Smooth operations don't make headlines

Published: June 16, 2026

Business people talking in office building

Today, we’re talking about a topic that sits at the heart of the INFORMS mission: public engagement. While many people think of analytics and operations research as tools used in businesses, universities, or research labs, these disciplines also play an important role in informing public policy, improving government decision-making, and helping communities tackle difficult problems.

Joining me today is someone who has spent his career not only advancing the field, but helping others understand its value and impact. Jim Cochran is a professor at the University of Alabama, an internationally recognized educator, researcher, and advocate for analytics and operations research. He is also the recipient of the 2025 INFORMS Advocacy and Governance Committee Award for Public Engagement.

When analytics and O.R. work well, we don't see it. It kind of becomes invisible, partly because we are primarily a planning discipline, we're not a reactionary discipline. You know, people notice when a flight is delayed. They notice when they go to the store and their favorite peanut butter is out of stock. They notice when it takes three hours for them to get treated in a hospital emergency room. Nobody knew what a supply chain was until they stopped working! We’re blaming that on all of our woes, and rightfully so. But you know, I was amazed at the people who I heard using that term. I never imagined hearing the term supply chain management on the CBS or NBC or ABC evening news. Right now, people don't notice what's going on in the background. The forecasting that's being done, the optimization that's being done, the scheduling that's being done, that all prevent those kinds of problems. Success looks really smooth, you know, but failure is bumpy and gets noticed. Smooth operations don't make headlines.

Interviewed this episode:

James Cochran

University of Alabama

James J. Cochran earned a BS in Economics, an MS in Economics, and an MBA from Wright State University in 1982, 1984, and 1986, respectively. He earned in Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Cincinnati in 1997, and he has been a Visiting Scholar with Stanford University, the University of South Africa, the Universidad de Talca, Pôle Universitaire Léonard de Vinci, the University of Limpopo, and the University of Namibia. He holds honorary faculty appointments with the University of KwaZulu Natal and the University of Limpopo.

Dr. Cochran’s research focuses on problems at the interface of statistics and operations research, and he has taught a wide variety of statistics and operations courses from the introductory undergraduate level through Ph.D. seminars. He established an international teaching effectiveness colloquium series and has organized these events in Uruguay, South Africa, Colombia, India, Tanzania, Argentina, Kenya, Nepal, Cameroon, Australia, Croatia, Cuba (twice), Estonia, Fiji, Mongolia, Moldova, and Bulgaria. Dr. Cochran is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Wiley Encyclopedia of Operations Research and the Management Sciences, Wiley Series in Operations Research and Management Science, and INFORMS Analytics Body of Knowledge. He has published fourteen book chapters and over forty research articles, and he is co-author of seven textbooks in statistics, operations research, and analytics. He has served as a consultant to a wide variety of corporations, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations around the world. He was a founding co-chair of Statistics without Borders and a member of the founding committee for INFORMS Pro Bono Analytics initiative. He has also delivered keynote addresses to conferences in twenty-five nations. In 2008 Dr. Cochran received the INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice, in 2010 he received the Mu Sigma Rho Statistical Education Award, and in 2011 he was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. In 2014 he received the American Statistical Association’s Founders Award, in 2015 he received the Karl E. Peace Award for outstanding statistical contributions to the betterment of society, and in 2017 he received the American Statistical Association’s Waller Distinguished Teaching Career Award and was named a Fellow of INFORMS. In 2018 he received the INFORMS President’s Award, and in 2019 he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Cincinnati.