We’re in the countdown to the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting, in Seattle, Washington, October 20-23, when more than 6,000 INFORMS members, students, prospective employers and employees, and academic and industry experts will share the ways O.R. and analytics are fueling Smarter Decisions for a Better World.

Joining me to give a sneak peek of this year’s meeting is Ann Tracy, Colgate-Palmolive’s Chief Sustainability Officer. Ann leads Colgate’s Global Sustainable Strategy and Key Initiatives, integrating a strong technical foundation across their Enterprise Sustainability and Social Impact Strategy Core Ambition Pillars – driving social impact, helping millions of homes, and preserving our environment.

In this episode, I’m joined by a longtime member of the INFORMS community, Richard Larson, post-tenure professor with MIT, past-president of both ORSA and INFORMS, recipient of the INFORMS Lanchester Prize, and author many times over, including his most recent book, Model Thinking for Everyday Life.

What’s wonderful about Dick’s latest book, is its innovative and accessible approach to showing you how to think like, well an INFORMS member! The book combines real life examples with Dick’s own personal experiences to show you how to shift the way you problem solve and improve your own decision making processes. But most of all, it’s a fun and entertaining read!

This episode of the podcast was recorded live in Phoenix at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting. Keynote speaker Dr. Les Servi shared special insight on his talk, ‘Operations Research and National Security,’ which provided an informative, and dare I say fun, first-hand look at the role of O.R. in National Security! Les is the Chief Scientist Cyber Operations Research at The MITRE Corporation and the immediate Past President of the Military Operations Research Society (MORS), as well as an INFORMS Fellow.

This video has been created with the approval and consent of The MITRE Corporation. The views and opinions expressed in the video are those of the individual featured and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of MITRE.