University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Sheldon H. Jacobson is a Founder Professor of Computer Science, Director of the Simulation and Optimization Laboratory, and Founding Director of the Bed Time Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has a B.S. and M.S. in mathematics from McGill University and a Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University.

Over the decades, Professor Jacobson has dedicated his effort to draw the attention of the public to the power of operations research and analytics for informed policy and decision making. He has made research contributions to operations research and optimization-based artificial intelligence. Additionally, he has written on a broad range of subjects: aviation security, healthcare, transportation, political redistricting and elections, etc. He is an INFORMS Fellow and has received the INFORMS Impact Prize.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Informed policy and decision making, Aviation security, Healthcare, Transportation, Political redistricting, Elections

Indiana University

Jorge Mejia is an assistant professor at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He is interested in understanding the impacts of social media through the analysis of large amounts of data. His current projects employ unstructured data from social media to predict business outcomes. He is also interested in predictors of success in early-stage tech entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Kelley, he was a technology and management consultant, an industry analyst, and an entrepreneur. He has a B.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in computer engineering, a M.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in electrical and computer engineering, and a Ph.D. in information systems from the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Impacts of social media, Predicting business outcomes, Predictors of success in early-stage text entrepreneurship

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Shannon Roberts is an assistant professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, focusing on mechanical and industrial engineering. Her research includes human factors, transportation safety, driver feedback, social influence and social networks, driver behavior modeling and simulation, and young and older driver training. She has been published in several research publications including Accident Analysis & Prevention, Advancing Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice Through Human Systems Engineering, Transportation Research Record and PLOS ONE.

She holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Transportation safety, Driver feedback, Driver behavior modeling and simulation, Driver training, Social influence and social networks
• Published in several research publications

The MITRE Corporation

Les Servi is the chief scientist for Cyber Operations Research at The MITRE Corporation and the Vice President of Financial Management on the Board of Directors Executive Council at the Military Operations Research Society (MORS). His knowledge spans operations research, data mining, systems engineering, and security. He has published five research papers in the field of operations research. As an INFORMS fellow, he served a six year term on the board of directors, served as a founding chair for the INFORMS Social Media Analytics subdivision and was a chair of the INFORMS Telecommunication Society. He has been an editor of Operations Research, Management Science, and INFORMS Journal of Computing. 

He holds a B.S. and M.S. in applied mathematics from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in engineering from Harvard University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Operations research, Data mining, Systems engineering, Security
• Served as editor of three science journals

Georgia Tech

Rachel Cummings is an assistant professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. Her research interests lie primarily in data privacy, with connections to machine learning, algorithmic economics, optimization, statistics, and information theory. Her work has focused on problems such as strategic aspects of data generation, incentivizing truthful reporting of data, privacy-preserving algorithm design, impacts of privacy policy, and human decision-making.

She received her B.A. in mathematics and economics from the University of Southern California, a M.S. in computer science from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in computing and mathematical sciences from the California Institute of Technology.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Data privacy, Data generation, Incentivizing truthful reporting of data, Impacts of privacy policy

University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business

Scott Nestler is an associate teaching professor and the Academic Director for the M.S. in business analytics program at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business. He has served as an analyst and leader of analytic teams in various locations, including the Pentagon and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq and is retired from the U.S. Army. His research focuses on sports analytics, ethical use of data and analytics, financial and project portfolio analysis, decision and risk analysis, forecasting and predictive modeling, talent and workforce analytics, data and information visualization, and reliability and prognostics. He has published several books and papers in the field of analytics. In 2019, he received the INFORMS Volunteer Service Award.

He holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Lehigh University, a M.S. in applied mathematics from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Ph.D. in management science from the University of Maryland–College Park.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Sport analytics, Ethical use of data, Talent and workforce analytics
• Veteran, U.S. Army
• Worked for the Pentagon the U.S. Embassey in Baghdad, Iraq
• Published several books and papers in the field of analytics

Elder Research

Alan Briggs is currently a Project Manager and Data Scientist at Elder Research. He is experienced in teaching, and implementing machine learning, data science, and advanced analytics solutions. With experience at several well-regarded analytics consultancies, Mr. Briggs has worked on several analytics projects during every phase of the process, from business and analytic problem framing to data management, methodology selection, model building, all the way through to deployment and life-cycle management. He has built and led teams of software engineers and data scientists working on complex, high-impact problems.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Implementing machine learning, data science, and advanced analytics solutions

Ford Motor Company

Erica Klampfl is Ford’s Global Future Mobility Manager, defining Ford’s near, mid, and long-term mobility strategy to make mobility affordable economically, environmentally and socially. Previously, she led the Strategy and Sustainability Analytics group at Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. She received a Ph.D. in computational and applied mathematics from Rice University and has over a decade of experience in developing and applying operations research and other analytics techniques to inform business strategy, strengthen environmental sustainability, and improve manufacturing efficiency. 

