INFORMS DEI Best Student Paper Award: Championing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the INFORMS Community

In our endeavor to nurture and foster diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the fields of operations research and management sciences, we initiated the INFORMS DEI Best Student Paper Award as part of the INFORMS DEI Ambassadors Program. This project was kindly sponsored by the INFORMS Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEIC). Presented for the first time at the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, this award recognizes impactful student research projects that center on advancing DEI within the expansive INFORMS community.

Promoting DEI through Research

Committed to fostering DEI-related research among the general INFORMS community, we developed this award to illuminate important DEI research avenues and inspire future academics to take an active role in DEI dialogue. Driven by this aspiration, in November 2021, we proposed the student paper award to the INFORMS 2022 DEI Ambassadors Program. The project was selected as one of the 10 initiatives that year. It received high commendation and encouragement from INFORMS DEIC, which was a particularly meaningful gesture given that they had previously entertained the idea of instituting such an award. This initiative serves as an extension of the broader vision of the INFORMS DEI Ambassadors Program, whose simple yet powerful call to action is to “bring together groups from varied backgrounds to collectively nurture a community rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusivity.”

Meticulous Planning and Execution

Our journey continued in January 2022, with an entire month dedicated to conceptualizing and drafting the award blueprint through collaborative discussions with the INFORMS DEIC and liaison. The following month, two renowned scholars, Ebru Bish and Larry Snyder, graciously accepted our invitation to chair the award committee.

Then, after careful deliberation, we shaped the award format and judging criteria. We required the submitted paper to present original research addressing some aspect of DEI issues and systemic inequities, conducted primarily by a student author. We imposed a 25-page limit for submissions. To ensure impartiality in the review process, we mandated that entries be submitted anonymously. Additionally, a nomination letter from the student’s advisor(s) is required, confirming the fulfillment of all eligibility criteria. Evaluation of the submissions hinged on their DEI impact, the novelty of the work, technical depth and accuracy.

We assembled a panel of six international judges, including Guzin Bayraksan (The Ohio State University), Swati Gupta (Georgia Institute of Technology), Karen Hicklin (University of Florida), Tito Homem-de-Mello (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez), Clara Novoa (Texas State University) and Kayse Lee Maass (Northeastern University). We then announced the Call for Submissions on various platforms within and outside of INFORMS, including INFORMS Connect forums for INFORMS Optimization Society, INFORMS Computing Society, INFORMS Minority Interest Group and INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group, as well as SIAM Optimization Forum, and so on.

We received 41 high-quality submissions for the inaugural award. We scheduled two rounds of reviews: The first round eliminated the majority of the papers, leaving only the top five papers in the second round.

Recognizing Brilliance for the 2022 DEI Best Student Paper Competition

Guided by the leadership of our competition chairs and the critical insights of our panel of judges, we declared the top three finalists. These finalists were invited to present their papers in a special session sponsored by the DEIC at the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting. The winners were then announced at the DEIC/MIF Reception.

First place was shared by two outstanding papers:

• “Dropping Standardized Testing for Admissions Trades Off Information and Access” by Faidra Monachou (Stanford University)
• “Split Liver Transplantation: An Analytical Decision Support Model” by Yanhan Tang (Carnegie Mellon University)

Third place was graced by the insightful research on “Sequential Fair Allocation: Achieving the Optimal Envy-Efficiency Tradeoff Curve” by Sean Sinclair (Cornell University).  

Each first place winner received $1,000, and the third place winner received $250. All finalists received plaques from INFORMS.

The Continuation: 2023 DEI Best Student Paper Competition

After the success of its inaugural year, the DEI Best Student Paper Competition continued in 2023. This year’s competition saw 42 outstanding submissions with a wide range of applications and methodological contributions. There were four finalists selected, all excellent papers addressing important DEI topics. (The award chairs would like to take this opportunity to thank the 20 judges whose efforts resulted in a successful competition and the following four outstanding finalists.)

The winner of the 2023 DEI Best Student Paper Award was Jonathan Gomez Martinez (Emory University) for the paper, “Platform Policy Changes: Impact of Auto Moderation on Minority Community Rights” (see photo on right).

The other three finalist papers included:

• “Hiding Behind Complexity: Supply Chain, Oversight, Race, and the Opioid Crisis” by Iman Attari (Indiana University)
• “Gender Inequality in Research Productivity during the COVID-19 Pandemic” by Hao Ding (Emory University)
• “Community-Engaged School District Design: A Stream-Based Approach” by Aysu Ozel (Northwestern University)

A Beacon of Encouragement

It is important for us to foster spaces that promote learning and initiate discussions on DEI-related topics. Thus, the INFORMS DEI Best Student Paper Award serves this purpose and strives to create a platform in which students can not only present their DEI-centric research, but also learn from their peers, nurturing a cycle of learning and evolving.

Acknowledgment

We extend heartfelt gratitude not only to the co-chairs and judges, but also to the INFORMS DEIC leaders Anahita Khojandi and Daniel Reich, INFORMS DEI Liaison Ruiwei Jiang, and INFORMS Chief Human Resources Officer Gina Lloyd, among others, for their unwavering support and contribution to making this award a reality.

The initiative has received notable recognition from INFORMS as an annual event. Further details can be explored on the official website: https://connect.informs.org/diversity/student-paper-award.

For more information about the 2023 DEI Ambassador Projects - and all past projects - click here.