Let’s say you witness a cardiac arrest or you see someone collapse on the sidewalk. The first thing you’d do is probably call 911, then the 911 operator would send an ambulance, and then in drone-equipped jurisdictions they’d dispatch the drone as well. So you being the bystander are going to start doing CPR and the idea is that the drone gets there hopefully within a few minutes, which would be ahead of when the ambulance arrives.

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.

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So we know, especially in our community, that when it comes to managing risk you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. So that is, we shouldn’t put all our eggs in the vaccine basket. We really do need to invest in multiple tools and that includes testing, the kind of community mitigation strategies that you mentioned, as well as vaccines and boosters.

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.

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The model also allowed [us] to identify and prioritize areas that were prone to fire occurrence and needed more resources. Because once you use the model, it can tell you where more resources are needed based on the data that you feed it. Because the model takes into account the fire occurrence in each area, the vegetation at that particular location, the available resources at fire operations bases nearby, and then prepositions the resources. So you could basically identify priority areas.

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.

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At one point I was asked about the name of a sonnet that was read aloud at the 1883 Bartholdi exhibition, something like that. And to answer that question, you have to recognize the name and date as referring to the Statue of Liberty and then come up with the name of the poem that’s famously inscribed on the base. So that’s an example of trying to bring together threads from disparate fields and I think operations research is good at that. To be a good O.R. practitioner I think you have to know a little bit about a lot of things.

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.

I’m pleased that our strategic plan clearly identifies an all-encompassing scope. Recall that our mission states, “INFORMS advances and promotes the science and technology of decision making to save lives, save money and solve problems.” Well, we clearly articulate that the scope of our strategic plan covers and embraces the full breadth of disciplines in the INFORMS community that are relevant to the vision and mission.

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+ year, most recently as the VP of Advanced Analytics Research and Development at SAS.

Finally, I want to share how much I enjoy hosting this podcast, it’s such a unique opportunity to work with INFORMS members and hear first-hand their stories, what motivates or inspires their work, and their shared desire to make our world a better place. And I’m looking forward to bringing you even more of these stories in the coming year.

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!

I continue to be amazed and take great pride in all that we do as an organization and as a community. One thing I’ve learned is the full spectrum of things that INFORMS does and our community does, and I never really had a good appreciation of all that we do. And along with that the impact that we have, again across this spectrum, I would say we truly are following our vision of helping to have better decision-making for a just, prosperous, and sustainable world.

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.

As the food delivery industry evolves, more and more customers have access to the delivery service. In other words, as the number of tech-savvy customers increases, then what is the relationship between the restaurant and the delivery platform? Are they friends or are they foes?

This episode is sponsored by Fordham University’s Ph.D. in computer science.

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.

We conducted a simulation study comparing the risk of death under no treatment, the current JNC 8 guidelines, and our guidelines and found our policy could prevent approximately an additional 7,000 premature deaths a year compared to current guidelines.

This episode is sponsored by Fordham University’s Ph.D. in computer science.

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.

The supply chain is not like a microwave that you press a button and it starts, it is more like a steam engine. It takes time for the water to boil to get the steam going.

This episode is sponsored by Fordham University’s Ph.D. in computer 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.

First, we wanted to get a sense for how real-world gatekeepers operating in a service center think about the transfer problem and how they respond to incentives built around transfer behavior. Second, using that real-world problem as a backdrop, we wanted to understand fundamentally how gatekeepers should make their transfer decisions under an incentive system. And then third, we wanted to remove all the noise and nuance of a messy, real-world system, and we wanted see how well humans acting, behaving as incentivized gatekeepers in a controlled lab setting would make actual decisions and how those actual decisions would differ from what they should do, and that would allow us to uncover any hidden psychological biases that they have towards particular systems.

This episode is sponsored by Fordham University’s Ph.D. in computer science.

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?’”

I was doing all this work trying to convince people about how important interpretable models were for high-stakes decisions. To be honest, up until I got the Squirrel Award I didn’t’ realize that people had been listening to what I was saying, and they really were. Something changed a few years ago and they had started listening and all that work really did make a difference. Knowing that means everything to me.

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.

The fascinating effect for us was that the charismatic speech had the same motivational effect, so the use of the charismatic leadership tactics had the same performance increasing effect as using a monetary piece rate.

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.

We call this network of non-traditional suppliers a pop-up supply chain because they temporarily and rapidly created a parallel supply chain for PPE. So the main challenge that they faced was the lack of an established marketplace, so healthcare organizations were not necessarily aware of their existence or how to procure from them. So if you’re a small manufacturer, how do you even go about contacting a healthcare system about selling your PPE? And if you do somehow get in contact with someone, you are probably and rightfully met with skepticism. How can healthcare organizations trust these new suppliers during a time of such uncertainty?

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.

My research suggests that places, regardless of whether they open stores or not, are probably going to get about the same increase in users after legalization. So if you allow licensed stores than at least you’re going to get some more of the benefits of legalization, such as people will start buying legally, which means they are buying a tested product rather than something that may have contamination. It means they’re buying a taxed product as opposed to paying money to the black market. The number of users you’re going to get apparently is going to be much the same, so if you’re going to get the pains of legalization, whatever they might be, you might as well get some of the gains to go with that as well.

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.

In March and April 2020, suddenly reported breast cancer diagnosis rates were down 80-90%. Now obviously when breast cancer diagnoses are down this is great news right? You would think, oh, breast cancer is now not a big deal? But they knew there was really no reason for the actual breast cancer rates to drop, that this was primarily due to women not getting the care that they normally receive due to the pandemic. As a result, what’s going to happen is all these women who didn’t have the diagnosis in the early days of the pandemic could come at a later time with a much more advanced cancer stage.

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 optimization world has this No Free Lunch theorem concept in which no single algorithm is going to be the best on all types of problems. The same thing holds in just about any application and in particular recommender systems. In our case, we borrowed from machine learning, decision analysis, and heuristic search. The end result is a nice concept that is being examined for implementation in the actual Pilot Training Next program.

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.

