Nearly 6,000 of the world’s leading Operations Research and Analytics professionals will convene in Phoenix for the 2018 INFORMS Annual Meeting

November 4-7 at the Phoenix Convention Center

CATONSVILLE, MD, October 31, 2018 – More then 5,900 of the world’s leading operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals will arrive in Phoenix this weekend to participate in the 2018 INFORMS Annual Meeting taking place November 4-7 at the Phoenix Convention Center. 

O.R. and analytics are proven scientific and mathematical processes that enable organizations to transform data into information and information into predictive and prescriptive insights that enable better decisions and improved results. Leading examples of O.R. and analytics in action today are UPS’ ORION fleet management system, which reduces CO₂ emissions and saves hundreds of millions of dollars a year; the Pediatric Heart Network’s creation and implementation of clinical guidelines to improve surgical outcomes for patients while also reducing costs; and the New York City Police Department’s Domain Awareness System, which enables officers to make better informed strategic decisions that increase officer safety while saving tens of millions of dollars each year. 

The INFORMS Annual Meeting will feature some of the world’s brightest minds from the public and private sectors, from Fortune 500 companies and some of the most respected universities on the globe, and from local, state and federal government agencies, all charged with saving lives, saving money and solving some of the most complex problems the world faces. 

This year’s plenary and keynote speakers include: 

• Russell Allgor, Chief Scientist at Amazon
• Jorge Calzada, former Director, National Grid Advanced Data & Analytics Department
• Brenda Dietrich, PhD, Cornell University
• Kenneth Fletcher, President, Kestrel Hawk Consulting;
• Anna Nagurney, Director, the Virtual Center for Supernetworks, Department of Operations and Information Management, University of Massachusetts
• Erica Plambeck, Stanford University
• Mario Veiga Pereira, CEO, PSR
• Eva Tardos, Cornell University
• Garrett Van Ryzin, Marketplace Labs, Lyft; and Cornell Tech

The Annual Meeting will also feature dozens of presentations from faculty and others at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. These presentations cover a wide range of topics from exploring business applications of artificial intelligence, to addressing issues with alternative-fuel vehicle refueling and routing, to improving disaster response and aftermath management, to using O.R. and analytics to improve healthcare delivery. 

Giving Back to Phoenix

INFORMS’ Pro Bono Analytics program has partnered with St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in Phoenix to coordinate a volunteering initiative for meeting attendees to assemble snack packs for the host city’s homeless population. The goal is to provide St. Mary’s Food Bank with 1,000 complete snack packs and generate financial support from meeting attendees for the creation of the packs. The packs will be part of Meal Bag Kits that are given to homeless individuals on the streets of Phoenix.

About INFORMS

With 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, INFORMS is the largest international association of O.R. and analytics professionals and students. INFORMS provides unique networking and learning opportunities for individual professionals, and organizations of all types and sizes, to better understand and use O.R. and analytics tools and methods to transform strategic visions and achieve better outcomes. 

Visit www.informs.org or @informs.

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