More than 27 million individuals are the victims of human trafficking globally that’s according to the US State Department. The 2022 United Nations report on global trafficking suggests that 39 percent of trafficking is associated with sexual exploitation, while also noting that’s likely an underestimate. An initiative at the University of Alabama is working to develop methods for finding evidence of trafficking online, that’s the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Nickolas Freeman.

Freeman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Operations Management in the Department of Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science. Dr. Freeman is also an Associate Editor for INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (IJAA). He is an active member of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) and earned their Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) certification in 2014. He is also a member of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS). Dr. Freeman is an active researcher with interests that include healthcare operations management, supply chain risk management, and applied analytics. He has several publications in journals including Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (MSOM), Production & Operations Management (POMS), Omega, the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR), and INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces), and IISE Transactions (formerly IIE Transactions).