If you missed Professor Hari Balasubramanian’s brilliant talk on care interventions for patients with medical and social complexities, you can now watch our interview with him on our YouTube channel. Professor Balasubramanian kindly accepted our invitation and shared valuable details about his research and the “healthcare hot-spotting” program created by the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers.
Some related references and more details on the subject can be found in the papers in the below links:
A week has passed since the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting resolved in the warmth of Phoenix, Arizona, and we, the conferees at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, have already started reminiscing about our days at the Phoenix Convention Center where the conference was hosted. Coming back to cold Massachusetts, we were inevitably wondering whether it was the excitement of all the scholars and practitioners at the meeting that resulted in those above-100-degree hot spell days in Phoenix, especially of those who were experiencing the annual meeting for the first time, like some of our officers.
The days were long but needed to be longer for all the sessions, panels, and talks that our Advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, our current and former officers, and our members had in their plans. On top of presenting on “Defense Critical Supply Chain Networks and Risk Management with the Inclusion of Labor” in a community committee choice session titled “Disaster Management: Networks and Grids,” Professor Nagurney participated in multiple panels and meetings, such as: “The Role of Operations Research in Disaster Risk Reduction, Building Disaster Resilience and Effective Crisis Response”; “Optimization and Resilience: Enhancing Community Resilience Against Natural Hazards”; “Meet the Editors of International Transactions in Operational Research (ITOR).”
Our current Vice-President, Sindhoora Prakash, started the conference very early on Sunday morning, presenting in the session on “OR Models in Healthcare Systems.”
Sindhoora Prakash at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting
Then, before our current President, Dana Hassani, presents his first published paper in the “Global Supply Chains” session on Monday afternoon, our previous President, Paola Furlanetto, presented her research in the early morning hours in the session titled “Modeling for Equity and Sustainability.”
Dana Hassani took a picture with his first published paper along with his supervisor, Professor Anna NagurneyPaola Furlanetto at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting
Then came the turn for our Treasurer, Josh Gladstone, and our YouTube officer, Semih Boz, to present on Tuesday afternoon at different sessions on “Assortment Planning” and “Drone Delivery Systems.”
Joshua Gladstone presenting at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting
Our former Secretary, Vivian Nwadiaru, who was also among the recipients of the 2023 SCOT INFORMS scholarship, presented on Tuesday at the session on the “DEI Ambassador Program,” while our former Treasurer, Yiwen Wang, and our Social Media Officer, Busra Karkili, presented on the last day of the conference, i.e., Wednesday morning, on sessions titled “Planning and Operating Hydropower” and “Innovations in Public Sector Operations.” Busra was also a proud panelist at “MIF Life as a Ph.D. Student Panel.”
Vivian Nwadiaru presenting at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting
And what better way to wrap up a conference than receiving the 2023 INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award with the Magna Cum Laude degree for the UMass Amherst Student Chapter of INFORMS.
The Student Award Ceremony
We came back to Amherst, and the first thing we did as a Chapter was to set a time for a proud photoshoot with our deserved award. It was a Sunday morning, but some donuts and a lot of joy from bringing the award plaque to Amherst gathered us at the Business Innovation Hub building at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Photoshoot with the INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award at Amherst
And last but not least, we must mention all the new connections we made thanks to the Annual Meeting and the opportunity to meet and greet all the old friends, former officers, colleagues, classmates, etc.
Current and former officers of the UMass Amherst Student Chapter of INFORMS, spanning around two decades, along with Professor Anna Nagurney
We already miss our time at the conference and downtown Phoenix. All we can do is wait for the 2024 INFORMS Annual Conference. However, in the meantime, our officers and members will engage in impactful research and professional service, and we will hold many, many exciting events through our INFORMS Student Chapter to obtain yet another INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award, this time at Seattle, Washington.
On October 6, 2023, with the INFORMS Annual Meeting just around the corner, we had a Tune-Up session where four of our student members had the opportunity to present their research and gain valuable feedback from their peers and faculty. Interestingly, this year’s INFORMS Annual Meeting will be the first for all the students who presented at our Tune-Up session this year.
Josh’s Presentation
The talks were quite varied, which made the session even more enjoyable. Semih focused on transportation and last-mile delivery, while Josh talked more about retailing; Sindhoora informed us of her impactful research on healthcare, and Dana talked of international trade.
Sindhoora’s Presentation
After the session, we posed for a picture with everyone present. Students were incredibly thankful to the faculty members who dedicated the time to attend the event and provided them with valuable feedback.
Afterward, we ended our session by interacting with the attendees over some delicious yet healthy refreshments.
Again, we are very thankful to all the students who volunteered to present at this Tune-Up event and to all students and, especially, faculty who attended the session and gave the presenters insightful tips on their presentations. Students will be presenting the same research topics, although, hopefully, much improved with the use of feedback they received at the Tune-Up Session, in this years INFORMS Annual Meeting.
Please routinely check our blog and other social media outlets as we continue covering our forthcoming exciting events.
With the beginning of the new academic year and students coming back to campus, UMass INFORMS is also back to coordinating many exciting events. On September 22, we hosted Dr. Hari Balasubramanian, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as our first guest speaker this academic year.
Collage of the Seminar, Made by Professor Nagurney
Professor Balasubramanian gave an insightful talk on the care interventions for patients with complexities in their medical condition and their social background, and the presentation was very impactful in terms of its relevance to the problem of availability and affordability of medical care for all. According to Dr. Balasubramanian, this research has directly resulted from the time he has spent collaborating with New Jersey’s Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers.
Dr. Balasubramanian’s Presentation Titled: “Time and Effort in Coordinating Care for Patients with Complex Medical and Social Needs”
The attendance for Dr. Balasubramanian’s talk was quite significant, and even a student reporter from one of the local newspapers attended the event, with follow-up questions from Dr. Balasubramanian, Professor Nagurney, and the officers after the session to write a full coverage.
After the session, along with Dr. Balasubramanian and our advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, we headed to the Commonwealth Restaurant at UMass Amherst for a delicious lunch with many exciting desserts.
Lunch with Dr. Balasubramanian, Professor Nagurney, and the Officers at the Commonwealth Restaurant
Again, we are very thankful to Dr. Balasubramanian for accepting our invitation and for their insightful seminar. We would also like to thank all those who joined us for this seminar and those who supported us in organizing it.
UMass INFORMS will continue organizing many more exciting events this academic year, and we will continue covering all our activities in our blog.
