Did America’s schools open safely? We crunched the latest data on COVID-19 and kids.
America’s schoolchildren are weathering a third year of pandemic education, and most are in class together again instead of isolated at home.
When elected officials control the maps, they are not just participating in democracy. They are engineering the habitat in which democracy thrives or languishes. That makes redistricting not only a political problem, but also an operations research problem.
INFORMS has awarded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) its 2026 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, for reengineering how global cloud infrastructure is planned and delivered, applying advanced analytics and AI to orchestrate complex fulfillment decisions across its rapidly expanding data center network.
In the rush to adopt artificial intelligence, many employers are now requiring that employees use AI tools. As you’re using AI, be intentional and selective. It’s critical that you know yourself. Research published in Management Science found that AI is most valuable for people who understand their own abilities and limitations. Assess yourself, so you can factor this into your process for incorporating AI into your work.
An audio journey of how data and analytics save lives, save money and solve problems.

Jeff Cohen
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America’s schoolchildren are weathering a third year of pandemic education, and most are in class together again instead of isolated at home.
The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE was authorized for use in children as young as 5 years old, the first shot that federal health regulators have permitted for them in the U.S.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Leo Friedman pivoted his corporate gifting company, iPromo, to help provide his clients with needed products like masks and gloves.
The options for Americans who refuse to get vaccinated are rapidly shrinking. President Biden’s blanket COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers or contractors and companies with over 100 employees means that vaccination is required for over 100 million people. Only some workers under the mandate have the alternative of weekly testing — the rest, face seeking alternative employment if they do not take the jab. Over two-thirds of unvaccinated Americans have indicated that they would quit their job rather than be vaccinated, although many more are submitting to vaccination than expected.
INFORMS, the largest association for the decision and data sciences, has awarded the 2021 Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in the Practice of Advanced Analytics and Operations Research to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Southern California for their work to deploy a national-scale targeted testing system to allocate limited testing resources in Greece to screen visitors for COVID-19 at the border. The award was presented today at the 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif.

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