Good Decisions, Better Communities

Published: October 13, 2026

When we hear the word “optimization,” we tend to think about finding the best possible solution to a problem. But when those problems involve schools, communities, limited resources and competing priorities, defining what “best” actually means can become much more complicated. In this episode of Resoundingly Human: The INFORMS Podcast, Karen Smilowitz, Associate Provost and professor at Northwestern University with a joint appointment in the operations group at the Kellogg School of Management, and a plenary speaker at the 2026 INFORMS Annual Meeting, shares how operations research can be used to tackle complex problems with very real human consequences in education, humanitarian, and nonprofit applications.

I think it it takes some amount of humility, right? Kinda coming into a situation and being able to step back and acknowledge what you do know and what you don't know. And that ultimately at the end of the day, we're not the ones implementing the solution. And so making sure that you respect all of the voices involved and really get to understand your partners. And that I think is what it takes. And sometimes, you know, I've had instances where we run things and eventually the answer is no, this wasn't a good idea. And so being able to feel comfortable with that, then you know, we've done all this analysis and actually, for all these practical reasons, what is in place is better than what we proposed. And that happens sometimes.

Interviewed this episode:

Karen Smilowitz

Northwestern University

Dr. Karen Smilowitz is Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education at Northwestern University. She holds the James N. and Margie M. Krebs Professorship in Industrial Engineering and Management Science, with a joint appointment in the Operations group at the Kellogg School of Management. Dr. Smilowitz is an expert in modeling and solution approaches for logistics and transportation systems in both commercial and nonprofit applications. She has been instrumental in promoting the use of operations research within the humanitarian and nonproﬁt sectors through the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Engineering, as well as various media outlets. She received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and a Sloan Industry Studies Fellowship. She is an INFORMS Fellow and recently served as Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Science, the flagship journal of the INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society.