcome Stephen Graves to join me on this episode, to discuss progress and milestones so far and what the rest of the year holds for INFORMS and its members!

On-demand rideshares like Uber and Lyft are now as commonplace an option for getting where we need to go as cabs, buses and trains, and arguably more accessible.

However, as rideshares have increased in popularity, so to have concerns over passenger safety, as we’ve seen extensive media coverage over the past several years of driver sexual misconduct and assault, as well as criticism of these top rideshare companies for failing to conduct adequate background checks and other safety protocols.

And while recently, Uber and Lyft have taken steps to better ensure rider safety, to include partnering to create a shared database of banned drivers, these incidences have left passengers, particularly female, potentially questioning the safety of these transportation options and their presence in their communities.

But now, new research provides additional insight to the conversation surrounding rider safety, with new evidence showing that when a rideshare enters a new city, sexual assault rates in the surrounding community can decrease by more than 6%.

Joining me to discuss his work in this area is Jiyong Park with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His study, “The Deterrent Effect of Ride-sharing on Sexual Assault and Investigation of Situational Contingencies,” will be published in a forthcoming issue of the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research.

A well-known phrase often credited to Benjamin Franklin in the early days of our country (though its origins are actually much earlier) states that “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.”

And this certainly remains true, as every spring just like clockwork, we faithfully fill out and submit our state and federal taxes, and bemoan any money owed, or celebrate any unexpected returns.

But with a U.S. federal budget topping $2 trillion … wait how many zeros is that? … it would be nice to know a little more about exactly how the government is spending our tax dollars. And while there are systems in place to make sure the government sticks to its budgets, new research shows there may also be ways around this …

Joining me to discuss their work, which will be featured in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, are Dwaipayan Roy, Anant Mishra and Kingshuk Sinha, all with the University of Minnesota. Their study, “Taxing the Taxpayers: An Empirical Investigation of the Drivers of Baseline Changes in the U.S. Federal Government Technology Programs,” looks at how certain government programs are overseen, how effective the budget monitoring in these areas really is, and what opportunities exist for more clarity and improvement.

At the heart of operations research, analytics, data science, and all the related fields, is the desire to improve the world around us, transforming data and information into insight and action, from simple business operations decisions to contributions that improve the quality of life, and even save lives, in communities across the globe.

And within this podcast, we strive to acknowledge and highlight the incredible contributions of INFORMS members, and their passion for tackling the most significant and complex problems facing our world today.

Joining me for this episode to discuss his work in combatting an unfortunately pervasive issue throughout U.S. history, violence directed at minority populations categorized as hate crimes, is Matthew Matlack.

Matthew, a technology sales professional based in Tulsa, OK, recently shared his insight at the Virtual 2021 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference, with his presentation, “Combatting Prejudice and Discrimination: Regression Modeling and Analysis for Hate Crimes,” and his work will again be featured in the June 2021 issue of OR/MS Today magazine, in an article titled “Educating a Bias Society: Using Hate Crime Data to Inform and Define Future Policy in the U.S.”

In addition to exploring the important insight gained and the opportunities for impact identified by his work, in this episode we’ll be discussing an upcoming event in Matthew’s hometown of Tulsa that commemorates the 100-year anniversary a tragic incident in the history of hate crimes in the U.S. that has fueled Matthew’s passion for his work.

When the first rideshare companies launched more than a decade ago, it completely transformed our options for traveling from place to place. Gone were the days of hailing a cab from the side of the street, now your ride home, to work, or anywhere you need to go is just the click of a mobile app away.

But does that mean that more traditional methods of transportation, like buses, trains and cabs, have become a thing of the past? How are they successfully coexisting in the same space, with popular rideshares like Uber and Lyft, and is there even a way for them to become mutually beneficial to each other? And ultimately, what role do consumers, their preferences and choices, play in all of this?

To help uncover the answers to these questions, I am pleased to introduce Vikrant Vaze of Dartmouth College to share his insight on this topic. His study, “Transit Planning Optimization under Ride-hailing Competition and Traffic Congestion,” will be published in the INFORMS journal Transportation Science.

If you’re anything like me, in the past year video streaming services have taken on a far greater significance than prior to the pandemic. Consumers are devouring everything Netflix, Hulu, Discovery+, Disney+, and more have to offer to help cope with spending so much time at home.

But what happens if access to these services is restricted, whether by cost or other reasons? Especially as more options become available, each with its own subscription fee? At what point does piracy become the better option?