Her contributions were among those that supported Ford winning the 2013 INFORMS Prize. Dr. Klampfl is an active member of INFORMS and was Chair of the 2012 INFORMS Business Analytics & Operations Research Conference, Chair of the 2011 INFORMS Prize Committee, 2013 Women in OR/MS JR VP of Meetings, and has served periodically as Ford’s INFORMS Roundtable representative.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Mobility strategy to make mobility affordable economically, environmentally and socially

General Motors

Jonathan H. Owen is Chief Scientist for OR/MS and Analytics, General Motors, and Director of GM’s Advanced Analytics Center of Expertise. He oversees innovation, new capability development and business implementation activities in several areas, including revenue management, vehicle content planning and optimization, and market demand modeling. His extensive personal research focuses on developing new modeling systems, algorithms, and software tools for the analysis and improvement of automotive manufacturing systems and business processes. Additionally, he is hyper-focused on the visualization of network manipulation. John holds a Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in industrial engineering and management sciences from Northwestern University. He also has a B.S. in mathematical sciences from the University of North Carolina and was in the General Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Jonathon has a large INFORMS presence as a Fellow and through various other activities, including award judging, team coach, session chair, invited presentations and panels, and student member outreach. He has also been awarded several INFORMS prizes, including winning the Edelman Award.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Revenue management, Vehicle content planning and optimization, Market demand modeling, Visualization of network manipulation

George Mason University

Karla Hoffman is a professor of Systems Engineering and Operations Research at the George Mason University Volgenau School of Engineering. Her research focuses on air transportation, optimization, military operations research, computational statistics, big data, machine learning, auction design, and testing. She has worked with a variety of government agencies and corporations on diverse problems. Currently, she is working as a consultant to the FCC on the “incentive auction.” Her published research is funded by government agencies such as the U.S. Department of the Navy and NASA.

She received her B.A. in mathematics from Rutgers University, and her M.B.A. and her D.Sc. in operations research from George Washington University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Air transportation, Optimization, Computational statistics, Auction design
• Has worked with the FCC
• Published research funded by the U.S. Department of the Navy and NASA

University of Alabama

Burcu Keskin is a Reese Phifer Fellow in Operation/Manufacturing Management and Professor of Operations Management in the Culverhouse College of Business at the University of Alabama. She has conducted research in different areas of supply chain management including production and distribution network design, facility location, inventory control, vehicle routing, supply chain optimization related to public safety, healthcare, and manufacturing. Dr. Keskin has offered courses on operations, supply chain logistics, inventory management, and nonlinear and discrete optimization. She received her Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University in 2007.

Dr. Keskin is an active member of INFORMS, is the Treasurer and Vice President of Tuscaloosa Region, INFORMS Deep South Chapter, was elected Secretary and President of the INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group from 2008 through 2011 and is currently part of INFORMS Chapters/Fora and INFORMS Education Committees. She has served in the organization committees of 2013 DSI Annual conference in Baltimore, MD; 2012 INFORMS Annual conference in Phoenix, AZ; 2010 INFORMS Southern Regional Conference in Huntsville, AL; and 2008 INFORMS Southwest Regional Conference in College Station, TX. Dr. Keskin is also the faculty advisor of the INFORMS Student Chapter at the University of Alabama. The INFORMS Student Chapter has received the Cum Laude national award in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Due to her involvement with student chapters and fora, Dr. Keskin was a recipient of the INFORMS Judith Liebman Moving Spirit Award in 2007, INFORMS Fora Moving Spirit Award in 2013 and was the Wagner Prize Awardee.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Production and distribution network design, Inventory control, Supply chain optimization related to public safety, healthcare, and manufacturing
• Helped organize four major analytics conferences

Georgia Tech

Andy Sun is an Anderson-Interface Early Career Professor and Associate Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. His expertise lies in optimization and electric energy systems. Dr. Sun has a wide range of interests in both theory and applications of deterministic optimization and optimization under uncertainty. On the deterministic side, Dr. Sun's recent research has focused on solving non-convex optimization problems with a network structure, e.g. optimizing network flows with a non-convex flow law, non-convex quadratic programming on a graph, consensus optimization, and market matching. 

Dr. Sun received his B.S. from Tsinghua University in Beijing with a major in electronic engineering, M.S. in media arts and sciences from MIT and Ph.D. in operations research from MIT. After his Ph.D., Dr. Sun did a one-year postdoc at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Electric energy systems, Optimization, Network structures

Georgia Tech

Valerie Thomas is the Anderson-Interface Professor of Natural Systems in the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy. Dr. Thomas's research interests are energy and materials efficiency, sustainability, industrial ecology, technology assessment, international security, and science and technology policy. She is especially interested in the environmental impacts of biofuels, and electricity system development. 

Currently, Dr. Thomas serves on the DOE/USDA Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. She is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the American Physical Society. In the past, she has been a part of several scientific coalitions and advisory boards. Thomas was also a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, a Research Scientist at Princeton University, in the Princeton Environmental Institute and in the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, and a Lecturer in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Dr. Thomas received a B. A. in physics from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cornell University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Energy and materials efficiency, Sustainability, Industrial ecology, Technology assessment, International security
• Special interests: Environmental impacts of biofuels, electricity system development
• Holds join appointment in the School of Public Policy for science and technology policy
• Serves on the DOE/USDA Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Physical Society

Carnegie Mellon University

Ramayya Krishnan is the W. W. Cooper and Ruth F. Cooper Professor of Management Science and Information Systems at the H. John Heinz III College and the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests focus on consumer and social behavior in digitally instrumented environments. His work has addressed technical, policy and business problems that arise in these contexts and he has published extensively on these topics. He has served as Department Editor for Information Systems at Management Science. He is an INFORMS Fellow, a former President of the INFORMS Information Systems Society and the INFORMS Computing Society. He has served as an Information Technology and Data Science expert member of multiple U.S. State Department Delegations and briefed ICT ministers of ASEAN on big data technology and policy. 