On the DEI initiative, which was started several years ago, again we’ve got lots of things that are going on that are raising awareness of DEI within INFORMS with a focus on how we understand our climate, how we’re going to improve our climate, particularly with a regard toward inclusiveness. [We’re] trying to look at everything we do through the lens of diversity to make sure that we have full representation from across our community, whether it be out editorial boards or the lineup for our conferences or even our committees, our award committees, and so forth.

In this episode, I am pleased to once again be joined by our 2021 INFORMS President Stephen 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.

I think the key is, get excited about this. The work you’re all doing is unbelievable, how you all touch everyone. Look I can’t profess to know all that you do, I’m a layman compared to this. But I know that you touch my life every day by the incredible work that you do, through how you provide services and efficiencies, and that type of thing. So that’s really cool!

As far as the attendees, I just want to make sure that you really take advantage of everything [the meeting] has to offer. And just because you’re watching virtually, doesn’t mean you can’t’ take advantage. You’re going to have these amazing networking opportunities, so just really get in there and get to know the platform. And I do encourage all the in-person attendees to go find a new friend this time, walk around and say, ‘I’m going to talk to somebody I haven’t met before.’ So I just think now is the time to start your planned experience. .

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.

We translated the increased production of the most highly demanded 20 kilocalorie milk, per ounce, translated into feeds. This increased production of the NICU preferred milk type alone resulted in, depending on the day, approximately 40 to 75 additional feeds per day, which is significant, and the bank was thrilled about that. Historically, they occasionally had to only partially fill an order or couldn’t fill an order or had to delay an order and that essentially was eliminated.

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.

We obtained an insight that finding this maximum occupancy is sort of the same as packing as many disjoint trapezoids – a trapezoid, you may remember from high school studies, are these geometrical figures – packing disjoint trapezoids into the theatre hall. And if you have that insight, you can say after some computation, that this is the best maximum occupancy that you can achieve. And that was cool, that helped them in many ways.

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.

Given the benefits that many have experienced associated with this flexibility in terms of work schedule and/or location, I think the demand for that is going to continue. The organizations that find a good way to do that are going to have a competitive advantage in terms of attracting employees. The ones that will do it the most effectively, that will overcome the challenges, will be the organizations that really primarily organize themselves in ways that look like remote work even for people who are in the office.

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.

The thing about this pandemic is that it hit every industry, because the stay at home orders came out and everyone was required to go home, it really hit every industry during the height of the pandemic itself. What was especially hit – as we said, food services – but also a lot of the manufacturing or processing that involved people working closely together were badly hit.

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.

The most important thing to know about the delta variant is that it is more infectious than the original strains of the virus. It’s actually about twice as infectious, and that’s pretty significant.

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.

First of all, we find that customer value in the long run increases by almost 30% because of joining a loyalty program. So while that’s good news for loyalty programs, the bigger surprise for us is why that happened. So it turns out it didn’t increase the value of this program by getting people to go to the stores more often or spend more money on their visits, the main upside of the program was it got people to stick around with the firm as opposed to walking out and taking their business to other competitors.

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.

If there is anything the last five years has taught us, it’s that progress is not inevitable. And our democracy is really just that, it’s our democracy. It’s for us, by us and we really need all hands on deck and not just to knock on doors and make phone calls two weeks before the election, but to really be thinking how to engage everyone in this American experiment that we are all a party to. And it’s really up to us, there is no one else.

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.

Mail-based voting, from an historical perspective, from an unbiased, data-driven, academic research perspective, from various experts’ perspective is secure and it allows for expanded democratic participation. Our election process has already the needed checks in place to be able to detect fraud, to be able to detect potential security concerns raised by these various legislation efforts. So while we need to be vigilant and continue to harden our election process and preserve its integrity, legislation needs to firmly be based on analytics, on risk models, not on just simply lawmakers’ beliefs.

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.

Culture is also important. The organizations we’ve spoken to have all said employing workers with disabilities is part of their strategy and they planned their culture around it. It’s not about workers with and without disabilities, but rather what can be done to make work easier for everyone. Processes are designed to be more accommodating for all workers. There was a clear focus on making it work for everyone and that changed the focus from us and them to simply us.

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.

From a passenger perspective, the kind of vehicles being developed within the context of AAM (Advanced Air Mobility) are either smaller than traditional fixed-wing aircraft and thus easier to fill when demand is low, or can be operated autonomously, thereby lowering operating costs because you don’t have to pay the salary of a human pilot. The lower operating costs are also beneficial for cargo. For example, if you can convert a Cessna Caravan, such as those that are used by FedEx, to deliver cargo to rural areas, you no longer have to pay a pilot to fly the cargo in and out of these rural towns, thereby lowering your operating costs and by extension reducing the price you charge for package delivery.

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.

So, I think for the casual fan, probably the first thing that comes to mind is, ‘Should we go for it on fourth down?’ That seems to be one of the only things that you hear during a broadcast when they reference analytics, is should this team go for it on the fourth down, the analytics says there’s a 50% chance. But actually, it goes so much deeper than that.

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.

The other challenge, that at least I think of personally being in my position, is to come to grips with the enormity of all that INFORMS does and basically how we go about accomplishing it. I think of INFORMS as publications and meetings and had some familiarity with that, but now I just get a better understanding of all the other stuff that goes on. We have about 50 committees doing things from awards to educational outreach, certification, mentoring, advocacy, promotion of the profession, and it goes on and on and on. I don’t know if it’s a challenge but certainly an increased awareness and appreciation of the enormity of all that we do.

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!

We found that the entry of rideshare services into a city contributes to about a 6% reduction in the sexual assault rate in the city. In the second analysis, using spatiotemporal data in New York City, we found that a 1% increase in Uber pick-ups in a neighborhood can reduce the likelihood of sexual crime occurrences by about 3%.

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.

For example, a Government Accountability Office report finds that baseline changes are quite common across federal technology programs with more than 50% of such programs being re-baselined at least once and more than 25% being re-baselined twice or more. However, there is very little knowledge about what are the drivers of these baseline changes in federal technology programs, a question that we answer in this study.

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.

Born in Harlem in 1924, a writer of many essays, James Baldwin was also an American novelist, playwright, poet, and activist. He has one of my favorite quotes, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Baldwin knew that change can’t happen until people collectively acknowledge there is a problem.

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.