To help me explore this topic, I am pleased to introduce Shijie Lu with the University of Houston, whose study, “The Effect of Over-the-Top Media Services on Piracy Search: Evidence from a Natural Experiment,” will be published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science.

Operations research, analytics, data science, and other related disciplines enable individuals and organizations to transform data into insights that facilitate better, more informed decision-making in order to save lives, save money, and solve problems.

And in no place is informed decision-making more important than at the highest levels within the U.S. government, where every day policymakers are making decisions and shaping policy that will impact our day-to-day lives.

But how can we ensure that the individuals making these important decisions have the tools or awareness they need? By connecting them with resources and people who are knowledgeable about O.R. and analytics.

Over the past several years, the INFORMS advocacy program has focused on elevating the work and expertise of INFORMS members and, positioning them as subject matter experts in the national media and the policy ecosystem surrounding the federal government in Washington, DC.

As part of this ongoing effort, INFORMS collaborates with other professional associations and societies to extend its reach and impact. This includes the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), whose Science & Technology Policy Fellowships, known as the STPF program, provide opportunities to outstanding scientists and engineers to learn first-hand about policymaking while contributing their knowledge and analytical skills to the federal policymaking process.

For this episode I am pleased to welcome two fellows in the STPF program, Rachel Levy, a Science and Engineering Fellow in the Senate sponsored by the American Mathematical Society, and Regina Pope-Ford, a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation in the Engineering Directorate's Engineering Education and Centers Division.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global event that for more than a year now has completed transformed nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives.

For most of us, the pandemic is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, with comparisons frequently made to the Spanish Influenza outbreak more than a century ago.

But in certain parts of the world, the potential danger presented by the coronavirus was identified and responded too far earlier than in others. And it wasn’t only government officials and decision-makers sharing these realizations, but average people, like you and me.

My guest for today’s episode is Hong Ru, professor with Nanyang Technological University. Along with his fellow study authors, Hong identified a shared experience that enabled certain countries to recognize and respond to the significant danger of the coronavirus threat earlier than others.

This study, “Combatting the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of the SARS Imprint,” which will be published later this year in the INFORMS journal Management Science, investigates how previous experience with the 2003 SARS outbreak led to a quicker response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the moment the earliest cases of the coronavirus were detected in the U.S., the ability to test for and track infection rates and cases has been one of the most significant tools in combatting the virus, and played an essential role in developing guidelines and policies to reduce its spread. And today, testing paired with increasing access to vaccines, continues to play an important role in our gradual reopening and return to normal.

To take a look back over the types of testing, their levels of accuracy, how they developed and their impact, I am pleased to welcome my guests for today’s episode, Kimon Drakopoulos and Ramandeep Randhawa, both professors with the department of data sciences and operations, Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. We will be discussing their study, “Why Perfect Tests May Not be Worth Waiting for: Information as a Commodity,” which took place during the pandemic and will be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science.

The past year has posed many unprecedented and unique challenges, forcing people around the world to redefine and reimagine how we live, work, learn, teach, shop and more. It tested the resiliency of the global economy, the fundamentals of business, and countless other parts of modern life that we all took for granted.

Many of these challenges brought to the forefront an often invisible resource that powers virtually every aspect of modern life – global supply chains. Now, the U.S. government, many businesses and industries, and numerous others, are undertaking extensive efforts to examine supply chains to ensure they can better withstand the intense pressures and strains of massive challenges such as COVID-19.

Joining me for this episode is David Simchi-Levi, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in MIT’s department of civil and environmental engineering and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, and director of the MIT Data Science Lab.

For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. This year’s finalists are no exception, with revolutionary contributions in robotics, cancer radiotherapy efficiency, unmanned warehouse technology, mining efficiency and the impact to chemical facilities, scheduling and production at manufacturing plants, and food assistance amid emergency responses. Since its inception, finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of over $302 billion, supported lifesaving efforts across the globe, and transformed how the world does business.

Joining me for this episode to discuss Memorial Sloan Kettering’s finalist entry for the 2021 Franz Edelman Award are Dr. Joseph Deasy, the chair of the department of medical physics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Masoud Zarepisheh, lead developer of the project we’ll be discussing, and Linda Hong, clinical medical physics lead of this project.