He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, a M.S. in industrial engineering and operations research, and a Ph.D. in management science and information systems from the University of Texas at Austin.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Consumer and social behavior in digitally instrumented environments
• Served as an Information Technology and Data Science expert member of multiple U.S. State Department Delegations
• Briefed ICT ministers of ASEAN on big data technology and policy

United States Naval Academy

Rob Curry is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at the United States Naval Academy. His research focuses on methodology and algorithmic approaches in network optimization, combinatorial optimization, and integer programming. His algorithm research applies to energy systems, transportation and logistics systems, evacuation planning, and humanitarian systems. His most recent work focuses on decomposition methods and flow-augmenting algorithms for solving variations of the maximum flow problem having applications in wireless sensor network optimization. He has presented his research at several industry and INFORMS conferences. 

He holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Arkansas, an M.S. in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Clemson University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Energy systems, Transportation and logistics systems, Evacuation planning, Humanitarian systems

Northeastern University

Kayse Lee Maass is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University. She was a research associate in the Department of Health Sciences Research at the Mayo Clinic, received her Ph.D. from the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) at the University of Michigan in 2017 and holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Physics from Bethel University.

Her research focuses on the application of operations research methodology to social justice, access, and equity issues within the supply chain management, humanitarian logistics, and healthcare contexts. She is particularly interested in using her analytic skills to address human trafficking and mental health issues.  She currently serves as the INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Treasurer.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Human trafficking, Mental health issues
• Was a research associate at the Mayo Clinic

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital

Pooyan Kazemian is an Instructor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Research Scientist in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research focuses on cost-effectiveness analysis of HIV prevention and treatment interventions, and developing a novel mathematical optimization model for HIV resource allocation in resource-limited countries. He is developing a microsimulation model of type 2 diabetes to evaluate clinical outcomes, lifetime costs of care, and the incremental cost-effectiveness of strategies for diabetes prevention and treatment. Kazemian previously worked at the Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery at the Mayo Clinic.

He holds a M.Sc. in industrial and systems engineering from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in operations research from the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Cost-effectiveness analysis of HIV prevention and treatment interventions, HIV resource allocation in resource-limited countries
• Developing a microsimulation model of type 2 diabetes to evaluate clinical outcomes, lifetime costs of care, and the incremental cost-effectiveness of strategies for diabetes prevention and treatment
• Previously worked at the Mayo Clinic

Harvard University

Soroush Saghafian is an associate professor at Harvard University. He is interested in using and developing operations research and management science techniques that can have significant public benefits. His current research focuses on the application and development of operations research methods in studying stochastic systems with specific applications in healthcare and operations management. He has been collaborating with a variety of hospitals in improving their operational efficiency, patient flow, medical decision-making, and more broadly, healthcare delivery policies. 

He serves on the editorial board of journals including Operations Research, Production and Operations Management, INFORMS Service Science, and IISE Transactions. Dr. Saghafian has also served as a chair/co-chair or a review panel member in various committees including INFORMS Pierskalla Award for the Best Paper in Healthcare, INFORMS Healthcare Applications Society Best Student Paper Award, INFORMS MSOM Healthcare Special Interest Group, INFORMS MSOM Best Student Paper review panel, among others.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Stochastic systems with applications in healthcare and operations management
• Has collaborated with a variety of hospitals in improving their operational efficiency, patient flow, medical decision-making, and more broadly, healthcare delivery policies
• Serves on the editorial board of five science journals

Stanford University

Lawrence Wein is the Jeffrey S. Skoll Professor of Management Science and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His research focuses on manufacturing, health care and homeland security. He has used mathematics to analyze treatment protocols for patients with HIV, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease; the national transplant waiting list for kidneys; the selection of strains to include in the annual influenza vaccine and the design of proteins. His HIV work on drug-switching policies led to a successful multicenter clinical trial. His smallpox work influenced the George W. Bush administration’s post-attack vaccination policy; his anthrax work led to plans in Washington, D.C., to use postal workers to distribute antibiotics after a large attack; and his testimony before a congressional committee on his biometric analysis of the US-VISIT Program was instrumental in the switch from a two-finger to a ten-finger system.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Treatment protocols for patients with HIVm cancer, and Alzheimer's disease, National transplant waiting list for kidneys, Selection of strains to include in the annual influenza vaccine
• HIV work on drug-switching policies has led to a successful multicenter clinical trial
• His smallpox work influenced the George W. Bush administration’s post-attack vaccination policy

United States Naval Academy, John Hopkins University School of Medicine

Sommer Gentry is a Professor of Mathematics at the United States Naval Academy and a research associate in the Department of Medicine at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research includes operations research for organ transplantation and healthcare, redistricting, linear and integer programming, simulation, graph theory and maximum edge weight matching for kidney paired donation, optimizing organ allocation.

Gentry holds a B.S. in mathematical and computational sciences and M.S. in engineering-economic systems and operations research from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Operations research for organ transplantation and healthcare, Redistricting, Optimizing organ allocation

Yale University School of Management

Ed Kaplan is the William N. and Marie A. Beach Professor of Operations Research, Professor of Public Health and Professor of Engineering at Yale University School of Management. His research focuses on analytics, counter-terrorism, decision-making, operations research, policy modeling, public health and sports analytics. In 2014 and 2016, Kaplan served as the president of INFORMS.

