INFORMS President-Elect Nominee: Radhika Kulkarni, Ph.D.

Vision Statement

I am honored to be nominated for the position of INFORMS president. As I write this statement in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that the world has changed forever. INFORMS, like all organizations, will need strategic navigation through this war-like crisis. My experience leading a large, multidisciplinary analytics organization, my strong connections to academia, my role as a mentor and well-recognized O.R. and analytics leader, and my INFORMS activities have prepared me for this challenge.

Opportunity for innovation: We all know that World War II led to the birth of O.R. Similarly, the current global crisis will give rise to countless areas requiring innovative data-driven decision-making methodologies and frameworks:

• Current supply chain issues highlight the need to emphasize robustness and resilience versus cost. Can INFORMS shape future strategic decisions regarding sourcing, manufacturing, etc.?
• Ongoing healthcare efforts such as testing, contact tracing and vaccine discovery are only the early battles in the current war. Can INFORMS promote a holistic approach for effectively controlling the current pandemic and preventing future ones? Similar problems in every field require a systems-level approach, which is the hallmark of O.R. practice. I will draw upon my experience as the “voice of analytics” at SAS and enhance INFORMS’ related activities to broadcast the value of O.R. and analytics to external stakeholders, including policymakers, funding organizations and government agencies.

Membership and finances: The current financial health of INFORMS is strong and can weather the immediate effect of the pandemic. A longer-term plan requires us to successfully pivot to an increasingly virtual world for conferences and meetings. Hybrid conferences enabling virtual attendance can reach a larger audience, including students and nonmembers, giving them an incentive to join INFORMS and pursue a career in O.R. and analytics.

Academia/industry connection: With roots in academia and being familiar with O.R. faculty in my everyday life, I understand the academic challenges associated with publication, the need to promote the value of pure research, and the need for robust funding sources. As an industry leader with strong academic connections, I bring a wealth of experience bridging the two communities, having sponsored research collaborations, workshops and hundreds of graduate internships. I am committed to this critical partnership and will strengthen it by exploring options such as:

• Industry has many unsolved problems to inspire theoretical as well as applied research for academia. Do paper-based conferences and journals provide opportunities for faster, timely dissemination of the resulting work?
• Universities educate the labor force for both communities. Can a stronger connection between the communities give graduates the tools to succeed in both academic research and in theoretical and applied work in industry?
• Many companies are changing the titles of O.R. specialists to data scientists, and universities are investing in data science initiatives. Can INFORMS ensure that O.R. stays relevant even as our graduates are identified as data scientists?

Ecosystem surrounding O.R. and analytics: As a leader in analytics, I recognized the importance of this ecosystem and inspired researchers in diverse areas like optimization, statistics and machine learning to collaborate on innovative, patentable techniques and applications. This experience and my INFORMS artificial intelligence (AI) strategy work strengthen my belief that INFORMS must foster stronger ties with the sister societies of AI, statistics, data mining and others. My background makes me an ideal candidate to lead these efforts.

Commitment to INFORMS: If elected, I will lead INFORMS with passion, working closely with the INFORMS community to broadcast our impact on society, expand our reach throughout the analytics ecosystem, and strengthen the partnerships between academia and industry and connections with external stakeholders. I have the time, energy and vision to assume this role and to give back to the community that has been my home throughout my career.

Bio

Radhika Kulkarni, Ph.D., retired as VP, Advanced Analytics R&D at SAS Institute Inc., where she was responsible for the world’s leading analytics software products portfolio. She spearheaded the creation of the OR/AIML Center of Excellence to solve the toughest analytical problems for a diverse set of Fortune 100 companies. Under her leadership, O.R. gained recognition as a key contributor to scalability and performance of algorithms in statistics, machine learning, forecasting, data mining, econometrics, etc. She inspired a collaborative spirit across the different domains resulting in several cutting-edge innovations and received the CEO Award of Excellence.

Married to an O.R. professor, Radhika is deeply familiar with the academic world and its challenges and opportunities. She sponsored several partnerships with universities including research collaborations and robust internship programs for Ph.D. students and serves on many academic advisory boards.

An INFORMS member throughout her career and an INFORMS Fellow, Radhika has been a member of the INFORMS Roundtable and several INFORMS committees and is passionate about ensuring that OR/MS is recognized as a key discipline in the world of analytics. In addition to INFORMS, she has been an executive sponsor for ASA, KDD and other professional societies. She has contributed in numerous ways to advance the careers of analytics professionals, and her WORMS award aptly recognizes her as a role model for women in analytics.