INFORMS Releases

INFORMS, the largest association for the decision and data sciences, has awarded the Master Industrial and Applied Mathematics program in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands the 2022 UPS George D. Smith Prize. The award recognizes excellence in preparing students to become practitioners of operations research and analytics.

BALTIMORE, MD, March 21, 2022 –The recent crisis in Ukraine is reigniting the discussion of the appropriate mix of assistance for refugees. According to the UN Refugee Agency, six million refugees already lived in camps in 2021 due to multiple armed conflicts worldwide. Humanitarian organizations (HOs) are working to help people struggling because of regulations that impede integration into host countries. Cash assistance is one way that HOs are helping in addition to providing in-kind assistance in the form of food and non-food items. The intention of the cash assistance is to provide refugees with spending flexibility, restore their dignity and improve the wealth of the host community. However, cash assistance brings its own challenges. New research in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management identifies a way to provide incentives for the retailer to voluntarily reduce prices while causing no harm to refugees or host communities.

INFORMS, the largest association for the decision and data sciences, has awarded Wayfair, one of the world’s largest online destinations for home goods, with the 2022 INFORMS Prize for sustained and enduring achievement and success of utilizing operations research (O.R.) and analytics it its organizational decision-making.

New audio is available for media use featuring Sommer Gentry, co-Director of the CSTAR Center for Surgery and Transplant Applied Research in the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University. She is also a member of INFORMS. Gentry speaks about how to optimize systems and processes to improve access to organ transplantation. This content is made available by INFORMS, the largest association for the decision and data sciences. All sound should be attributed to Sommer Gentry. There are four questions and responses. These responses were provided on March 16, 2022.

New audio is available for media use featuring supply chain expert Anna Nagurney on providing support to Ukraine. She speaks about providing humanitarian and food supply chain support. Dr. Nagurney is Ukrainian-American. Ukrainian was her first language. This content is made available by INFORMS, the largest association for the decision and data sciences. All sound should be attributed to Anna Nagurney. She is the Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies and is PhD Coordinator in Management Science as well as the Director, Virtual Center for Supernetworks Operations & Information Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There are four questions and responses. These responses were provided on March 15, 2021.