He holds a B.A. from McGill University, an M.C.P., M.S. in statistics, M.S. in operations research, and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Counter-terrorism, Policy modeling, Public health, Sports analytics

Georgia Institute of Technology

Turgay Ayer is the George Family Foundation Early Career professor and an associate professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also serves as the research director for healthcare analytics and business intelligence in the Center for Health & Humanitarian Systems at Georgia Tech and holds a courtesy appointment at Emory Medical School. His research focuses on healthcare analytics and socially responsible business analytics. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He received INFORMS Franz Edelman Laureate Award, and Society for Medical Decision Making Lee Lusted Award. Ayer serves an associate editor for Operations Research, Management Science, and MSOM, and is a past president of the INFORMS Health Application Society.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Healthcare analytics, Socially-responsible business analytics
• Serves as research director for healthcare analytics and business intelligence in the Center for Health & Humanitarian Systems at Georgia Tech
• Holds a courtesy appointment at Emory Medical School
• Serves as associate editor of three science journals

Stanford University

Margaret Brandeau is the Coleman F. Fung Professor in the School of Engineering and a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. Her research focuses on the development of applied mathematical and economic models to support health policy decisions. Her recent work has focused on HIV prevention and treatment programs, programs to control the U.S. opioid epidemic, and policies for minimizing the spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. She holds a B.S. in Mathematics and M.S. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University. She is an INFORMS fellow and has received the INFORMS President’s Award.

Highlights

• Area of Expertise: Applied mathematics and economic models to support health policy decisions, 
• Recent work on: HIV treatment and prevention programs, U.S. opioid epidemic, Minimizing the spread of infectious disease

University of Michigan

Brian Denton is the Chair of the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan. His research interests are in data-driven sequential decision making and optimization under uncertainty with applications to healthcare delivery, public health, medicine, and scheduled systems. He has a cross-appointment in the School of Medicine, and he is a member of the Cancer Center and the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI) at the University of Michigan. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry and Physics and Ph.D. in Management Science from McMaster University, and a M.S. in Physics from York University.

He is an elected Fellow of INFORMS, was the past Chair of the INFORMS Health Applications Section, Secretary of INFORMS, and President of INFORMS. He also received the INFORMS Service Section Best Paper Prize and the INFORMS Daniel H. Wagner Prize.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Data-driven sequential decision making and optimization under certainty
• His research is applicable to: healthcare delivery, public health, medicine, scheduled systems

Cornell University

Elena Belavina is an associate professor of operations management and information management in the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. She works with startups, established companies and public agencies to study issues of sustainable urban transportation, food waste, grocery retail and supply chains. Her current research focuses on how the environmental impact on grocery shopping online, how pricing polices influence food waste, the design of bike-share systems and supply network design. Prior to working at Cornell, she was an assistant professor in the Operations Management Department in the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in management from INSEAD and bachelor and master’s degrees in applied mathematics and physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Sustainable urban transportation, Food waste, Grocery retail, Supply Chain, Bike-share systems design
• Works with startups, companies, and public agencies

University of Richmond

Deniz Besik is an Associate Professor of Management in Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. Her research studies perishable food supply chains, with a focus on food quality. Dr. Besik received a bachelor's degree in manufacturing systems engineering and a master's degree in industrial engineering from Sabanci University in Turkey. She received her Ph.D. in Management Science from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was also selected as one of the recipients of the Honorable Mention Award for the 2019 Bayer Women in Operations Research Scholarship offered by the INFORMS.

Highlights

• Area of Expertise: Food supply chains

University of Portland

Min Yu is an Associate Professor of Operations & Technology Management at the University of Portland’s Pamplin School of Business. Her research interests include supply chain networks, risk management and network optimization. She is particularly interested on time-sensitive supply chains in relation to food because in today’s global scenario, timely deliveries of products are as important as money, productivity, quality, and even innovation. She received her Ph.D. in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an M.E. in Transportation Planning & Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Transportation Engineering from Tongji University, China.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Supply chain networks, Time-sensitive supply chains in relation to food, Risk management

Towson University

Josh Dehlinger is an associate professor in the Department of Computer and Informational Sciences at Towson University. His research interests include software safety/reliability, software reuse, software product line engineering, agent-oriented software engineering and requirements engineering. He has been the primary developer of security tools and softwares, such as SSVChecker and PLFaultCAT. He holds a B.S. in Management of Computer Systems from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Iowa State University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Software safety/reliability, Software reuse, Software product line engineering
• Primary developer of security tools and softwares like SSVChecker and PLFaultCAT

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

James Howard is a data scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Previously, he worked for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as an internal consultant on statistical computing. He has also been a consultant to numerous government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Executive Office of the President, and the United States Department of Homeland Security. He also teaches mathematics and statistics at the University of Maryland. His research spans the applications of data science. His most recent published scholarship has modeled the population of Earth-orbiting satellites, analyzed the risks of flood insurance, predicted disruptive events, and sought to understand small business cybersecurity.

He holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Maryland, a M.S. in Public Administration from University of Baltimore and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Statistical computing, Data science applications, Disruptive event prediction, Small business cybersecurity
• Worked for Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Consulted for numerous government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Executive Office of the President, and the United States Department of Homeland Security

Towson University

Natalie Scala is an associate professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Business Analytics and Technology Management at Towson University. She formerly worked with the United States Department of Defense, the RAND Corporation and the FirstEnergy Corporation. Her research includes decision modeling, energy utilities, military applications, spare parts management, cyber security and election security. She has published several papers in leading journals including INFORMS Transactions on Education. She holds a B.S. in Mathematics from John Carroll University, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Decision modeling, Energy utilities, Spare parts management, Cybersecurity, Election security
• Worked with the United States Department of Defense, the RAND Corporation, and the FirstEnergy Corporation

Harvey Mudd College

Susan Martonosi is an associate professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California where she focuses her research on the application of operations research and analytics methodology. Her research uses mathematical modeling to address problems in homeland security, humanitarian logistics, and public policy. Her work has included probabilistic models to guide aviation security policy related to passenger and cargo screening and shipping container screening policy; game theory, social networks analysis and graph theory to solve problems in resource allocation and terrorist network disruption; epidemiological techniques coupled with optimization models for the efficient allocation of interventions against malaria; and game theory models for negotiating pediatric vaccine prices in the public sector. 