For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. This year’s finalists are no exception, with revolutionary contributions in robotics, cancer radiotherapy efficiency, unmanned warehouse technology, mining efficiency and the impact to chemical facilities, scheduling and production at manufacturing plants, and food assistance amid emergency responses. Since its inception, finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of over $302 billion, supported lifesaving efforts across the globe, and transformed how the world does business.

Joining me for this episode are Xinhui Zhang, Alibaba’s senior director, head of supply chain management and operations research committee, and Haoyuan Hu, Alibaba’s head of the AI department, Cainiao Network, to discuss their team's finalist entry for the 2021 Franz Edelman Award.

For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. This year’s finalists are no exception, with revolutionary contributions in robotics, cancer radiotherapy efficiency, unmanned warehouse technology, mining efficiency and the impact to chemical facilities, scheduling and production at manufacturing plants, and food assistance amid emergency responses. Since its inception, finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of over $302 billion, supported lifesaving efforts across the globe, and transformed how the world does business.

Joining me for this episode are Dr. Yong Rui, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Lenovo, and Dr. Wei Fan, director of the machine learning team with Lenovo Research, to discuss their team’s finalist entry for the 2021 competition.

For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. This year’s finalists are no exception, with revolutionary contributions in robotics, cancer radiotherapy efficiency, unmanned warehouse technology, mining efficiency and the impact to chemical facilities, scheduling and production at manufacturing plants, and food assistance amid emergency responses. Since its inception, finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of over $302 billion, supported lifesaving efforts across the globe, and transformed how the world does business.

Joining me for this episode are Dimitris Bertsimas, Boeing Professor of Operations Research and associate dean of business analytics at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Nada El Majdoub, executive vice president of performance management at OCP, to discuss their team’s finalist entry for the 2021 competition.

For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. This year’s finalists are no exception, with revolutionary contributions in robotics, cancer radiotherapy efficiency, unmanned warehouse technology, mining efficiency and the impact to chemical facilities, scheduling and production at manufacturing plants, and food assistance amid emergency responses. Since its inception, finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of over $302 billion, supported lifesaving efforts across the globe, and transformed how the world does business.

Joining me for this episode are Hengle Qin, director of operations research, JD Logistics at JD.com, Linwei Xin, assistant professor of operations management at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, to discuss their team’s finalist entry for the 2021 competition.

For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. This year’s finalists are no exception, with revolutionary contributions in robotics, cancer radiotherapy efficiency, unmanned warehouse technology, mining efficiency and the impact to chemical facilities, scheduling and production at manufacturing plants, and food assistance amid emergency responses. Since its inception, finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of over $302 billion, supported lifesaving efforts across the globe, and transformed how the world does business.

Joining me for this episode is Koen Peters, head of optimization for the United Nations World Food Programme’s Supply Chain Planning & Optimization Unit, and part-time Ph.D. researcher at Tilburg University’s Zero Hunger Lab, to discuss his team’s finalist entry for the 2021 competition.

Top of the line! Novel new features! Can’t live without convenience! When it comes to new products, there seems to be no limit to the different varieties and options, even within the same class of items (if you have ever had to purchase a new appliance, you know what I’m talking about).

But what makes certain products stand out from others, and ultimately realize more commercial success for their developers?

Joining me to share their research in this area is Yonghoon Lee with The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Tian Chan with Emory University. Their study, “Anchored Differentiation: The Role of Temporal Distance in the Comparison and Evaluation of New Product Designs,” selected for publication in the INFORMS journal Organization Science, looks at how consumers evaluate new product designs and how this can benefit product designers.

It’s no secret that the effective transferring of information, resources, and best practices throughout an organization benefits everyone, whether it involves interdepartmental cooperation on a project, or simply two coworkers tackling a challenge over a cup of coffee. But what happens when your organization is global, and a visit to a coworker’s office might involve a flight overseas, and the importance of the effective transfer of ideas and employee skillsets must be weighed against the potential incurred costs?

To provide insight on how multinational firms can address these complexities, I’m pleased to introduce Christian Stadler with the Warwick Business School whose study, “Transferring knowledge by transferring individuals: Innovative technology usage and organizational performance in multi-unit firms,” is selected for publication in the INFORMS journal Organization Science.

While we all may be aware, particularly after the recent U.S. elections, of the presence of false or automated accounts on social networking sites, their true impact is still unfolding. These accounts, also known as bots, spread misinformation which at best can pollute our feeds with false or misleading information, and at worst can significantly impact our opinions and influence world events and narratives. And despite the significant efforts of social networks to detect and address their bot problems, they still remain a serious issue.

