An update on INFORMS: Continued progress on important initiatives

In this episode, I am pleased to once again be joined by our 2021 INFORMS president Steve Graves. As we enter the latter half of the year, we’ll take a look at the current status of INFORMS, the continued progress of the goals outlined in the new Strategic Plan unveiled at the beginning of the year, and the upcoming 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting, featuring a flexible format for both in-person and virtual attendees.

On the DEI initiative, which was started several years ago, again we’ve got lots of things that are going on that are raising awareness of DEI within INFORMS with a focus on how we understand our climate, how we’re going to improve our climate, particularly with a regard toward inclusiveness. [We’re] trying to look at everything we do through the lens of diversity to make sure that we have full representation from across our community, whether it be out editorial boards or the lineup for our conferences or even our committees, our award committees, and so forth.

Interviewed this episode:

Stephen Graves

INFORMS 2021 president

Graves received his A.B. and M.B.A. from Dartmouth College and his Ph.D. in operations research from the University of Rochester. Since 1977 he has been at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and is the Abraham J. Siegel Professor.

His research interests include supply-chain optimization, the evaluation of manufacturing flexibility, and various tactical issues in online retailing. He has authored more than 80 refereed papers, supervised theses for over 20 Ph.D. students and about 300 master’s students.

Graves was the editor of the Edelman Award special issue of Interfaces from 1989 to 2007. He has been an area/department editor for Operations Research (2006–2008), Management Science (1987–1991) and Interfaces (1985–1986). He served as editor-in-chief of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management from 2009 to 2014. He served as INFORMS VP of Publications (1994–1995), and is an INFORMS Fellow, MSOM Fellow, POMS Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.