She holds a B.S. Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from MIT. She is on the Board of INFORMS, currently serving as Vice President for Membership and Professional Recognition, a position elected by the membership.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Homeland security, Humanitarian logistics, Public policy
• has created models and theories for solving problems in terrorist network disruption, aviation security screening, and negotiating pediatric vaccine prices in the public sector

INSEAD

Kaisa Snellman is an associate professor at INSEAD where she teaches courses in organizational behavior and organizational theory. Her work examines inequality based on gender, race, and class in industries including, education, employment, and health. She is interested in both the structural and the cultural-cognitive processes that contribute to inequality. More specifically, she studies how cultural beliefs about gender and race shape outcomes for individuals as well as organizations, and how organizations contribute to economic inequality through their employment practices.

She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Sociology from Stanford University, and an MSc degree in Economics from Swedish School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. Prior to joining INSEAD, she was also a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Highlights

• Area of Expertise: Inequality around gender, race, and class in education, employment, and health

Stanford University

Paul Milgrom is the Shirley and Leonard Ely Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Economics at Stanford University. He is also chairman and co-founder of Auctionomics, which designs and assists bidders in high-stakes auctions. His research focuses in game theory, including auction theory and pricing strategies. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and was named a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has numerous publications in the study of economics and operations research. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Business from Stanford University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Auction theory, Pricing strategies
• Recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics

Stanford University, Harvard University

Alvin Roth is the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and the Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard University. His research focuses on game theory, experimental economics, and market design, where he applies economic theory to everyday life. He previously served as President of the American Economics Association and is a founder of the New England Program for Kidney Exchange. Roth is an INFORMS fellow. He received a B.S. in Operations Research from Columbia University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Applying economic theory to everyday life, Experimental economics, Market design
• Recipient of Nobel Prize in Economics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Richard Larson is a professor of data, systems, and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Currently Prof. Larson is principal investigator of the MIT BLOSSOMS Initiative. He continues to be actively engaged in research, especially on how operations research can provide insights in the monitoring and control of Covid-19. Furthermore, his other research focuses on urban service systems, disaster planning, pandemics, queueing, logistics, technology-enabled education, smart-energy houses, and workforce planning. He served as president of INFORMS and is an INFORMS Founding Fellow.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise, Urban service systems, Disaster planning, Technology-enabled education, Smart-energy houses, Workforce planning
• Principle investigator of MIT BLOSSOMS Initiative

University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Anahita Khojandi is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the director for the Reliability and Maintainability Engineering program at University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Her research interests include decision making under uncertainty and partial information, machine learning, and reinforcement learning, with applications in healthcare, environmental engineering and sustainability, intelligent transportation systems, manufacturing, and maintenance optimization. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from University of Pittsburgh. She has served as the President of INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group and the Vice Chair of INFORMS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She is also a member of INFORMS.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Healthcare applications, Environmental engineering and sustainability, Intelligent transportation systems
• Chaired the INFORMS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee

North Carolina State University

Julie Ivy is a professor in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the North Carolina State University. Her research interests are mathematical modeling and decision analysis, which has allowed researchers and practitioners address complex societal issues, such as health disparities, public health preparedness and hunger relief. Ivy received her B.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan.

She is an active member of INFORMS. Dr. Ivy also served as the 2007 Chair of the INFORMS Health Applications Society and the 2012–13 President for the INFORMS Minority Issues Forum.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Mathematical modeling and decision analysis
• Her research has helped address health disparities, public health preparedness, and hunger relief

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Anna Nagurney is a Professor in Department of Operations and Information Management in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherest. She is also an Affiliated Faculty Member of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at UMass Amherest. Her research interests and expertise lies in supply chain network design for critical needs and health care products; perishable product supply chains, including those associated with food, blood, and pharma; disruption management; financial networks with intermediation and much more.

She has received several awards including the Volunteer Service Award at the Distinguished Level from INFORMS at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, November 13-16, 2016. Professor Nagurney is a participant in the INFORMS Speaker Program and from 2011-2012 was the Chair of the INFORMS Speaker Program. She has also been the Faculty Advisor to the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter since 2004. In 2007, 2009, and 2015, the chapter received the INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award Summa Cum Laude award. In 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2020 the chapter was recognized for its activities with the INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award Magna Cum Laude. Lastly, in 2014, 2016, and 2018, the chapter received the Cum Laude Award.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Transportation and logistics network systems, Perishable product supply chains, Distruption management
• Professional speaker

UCLA

Chris Tang is the Edward W. Carter chair in business administration in the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Tang’s research focuses on global supply chain management. His work began in the private sector when he worked for IBM. His work helped solve internal production planning problems. His research addresses concerns such as microfinancing for the poor, mobile platforms for developing economies, creating shared values and direct procurement of agricultural products, response management in disasters and new business models in the age of the Internet. He was elected an INFORMS fellow in 2011.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Global supply chain management, Microfinancing for the poor, Disaster response management, New business models in the age of the Internet
• Works with IBM on internal production planning