Joining me to share his thought-provoking research and provide insight on the impact of bots on social networks is Tauhid Zaman, associate professor at Yale University. His study, “Detecting Bots and Assessing their Impact in Social Networks,” is selected for publication in the INFORMS journal Operations Research and will be published later this year.

The COVID-19 impact on airlines has been profound, with more than a 50% decrease in the volume of air passengers over the past year.

Last year, in the early days of the pandemic, I shared an episode featuring Arnie Barnett with MIT in which we discussed how by leaving the middle seats on airplanes open, and only filling windows and aisles, the chance of contracting the coronavirus during a flight could be significantly reduced.

Now, joining me for this episode to discuss additional ways airlines have pivoted and adapted to the challenges of the pandemic is Laurie Garrow. Laurie is co-director for the Center for Urban and Regional Air Mobility, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, president of AGIFORS, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of operations research within aviation and an INFORMS Certified Analytics Professional.

Now more than ever we are all spending a significant portion of our lives online, from remote working to our entertainment options to interacting with others and spending time with friends and family. And while, as we discussed in our previous episode the continued distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine signals a hopeful end to our current situation of social distancing, there is little doubt that we will continue to be a global society that remains connected virtually, particularly in online social platforms.

But how much thought do we give to those we interact with? In particular, how much influence our virtual friends have on our own online behavior and decisions?

Joining me for this episode is Xi Chen, an associate professor of marketing with the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University. His study, “Efficient Estimation of Network Games of Incomplete Information: Application to Large Online Social Networks,”. selected for publication in the INFORMS journal Management Science, gains new insight into the impact of our online social interactions by studying online social games.

After a year dominated by the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 dawned with an optimistic look ahead, as we witnessed the start of the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine.

But as we are still in the earliest stages of this effort, there are still challenges ahead and a great deal of uncertainty.

Joining me to shine some light on this is Anna Nagurney, the John F. Smith Memorial Professor in the Department of Operations and Information Management in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also the Founding Director of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks and the Supernetworks Laboratory for Computation and Visualization at UMass Amherst.

Welcome to a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human podcasts! Joining me for the first podcast of the new year is the 2021 INFORMS President Stephen Graves. A long-time member of INFORMS, Steve is the Abraham J. Siegel Professor of Management and a professor of operations management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He also has a joint appointment with the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering.

For our final episode of 2020, we invite you to revisit a very special holiday interview, originally recorded in 2018 and featuring a very well-known guest, Santa Claus himself. I hope you enjoy our fun and festive conversation as Santa and I discuss how he uses operations research to solve many of the problems associated with managing a team of elves, keeping track of the naughty and nice list and most importantly, delivering presents all across the globe on Christmas Eve.

Thank you for tuning into the Resoundingly Human podcast over the past year, and we’ll be back with brand new episodes in the new year! On behalf of everyone at INFORMS, Happy Holidays!

Nearly a year ago, I interviewed the 2020 INFORMS President Pinar Keskinocak as she stepped into her new leadership role with INFORMS, to discuss her goals and objectives for the year ahead. Then, well … 2020 happened, complete with a global pandemic, social distancing, a transition to remote working and learning, and so many other challenges.

As we prepare to (thankfully) say goodbye to 2020, Pinar joins me again to take a look back over the past year and its many challenges, but also, some incredible milestones for INFORMS. In addition, we’ll look ahead to 2021 and how the work of INFORMS members will continue to save lives, save money and solve problems.

During the Virtual 2020 INFORMS Annual Meeting held in early November, I had the unique pleasure of interviewing Jorge Cham, scholar and comic, and special guest at the INFORMS Awards Ceremony. I am excited to share this interview with you during this special episode of the podcast, as Jorge and I discuss his comic series, Piled Higher and Deeper, and other creative endeavors; his transition from academia to the creative arts (and what his parents thought); important lessons learned; and the relationship between procrastination and productivity. And learn more about accessing valuable meeting content for three months following the meeting.

Every day, we are exposed to advertising material for every product and service imaginable. Whether on social media, tv, radio, print and more, billions of dollars are spent on advertising each year, all to influence whether or not we make a purchase.

Also impacting our decision-making process are recommendations, or alternatively criticisms, of these same products and services from family and friends.

But how much of an influence can these word of mouth interactions have, and ultimately, how does it impact advertising dollars?

