Climate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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