This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. In this episode, we are joined by Martina Fischetti, Lead Engineer in Operational Research and Thomas Hjort, Head of System Design, from Vattenfall BA Wind to learn how Vattenfall leveraged O.R. to expand its offshore wind energy operations in the pursuit of fossil fuel-free living, while realizing more than $170 million in savings.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. In this episode, we are joined by David Rios with the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, as well as Veronica Elvira and Francisco Bernal with the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) to learn how AESA used analytics to meet international aviation safety standards while realizing nearly $230 million in savings.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. In this episode, we are joined by Jay Nanduri, Distinguished Engineer, and Anand Oka, Principal Group Program Manager with Microsoft to learn how Microsoft leveraged O.R. to create a fraud detection system that identifies and reduces online fraudulent activity, while protecting legitimate consumer purchases and saving tens of millions of dollars.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. We will be releasing these episodes in the countdown to the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX, April 14-16. In this episode, we learn how O.R. was used to maximize all aspects of Louisville’s water collection and treatment facilities to better protect the environment and realizes hundreds of millions in savings.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. In this episode, we are joined by Aly Megahed, Research Group Lead with IBM Research and Mark Smith, Business Lead with IBM Services, to learn about how IBM's use of (O.R.) and analytics to manage the highly complex process of competing for and negotiating information technology (IT) service contracts around the world.

This podcast is part of a series highlighting the finalist teams of the 2019 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. In this episode, we will learn about Boston Public School’s use of O.R. to create a new approach to school bus routing that has reduced the bus fleet and enabled millions of dollars to be reinvested in the school system.

In this episode we will explore three different applications of O.R. and analytics in sports. Joining me for this episode are Sheldon Jacobson of the University of Illinois to discuss NCAA March Madness basketball brackets, Michael Trick of Carnegie Mellon University to give insight in to Major League Baseball game scheduling, and Walt DeGrange of CANA Advisors and past chairman of the INFORMS SpORTS Section to discuss current and developing applications of O.R. and analytics in sports.

In this episode we will learn how O.R. and analytics are helping the men and women of law enforcement and the corrections systems, from improving the health of prison inmates, to simplifying the assignment of inmates to the appropriate prison, to helping New York city police men and women better predict and respond to crime.

Guests include the new INFORMS president Ramayya Krishnan who will share some insight on what exciting things are in store for INFORMS in the coming year, Shane Henderson and David Shmoys of Cornell University on their INFORMS Wagner Prize winning research on bike share programs, and Alina Sorescu of Texas A&M university whose research takes a deep dive into the ups and downs of the financial stock market over a period of nearly 200 years.

In this episode, I am joined by a very special guest, Santa Claus, who called into the podcast all the way from the North Pole to share the role that O.R. and analytics plan in his annual journey to deliver toys around the world.

In addition, you will hear about the INFORMS Pro Bono Analytics projects for the Baltimore Teacher Supply Swap and Young Audiences: Arts for Learning of NJ and Eastern PA, and how O.R. and analytics helped these organizations better serve their communities.