Oklahoma State University

Sunderesh S. Heragu is the Head and Donald and Cathey Humphreys Chair of the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at Oklahoma State University. Previously he was Professor, Duthie Chair in Engineering Logistics and Director of the Logistics and Distribution Institute (LoDI) at the University of Louisville. He has developed deterministic as well as stochastic models for important design and operational problems arising in logistics and distribution, healthcare logistics, emergency preparedness, applied operations research, warehousing, material handling, facilities design.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Healthcare logistics, Emergency preparedness, Warehousing

Pinar Keskinocak is the William W. George Chair and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. She is also co-founder and director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems. Previously, she served as the College of Engineering ADVANCE Professor and as interim associate dean for faculty development and scholarship. She received her Ph.D. in Operations Research from Carnegie Mellon University, and her M.S. and B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University. Keskinocak's research focuses on health and humanitarian applications, supply chain management, and logistics/transportation. Her recent work has addressed infectious disease modeling, evaluating intervention strategies, and resource allocation, catch-up scheduling for vaccinations, hospital operations management, and disaster preparedness and response.

She is an INFORMS Fellow and she served as the Secretary of INFORMS, President of INFORMS, department editor for Operations Research, associate editor for Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and INFORMS Vice President of Membership and Professional Recognition. She is the co-founder and past-president of INFORMS Section on Public Programs, Service, and Needs.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Infectious disease modeling, Intervention strategy evaluation, Hospital operations management, Disaster preparedness and response
• Worked with the American Red Cross and the CDC
• Served on editorial board of two science journals

Johns Hopkins University

Tinglong Dai is a professor in the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests span across healthcare, marketing-operations interfaces, and human-AI interaction. He can speak to supply chain angles to the COVID pandemic as far as resource allocation, food supply, vaccine allocation and creation among other things.

Dai has an M.Phil in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, a M.S. in Industrial Administration and a Ph.D. in Operations Management/Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. Dai's work has been published in leading journals such INFORMS Journal on Computing and has been recognized by INFORMS Public Sector Operations Research Best Paper Award.  

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Healthcare, Marketing-operations interfaces, Human-AI interaction
• Can speak to COVID-19 and supply chains with food supply, vaccine allocation, and resource allocation

North Carolina State University

Julie Swann is the department head and A. Doug Allison Distinguished Professor of the Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. She is an affiliate faculty in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at both NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before joining NC State, Swann was the Harold R. and Mary Anne Nash Professor in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. There she co-founded and co-directed the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems (CHHS), one of the first interdisciplinary research centers on the Georgia Tech campus. Starting with her work with CHHS, Swann has conducted research, outreach, and education to improve how health and humanitarian systems operate worldwide.

Swann is a Fellow of IISE and a member of INFORMS as well as a research leader in using analytics and system approaches to enable health care and supply chains to become more efficient, effective, or equitable. Her work as a systems engineer with analytics skills relates to areas of public health, public policy, epidemiology, infectious disease, supply chain management, and disaster response.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Planning for infectious disease outbreaks, Medicaid administrative claims, Supply chain management, Disaster response
• Worked with CDC during the H1N1 pandemic

Johns Hopkins University

Benjamin Hobbs is the Theodore M. and Kay W. Schad Professor of Environmental Management. His research spans from ecosystem management, electricity market design, environmental and energy systems, mathematical programming models of imperfect energy markets, and multiobjective and Environment risk analysis. He is the founding director of Johns Hopkins’, Energy, Sustainability & Health Institute and co-director of the USEPA Yale-JHU Solutions for Energy, Air, Climate and Health (SEARCH) Center. He has received several awards for his research in the climate field and is on the editorial boards for several journals, including Energy Economics, Journal of Energy Markets, EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy and Competition and Regulation in Network Industries. Hobbs is a Fellow of INFORMS. He received his B.S. from South Dakota State University, an M.S. in Resources Management and Policy from SUNY-Syracuse, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Systems from Cornell University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Environment management, Electricity market design, Environment and energy systems
• Served on editorial boards of five science journals

University of California at Berkeley

Shmuel Oren is the Professor of the Graduate School and the Earl J. Isaac Professor in the Science and Analysis of Decision Making in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of California at Berkeley. His research includes operations research, optimization, electric power, mathematical modeling and analysis of economic systems. His recent research focuses on integration of renewable energy resources, demand response the impact of environmental regulation and optimization of power systems dispatch under uncertainty. He has served as a consultant to numerous electrical and environmental agencies, is a fellow of INFORMS and has received the award, INFORMS Best Publication in Energy.

He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in Materials Engineering from Technion, Israel, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Integration of renewable energy resources, Impact of environmental regulartion, Optimization of power systems
• Served as a consultant to numerous electrical and environmental agencies

Georgia Institute of Technology

Beril Toktay is a professor of operations management in Georgia Institute of Technology’s Scheller College of Business. Her research spans from sustainable operations, closed-loop supply chains and supply chain management. She currently teaches Business Strategies in Sustainability in MBA and Executive Education programs. Toktay has written several articles on climate change and advocates for the advancement of women and underrepresented minorities in academia. She holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Mathematics from Boğaziçi University, an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Closed-loop supply chains, Climate change Advancement of women and minorities in academia

