The past year has posed many unprecedented and unique challenges, forcing people around the world to redefine and reimagine how we live, work, learn, teach, shop and more. It tested the resiliency of the global economy, the fundamentals of business, and countless other parts of modern life that we all took for granted. 

Many of these challenges brought to the forefront an often invisible resource that powers virtually every aspect of modern life – global supply chains. Now, the U.S. government, many businesses and industries, and numerous others, are undertaking extensive efforts to examine supply chains to ensure they can better withstand the intense pressures and strains of massive challenges such as COVID-19.

Joining me for this episode is David Simchi-Levi, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in MIT’s department of civil and environmental engineering and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, and director of the MIT Data Science Lab.