Our study points to two very exciting findings. First of all, we found that a more profitable solution for transportation service providers does not have to be a worse system for passengers. In fact, our solutions result in a win, win, win kind of situation. Using our models and algorithms we can adjust schedules to reduce costs for the city as a whole while also reducing the total cost for passengers and service providers simultaneously.

When the first ride-share 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.

Nearly 190 billion visits were made to illegal pirating websites in 2018 and about 18 billion were from U.S. traffic. And almost half of these close to 200 billion visits to piracy websites were for television shows, with nearly 1 in 5 visitors to these sites seeking out the latest film. So I would say, for the entertainment industry, or for the movie industry, or for streaming services focused on video content, the piracy content is really concerning. It’s a definite revenue loss to these O.T.T. (Over-the-top) video streaming services.

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.

Mathematical and statistical modeling happens every day in the government. Every time an idea is proposed, it is critical to think about the cost, logistics, and the ripple effects. Things you might forget to even imagine are going to be important after legislation is passed or a program begins. Operations research, statistics, and mathematical modeling prepare us to weight priorities, make assumptions so we can get a handle on real messy problems, and think about equitable solutions to some of the toughest national and international problems. Then when we’re done, we’ve got to communicate ideas in ways that everyone can understand.

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.

People often have this behavior bias to tend to pay less attention or even neglect the risks for certain things they have never experienced before. And as many experts say these days, we’re going to have another pandemic or epidemic in the future (hopefully not). Or for some other issues such as climate change, or even for this pandemic, we are not completely out of the woods yet.

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 flu 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.

This episode features 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 experience with the 2003 SARS outbreak led to a quicker response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This hesitation in getting tested because of whether you will have a false positive or a false negative, this is something that really motivated us to try and understand how people react, or how this would impact their ability to take tests. So one aspect is how easy it is to get tested from a pure operational perspective, the wait times, things like that. But then how do people react to all these factors, especially the accuracy of tests? That was something that really motivated us to look into this more carefully.

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 at the types of testing, their levels of accuracy, how they were developed and their impact, I am pleased to welcome 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 discuss 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.

What we learned from the last 12 months is the amazing impact of technology, in fact we learned about the future of supply chains. We learned that data, analytics, automations, combined with experience and insight that supply chain people have can have a major impact on the ability to recover from the disruption. And we have seen this across multiple companies in a variety of industries.

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.

About half of all cancer patients can expect to get radiotherapy at some point in their treatment ... But these high energy photon beams also deposit some dose along their tracks, so other normal tissues and organs need to be carefully considered in the radiotherapy planning. And what makes the problem so hard of course, is that every patient as well as the disease pattern is unique.

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.

I believe this is something quite unique here at Alibaba, where algorithm developers, a lot of them in this case are operation researcher researchers, are tasked actually to write the code to develop systematic solutions to improve the daily operations. So we are not simply a consultant – write an algorithm, implement and leave it – but we are actually the integral part of the business.

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.

In this project we discussed production scheduling, but Lenovo’s definition of smart manufacturing goes way beyond just the production scheduling. Our definition of smart manufacturing includes a complete value chain that goes from big data-driven product design, supply chain management, to production intelligence, precision marketing and AI-based customer services.

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.

We built a multi-period, mixed-integer optimization model that modeled the entire supply chain of OCP in order to maximize overall profitability. The model makes decisions about mines, physical treatments, chemical facilities, inventory facilities and the port for global distribution, as well as deciding the sales portfolios for clients in a way that unified many aspects of the firm, including the supply chain team and the sales team.

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.

A conventional warehouse system heavily relies on human labor. Workers walk along the storage aisles, pick up requested items from storage racks, and return to sort and pack the orders. By contrast, in a modern unmanned warehouse, AGVs pick up storage racks and transport them to workstations, where pickers pick up the items from the racks to fulfill the orders.

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.

WFP is of course famous for its emergency response. When disasters occur, we need to be there within hours to provide assistance. Think of the earthquakes in Haiti or Nepal for example. Some of our demand is seasonal, we have lean seasons, we have the hurricane season in the Caribbean, the El Nino drought that comes back with yearly cycles. But the majority of our demand is extremely volatile in nature. COVID of course is a great example of this. With a very short heads-up time, suddenly we need to exponentially scale up our operations around the globe.

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.

Scholars and practitioners, what they have concluded is that it’s important to strike a balance between standing out and maintaining some kind of similarity to existing design. But how? How do you actually do it? There is a tension there.

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.

Sending around experienced personal is an expensive thing to do and companies often tend to prefer either smaller assignments and people on training, maybe do best practice sharing. But our research suggests that it does make sense to invest in moving around individual engineers or individual experts.

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 co-workers tackling a challenge over a cup of coffee. But what happens when your organization is global, and a visit to a co-worker’s office might involve a flight overseas, and the importance of the effective transfer of ideas and employee skill sets 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.

So the three things that give the bots power is their reach, their activity, and their difference of opinion with you. The thing you can change as a social media user is their reach. So if somebody follows you on Twitter and you don’t recognize the account, don’t know the person, don’t give them a follow back. If you don’t follow the bots then they can’t reach you. And that’s probably the main thing, if you are just careful about who you follow, the bots are essentially just shouting in the wilderness and they have no impact.

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. 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.

Financially, we are not expecting to see a return of demand to pre-COVID levels until probably 2023 to 2025. Of course those forecasts are changing daily, but that’s the current expectation. Many airlines have noted that they’re going to emerge smaller, with more streamlined operations and fewer fleet types, which should improve air efficiency. There is a general sense that I’m seeing in the industry that the flexible ticketing requirements – meaning no cancellation penalties – are here to stay. So this is good for the customer because it means that they will have added flexibility after the pandemic, but it also means that many of our RM demand forecasting and optimization approaches will need to change. Finally, the aircraft grooming procedures are here to stay, and both airports as well as aircrafts will be much cleaner moving forward.

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.

What we find is you should look at not only the network position but the behaviors that you want to promote. You have to combine these two pieces of information to decide who to target. Another thing we find is the timing that you reach out to people, to the influential people, is also very important.

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.