Coast Guard Academy, Department of Mathematics

Professor Ian Frommer joined the Coast Guard Academy Department of Mathematics in 2005. He teaches a wide range of courses in mathematics and operations research, including a course on developing leaders in sustainability. As a research advisor for senior capstone projects, he has influenced analyses on renewable energy, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and waste flow optimization. Evidently, his research interests include the application of mathematics and operations research to sustainability. He has a Ph.D in Applied Mathematics from the University of Maryland and an A.B. in Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics from Harvard College. Ian is also an INFORMS fellow.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Clean energy, Sustainability, Greenhouse gas emissions

Drexel University

Dr. Benjamin Lev is a Trustee Professor of the Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems Department at Drexel University. His areas of expertise include inventory control, mathematical programming, algorithms, project management and scheduling. Dr. Lev received his Ph.D. in Operations Research from Case Western Reserve University, his M.S in Industrial Engineering and B.S in Mechanical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. After earning his doctorate, Lev joined the Department of Management at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During his tenure at Temple, he published four textbooks on analytics techniques and strategic planning for energy and production management. He is a former Vice President of Meetings for INFORMS and has been a fellow since 2003.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Clean energy, Inventory control
• Has published four textbooks

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Erin Baker is the Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, and a Professor and Director of Wind Energy Fellows at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She combines operations research methods and economics to decision-making under certainty applied to the field of energy and the environment, with a focus on publicly-funded energy technology in the face of climate change. She has evaluated the sustainability of the electricity grid in New England and developing countries, as well as evaluating the environmental costs and benefits of offshore wind energy. She is a member of INFORMS. She holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California Berkeley, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford University.

Highlights

• Area of Expertise: Publicly-funded technology in the fame of climate change
• Evaluated sustainability of New England electrical grid

Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER)

Jeffrey E. Kline is a retired Captain of the United States Navy. Jeff Kline attended the University of Missouri, School of Engineering, graduating with honors in Industrial Engineering.

He is currently a Professor of Practice in the Operations Research department and Program Director for the Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER). He teaches Joint Campaign Analysis, systems analysis, executive risk assessment and contributes to maritime security education programs offered at NPS. Kline supports applied analytical research in naval warfare, maritime operations and security, theater ballistic missile defense, and future force composition studies. Additionally, Jeff is an Adjunct Professor at the Naval War College teaching an analytical series titled Joint Analysis for the Warfare Commander.

He has received several NPS faculty awards including the Superior Civilian Service Award, 2011 Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) Award for Teaching of OR Practice, 2009 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Homeland Security Award, 2007 Hamming Award for interdisciplinary research, 2007 Wayne E. Meyers Award for Excellence in Systems Engineering Research, and the 2005 Northrop Grumman Award for Excellence in Systems Engineering.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Artificial intelligence, Risk assessment, Maritime security
• Veteran, United States Navy

SAS Institute Inc., Retired

Radhika Kulkarni is the retired Vice President of Advanced Analytics R&D at SAS Institute Inc. In her position, she oversaw the development of software products as well as customer engagements solving large scale, enterprise wide business problems using analytics, data science and artificial intelligence.

Throughout her career, she has worked with multiple universities and within her retirement, she has been inspired to mentor young professionals in choosing careers in Analytics, Machine Learning, Data Science, etc. She is currently a member of the Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Advocate for Universities and Organizations. Radhika holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the Presidency College in Madras, India, a master’s degree in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University. She is also an INFORMS fellow.

Highlights

• Area of Expertise: Artificial intelligence
• 2022 INFORMS President

Duke University

Cynthia Rudin is an Associate Professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and statistics at Duke University. She is also an associate director of the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI). Previously, Professor Rudin held positions at MIT, Columbia, and NYU. Her current interests lie in machine learning, data mining, applied statistics, and knowledge discovery. Her research focuses on machine learning tools that help humans make better decisions, mainly interpretable machine learning.

She holds an undergraduate degree from the University at Buffalo, and a Ph.D. in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University. She is a three-time winner of the INFORMS Innovative Applications in Analytics Award, was named as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by Poets and Quants in 2015 and was named by Businessinsider.com as one of the 12 most impressive professors at MIT in 2015. She is also a past chair of both the INFORMS Data Mining Section and the Statistical Learning and Data Science section of the American Statistical Association.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Artificial intelligence, Statistics, Computer engineering, Decision-making, Machine learning
• Named a "Top 40 under 40" by Poets and Quants in 2015

University of Iowa

Timothy Lowe is a professor at the University of Iowa who studied engineering at Iowa State University prior to obtaining a Ph.D. in operations research from Northwestern University in 1973. Lowe also worked with Syngenta Seeds, Inc., an agricultural firm that produces more than fifty seed-corn hybrids in a given year. To better manage a production-planning process, Lowe’s team developed and implemented a production-planning model to manage the seed-corn supply chain. This project was named a Finalist for the Franz Edelman Prize of INFORMS in 2002. Currently, his operations research focuses on supply chain management, production/operations management, mathematical programming theory and applications, and facility location/design and logistics.

