On Tuesday, April 29, UMass Amherst celebrated Founders Day with a festive afternoon full of campus-wide activities and community spirit.
Our INFORMS Student Chapter was delighted to take part in the celebration! Among those in attendance were our faculty advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney; Professor Zihao Qu; Professor Ladimer Nagurney; Chapter President Ismael Pour; former President Dana Hassani; Vice President Josh Gladstone; and Social Media Officer Semih Boz. We enjoyed a delicious lunch provided by UMass Dining under a beautiful tent on the lawn, accompanied by live music. The setting was perfect for conversation, laughter, and catching up with friends and colleagues.
A special highlight was our photo with Sam the Minuteman, the official UMass mascot representing the university’s athletic spirit and proud history. The Minutemen (and Minutewomen) are symbols of strength, tradition, and unity, and we were thrilled to include Sam in our celebration.
Here are some impressive robots we encountered at Founders Day!
It was a joyful afternoon filled with great food and great company. We’re grateful to the university and all the organizers for creating such a vibrant event, and we’re already looking forward to next year.
As the academic year comes to a close, UMass INFORMS was excited to host a final speaker for the 2024-25 academic year. On April 25, 2025, we invited Dr. Marta Vicarelli, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Vicarelli delivered a very engaging talk on “Nature-based Solutions: Cost-effectiveness and Financial Innovation”.
She was welcomed warmly by the audience as well as Professor Anna Nagurney and our chapter president, Ismael Pour, who provided a brief introduction of her background and many achievements.
During her presentation, Dr. Vicarelli explained the difference between mitigation and adaptation. She mentioned that nature-based interventions use nature or other nature-related elements to protect infrastructure and resources. She also highlighted the differences between engineering and nature-based solutions and described that engineering solutions involve creating new infrastructure, while nature-based solutions involve methods that focus on preserving local ecosystems. These solutions can be used for disaster risk mitigation and serve as interventions against extreme events. Additionally, they can also be employed for productive service and improvements in the livelihoods of people. The big question for these solutions is whether they are cost-effective, and it was found that they are very cost-effective. Dr. Vicarelli noted that insurance companies are extremely interested in using nature-based solutions, and literature has shown that coral reefs and insurance have a strong linkage.
Following the presentation, the audience engaged with Dr. Vicarelli by asking many thoughtful questions.
Refreshments, including coffee, croissants, and muffins, were provided for both the speaker and the audience.
After the presentation, we, along with our advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, hosted Dr. Vicarelli for lunch at the Commonwealth Restaurant at UMass Amherst. The food was delightful, and the desserts were enticing; however, what made it most memorable was the excellent company.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Vicarelli for graciously accepting our invitation and delivering such an impactful talk. We also appreciate the support from all OIM and MIE faculty, chapter members, and Professor Nagurney for her assistance with this event.
As always, stay tuned for more exciting events at UMass Amherst, whether during this the fall semester or in the future. Our next planned event will be the End-of-Semester Party on May 2, and we hope to see you there!
We are thrilled to highlight an amazing new article reflecting on the partnership between the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).
We invite you to read the full article to learn more about this inspiring collaboration and the difference it continues to make:
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, this partnership has become a model of resilience, academic collaboration, and global friendship. Launched swiftly in July 2022, the Virtual Scholar in Residence (VSR) and student exchange programs have supported 25 Ukrainian scholars and brought outstanding KSE students to Isenberg, building lasting connections between the two institutions.
This spring, Isenberg celebrated this partnership through a powerful panel discussion featuring KSE exchange students and a thought-provoking lecture by KSE President Dr. Tymofiy Mylovanov. The events showcased the resilience, ambition, and strength of Ukrainian students and highlighted the importance of academic solidarity during times of conflict.
You can also revisit our recent blog posts on these important events:
April 11th was an inspiring day for members of the UMass Amherst community and the UMass INFORMS Student Chapter, filled with outstanding research talks on the latest developments in supply chain management. The day began with a CORS Micro-Event, organized by the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) and its Montreal Local Section, which several of our members attended virtually. The session featured two distinguished researchers.
The first talk was delivered by Professor Anna Nagurney, Faculty Advisor to our UMass INFORMS Student Chapter. Her presentation, titled “Agricultural Supply Chain Networks Under Uncertainty,” explored how optimization and game theory are being used to model and enhance agricultural supply chains, particularly under disruptions caused by pandemics, climate change, and geopolitical events. Professor Nagurney discussed the challenges of maintaining fresh produce quality, modeling multitiered supply networks, and developing resilience metrics. She also emphasized the importance of effectively communicating research to influence real-world policies and drive positive change.
Following her talk, Dr. Emma Frejinger from the University of Montreal presented “A Model-Free Approach for Solving Choice-Based Competitive Facility Location Problems Using Simulation and Submodularity.” Dr. Frejinger showcased her novel methodology that merges simulation techniques with submodular optimization to solve large-scale facility location problems under uncertainty. Her work demonstrated significant performance improvements over traditional methods and offers promising applications across the transportation and supply chain industries.
The talk is available at the following link:
In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to attend an in-person talk at UMass Amherst as part of the OIM Distinguished Speaker Series, featuring Dr. Burak Kazaz, Steven Becker Professor of Supply Chain Management and the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence at Syracuse University.
Dr. Kazaz’s talk, titled “Wine Analytics,” introduced the audience to a fascinating new field focused on applying advanced analytics to wine supply chains. He explained how winemakers use predictive models to estimate the value of wine futures and how distributors can optimize investment portfolios using these insights. Dr. Kazaz also presented prescriptive models that help winemakers decide how much wine to sell as futures and at what prices, presenting an exciting blend of finance, analytics, and agriculture. His dynamic presentation style energized the audience and led to a lively Q&A session, covering topics such as investment strategies, climate impacts on chateaus, and the broader applications of wine analytics.
We would like to thank the organizers of the CORS Micro-Event and the OIM Distinguished Speaker Series for making these enriching talks possible. Special thanks also to Professor Anna Nagurney, Dr. Emma Frejinger, and Dr. Burak Kazaz for sharing their expertise and research insights with the community.
The UMass INFORMS Student Chapter looks forward to more inspiring events this semester — stay tuned to our blog for updates!
