Learning to optimize ... and how to bake the BEST cookies
Release Date: 12/19/2025
Closing out the year with the 2025 INFORMS President
Resoundingly Human
We close out another terrific year of Resoundingly Human podcasts with our 2025 INFORMS President Dave Hunt, for a look back over his time as president, milestones, and what activities he's looking forward to getting back to in 2026.
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Learning to optimize ... and how to bake the BEST cookies
Resoundingly Human
In this episode, we’re continuing our special relaunch series by welcoming one of this year’s INFORMS Annual Meeting plenary speakers – a pioneer in the fusion of machine learning and optimization, and a leader in advancing AI for real-world engineering challenges. Pascal Van Hentenryck is a Fellow of INFORMS and AAAI, and has made groundbreaking contributions to constraint programming and optimization systems that are still used in industry decades later. His current research focuses on integrating AI with mathematical optimization to solve incredibly complex and large-scale...
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Finding synergy in AI and OR/MS: Meaningful, measurable and responsible decision-making
Resoundingly Human
In our latest episode in the Resoundingly Human podcast refresh, Ramayya Krishnan, Carnegie Mellon University, and plenary speaker at the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting, shares how today's rapid advances in AI technology create new opportunities for synergy with OR/MS, with broad implications for workforce development, public policy and education.
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From HIV to the Opioid Epidemic: O.R. at the Heart of Better Public Policy
Resoundingly Human
Welcome back to Resoundingly Human, the INFORMS podcast! After a short break this summer, we are back with more great content and interviews featuring INFORMS members whose work is helping make Smarter Decisions for a Better World. In this episode, Margaret Brandeau, professor at Stanford University, and the opening plenary speaker at the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting, gives valuable insight into how operations research is helping to inform better public policy to save lives.
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Tariffs, Trade, Turmoil and Rethinking Holiday Shopping
Resoundingly Human
Retailers are gearing up for their annual “Christmas in July” sales, but this year, the early holiday cheer comes with a warning: escalating tariff whiplash may lead to higher prices, fewer options, and major delays for shoppers come December. Behind the scenes, businesses are scrambling to forecast demand and lock in orders for the back-to-school and winter holiday seasons — but unpredictability in trade policy is breaking the very tools they rely on to plan. In this episode, I’m joined by Debdatta Sinha Roy, a principal scientist in O.R. and data science at Oracle Retail Science...
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Analytics+, volunteer opportunities, the power of collaboration, and other presidential updates
Resoundingly Human
As we are well into the first half of the year – and here at INFORMS we have packed a lot into these first few months – now is a terrific time to circle back and check in with the 2025 INFORMS President Dave Hunt. We kicked off a brand-new year of Resoundingly Human podcasts back in January with a special double header featuring Dave where we discussed both his goals and objectives relating to INFORMS as well as heard his perspective on the unique and exciting ways INFORMS members are going to continue to help make smarter decisions for a better world.
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Reflecting on the 2025 Franz Edelman Competition with Flipkart
Resoundingly Human
Welcome to the final episode in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics. These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Prior to the 2025 Analytics+ Conference, I had the opportunity to sit down with 5 of the 6 teams and today I’m joined by members of the team representing Flipkart to share some insight into...
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Guiding students through life’s tough decisions
Resoundingly Human
Looking back, when you were younger, do you wish you had some guidance when it came to making the really important decisions for your future? What college should I attend? Should I buy the reliable hatchback or the fire engine red mustang? Is this job offer right for me and my future? My guest today has created a tool that can do just that, by leveraging decision science technology to support and empower students as they make these important choices! Joining me today is Matthew Brady, tech entrepreneur, whose career has spanned both sides of the aisle from industry to education.
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2025 Franz Edelman Award finalist: Amazon
Resoundingly Human
Welcome to the latest in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics, which will be awarded at the upcoming 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis this April. These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Today I’m joined by members of the team representing Amazon to discuss their finalist project in...
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2025 Franz Edelman Award finalist: WM
Resoundingly Human
Welcome to the latest in our special series of Resoundingly Human podcasts highlighting the finalist teams for the 2025 Franz Edelman Award, the Nobel Prize of Analytics, which will be awarded at the upcoming 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis this April. These finalist projects represent teams from around the world who have leveraged advanced analytics to transform their organizations, address their most significant challenges, and better serve their customers and communities. Today I’m joined by members of the team representing WM to discuss their finalist project in the...
info_outlineIn this episode, we’re continuing our special relaunch series by welcoming one of this year’s INFORMS Annual Meeting plenary speakers – a pioneer in the fusion of machine learning and optimization, and a leader in advancing AI for real-world engineering challenges.
Pascal Van Hentenryck is a Fellow of INFORMS and AAAI, and has made groundbreaking contributions to constraint programming and optimization systems that are still used in industry decades later. His current research focuses on integrating AI with mathematical optimization to solve incredibly complex and large-scale problems in energy, transportation, supply chains, and more.
At the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting, he delivered a plenary address titled “Learning to Optimize: Foundations and Industrial Impact,” exploring how machine learning and optimization can work hand-in-hand to meet real-time demands in today’s dynamic systems.