Joining me to discuss this topic is Yogesh Joshi, a professor at the University of Maryland, whose study, “When Consumers Learn, Money Burns: Signaling Quality Via Advertising with Observational Learning and Word of Mouth,” has been recently published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science.

Operations research, or at the time operational research, traces its origins back to WWII when it was first used to refer to the scientific research done by the Royal Air Force to integrate new radar technologies into their tactics. By 1941, the term had expanded to encompass research done to assist military officers in developing tactics and planning combat operations.

Since then, applications of O.R. can be found in nearly every industry across the globe. Today, O.R. continues to play a vital role in our modern military, impacting strategy, logistics, personnel management and so much more.

In today’s episode I am joined by Shaun Doheney, a senior data and analytics strategy advisor for a large global company to discuss O.R. in the modern military as well as the unique skill sets our service members who specialize in O.R. bring when they transition to civilian life, some of the challenges they face, and some of the ways INFORMS can offer support!

As more organizations adopt automation, and for the purposes of this episode, robotics, into their day-to-day functions, questions remain regarding the impact. Are robots replacing their human counterparts or enhancing their work? Or is the answer more complex? And what are the economic implications?

Joining me to provide some insight on the actual impact is Lynn Wu, professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. We’ll be discussing her study, “The Robot Revolution: Managerial and Employment Consequences for Firms,” which will be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science.

At the heart of who we are as Americans and what our country was founded on and represents, is our right to vote, and for that vote to be counted. People have marched, protested, fought and died to ensure that right is preserved and protected. And the potential that this right to vote could be threatened, whether by forces foreign or domestic, especially during perhaps one of the most divisive presidential elections in our history should be of great concern to us all.

For this episode I am joined by Natalie Scala, professor at Towson University to discuss election security, what threats we are facing and what can be done to address these and preserve the security and integrity of our electoral process.

The upcoming 2020 presidential election is building up to be one of the most unprecedented in recent history, if ever. And adding to an already volatile and emotionally-charged situation are concerns with voter safety relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Joining me for this episode is Laura Albert, professor of industrial & systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Engineering, to discuss what Americans, election officials and volunteers could be facing when they hit the polls in just a few short weeks, as well as ways to ensure voting remains safe and accessible.

No one likes waiting in lines, it’s a fact. Whether at the grocery store checkout searching desperately for the shortest line, or watching the clock tick while waiting our turn at the dentist’s office, or at an amusement park, looking at the long lines and deciding how badly we really want to ride our favorite ride, most of will do everything we can to avoid waiting.

And even since the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, when so many aspects of our lives are now conducted virtually, we still find ourselves waiting in lines, or in this case, in virtual queues, both online or by phone.

For this episode, I am joined by Qiuping Yu, professor with the Georgia Institute of Technology, to discuss her study “The Reference Effect of Delay Announcements: A Field Experiment,“ which will be published in an upcoming edition of the INFORMS journal Management Science. Her research explores our new normal of virtual waiting rooms and what companies can do to ensure excellent service and customer appreciation. The key comes in the form of carefully managed WTI, or wait time information.

From large scale analytics projects that have a lifesaving impact, or realize millions of dollars in savings, or transform an entire industry, to those that simply help an organization better utilize its data and improve its day-to-day functionality, how is success measured?

Joining me for this episode are Pooja Dewan, Vice President and Chief Data Analytics Officer with Otis Elevator, and Carrie Beam Teaching Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas and Principal of Carrie Beam Consulting.

Both Pooja and Carrie have played a pivotal role in the Franz Edelman Award competition over the years. Pooja served as the 2019 and 2020 Competition Chair and Carrie coached the 2019 winning team and will be the 2021 Competition Chair. They both have also served as competition judges on multiple occasions.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2020 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award competition, to be held on September 29. Joining me for this episode are Hanno Schülldorf, an Expert for Mathematical Optimization and Project Manager at Deutsche Bahn, and Ralf Borndörfer, Professor of Discrete Mathematics at Freie Universitat Berlin, Head of the Optimization Department at the Zuse Institute Berlin and co-founder of LBW Optimization GmbH, to discuss Deutsche Bahn’s finalist entry for the 2020 Franz Edelman Award.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2020 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award competition, to be held on September 29. Joining me for this episode are Karl Kempf, Senior Fellow and Director of Decision Engineering, and Shamin Shirodkar, Senior Director of Supply Chain Decision Solutions, both with Intel, to discuss Intel’s finalist entry for the 2020 Franz Edelman Award.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2020 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award competition, to be held on September 29. Joining me for this episode are Yixian Chen, Senior Data Scientist and Prakhar Mehrotra, Senior Director of Machine Learning, both with Walmart Labs, to discuss Walmart’s finalist entry for the 2020 Franz Edelman Award.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2020 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award competition, to be held on September 29. Joining me for this episode are George Stark, Distinguished Engineer, statistics and quality at IBM, and Dorothea Wiesmann, Program Director and Technical Assistant to the Director of IBM research to discuss IBM’s finalist entry for the 2020 Franz Edelman Award.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2020 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the Franz Edelman Award competition on September 29. Joining me for this episode are John Harvey, Director of Revenue Science for Holland America Line, and Kristina Kaylen, Director of Group Revenue Performance at Carnival Corporation to discuss the finalist entry from Carnival Corporation & PLC for the 2020 Franz Edelman Award.

