Risk analyst Vicki Bier, a professor at the UW-Madison College of Engineering, talks about the decision-making process that goes into how to reopen a community after quarantine.
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing economic and social change. Moderated by David Banks, the Director of the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI), six eminent scientists who study different aspects of social change and public policy came together to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. and the world. The discussion took a range of quantitative perspectives on how to respond to the crisis and to forecast what challenges lie ahead. Specific topics include the role of data science, strategies for beginning to reopen the economy, the international impact of the disease, and its effect upon universities.
Despite continued spread of the coronavirus, Wisconsin residents are traveling more than they were a month ago. Cell phone mobility data shows Wisconsin residents started traveling more during the first week of May. And that movement continued to increase after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s 'Safer at Home' order on May 13, according to Oguzhan Alagoz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering professor who specializes in modeling the spread of infectious diseases.
Shortages and rationing are foreign concepts to most Americans. But the Covid-19 pandemic has shocked our nation of plenty as Americans scrambled to stock up hand sanitizer and facial masks. Young and healthy citizens find it a nuisance to search for these materials, but they can still protect themselves to a great extent by wearing a cloth face covering, washing their hands with soap and following social distancing guidelines. However, social distancing is not possible for the sick and elderly requiring long-term care from healthcare workers. Hence, the dire shortage of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) such as N95 masks (known for filtering at least 95 percent of airborne particles) can be disastrous for this group of vulnerable people.
Is the reporting of media outlets biased in favor of firms that advertise with them? A new study looked at the relationship between advertising by car manufacturers in U.S. newspapers and news coverage of car safety recalls in the early 2000s. The study found that newspapers provided less coverage of recalls issued by manufacturers that advertised more regularly in their publications than of recalls issued by other manufacturers that did not advertise, and this occurred more frequently when the recalls involved more severe defects.
Jeff Cohen
Chief Strategy Officer
INFORMS
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An audio journey of how data and analytics save lives, save money and solve problems.
With seemingly no limit to the demand for artificial intelligence, everyone in the energy, AI, and climate fields is justifiably worried. Will there be enough clean electricity to power AI and enough water to cool the data centers that support this technology? These are important questions with serious implications for communities, the economy, and the environment.
It’s college graduation season, which means over 4 million seniors will graduate in the next few weeks, flooding the job market with new candidates. One area that has shown high potential for the right candidates is artificial intelligence and machine learning. Both disciplines are part of the larger data and analytics career path.
Drugs being explicitly developed to treat rare diseases are getting more expensive.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as the new secretary of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s de facto healthcare czar. He will have influence over numerous highly visible agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, among others. Given that healthcare is something that touches everyone’s life, his footprint of influence will be expansive.
The recent US-China agreement to temporarily reduce tariffs is a major step for global trade, with tariffs on US goods entering China dropping from 125% to 10% and on Chinese goods entering the US decreasing from 145% to 30% starting May 14. While this has boosted markets and created optimism, key industries like autos and steel remain affected, leaving businesses waiting for clearer long-term trade policies.
With sweeping new tariffs on Chinese-made products set to take effect this summer, Americans are being urged to prepare for price hikes on everyday goods. President Donald Trump's reinstated trade policies are expected to affect a wide swath of consumer imports, including electronics, furniture, appliances, and baby gear. Retail experts are advising shoppers to act before the tariffs hit and prices rise.
Twenty years ago, few people would have been able to imagine the energy landscape of today. In 2005, US oil production, after a long decline, had fallen to its lowest levels in decades, and few experts thought that would change.
In the case of upgrading electrical and broadband infrastructure, new analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst reveals {that a} “dig once” strategy is almost 40% more economical than changing them individually.