I think the fact that we have such a case load crisis now in the United States is clearly affecting the healthcare workers. They have only so much capacity, they’re so busy tending to patients. We have parts of the country, where essentially the hospitals have no available ICU beds, that’s absolutely horrific. So we really need to escalate the vaccination campaigns to protect the populations, to also protect the healthcare workers as much as possible.

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.

How do we continue to position ourselves, to position O.R. and analytics within a larger landscape of data science or of the computational and data-based disciplines. I think we’re a core pillar within this field, but how do we make sure that we remain that, vis-à-vis the other disciplines that occupy this space.

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.

Back before computers I had to have a whole room full of elves planning all the routing to try and get us there in time. Now luckily, because of the way the earth turns, I have about 24 hours to visit everybody and that is plenty of time given how fast my sleigh goes. And these days I can use top quality operations research codes like Concorde to solve the traveling salesman problem so that I don’t waste any time in getting around to all the little boys and girls.

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!

One of the biggest challenges for all of us was to adapt really, really quickly. So for INFORMS we had to adapt our activities, considering the challenges of our members and staff, families and communities while they were going through all the challenges they have been going through as the pandemic unfolded.

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.

You know if you look at a lot of scientists, famous scientists. and how they come up with their great ideas, a lot of times it comes to you not when you’re sitting at your desk or not when you’re at the lab trying to make something work, a lot of times it comes when you’re procrastinating, when your mind is a little bit freer and able make these interesting connections.

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 stay tuned after the interview to learn more about accessing valuable meeting content for three months following the meeting.

Typically when one thinks about interaction between advertising and word of mouth, one tends to think of them as substitutes. That is, if my product is getting a lot of word of mouth, then I do not need to spend as much on advertising. Managers often treat word of mouth as free advertising, and when they see more of it happening, they might be tempted to pull back on spending on advertising. What our research shows, is that might not always be the right thing to do.

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.

Transitioning from the military is a process, it’s going to have its highs and it’s going to have its lows. You need to ride the highs and hang on in the lows and don’t do it alone. Get involved in INFORMS, connect with the incredible volunteers and the INFORMS staff who truly want to see us succeed as we’re transitioning from the military, and can help us achieve our goals.

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, CAP, 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!

Contrary to the popular notion that robots will displace human labor – we’ve seen a ton of press reports on this – we actually find that robot adopting firms employed more people over time. In fact, we find that any displacement of labor actually comes from firms that did not adopt robots.

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.

In 2019, Special Counselor Mueller testified to Congress that interference from foreign actors was ongoing and expected to continue into 2020. And now we’re hearing so much about disinformation, and typically that’s happening through social media campaigns. But there is another component here, this idea of voter integrity, to make sure that vote is counted the way the voter intended it to be counted. We have no evidence that votes were ever compromised in 2016, but we obviously don’t ever want that to happen as well.

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.

PPE and sanitation and social distancing … So what those do is they slow down the actual check-in process, not by very much, just a few seconds. But it takes a little bit longer for a voter to walk up and check in when they are standing so far apart. They might be wearing a mask, they might bring their own pen, there might be plexiglass separating a voter from the volunteer that’s checking them in. And if you add up all those little delays and then you add those delays up for the thousands of voters who will cast their vote at that polling location, you’re looking at possibly unprecedented wait times at the polls.

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.

Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. In fact, based on a recent survey it reported that wait related issues are the number one reason retailers lose customers. As queues go virtual, optimizing how you provide wait time estimates is an inexpensive yet very effective tool to significantly improve your customers’ experience for any business that’s thinking of implementing a virtual queue.

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.

Some of the big factors I like to see are, is it a new domain? Are we having a new problem, either a new business opportunity or a new data set, or a new algorithm which has just become available? So is this something new? We are also looking very much to define the problem correctly and understand what success looks like. If you don’t have the problem properly defined, you’re going to solve the wrong thing and end up on the wrong road at the wrong destination. And then the last thing I would say a great analytics project has, is understanding its almost never once and done.

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.

Since the end of the 2000s, business has become more stressful. There are more construction sites, tenders have gotten more complex, freight traffic has gotten less predictable and that means planners have less time for working on the train rotation plans, which was negative for the quality of the plans. So the planners needed support. That’s why Deutsche Bahn decided to develop a new decision support system for the train rotation planning.

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.

Our application of advanced analytics allowed us to continue to supply our customers with ever more powerful computing devices at ever lower cost per transistor. This has benefited most activities of importance to the global society. These include telecommunications, banking, transportation, manufacturing, medicine, education, agriculture, the list goes on, imagine life without servers!

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 work constitutes the first reported application of operations research to retail business strategy of a categorical agnostic system, which means that our system works for all different kinds of categories. So not only groceries, but all kinds of retail category items. Under this strategy items can be cleared before new items come, so the store assortment turns over much more frequently and the operating costs associated with it are much reduced.

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.

So the business impact has been huge and it really falls into three areas. The biggest area is obviously in the operations. Now that we’ve been doing this for seven years, we’ve classified almost 850,000 servers using the PASIR tool and actually took action on the set of problematic servers to the tune of about a billion dollars a year in increased availability and reduced incidents in the environments that we’ve studied.

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.

When we started looking at the revenue management system options, we identified that existing off-the-shelf solutions were not particularly compatible with the unique nature of the cruise business and certainly the way we operate. So as we wanted to own our own system and the code behind it, we partnered with Revenue Analytics to design and deliver a system that was customized to our needs.

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.

TSA officers now are detecting firearms at a rate three times that {of what} they did just a year ago. At the same time the passenger flow that we saw in July was 25% of what we had seen in 2019. What this tells us is that reducing TSA officer distraction works in improving their performance. And TSA PreCheck is a way to achieve this same effect with a larger pool of people being screened.

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.

The focus of our work is to show that these peer effects are in fact powerful albeit not necessarily in a positive way, it depends on who the peer is. Certain peers are more motivational and more influential than others, so the highest performing peers appear to matter more to the individual than the peers in the more average or low tiers.

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,” in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, takes an interesting look at what role our interactions with our peers and their own dieting journeys play with our personal weight loss success.

