News Releases

BALTIMORE, MD, May 1, 2023 – As it currently stands, U.S. policies around organ transplantation are moving toward broader sharing of organs, with the goal of improving geographic equity. It’s a great goal, but not being achieved. These policies have gone through two major modifications in the last 10 years, but to no avail. Now, researchers are introducing a new model in a paper published in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, which recommends a more efficient and equitable method to allocate organs with a policy that balances the supply (deceased donors) to demand (waiting list patients) ratios across geographies.

BALTIMORE, MD, April 24, 2023 – Anyone who’s ever watched the classic 1960s cartoon “The Jetsons” will recall the flying cars everyone used. Ever since, people have wondered when the day might come that flying cars could become reality.

BALTIMORE, MD, April 12, 2023 – It looks like the “best practice” of removing gendered language from job listings may simply have been a “best guess” by managers seeking to increase diversity of applicant pools for their organizations. New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds that tweaking the language of job postings to make them more gender-neutral has negligible practical effects on men’s and women’s likelihood of applying for jobs.

BALTIMORE, MD, April 11, 2023 – It’s commonly assumed that the supply-and-demand economics of the consumer marketplace dictates price. If you are one of few retailers that sells a product consumers want, you can charge more. Or, if supplies of that product are more scarce, again, prices will likely be higher. On the flip side, if supplies are plentiful for a product that is in less demand, prices for that product are likely to be lower.

BALTIMORE, MD, March 8, 2023 – The U.S. government has mandated disclosure labels on all foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Previous studies based on surveys or lab experiments suggested that hypothetical GMO labeling would result in a significant reduction in demand for GMO products, leading to concerns that the recent mandates for GMO labeling could severely hurt GMO product sales.

BALTIMORE, MD, February 21, 2023 – Is speaking up at work worth it? New research in the INFORMS journal Organization Science finds that new ideas can be heard and implemented in the office, but it depends on who employees talk to.

BALTIMORE, MD, February 15, 2023 – The INFORMS community applauds the bipartisan introduction of the Data Science and Literacy Act, which, if enacted, would increase access to statistics and data science education. This curriculum is essential to meet workforce and societal standards to build future researchers.

BALTIMORE, MD, February 13, 2023 – Two INFORMS members have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Donald Goldfarb is an Alexander and Hermine Avanessians Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia University and David Simchi-Levi is a Professor of Engineering Systems and core faculty in the Institute of Data, Systems and Society at Massachusetts Institute for Technology.

BALTIMORE, MD, February 9, 2023 – According to a new study, changing the response plans for fire and emergency service personnel is proving to have top-dollar savings. New research in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management finds that pooling resources to have cross-trained fire-medics respond to both emergency medical calls and fire incidents, rather than having firefighters respond to fires and emergency medical personnel respond to medical incidents, can save more than $3 million a year.

BALTIMORE, MD, February 8, 2023 – Concerns are mounting among policymakers and utility companies amid the impact of severe weather on the nation’s electrical grids. In recent months, electrical grids in Texas have been tested to the point of near failure. So it seems like perfect timing that new research in the INFORMS journal Management Science identifies a new method that provides the best way to utilize “direct load control contracts” to mitigate electricity demand surges, increase grid reliability and reduce electricity cost. All of this right down to the individual household.