Author: Yukti Kathuria

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.