O.R./Analytics at Work Blog
Blog Entries for transportation
My mother worked for EPA for almost 20 years, instilling me with a respect for the world around me. The topic of O.R. and the Environment seemed like a natural (weak pun intended) fit. I was struck by the sentence in Patricia Randall’s blog entry, “While I am certain it is possible to include green objectives in a model, I haven’t had a client say ‘Minimize my emissions or my carbon footprint’. Or have I?” “Green objectives” need a paradigm shift from being viewed as going above and beyond, to being intrinsic to the fabric of good business. What O.R. and analytics are already doing is finding the best way to solve problems with optimum impact, and that optimization should include preserving the planet we all share.
There are many opportunities for OR/MS and analytics folks to include “greening” as an element of their analysis that protects the earth while streamlining supply chain networks and decision models, decreasing waste, and increasing revenue and production. Maybe the call is to go beyond the obvious solution, to add in environmentally friendly options, as a “value-added” service to your clients, or to calculate the impact to future generations of not implementing green measures. Of course, this could be viewed as Pollyanna thinking, that it isn’t financially possible, it’s too difficult, or that no one really cares about those types of objectives. But to quote a cute, mustachey guy (no, not Paul Rubin,) “I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees.”
Thank you to everyone who submitted to this blog challenge, they will be included in the upcoming Focus On Environment, a compilation of articles from INFORMS journals. As we head into the holidays, the next blog (and perhaps personal) challenge will be O.R. and Families. Please email your entries to socialnetworking@mail.informs.org by December 12.
O.R. and the Environment
Extra Credit goes to Anna Nagurney and Laura McLay for two entries.
- Brilliant Lecture by Dr. Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Laureate and Activist, Anna Nagurney
- Sustainability of Supply Chain Networks, Anna Nagurney
- only you (and your optimization model) can prevent forest fires, Laura McLay
- crowd sizes, home energy usage, baseball odds, and pop songs, Laura McLay
- Environmental Business – A Green Light for Analytics?, Capgenini Blog Team
- Corporate Buyouts, Sustainability in the DNA? , Ian Frommer
- EnviORment [sic], Francisco Marco-Serrano
- Deciding on Lean or Green, John Poppelaars
- OR, the Environment, and the Law of Unintended Consequences, Paul Rubin
- Optimizing Your Transportation Network can Reduce Your Carbon Footprint , Patricia Randall
- Primal and dual valuation of our natural resources using O.R., Thiago Serra
- Water supply and the environment, David Smith
- Jumbo decision models to protect the environment, Shivaram Subramanian
- Grizzlies, Pandas, and Optimal Ecological Structures, Mike Trick
Opening day, the Final Four, The 2011 Cricket World Cup, soccer, golf, basketball, NASCAR, and even bull riding, this weekend in sports has it all. Our bloggers offered their view on incorporating O.R. into sports, as a way to improve everything from scheduling to maximizing profits on sports betting. The intersection of O.R. and sports offers an opportunity for us to spread the word about the benefits of operations research and analytics to an audience that might not usually understand (or care) how math can make the [sports] world a better place.
A special shoutout to Laura McLay’s VCU Rams for overcoming the odds and destroying everyone’s carefully crafted brackets. Enjoy the show!
In honor of our new upcoming thematic conference in June, our INFORMS April Blog Challenge is O.R. and Healthcare! E-mail your entries to graphics@mail.informs.org.
Read our entries to the March Challenge O.R. and Sports
- Why is SpORts So Popular?, Patricia Randall
- The Appeal of Operations Research and Sports, Michael Trick
- Prediction of sporting events: A Scientific Approach, Graham Kendall
- Baseball and Decision Analytics, Larry D’Agostino
- Forming Competitive Teams, Paul Rubin
- Analytics and Cricket - VI: Improving the Cricket World-cup Schedule, Shiva Subramanian
- The Braess Paradox, Broadway, and Basketball, Anna Nagurney
- Da’s logisch (That’s logical), John Poppelaars
Extra Credit for two postings goes to Thiego Serra
- Making it for 2014 Cup and 2016 Olympics: Scheduling Tasks with CP, part I, and
- Modeling Local Politicians with Global Constraints; or Making it for 2014 Cup and 2016 Olympics: Scheduling Tasks with CP, part II
David Smith and Laura McLay deserve Special Extra Credit for 3 postings each!
David Smith:
Laura McLay:
“Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
And make me a perfect match.”
- Inspired by Larry D’Agostino’s mention of Fiddler on the Roof.
Everything from pink spreadsheets to photos of O.R. memories, love and O.R. were in the blogosphere for the month of February. The blog “O.R. at Work” is involved at a global level with #LoveSafely and the North Star Alliance to provide healthcare services and supplies across Africa to help with the fight against AIDS. O.R. can help in your personal search for love (secretary problem), wooing (transportation problem), and wedding planning (logistics and supplying fake guests.) However, O.R. involvement in relationships should end with the wedding reception, based on Laura McLay’s advice, “Do not try to optimize your spouse.” Capgemini discussed online dating, and then ran a matchmaking exercise to ensure that our bloggers would not be alone on Valentine’s Day. Love will remain as the weather begins to turn warm, but the warm breezes bring to mind spring and…Sports!
So bloggers, O.R. and Sports is your March challenge. E-mail your entries to graphics@mail.informs.org.
A side note to Mike Trick: I hope your secretary (I mean wife) didn’t see your blog. ;)
Read our entries to the February Challenge O.R. and Love
- #LoveSafely, John Poppelaars
- love & operations research, Laura McLay
- Faking It On Your Wedding Day, Aleksey Nozdryn-Plotnicki
- Finding Love Optimally, Mike Trick
- How can Cupid use Operations Research?, Thiago Serra
- Cupids with Computers, Capgemini O.R. Blog Team
- Why I love O.R. – A Photo Essay, Anna Nagurney
- Transporting Flowers with Love, Tallys Yunes
- Science of Matchmaking, Larry D’Agostino
- Optimal search, David Smith
And the extra credit goes this month to Shiva Subramanian for multiple posts.
- Analytics, Astrology, and V-day Objectives, Shiva Subramanian
- Dating and Wedding Logistics, Shiva Subramanian