I came up with the estimate that if you are flying on a plane that is full and the middle seats are full, then your chance of being infected, given the rate of COVID infection in the United States about now, it’s about 1 in 4,300 is your chance of coming down with COVID. And if the middle seat is kept empty, your chance goes down to about 1 in 7,700.

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted once again the importance of data-driven and informed decision-making versus decisions made based on intuition and gut feelings when there are so many lives at stake. In particular, it highlighted the importance of fully analyzing and quantifying the potential impact of decisions under dynamically changing conditions and uncertainty.

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.

Based on the types of bias that find their way into algorithms, and as I mentioned this is human bias, it is often claimed by critics, pundits and researchers that these algorithms are responsible for boosting one point of view while censoring another, Amplifying and influencing what we are already prone to believe, what we care about and how we vote, or even whether we vote at all.

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.

I think the key thing is to think of areas where you have fixed seats. So you can imagine beyond sporting events, and look at theaters where you go to a concert and you’re in seats (not a concert where you are standing up and bopping up and down in front of the stage) but more ones where you have fixed seats. Or you go to see a play or an opera performance. I think Broadway is unfortunately going to be closed until the end of the year but if they decide to reopen and they want to limit attendance, they’d be able to use this type of approach.

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.

There were a couple of key insights. The main one that the administration and the faculty and the broader community, the students and staff, found to be surprising and also that informed the decision here at Cornell, was the discovery that if you don’t open the campus, so if you don’t offer residential fall instruction, it turns out to actually be less safe than offering instruction under a wide variety of parameter choices.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic this past spring saw universities across the country close their campuses and teachers rapidly transitioned 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.

I see AI as a growing influence on society in a number of ways, but what we want to do is look for the potential to improve productivity and to create jobs and employment. We must be ready and put guardrails in place to prevent some of the potential negative impact such as job displacements and bias.

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 PhD 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.

I saw two genuine conflicting objectives: minimizing fatalities and reviving the economy. The lockdown may have minimized fatalities, but at the detriment of the economy. Now re-opening is reviving the economy, but possibly risking higher fatalities. This is classic operations research. Still no one seems to be looking at how to balance these objectives. As far as I can tell, re-opening strategies are arbitrary and entirely different from state to state. So we are all living in a huge ad hoc experiment, except that actual lives are at stake.

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.

What we often fall back on are our stereotypes or our biases when we are making some decisions that are not even a part of the conversation. And I think they have to be brought forward, we have to create more opportunities for conversations and understanding what is really needed from our mathematics, from our models, from our systems. How can we make them better to support people and give them a more dignified experience?

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 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,” underrepresented minorities are 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 worldwide 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.

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 or 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’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. For this episode I am joined by 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.”

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 associate 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 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, CAP, 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.

In the past week alone, much has occurred in regard to the growing impact of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the U.S. As the number of confirmed cases of the virus across the country continues to increase, travel to the U.S. from Europe has been significantly restricted and state and local governments are taking equally assertive precautions. In the INFORMS home state of Maryland alone, the governor has issued a state of emergency that includes closing schools and other public institutions, banning large gatherings, and instructing people to isolate themselves from others.

As these restrictions take effect, and people nationwide prepare to sequester themselves and their families for an extended period of time, store shelves are being emptied of essential items. As we look ahead with uncertainty as to how long the coronavirus will continue to be a threat, and the growing potential for supply chain disruptions, concern is building regarding further shortages.

To discuss how the coronavirus is impacting supply chains worldwide, I am joined by Tinglong Dai, associate professor of operations management and business analytics at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School; and Sridhar Tayur, INFORMS Fellow, university professor of operations management at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, and founder of SmartOps and OrganJet.

In a single year, abuse of illegal and prescription drugs costs the U.S. an estimated $271.5 billion, due to increased healthcare costs, crime, and lost productivity. Not to mention the growing risk of overdose and death as increasingly potent substances, like fentanyl, are introduced to the market.

This is compounded by the increasing ease with which these illegal substances have become available, enabled in no small part by the Internet. And these aren’t necessarily from outlets typically viewed as nefarious, like the dark web, but from sites many of us use regularly.

In this episode I am joined by Anandhi Bharadwaj, vice dean and professor with the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, to discuss her research which will be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science. Her study, “Drug Abuse and the Internet: Evidence from Craigslist,” looks at the role Craigslist and similar online platforms have played in the increasing abuse of illegal and prescription drugs in the U.S.

In December 2019, the first cases of the coronavirus were identified in Wuhan, China. As the number of infections and subsequent patient deaths has continued to rise, the struggle to treat and contain the spread of the virus has become a worldwide concern for both medical professionals and world leaders. For this episode I am joined by Richard Larson, post-tenure professor in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose recently published article with the INFORMS magazine OR/MS Today, “The 2019-nCoV Coronavirus: Are there two routes to infection?” looks at the possible reasons this virus is spreading so rapidly.

When we travel to a new place, whether for long overdue vacation, a work trip, or simply a day trip someplace we’ve been meaning to check out, many of us rely on review platforms such as TripAdvisor and Yelp to help us plan our visit. In particular, we look for guidance and advice in selecting restaurants, making choices based on how previous visitors have rated their own experience. But how accurate are these reviews really? And adding more ‘food’ for thought, how much of a role does personal bias play when it comes to these reviews, and exactly what factors contribute to that bias? To learn about some surprising ways in which bias impacts online reviews, in this episode I am joined by Marios Kokkodis, professor with the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, whose study, “Your Hometown Matters: Popularity-Difference Bias in Online Reputation Platforms,” is slated for publication in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research.

It’s Friday night, you’re cooking dinner for your friends or family. The wine is poured, the table is set. You’re preparing a favorite recipe, but have added a brand new spice mix to the dish. It smells amazing, and everyone agrees, it tastes even better. But where did this new seasoning come from? The answer? Artificial Intelligence! To talk about this fascinating new application of AI, the result of a partnership between IBM and McCormick, I am joined by Robin Lougee, Research Industry Lead with IBM.

