Past Awards
The Analytics Society of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is pleased to announce Kahkashan Afrin as the winner of the inaugural Women in Operations Research – Bayer Scholarship for 2018.
Kahkashan is a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University focusing on data analytics with applications in healthcare prognosis. The $1,300 scholarship allowed Kahkashan to attend the recent INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, where she was recognized during the Analytics Society business meeting by Shrikant Jarugumilli, Operations Research Lead for the Crop Science Division of Bayer, and Jack Levis, Society president.
“INFORMS Annual Meeting 2018 was one of the largest and most influential conferences that I have had a chance to attend thus far. Along with presenting my work and getting valuable feedback from experts in my area, I also got to connect with several other researchers in a variety of fields. INFORMS provides a wonderful opportunity for Ph.D. students to diversify the outlook for their future research and career growth and build a strong network across a broad research spectrum,” said Kahkashan.
She continued: “I am sincerely grateful to Bayer and the Analytics Society of INFORMS for making it possible. Their effort in promoting women in STEM through this scholarship is truly commendable, and I hope that it will benefit many more students in the years to come.”
The scholarship competition, which was open to female graduate students interested in the practice of operations research or analytics, drew a strong field of 20 applicants from the United States and three other countries.