According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), in 2019, 4,432 firearms were found in carry-on luggage at airport security checkpoints. Dating back to 2014, that number jumps to more than 20,000 firearms and new research strongly suggests that number could actually have been even higher, as even more firearms may not have been detected.

For this episode I am joined by Sheldon Jacobson from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose research in the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, “Using Risk-based Security to Quantify the Number of Firearms Missed at Airport Security Checkpoints,” looks not only at the increased number of firearms found at security checkpoints over the past few years, but at the reasons behind this increase.

After months of living, working, teaching, learning, and perhaps most importantly for the purposes of this podcast, eating from home, many of us might admit we’ve seen what has become known as the “Quarantine 15” sneak up on us, to some extent.

As the summer and “bikini season” stretch on, for those who may be looking to shed a couple of pounds, you are not alone. Each year in the U.S., the weight loss industry generates more than $20 billion from 100 million dieters, with countless options available relating to diet and exercise.

In fact, we are inundated with them. From commercials on tv, to sponsored social media posts by our favorite celebrities, to grocery stores filled with reduced fat and diet food options.

But what role, if any, does social interaction with others play in helping us achieve our weight loss goals? And what impact could COVID-19 have on this?

For this episode, I am joined by Kosuke Uetake of Yale University and Nathan Yang of Cornell University, whose study, “Inspiration from the ‘Biggest Loser’: Social Interactions in a Weight Loss Program,” takes an interesting look at what role our interactions with our peers and their own dieting journeys play with our personal weight loss success.

In recent episodes of the podcast we have covered a number of ways that O.R. and analytics have helped address the myriad challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as how they are helping us map out a return to normal, or in most cases a new normal. With social distancing remaining a key priority, there are so many aspects of our day-to-day lives that will be different for the foreseeable future. And in order to find a way to return to many of these activities, like going to school, getting back to a traditional office environment, and in the case of this episode, traveling by airplane in a way that prioritizes the safety of the passengers and crew, the key is O.R. and analytics.

For this episode, I am joined by Arnie Barnett, professor of management science and statistics at MIT, to discuss his work regarding a new kind of aviation safety, one unique to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When I last spoke with 2020 INFORMS President Pinar Keskinocak, it was the beginning of the year, and the worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet been realized. It has only been a few months since then, but it feels like a lifetime. And we are only halfway through the year! Needless to say, 2020 has thrown some unexpected challenges to all of us, in how we live and work. I am once again joined by Pinar to discuss the year so far and the role that O.R. and analytics has played in helping the world address many of these challenges, as well as those still to come.

I think many of us will admit that, in our current environment of social distancing, we are spending even more time online, in particular on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more. These sites, and the content we see, whether a shared article, comment, ad, or post from a friend or relative, are often controlled by an algorithm which, though based on our preferences and past behavior, can also be subject to bias. This takes on a more significant importance when you consider the impact this content, and how we interact with it, can have on our thoughts, viewpoints, and even our emotions.

Joining me for this episode to discuss the impact of bias in social media algorithms is Heidi Eisips, professor with San Jose State University.

In previous episodes of the podcast we’ve explored how O.R. can help create that bridge between our current COVID-19-reality of social distancing and sheltering at home and being able to return to normal activities, such as reporting back to work, going to school, and in the case of this episode, attending large public gatherings like concerts and sporting events.