Operations research and analytics play a key role in advancing medical technology and methodology, with improvements to diagnostic testing, both conventional and AI-based tools, helping doctors more easily and accurately identify and treat medical conditions, providing better patient outcomes. But what happens if doctors aren’t using these tools, either out of concern over the costs incurred by the patient, or because they hold their own personal diagnostic abilities in higher regard, relying on that over diagnostic testing? In this episode, I am joined by Tinglong Dai with the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School and the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, as well as his coauthor, Shubhranshu Singh also with the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, as well as the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences. Their research titled, “Conspicuous by its Absence: Diagnostic Expert Testing Under Uncertainty,” in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, looks at barriers that stand in the way of more consistent adoption of diagnostic tools, including AI, that can aid in a physician’s diagnosis.

It’s a brand new year at INFORMS and we are all looking forward to an incredible 2020, especially as this year marks the 25th anniversary of INFORMS! In this episode, I am joined by the 2020 INFORMS president Pinar Keskinocak, to discuss her goals and objectives over the coming year.

Healthcare is a complex, often overwhelming subject, and the effort to match patients with providers based on patient needs and provider ability, known as the patient provider alignment (or PPA) problem, has consistently proven difficult to tackle. In the past, this was thought to have been exacerbated by the limited information available to the public regarding providers and their performance, which could help facilitate better patient provider matches. However, despite efforts to increase transparency by making healthcare data open and available to the public, the PPA problem still persists. In this episode, I am joined by Soroush Saghafian professor with Harvard University, whose research in the INFORMS journal Operations Research, “Can public reporting cure healthcare? The role of quality transparency in improving patient-provider alignment,” takes a deep dive into exploring this issue and offering some potential solutions.

The video game industry is growing at a phenomenal rate, generating a record $43.4 billion in revenue in 2018, an increase of nearly 20 percent from the year before. The largest area of growth within this industry has been in the online gaming community. But with players functioning at different skill levels and an even wider range of interest areas, how can companies ensure players remain engaged and their products continue to grow in popularity? Joining us for this episode to provide new insight into online gamer behavior is Yan Huang from Carnegie Mellon University, whose research which was recently published in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research, tackles these questions head on.

Has this ever happened to you? Walking up to your favorite local restaurant, looking forward to a delicious meal only to discover ... it has failed its restaurant inspection! Yuck. I think there are few events that will convince you to eat at home more. But what if there was a way to anticipate if a restaurant was at risk of failing an inspection well before this actually happened? In this episode, we will hear from James Howard, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, whose research has helped identify if a restaurant will fail an inspection before it actually happens.

More than 60 million companies maintain business pages on Facebook, allowing them to connect with existing customers as well as reach new ones. And with more than 1.62 billion people log onto Facebook daily, this might seem like a great way to reach a nearly limitless audience. However, the Facebook platform which enables consumers to provide comments and feedback, provides companies with very little power to control what is posted on their pages, leaving them open to negative feedback which could have a damaging effect on their brands. To give us insight into the nature of the comments consumers are making, the relationship between positive and negative comments, and the power these comments can have on a business is Mochen Yang with the University of Minnesota, whose recently published research, featured in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research, tackles these questions head on.

In the few short weeks between Thanksgiving and the New Year, the number of packages processed, transported and delivered by UPS will more than double to meet the demand of holiday gift giving! Joining us to provide a behind the scenes look at the busiest time of year for UPS is Ranganath Nuggehalli, principal scientist at UPS, to talk about how O.R. helps make the holidays merry!

This episode features my last interview with the 2019 President of INFORMS Ramayya Krishnan, professor and dean with the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, as we look back over the milestones of his presidency, including INFORMS' advocacy work, as well as a look ahead to what’s next.

This episode is one of a special series recorded during the 2019 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle. Joining me for this episode is Maryam Zokaei Nikoo from Pennsylvania State University to discuss research she shared at this year’s Annual Meeting. Her presentation, “Using Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing to Predict Alzheimer’s Disease,” is based on research to improve early detection of Alzheimer’s, a disease currently impacting 5.8 million Americans and the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.

This episode is one of a special series recorded during the 2019 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle. Joining me is Andy Philpott from the University of Auckland to discuss the topic of his keynote session from this year’s meeting, "Zero Carbon Analytics," which explored how analytics is being used to plan the transition to a world with net-zero carbon emissions to help combat climate change from global warming.

This episode is one of a special series recorded during the 2019 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle. Joining me is Kamalini Ramdas from the London Business School, to discuss the topic of her keynote session, presented at the 2019 meeting. Her session, "Alleviating Poverty & Inequity: Fresh Challenges for Business Model Innovation," explored how to use business model innovation to address chronic worldwide issues like poverty and inequity. In particular, we discuss an innovative, and unexpected, new approach to providing healthcare to patients in impoverished communities suffering from chronic illnesses.

This episode is one of a special series recorded during the 2019 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle. Joining me is Heidi Livingston Eisips from San Jose State University. She chaired a session at the 2019 Annual Meeting, “Debiasing Decision Making – Ethical Data Mining and Eliminating Algorithmic Bias,” that explored how to balance the benefits of data mining and data analytics in modern society while creating and sustaining a legal and ethical framework to prevent bias.

Chatbots are currently utilized by many well-known companies including Amazon, Domino’s Pizza, American Eagle and Facebook to support a number of tasks including taking orders, providing recommendations, as well as used in customer service and other conversational interactions with customers. But what do customers really think of chatbots, and how do they compare to their human counterparts? Joining me for this episode to provide some insight into the impact of chatbot technology is Xueming Luo of Temple University, whose study “Frontiers: Machines vs. Humans: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Disclosure on Customer Purchases,” was recently published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science.

In academia, a growing number of PhD graduates are competing for a limited number of academic positions, and with tenured professors often retiring later, the competition for these positions continues to increase. Joining me for this episode to take a deeper dive into this topic is Richard Larson, post-tenure professor in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Organizations around the world, big and small, in nearly every industry, are implementing operations research and analytics to improve their business operations. But how can an organization tell how well it is using O.R. and analytics? With the INFORMS Analytics Maturity Model! Joining me to help tackle this topic is Norman Reitter, chief analytics officer and senior VP of Analytics Operations at CANA Advisors and chair of the INFORMS Analytics Capability Evaluation Subcommittee.

