O.R. IN THE NEWS

Compiled by Barry List

The INFORMS archive of podcasts continues to offer provocative conversation with leading O.R. practitioners and thinkers. It includes recent interviews about analytics with Jeanne G. Harris, co-author of “Competing on Analytics,” and Joan Woodard, a former director of Sandia National Labs and current energy consultant.

Visit www.scienceofbetter.org and www.informs.org to download the latest selections.

Remember to share your news-making research with the INFORMS Communications Department. Contact INFORMS Communications Director Barry List at barry.list@informs.org or 1-800-4INFORMs.

Now the news:

Texting and driving

“So you have your ‘no texting while driving’ law. Your ‘can’t-talk-on-a-cell-phone-without-a-hands-free-device-while-in-a-school-zone’ law. Teens cannot use a cell phone for six months following getting a license is another law.

But does it all work? One researcher from Illinois said it does. While the numbers for his study are out of the state of New York, he said that he may be looking at Austin’s [Texas] roads in the near future.

“[At the INFORMS annual meeting,] Dr. Sheldon Jacobson from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said the new study shows that not falling victim to an accident while texting and driving all depends on road density.”

KXAN-TV Austin, Nov. 9

Why an MBA may not shield you from racial bias

“For those who assume that a top B-school education levels quaint notions of racial bias in managerial ranks, think again. Discrimination is alive and well among financial analysts, according to some recent social-science experiments. And if you look at the nature of the experimental set-ups, you could reasonably wonder whether bias against African-American executives exists not only among financial analysts, but in corporate management as a whole.

“Apparently an advanced degree from a prestigious university is frequently discounted by other MBAs when the holder is African-American, according to recent work by researchers Stephen Sauer of Clarkson University, Melissa Thomas-Hunt of the University of Virginia and Patrick Morris of the May Group Family Fund and published in the journal Organization Science. In one study, 104 current MBA program students and alumni played the part of financial analysts for venture capital firms. Of the group, 76 percent were male and 64 percent were white. A hypothetical CEO had an MD and a master’s in public health administration, while the COO had an MBA.”

Erik Sherman, BNET, Oct. 20

Troubling management science study on racial bias in finance

“An experiment designed to test perceptions of affirmative action found that independent observers rated companies significantly lower when they were told the top executives were African-American graduates of prestigious universities, instead of white. The difference went away when the executives were said to have graduated from less selective schools, and when the evaluators were told that the more selective schools exercised race-blind admissions.”

Forbes blog, Daniel Fisher, Oct. 19

Cost of air delays

The next time your flight is late, you’ll have 16.7 billion reasons to be angry about it. That’s how much it costs us in dollars every year when airlines are tardy, according to a new study.

“The National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR), a group of academics from UC-Berkeley, M.I.T. and other universities, released a report to the FAA detailing how delays drain our collective wallet.”

Walletpop.com, Oct. 19

Historical perspective: George E. Kimball

“It is not at an exaggeration to say that George E. Kimball was one of the most brilliant and innovative chemists of his era. In fact, it may be an understatement. Some of his best work was more than likely classified ‘Top Secret,’ meaning he couldn’t get direct public credit for helping develop several scientific breakthroughs that aided America and its allies during World War II ...

“Hailed as a visionary and original thinker, Dr. Kimball was the author of at least two highly regarded books and numerous articles that appeared in the top scientific journals of his day...

“Professor Kimball was also a founding member and president of the Operations Research Society of America and chairman of the New England section of the American Chemical Society.”

New Britain Herald, Sept. 24

Testosterone may be screwing up shareholder value

“Economists at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business looked at hundreds of real mergers and acquisitions and found that younger male CEOs are more likely to make bids to acquire companies, and also withdraw those bids if they’re rejected. It’s no coincidence, the study authors write in the journal Management Science, that those younger CEOs typically have more testosterone than older ones.

“ ‘Like two rams bashing heads, high testosterone levels make men more likely to undertake dominance-seeking behaviors,’ explains Terry Burnham, a Harvard University economist who studies behavior. ‘And that can wreck shareholder value.’ ”

MSNBC, Sept. 13

High testosterone CEOs scotch M&A deals

“Younger chief executives with high testosterone levels may be more likely to try a hostile takeover – and to get burned in the attempt, Canadian researchers said.

“They found age was clearly linked with aggressive takeover behavior, and did a careful but indirect analysis to see if testosterone might be involved.

“ ‘It likely is,’ said Kai Li and colleagues at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

“ ‘Young male CEOs appear to be combative: They are 4 percent more likely to be acquisitive and, having initiated an acquisition, they are over 20 percent more likely to withdraw an offer,’ Li’s team wrote in the September issue of Management Science.”

Reuters, Sept. 8

Study says sheltering better nuclear plan

“A U.S. study says that in a nuclear detonation people in large cities would be better off sheltering in place rather than trying to evacuate immediately.

“Researchers at Stanford University say that unless a lengthy warning period is provided, clogged exit roads would pose more significant risks by exposing evacuees to radiation than if people were to remain in place at the center of large buildings or in basements, a release from the Society for Risk Analysis says.

“The Stanford research uses sophisticated mathematical models to investigate the impact of various response strategies.

“ ‘The logistical challenge of an evacuation appears to be beyond current response capabilities,’ study author [former Operations Research Editor-in-Chief] Lawrence M. Wein of Stanford said.”

UPI, Sept. 7

Third World flying risk

“[MIT Professor Arnold] Barnett, who based his findings on air safety data, said Nigeria had an especially poor safety record.

“ ‘It does seem to be the case that that there are differences in mortality risk, which existed before and exist now,’ Barnett said. ‘Even in countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, with first world incomes and quality of life, the statistical safety record is closer to that of still developing countries. They haven’t caught up.’

“But despite the wide gap between developing and developed country, Barnett said ‘the good news is that safety seems to be increasing all over the world, and that’s the most important metric of all.’

“Barnett, whose findings were published in Transportation Science, a journal published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), theorizes that cultural factors such as individualism and deference to authority may explain the different accident rates.”

Reuters, Sept. 3

Barry List (barry.list@informs.org) is the director of communications for INFORMS.