Joining me is Irv Lustig with Princeton Consultants, who has created an advanced analytics approach to reopening stadiums and arenas that would allow us to attend our favorite events while maintaining safe social distancing.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic this past spring saw universities across the country close their campuses and teachers rapidly transition their curriculums to a virtual classroom setting. Now, after months of social distancing and online learning, these same institutions are looking ahead to the fall semester. Simultaneously however, as states are beginning the process of reopening, many at different rates, we are also seeing a spike in infection rates. So in the face of this, can universities safely reopen their campuses? The answer may truly surprise you.

Joining me to discuss how his university is approaching the upcoming fall semester is Peter Frazier, professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

In this episode, a first for the Resoundingly Human podcast, I am joined by Congressman Jerry McNerney, a Member of Congress representing California's 9th congressional district and co-chair of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus.

Congressman McNerney, who holds the distinction as the only member of Congress with a Ph.D. degree, is a member of two congressional committees that impact the technology, science, and analytics policy space – the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

As the country begins to reopen, we are seeing restrictions put in place to counteract the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic begin to loosen. I think many of us are battling conflicting emotions: excitement at the idea of a return to something closer to normal as well as uncertainty and anxiety, with each state reopening at a different rates and even inconsistencies in requirements regarding the use of face masks. And with some states seeing new spikes in infection rates, it begs the question, in a desire to return to normal are we moving too quickly, or perhaps simply going about reopening the wrong way. Could there be a different, more balanced approach, one based on operations research?

For this episode I am joined by Tory Chen, professor with the Center on Stochastic Modeling, Optimization, & Statistics (COSMOS) in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. We will be discussing her work to create a balanced approach to reopening that still prioritizes the health and safety of citizens, especially those who continue to be at a higher risk of infection.

In today’s world, we are becoming increasingly aware of the prevalence of bias and the significance of its impact, particularly regarding minority groups and at risk and vulnerable members of our community.

In an episode of the podcast released last month, we discussed the presence of bias in rideshares, in particular a study which identified that minorities and supporters of the LGBTQ community are twice as likely to have their rides canceled as Caucasians. In this episode, we will continue to explore additional examples of bias and their impact, as well as the role that operations research and analytics plays in identifying and addressing bias.

In this episode I am joined by Swati Gupta, professor with the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, who has conducted research focusing on bias in job applications and school admissions.

Even as we are beginning to see a lessening of restrictions in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic, I think many of us are still processing the myriad ways it has impacted our lives this year. As spring comes to an end and summer is upon us, we are keenly feeling the absence of many of our favorite activities, like concerts, barbeques, parades, and for the purposes of this episode, an afternoon spent with a hotdog and a beer at a baseball game.

For those of you who may be feeling these losses particularly keenly, we wanted to share a fun story that involves a childhood love of baseball, a college assignment and an unexpected induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

For this episode, I am joined by Gary Cokins, an internationally recognized expert, speaker and author in enterprise and corporate performance management improvement methods and business analytics, as well as the founder of Analytics-Based Performance Management. In addition, Gary can claim the unique distinction as an inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame for the oldest computer game code.

I think many of our listeners will agree, that while the timeline to safely do so remains uncertain, we are all looking forward to a day when we can once again spend time with friends on a night out, head to a movie theater or a favorite museum, or frankly, do anything outside the house.

When the time comes, people will once again rely on rideshare platforms like Uber or Lyft to get them where they need to go, much as they did prior to the coronavirus pandemic. What they may not know, is the role that bias based on race and sexual orientation could play in whether or not their ride will be canceled.

Unfortunately, according to new research in the INFORMS journal Management Science “When Transparency Fails: Bias and Financial Incentives in Ridesharing Platforms,” under-represented minorities have more than twice as likely to have their ride canceled compared to Caucasians.

Joining me is Jorge Mejia professor with Indiana University, who along with Chris Parker of American University, were the authors of this study. In this episode we will discuss their work and what can be done to address this disturbing bias.

It seems surreal to think that at the start of this year, few of us were aware of the threat of a novel new virus gaining momentum overseas. Now, only a few months later, the coronavirus or COVID-19, is a global pandemic, the effects of which have impacted nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives.

As the number of cases in the U.S. continued to grow, states enacted restrictions to enforce social distancing efforts, with stay at home orders, business closures, and for businesses deemed essential, establishing guidelines to ensure customer and employee safety. At the heart of this was the desire to limit person-to-person contact in order to slow the rapidly climbing rate of infections. And so the terminology, “flatten the curve,” became part of our everyday conversation.

