Author: Yukti Kathuria

In the first week of the semester, we gathered enthusiastically to mark the beginning of a new academic year for the UMass INFORMS Student Chapter.

On Friday, September 5, the UMass INFORMS Student Chapter held its first open meeting of the 2025–2026 academic year. During the meeting, new faces from both the Industrial Engineering (MIE) and Operations & Information Management (OIM) departments were welcomed, new officers were introduced, and outgoing officers shared their experiences and insights about the responsibilities and tasks of each role.

Early discussions were also held around our first event of the semester: the INFORMS Annual Meeting Tune-Up, in preparation for the 2025 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

Stay tuned to our blog and social media for updates on our activities throughout the year, as we have an exciting lineup of events planned for the semester ahead!

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!

On October 11, 2024, we hosted a Tune-Up session where five of our student members presented their research and received valuable feedback from peers and faculty. Notably, for many of these students, this year’s INFORMS Annual Meeting will be their first experience attending this prestigious conference focused on Operations Research and Management Science.

The session began with lunch as everyone helped themselves to pizza and coffee while the speakers prepared to get their presentations set up.

Professor Nagurney also congratulated the student chapter officers for winning the Magna Cum Laude award for their activities. She further thanked all the presenters, faculty, and peers who showed up to give feedback to the students.

Our president, Ismael Pour, introduced the first presenter, Solmaz Abbaspour, who gave an illuminating talk on equitable supply-demand balancing.

Following Solmaz, Samira gave an exciting talk about trade network models under commodity losses. Ismael’s presentation on the price network equilibrium paradox was highly engaging. This was followed by Busra, who spoke about strategic frameworks for social welfare programs. Finally, Dana presented his work on multi-period, multi-commodity, capacitated international trade network models.

The audience was engaged throughout all the interesting presentations and had many questions, feedback, and suggestions for the speakers.

The session ended on a positive note, and all the presenters felt encouraged and prepared for their future presentations at the conference. We extend our sincere gratitude to all the students who volunteered to present at the Tune-Up session, as well as to the students and especially the faculty who attended and provided the presenters with valuable feedback. The insights shared during the event will help refine the research presentations, which will be showcased at this year’s INFORMS Annual Meeting.

Be sure to stay connected by regularly checking our blog and social media platforms, where we’ll continue to share updates on upcoming events and other exciting news.

As the new academic year begins and students return to campus, UMass INFORMS is excited to organize a variety of engaging events once again. On September 27, 2024, we kicked off the semester with our first event featuring Dr. Muge Capan, Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Capan delivered an insightful presentation titled “Improving Diagnostic Equity in Ambulatory Settings: Research to Practice.”

Our new president, Ismael, welcomed Professor Capan and provided a brief introduction to her background.

Our faculty advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, welcomed Dr. Capan and expressed our gratitude for her acceptance of our invitation. She also congratulated Professor Capan on being featured on the university website for two consecutive days.

During her presentation, Dr. Capan shared an overview of her ongoing research projects across three key areas: diagnostic decision-making, provider workload, and maternal health, with a focus on diagnostic decision-making for this talk. Her project is structured into three parts: identifying and conceptualizing tools for addressing diagnostic errors and conducting chart reviews; analyzing the incidence of diagnostic errors and decision-making under uncertainty; and quantifying distributional disparities among patient subpopulations.

Following the presentation, the audience engaged with Dr. Capan by asking many thoughtful questions. There were several inquiries from PhD students in both the Isenberg School of Management and the MIE department, as well as questions from Professor Solak, the Chair of the OIM Department, Professor Hari Balasubramanian, and Professor Nagurney.

Refreshments, including coffee and bagels, were provided for both the speaker and the audience. Although the delivery was a bit late, our new officers handled the situation calmly, as one would expect from those in the operations research field. While the food was delightful, it was the company that truly made the occasion memorable.

As always, stay tuned for more exciting events at UMass Amherst, whether during this fall semester or in the future. Our next planned event will be the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting Tune-Up, and we hope to see you there!

On March 15th, 2024, the UMass INFORMS Student Chapter had the honor of hosting Dr. Ayse Selin Kocaman, an Associate Professor in the Industrial Engineering Department at Bilkent University and a visiting scholar at the MIT Energy Initiative. Dr. Kocaman delivered an engaging presentation titled “Optimization-Based Solutions for the Design and Operations of Sustainable Electric Power Systems.”