With online retailers like Amazon delivering nearly everything we could possibly need or want, often within a day or two of ordering it, we’ve become accustomed to and even reliant on the instant gratification that comes from shopping online. But what happens if access to expedited shipping were to suddenly and unexpectedly stop? Well for one online retail platform it did. Alibaba, an international online marketplace with nearly twice as many available products than Amazon, lost access to its shipping service for nearly 48 hours.

To provide more insight on what happened, what the fallout was for Alibaba, and what other online retail platforms can learn from this event, I am joined for this episode by Ruomeng Cui, professor with the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, to discuss her study “Value of High-Quality Logistics: Evidence from a Clash Between SF Express and Alibaba,” which will be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science.

Smart cities. At one time, this term would have elicited visions of a Jetsons-type future of flying cars, robot housekeepers and moving sidewalks. And today, while all or our vehicles are still firmly grounded, smart city technology is bringing some once unimaginable concepts to life. It is having an increasing impact our daily lives in ways both big and small, while also helping to tackle some of the biggest issues faced in America’s cities. To take a deeper dive on smart cities, I am joined by Ramayya Krishnan, INFORMS President and the William W. and Ruth F. Cooper professor of Management Science and Information Systems and dean of the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

New research shows that, while there have been significant new advancements in available treatments for type II diabetes, this has not translated to better health for those patients. In fact, the study shows that fewer than one in four Americans with diagnosed type II diabetes have achieved the American Diabetes Association's recommended care targets ... which is no better than 15 years ago. Joining me for this episode is the author of this research, Pooyan Kazemian, instructor in medicine at Harvard University Medical School and a research scientist in the division of general internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

From hurricanes and earthquakes, to conflict and disease, these disasters, both man-made and natural, can have a devastating impact causing millions, and even billions in damages, while greatly impacting the lives, health and well-being of the affected populations. But how can we prepare for or respond to events that often can’t be predicted, nor their true impact estimated, in order to save lives, save money, and solve the myriad problems that come as a result? The answer: operations research and analytics. Joining me for this episode is Pinar Keskinocak, the 2019 INFORMS President-elect, professor with the Georgia Institute of Technology, and co-founder and director of Georgia Tech's Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems.

In this episode, I am joined by Pengyuan Wang, assistant professor in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, to discuss her new research published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, which looks at the impact of legalizing marijuana on the alcohol and tobacco industries, with some surprising results, as well as some interesting insight into which demographics are most interested. Spoiler alert, kids keep an eye on your parents!

Exactly one year ago this month, INFORMS launched its very first episode of Resoundingly Human. I invited one of my very first guests to join me for this episode, Jeff Cohen, INFORMS Director of Public Affairs and Marketing, to take a look back over the last year. Jeff, however, had some ideas of his own and turned the tables on me, and the interviewer became the interviewee!

Some of the most impactful applications of O.R. and analytics are those in the medical field, improving patient outcomes and saving lives. Joining me for this episode are Cynthia Rudin, professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering and statistical science at Duke University's Prediction Analysis Lab and Dr. Aaron Struck, a neurologist with the Department of Neurology at the University of Wisconsin. They were members of a multi-university research team whose work on predicting damaging seizures in brain injury patients was recognized with the 2019 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award, presented earlier this year at the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference.

While algorithms play an increasingly integral role in our day-to-day lives, there still seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding and even mistrust regarding what algorithms are and what they do. To help dispel some of the mystery, joining me is Gah-Yi Ban, assistant professor of management science and operations at London Business School. Her research interests include big data analytics; in particular, algorithmic decision making involving complex, often highly uncertain data. Her recent TEDx Talk, “The power and perils of algorithms,” delves into the fundamental truths of algorithms to help everyone, even those who are not algorithmic experts, better understand the role algorithms play in our daily lives.

Artificial Intelligence and Automation. For some, these garner images of a future filled with exciting advances that will impact important industries and services, such as transportation, healthcare, national security and more. For others, it raises concerns across a spectrum that can stretch from a fear of employment opportunities lost to machines to militant robots taking over the world. Joining me is Ramayya Krishnan, INFORMS 2019 President and the William W. and Ruth F. Cooper professor of management science and information systems and dean of the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, to shed some light on artificial intelligence and its impact.

While often referred to as the "art of persuasion," my guest for this episode shares that there is actually a science behind persuasion and will provide insight into how and why it works. Joining me is Dean Hartley, principal of Hartley Consulting, to discuss his article in the June 2019 issue of OR/MS Today magazine, “Persuasion Wars, Part 1,“ which looks at how and why persuasion works, and its uses and misuses throughout history.

At the heart of both operations research and analytics, the key to all of the incredible research and applications, is data. Every day, O.R. and analytics professionals use data from sources around the world to provide valuable insight that is used to save lives, save money and solve problems. However, with a steady news stream of data breaches or misuse of often personal information from trusted sources many of us use everyday, such as Facebook, Target, and even healthcare providers, these incidents are becoming part of a much larger conversation regarding data security and the ethical use of data. Joining me for this episode is Scott Nestler, professor at the Mendoza College of Business with the University of Notre Dame. Scott has been a strong advocate for the importance of ethics for the analytics profession, and was the driving force behind the Certified Analytics Professional Certification Program’s Code of Ethics.

One of the fastest growing business trends, the sharing economy, is an economic model that involves peer-to-peer selling or sharing of goods and services that can be accessed as easily as opening an app on your smartphone. In addition to well-known examples in the transportation and hospitality industries, like Airbnb and Uber, and consumer good sales sites like eBay and Etsy, the sharing economy trend is continuing to expand into other areas, including fashion, healthcare and alternative transportation like bike and scooter sharing programs. With the number of shared economy users in the U.S. estimated to grow to 86.5 million people by 2020, it raises questions as to its impact on the competitive landscape. Joining me for this episode is Hui Li, professor with Carnegie Mellon University, whose recent study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, “Competitive Dynamics in the Sharing Economy: An Analysis in the Context of Airbnb and Hotels,” explored the impact of Airbnb and the sharing economy overall on the hospitality industry, with some unexpected results.