For this episode I am joined by Julie Swann, department head and A. Doug Allison Distinguished Professor of the Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering with North Carolina State University, to discuss what the impact could be on the national and even world-wide effort to flatten the curve as states being to lift their restrictions.

As the coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic continues, supply shortages are something we are all facing, none with a more critical impact than those involving hospitals and healthcare workers. We’ve heard of the shortages of personal protective equipment or PPE, like face masks and gloves, and the lack of an adequate number of ventilators for the most seriously ill patients. But as the number of cities and communities impacted by the virus continues to grow, what do hospitals do when there are more patients in their ICUs than beds to hold them along with the accompanying monitoring and life-saving equipment? To discuss a very serious reality facing many hospitals across the country, I am joined by Frances Sneddon, chief technology officer with SIMUL8 Corporation.

We’d like to think that our performance at work, regardless of our sex, is the primary deciding factor in deciding whether or not we are recognized for our work with a promotion. You do a good job, you earn recognition, right? Unfortunately, according to new research in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research in certain fields this might not actually be the case. Joining me for this episode is Nishtha Langer, professor with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to discuss her study “Onwards and Upwards? An Empirical Investigation of Gender and Promotions in IT Services.”

Imagine a world where you could access your healthcare data the same way you access your financial data. A world where you get notifications on your iPhone when lab test results are ready and where you can use third party apps to seamlessly track chronic conditions. That world now exists thanks to the health data standard recently mandated by the federal government. Joining me to shed some light on the role that operations research is playing in this development are IBM data scientists Dr. Nasim Lari and Will Rosenfeld, both members of the INFORMS Washington, D.C. chapter, where Nasim serves as president.

We are living in an increasingly digital world. Never has this been more apparent than our current reality of social distancing, as we are forced to commit to conducting more and more of our daily lives online, from business meetings, to shopping, to interacting with our families. In this new normal, questions and concerns regarding maintaining the security and privacy of our data have moved even further into the spotlight.

For this episode I am joined by Rachel Cummings, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech to discuss the relationship between data security and data privacy, how O.R. and analytics help organizations from banks to hospitals to our own government maintain the security and privacy of our data. We’ll also talk about the importance of sharing data, focusing on the current coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 U.S. Census.

Many of us might admit that it can take us a bit of time to get into the swing of things on a Monday morning. This is often referred to as a case of "The Mondays" or the "Monday Blues." But does the same hold true for businesses as a whole, with significant performance variations occurring based on what day of the week it is?

To take a deeper dive into this topic, I am joined by Oliver Yao, professor and association dean of graduate programs of the College of Business at Lehigh University to discuss his research recently published in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research. His study, titled “’Monday Effect’ on Performance Variations in Supply Chain Fulfillment: How Information Technology Enabled Procurement May Help,” looks at how supply chain functionality is impacted on a day-by-day basis, and how organizations can lessen these variations.

Many of us rely on YouTube for instruction on a wide range of interest areas, from beauty tutorials, to a new recipe, to basic DIY home improvement projects, and more. But what if YouTube tutorials could improve our lives in a different way, by helping us better understand and manage our health and wellness?

Joining me for this episode is Rema Padman, trustees professor of management science and healthcare informatics at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, whose research has identified guidelines for organizations to provide YouTube video content for individuals with chronic health conditions to help them better manage their diagnoses.

Last October I was joined by Norman Reitter, chief analytics officer and senior VP of analytics operations at CANA Advisors, to discuss the INFORMS Analytics Maturity Model, and how it is helping organizations of all sizes evaluate their analytics capabilities. In this episode, we will continue this conversation by exploring the new INFORMS Analytics Capability Evaluation (ACE) Coaching Program, which was developed to engage and assist organizations in developing and enhancing their analytics capabilities with the help of specially trained coaching experts.

I am joined once again by Norman Reitter, as well as Dave Saranchak, research fellow at Concurrent Technologies Corporation. Norm and Dave, who in addition to leading the ACE Subcommittee, completed two rounds of research of analytics models, developed the ACE Coaching curriculum and held the inaugural, pilot ACE Coaching class earlier this spring, and are now working to set up their first organizational assessment and schedule additional coaching classes.

From EMTs and hospital staff, to firefighters and police, our first responders are continuing to provide essential and often life-saving services to protect our health and security, despite serving on the front lines of the pandemic response.

I’m joined by Laura Albert, professor of industrial & systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to discuss her research regarding emergency response during mass casualty incidents, and how operations research can provide valuable insight to support the efforts of our first responders.