Our president, Dana Hassani, gave a brief introduction highlighting Prof. Kocaman’s achievements. Prof. Kocaman has notably received the Distinguished Young Scientist (BAGEP) Award from the Science Academy of Turkey, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Career Award, and the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) College of Sustainable Operations Ph.D. Proposal Award.

Our faculty advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, also welcomed Dr. Kocaman and expressed gratitude for her acceptance of our invitation as the guest speaker. Coincidentally, Professor Nagurney was scheduled to speak at MIT shortly after and had a pleasant conversation with Dr. Kocaman about their shared acquaintances at MIT.

During her presentation, Dr. Kocaman provided an overview of her research projects, which focus on economically efficient and environmentally sustainable energy systems. Her work includes developing optimization-based solutions for the energy poverty problem.

Dr. Kocaman discussed the primary energy consumption sources and sectors in the US and their interconnections, highlighting the shift from centralized to decentralized power systems, such as grid-connected wind farms, hydro power plants, solar PV power plants, flow control, and wind farms with storage. Dr. Kocaman showcased two-stage stochastic programs for making sizing and design decisions for hybrid energy systems.

Dr. Kocaman went on to present her impactful work on energy infrastructure costs and power distribution systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. She highlighted planar facility location-allocation problems for rural electrification and spatial planning of decentralized systems.

After the presentation, we hosted Dr. Kocaman for lunch at the Commonwealth Restaurant at UMass Amherst. The food was delightful, but what truly made the occasion most memorable, as always, was the company.

We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Kocaman for graciously accepting our invitation and delivering an insightful talk. We also extend our thanks to all ISOM and MIE faculty, to all chapter members, and Professor Nagurney for her support of this event.

As always, please stay tuned for our exciting events here at UMass Amherst, whether it’s during this spring semester or for future events.

Coinciding with the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UMass INFORMS Student Chapter had the honor of hosting Dr. Ina Ganguli, an esteemed Professor of Economics in the departments of Economics and Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as a guest speaker on February 23rd. Dr. Ganguli delivered a compelling presentation titled “Scientists in the Crosshairs: Impacts of War, Crisis, and Conflict on Ukrainian Science.”

Our president, Dana Hassani, introduced Dr. Ganguli and enumerated a few of her many achievements and prestigious positions, such as Director of the UMass Computational Social Science Institute (CSSI), Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Affiliated Researcher at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE), Faculty Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Laboratory for Innovation Science (LISH) at Harvard University, Fulbright scholar in Ukraine in 2004, and U.S. Embassy Policy Specialist Fellow in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan.

Our faculty advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, also took a minute to remind everyone of the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, compliment Professor Ganguli on her many academic contributions, and appreciate her for accepting our invitation as a guest speaker.

During her presentation, Professor Ganguli emphasized specific channels, such as the loss of human and physical capital due to the ongoing war, as well as disruptions to international collaborations, through which Ukrainian science and scholars have been adversely affected. Furthermore, she underscored the contrasting impacts observed in war-affected regions such as Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine compared to Crimea, which was forcefully annexed by Russia in 2014. She noted that the disruptions to Ukrainian science did not solely emerge in 2022 but rather originated during the post-Soviet era, with further exacerbation occurring during the 2014 conflict in the Donbas region and the annexation of Crimea. Moreover, she highlighted that amidst these challenging circumstances, international collaborations have had a positive effect on scientific contributions from Ukrainian scholars and academic institutions by mitigating the decline in publications.

After the presentation, we, along with our advisor, Professor Anna Nagurney, hosted Dr. Ganguli 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. After lunch, we had the pleasure of recording an interview with Dr. Ganguli for UMass INFORMS’ YouTube Channel, which will soon be available.

Once again, we would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Ganguli for graciously accepting our invitation and delivering an insightful talk. We also extend our thanks to all faculty and members who attended this event, to our officers for all their facilitating efforts, and to Professor Nagurney for her ever-present support.

As always, please stay updated on our social media and blog posts as we continue to organize many more exciting events here at UMass Amherst throughout the Spring 2024 semester.