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Healthcare

Franz Edelman Award

2022 Franz Edelman Competition: Merck Animal Health

This podcast is part of a special series featuring the 2022 finalist teams for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, the most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of O.R. and advanced analytics. For more than four decades, the Edelman Award has recognized contributions that are transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $336 billion since the award’s inception, as well as countless other nonmonetary benefits. The winner of this year’s award…

Tags: biomanufacturing, farmers, Franz Edelman Award, manufacturing, medicine, Merck Animal Health, therapeuticals, vaccine, veterinarians

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The Tham Luang cave rescue: Decision-making with the highest stakes

For nearly 3 weeks during the summer of 2018, the attention of millions across the globe was focused on northern Thailand where a massive effort was underway to locate and rescue 12 members of a boys’ soccer team and their coach who were trapped underground in the rapidly flooding Tham Luang cave. Among those watching was Yael Grushka-Cockayne with the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Management. As she watched this incredible rescue effort unfold, she recognized it as a massive and complex study in risk management and decision-making, one in which the highest stakes were involved. Today I’m thrilled…

Tags: case study, cave rescue, decision making, risk management, Thailand, Tham Luang cave, Yael Grushka-Cockayne

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Waves pushing plastic waste to the beach

Leveraging supply chain and block chain technology to reduce ocean-bound plastic waste

Plastic pollution is a complex and growing global issue, with millions of tons of plastic waste reaching our oceans each year, killing thousands of seabirds, turtles, seals and other marine mammals. However new research has identified an approach to removing, recycling and reutilizing plastic that not only has a positive impact on the environment, but can also benefit communities in need in developing countries. Joining me to discuss how supply chain and block chain technology are being leveraged in innovative new ways to address the issue of plastic pollution is Opher Baron with the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of…

Tags: block chain, ocean-bound plastic, Opher Baron, plastic waste, recycling, supply chain

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Drones and defibrillators: Saving minutes to save lives

Cardiovascular disease, a term for a number of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, is a serious and steadily growing threat to global health, causing even more deaths every year than cancer. In the U.S. alone, nearly 660,000 people, or 1 in 4, die of heart disease annually. In particular, cardiovascular disease can lead to cardiac arrest, a serious condition in which the heart suddenly stops beating. One of the most effective methods of treatment for cardiac arrest is an automated external defibrillator, which can not only correct an episode of arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, but can restore the…

Tags: cardiac arrest, cardiovascular disease, defibrillator, healthcare, Tim Chan, University of Toronto

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Fire fighting helicopter carry water bucket to extinguish the forest fire

Stochastic optimization provides key to combatting increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires

When you take a look back, even just over the past couple of years, the devastation caused by the seemingly growing threat of large-scale wildfires has made headlines around the world. From the unprecedented brushfires in Australia in 2019-2020, to California’s record setting wildfire season later that same year, and most recently the Colorado prairie grass fires which occurred well outside of the traditional fire season, the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfire incidents are a growing global concern. Not only are these fires capable of causing billions of dollars in damage each year, but contribute to the deaths of…

Tags: fire prevention, firefighting, Lewis Ntaimo, stochastic optimization, wildfires

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What is … an interview with Sam Buttrey, winner of Jeopardy! Tournament of Professors!

Good Luck in the FINALS of the 2022 Tournament of Champions, Dr. Buttrey!! In this week’s episode I’m thrilled to be joined by a very special guest, Sam Buttrey, an associate professor of operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School and winner of the first-ever Jeopardy! Tournament of Professors. Sam competed against professors from across the country and in a variety of disciplines to win not only the $100,000 grand prize, but an opportunity to further compete in the 2022 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.

Tags: Jeopardy, operations research, Sam Buttrey, statistician, Tournament of Champions, Tournament of Professors

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Approaching 2022 with an optimistic (and excited!) eye to the future

Welcome to a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human podcasts! Whether this is your first episode, or you are a long-time listener, thank you for joining us and I hope you’ll subscribe for for even more great content highlighting the incredible contributions of INFORMS members. To kick off the first episode of the new year, joining me is the 2022 INFORMS President Radhika Kulkarni, a member of the analytics industry for 35+ years, most recently as the VP of Advanced Analytics R&D at SAS.

Tags: 2022, advocacy, AI, artificial intelligence, COVID-19, INFORMS president, pandemic, Radhkia Kulkarni, Strategic Plan

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Let’s see how far we’ve come! A look back over a year of great content

What a year this has been! To start, I want to thank everyone who has tuned into the podcast this year, and whether this is the first episode you’re listening to or the 50th, your support of the podcast has helped us share the incredible work of INFORMS members and the many ways their contributions are saving lives, saving money and solving problems. In fact, I’m thrilled to share that in 2021 we didn’t just reach a major milestone, but blew it out of the water, when we surpassed 50,000 unique downloads of our episodes well ahead of our…

Tags: 2021, end of year message, host

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Overcoming obstacles to achieve objectives and (finally) returning to normal

Since I first met with the 2021 INFORMS president Stephen Graves at the beginning of the year, INFORMS has achieved several significant milestones despite the continued challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, to include the launching of a new strategic plan and a return to in-person meetings with the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Anaheim, CA earlier this fall. Now as 2021 draws to a close, Steve joins me for his final interview as president for a look back over the past year and all that INFORMS has accomplished.

Tags: 2021 Annual Meeting, DEI, INFORMS president, Stephen Graves, Strategic Plan

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