In 2018, INFORMS launched a new advocacy initiative to raise awareness with decision makers in Washington on the application and impact of O.R. and analytics. This initiative includes an annual Government & Analytics Summit that invites policymakers from Capitol Hill, federal agencies and other policy stakeholders to learn about exciting and impactful ways in which these scientific and mathematical processes are being used to save lives, save money and solve problems in the public and private sectors. Joining me for this episode to discuss this year's Summit is Laura Albert, Assistant Dean for Graduate Affairs in the College of Engineering and Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Outreach on the INFORMS Board of Directors, and the Chair of 2019 Summit.

In this episode, we will be taking a look back, way back actually, to the first time the term Operations Research was employed, and some of the earliest applications of O.R. during World War II, when it helped the Allied forces in Europe achieve victory over Germany. I am joined by Gerald Brown, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Operations Research at the Naval Postgraduate School and an INFORMS Fellow, to discuss these earliest applications, their impact, and how O.R. has grown since then.

From effectiveness of deployed forces to manpower and training, operations research professionals in the military space are constantly addressing both new and old challenges. These have been increased in recent years by advances in non-traditional warfare, to include cyberspace. The large investments in terms of manpower, time and money that nations spend in this sphere drives the need for thoughtful, professional operations research and analytics to wisely drive investments and security. In this episode, I am joined by Harrison Schramm, U.S. Navy veteran and Senior Fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments to discuss his journey from military service to O.R., his work with CSBA, and how O.R. and analytics are being applied to protect national security.

This podcast, part of a series recorded at the 2019 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, features Karl Kempf, Senior Fellow and Director of Decision Engineering at Intel Corporation and an INFORMS Fellow and member for many years. Karl’s presentation at the conference, “Intuition is Unreliable, Analytics is Incomplete,” looks at the relationship between analytics and intuition and how this can impact complex decision-making.

This podcast, part of a series recorded at the 2019 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, features Janine Kamath, chair of the Department of Management Engineering and Internal Consulting (ME&IC) and assistant professor, Health Care Systems Engineering with the Mayo Clinic, and an INFORMS Roundtable member. Her presentation, “Analytics in Healthcare – A Dose of Reality” discusses the role that analytics plays in addressing many of the challenges facing healthcare today.

This podcast, part of a series recorded at the 2019 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, features Ted Allen, associate professor in the Integrated Systems Engineering Department at The Ohio State University and president of the Social Media Analytics Section of INFORMS. His presentation, “Analyzing Social Media Data to Identify Cybersecurity Threats: Decision-Making with Real-Time Data,” explores the role of social media in identifying and addressing emerging cybersecurity breaches, something that is experienced by nearly 30 percent of businesses in the U.S.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, April 14-16. In this episode, we are joined by Martina Fischetti, Lead Engineer in Operational Research and Thomas Hjort, Head of System Design, from Vattenfall BA Wind to learn how Vattenfall leveraged O.R. to expand its offshore wind energy operations in the pursuit of fossil fuel-free living, while realizing more than $170 million in savings.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, April 14-16. In this episode, we are joined by David Rios, Fellow of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, as well as Veronica Elvira, Deputy Director of Safety Analysis and Francisco Bernal, Head of Aerodromes and Air Navigation Risk Analysis Department with the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) to learn how AESA used analytics to meet international aviation safety standards while realizing nearly $230 million in savings.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, April 14-16. In this episode, we are joined by Jay Nanduri, Distinguished Engineer, and Anand Oka, Principal Group Program Manager with Microsoft to learn how Microsoft leveraged O.R. to create a fraud detection system that identifies and reduces online fraudulent activity, while protecting legitimate consumer purchases and saving tens of millions of dollars.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, April 14-16. In this episode, we are joined by Angela Akridge, Chief Engineer, Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District and Diana Tao, Project Director for Tetra Tech to learn how O.R. was used to maximize all aspects of Louisville’s water collection and treatment facilities to better protect the environment and realizes hundreds of millions in savings.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, April 14-16. In this episode, we are joined by Aly Megahed, Research Group Lead with IBM Research and Mark Smith, Business Lead with IBM Services, to learn about IBM’s use of O.R. and analytics to manage the highly complex process of competing for and negotiating information technology (IT) service contracts around the world.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, April 14-16. In this episode, we are joined by John Hanlon, Boston Public Schools Chief Operations Officer, William Eger, Senior Strategic Project Manager, and Dimitris Bertsimas, Professor with MIT Sloan School of Management to learn about Boston Public School’s use of O.R. to create a new approach to school bus routing that has reduced the bus fleet and enabled millions of dollars to be reinvested in the school system.

In this episode we will explore three different applications of O.R. and analytics in sports, from basketball, to baseball, and beyond! Joining me for this episode are Sheldon Jacobson of the University of Illinois to discuss NCAA March Madness basketball brackets, Michael Trick of Carnegie Mellon University to give insight in to Major League Baseball game scheduling, and Walt DeGrange of CANA Advisors and past chairman of the INFORMS SpORts Section to discuss current and developing applications of O.R. and analytics in sports.

In this episode we will learn how O.R. and analytics are helping the men and women of law enforcement and the corrections systems, from improving the health of prison inmates, to simplifying the assignment of inmates to the appropriate prison, to helping New York City police men and women better predict and respond to crime. Joining us for this episode are Tamas Terlaky, president of Optamo and professor at Lehigh University, Mohammad Shahabsafa, chief operating officer at Optamo and Anshul Sharma, Chief Information Officer at Optamo, who share their INFORMS Wagner Prize award-winning research on improving inmate scheduling for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. In addition, we will hear from Alex Chohlas-Wood, former Director of Analytics for the NYPD and Evan Levine, Assistant Commissioner of Data Analytics at the Office of Crime Control Strategies with the NYPD, who have created a new system called Patternizr to aid the NYPD in identifying and predicting crime patterns. Finally, we are joined by Turgay Ayer of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who will discuss his research to identify a protocol for treatment that could significantly reduce the number of Hepatitis C infected prisoners.

In this episode we will hear from the new INFORMS president Ramayya Krishnan who will share some insight on what exciting things are in store for INFORMS in the coming year, Shane Henderson and David Shmoys of Cornell University on their INFORMS Wagner Prize winning research on bike share programs, and Alina Sorescu of Texas A&M university whose research takes a deep dive into the ups and downs of the financial stock market over a period of nearly 200 years.