Lowe is a member of the INFORMS Speakers Program and gives talks on introductory operations research, application of the traveling salesman problem in gas turbine engine design, competitive manufacturing, and facilities location. He was elected a Fellow of INFORMS in 2007 and has been the Case & Teaching Materials Awardee and is an Edelman Laureate.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Supply Chain, Agriculture
• Professional speaker
• Worked with Biden administration
• Has worked with Exxon and the U.S. Army

W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University

Scott Webster is professor and Bob Herberger Arizona Heritage Chair in supply chain management at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He previously worked at Syracuse University and University of Wisconsin-Madison, and held visiting positions at Queen’s University in Canada and Zaragoza Logistics Center. Prior to academia, he worked in industry in the areas of consulting and finance. His recent research includes projects on health product and agricultural supply chains, humanitarian disaster relief, pricing and inventory optimization. His research has received best paper awards from INFORMS and the Production and Operations Management Society. At ASU, he teaches courses on business analytics and coordinates the department’s Ph.D. program. His Ph.D. is in operations management and decision sciences from Indiana University.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Agriculture Supply Chains, Healthcare Supply Chains, Disaster Relief, Pricing and Inventory Optimization
• Worked with Biden administration

Army Cyber Institute, United States Military Academy

Nathaniel D. Bastian is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, where he serves as Chief Data Scientist and Senior Research Scientist at the Army Cyber Institute (ACI), as well as Academy Professor of Operations Research and Data Science with a dual faculty appointment in the Department of Systems Engineering and the Department of Mathematical Sciences within the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point. LTC Bastian leads the ACI's Data and Decision Sciences Division while overseeing the ACI's infrastructure, platform, tooling and pipelines for data engineering and management, advanced analytics, algorithm and model development, modeling and simulation, and testing and evaluation. He directs the ACI's Intelligent Cyber-Systems and Analytics Research Lab and the ACI's Internet of Things Research Lab, as well as co-directs the ACI's Cyber Modeling and Simulation Research Lab. As Principal Investigator and Technical Program Manager, his basic and applied research and development portfolio, in collaboration with Government, Academia, Industry, FFRDC, UARC and National Lab partners, aims to advance the body of knowledge in operations research, data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics, scientific computing, applied mathematics, and cognitive science to support the cyberspace domain for stakeholders across the Army, other Services, Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence Community (IC), and Nation. He has co-authored over 80 refereed journal and conference papers, six book chapters, and one textbook. He is the recipient of numerous academic awards and honors, to include a Fulbright Scholarship and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and he has received $4M+ in externally-funded research monies from multiple government organizations (DARPA, OUSD, NSA, DEVCOM, AFRL, etc.). Prior to his current role, LTC Bastian served as the Chief Artificial Intelligence Architect at the DoD Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, where he provided strategic direction and technical direction for data engineering, data science, AI engineering, and systems engineering that directly enabled the rapid development, testing, evaluation and delivery of over 35 different AI capabilities to help accelerate the adoption of AI across the Joint Force to transform the DoD.
LTC Bastian received his Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering and operations research from the Pennsylvania State University, M.Eng. degree in industrial engineering from Penn State, M.S. degree in econometrics and operations research from Maastricht University, and B.S. degree in electrical engineering with honors from USMA. He serves as the INFORMS Military and Security Society Vice-President/President-Elect, MORS Advisory Director, DARPA Information Sciences and Technology Study Group Member, The Coding School Advisory Board Member, and Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences External Advisory Committee Member. He is an active member of INFORMS, MORS, ACM, IEEE and ACM.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Optimization, Simulation, Statistical Computing, Machine/Deep Learning, Intelligent Systems, Big Data Analytics, Decision Science
• Textbook author

Chief Data Scientist, Principal Financial Group

Joseph Byrum is Chief Data Scientist at Principal Financial Group, an investment management group. Byrum joined Principal after 11 years at Syngenta. At Principal, he was recruited to build and manage an artificial intelligence tool for equity trading, which resulted in a financial analysis engine that boosted the accuracy of asset selection, reduced operational costs, and built profitability. In his past role at Syngenta, Dr. Byrum opened the company’s eyes to the value of data-centric R&D. With annual investments to R&D operations exceeding $100 million, he managed the development of a suite of data analytics tools that secured $287 million in cost avoidance. This effectively doubled the R&D program’s efficiency, garnering the attention of INFORMS, which awarded him the 2015 Edelman Prize. Dr. Byrum holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from Iowa State University, an M.B.A from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and both an M.S. in Genetics and a B.S. in Science from Michigan State University.

Highlights

• Area of Expertises: Agriculture, Financial Analytics

Syracuse University

Burak Kazaz is the Steven Becker Professor of Supply Chain Management and the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence at the Syracuse University. Dr. Kazaz is currently also the Director of the Brethen Institute. He served as the Whitman Teaching and Research Fellow and as the Executive Director of the H.H. Franklin Center for Supply Chain Management.

Dr. Kazaz received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from Middle East Technical University in Turkey and his Ph.D. from the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University. He was also a faculty member at the University of Miami and at Loyola University of Chicago, taught at the Executive Education programs of the University of Chicago, and worked at IBM. His research interests include risk mitigation, supply chain finance, and socially-responsible supply chains. In 2015, he received the INFORMS President’s Pick as the best paper among all INFORMS journal publications.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Global Supply Chains, Supply Chain Finance
• Worked with Biden administration

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Laura Albert is a professor and Harvey D. Spangler Faculty Scholar in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research applies operations research methodologies to important societal applications.  Her primary methodological base is discrete optimization, including integer programming and Markov decision processes. Her research also focuses on modeling and solving real-world discrete optimization problems with application to homeland security, public services, healthcare, emergency medical services, critical infrastructure protection, public safety, and disaster response and recovery.

She is the former president of INFORMS Women in OR/MS (2012-2014) and INFORMS Section on Public Programs, Services and Needs (2013-2015). She has a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in General Engineering and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Industrial Engineering.

Highlights

• Areas of Expertise: Discrete optimization problems with application to homeland security, public services, healthcare, emergency medical services, critical infrastructure protection, public safety, disaster response and recovery
• 2023 INFORMS President
• Publishes popular blog Punk Rock O.R.