2025 Panel with the Exchange Students from the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine

This was a very tough week, beginning with Monday, February 24, 2025, the 3rd anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine,  followed by the visit of Ukraine's President Zelenskyi to the Oval Office in DC on Friday, February 28.

In the afternoon of February 27, we hosted a panel at the Isenberg School of Management with the exchange students from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) in Ukraine. I'd like to thank the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter and its President, Ismael Pour, for designing a nice flyer for the event and for handling the promotion and logistics.

Below is a collage of photos and the flyer.

It was an honor to moderate this panel with my colleague, Dr. Bogdan Prokopovych.

The slide deck of my presentation, with some background on the UMass Amherst - KSE partnership, which includes the student exchange program as well as a Virtual Scholar Program with scholars in Ukraine, can be found on the Supernetwork Center website: https://supernet.isenberg.umass.edu/visuals/KSEExchangeStudentPanel2025.pdf

Many thanks to all who came to support our four outstanding exchange students from Ukraine! Their work ethic, dedication, courage, friendliness, love of their homeland, and appreciation of all that UMass Amherst has to offer, are inspiring.

Fascinating Visit to KSE (Kyiv School of Economics) in Ukraine as an International Academic Board Member

Over a year ago I was invited to serve on the International Academic Board of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) in Ukraine. I accepted this appointment enthusiastically since I believe that it is important to help to support education in economics and business in this unique country. Plus, it was a big honor to be appointed to this board, which includes faculty from the US, Canada, and Europe.

It was extra special to see Professor Larry Samuelson of Yale University on the board since both of us had a magical time as Visiting Fellows at All Souls College at Oxford University in 2016. Also, the Nobel laureate in Economics, Professor Roger Myerson of the University of Chicago, is also a member of the International Academic Board of KSE.

Last year, I Skyped into the board meeting, but, this year, I was determined to make my way to Kyiv. As another board member - Professor Charlie Becker of Duke University told me - it is very important to have one's physical presence there to offer insights, to take part in discussions, and to meet with students, faculty, and staff.

Now this was a bit of a logistical challenge, since the meetings were over the weekend and I teach Thursdays and Tuesdays and did not want to miss a class. So, last Thursday morning I taught my Transportation and Logistics class at the Isenberg School and then headed to Boston Logan airport for a Delta flight to Amsterdam and then onwards to Kyiv via KLM (I had hoped). Well, while we were still on the tarmac at Logan, a part of the engine arrived and was assembled and my window seatmate could see this being done. Two engine checks were successful, so off we went on a "maiden" voyage, with a delay (and I had a short connection). So, despite the cheery crew telling us all that we would make our connections since "it only takes 5 minutes to disembark the plane," when we landed, we had to deplane via the stairs and then got bussed. I missed my KLM flight to Kyiv, despite running to the gate, and spent almost 5 hours in the Amsterdam Schiphol airport (which, luckily, is one of my favorites). I managed to get a flight to Kyiv on Ukraine Air, which I had flown on a while back from Kyiv to Simferopol in Crimea and back (quite the adventure, I must say, and I had blogged about that conference in Yalta).

The International Academic Board meeting took place all day Saturday at KSE in Kyiv and I was also welcomed to take part in the Board of Directors meeting all day on Sunday.

I would walk with Dr. Becker and Dr. Rick Ericson from the IBIS hotel to KSE each morning and it was fascinating to see the buildings, landscape, shops, infrastructure, and signs in Ukrainian.

In the photo below, another board member, Dr. Torbjorn Becker of Sweden, is in the background, in front of KSE and the car.

I was very impressed by the students, who have matriculated into the various Master's programs at KSE, and I had the pleasure of meeting entrepreneurs and even a medical doctor and a former minister of the Ukrainian Parliament! Their English was outstanding and I learned that children begin learning English in Ukraine in elementary school.

It was so special to meet the very motivated faculty, who are pushing for reforms and educating this generation. Moreover, I was absolutely delighted to hear that a colleague of mine at UMass Amherst, economics professor Dr. Ina Ganguli, had had a Fulbright at KSE in 2003, so we took a group photo of faculty who know her, which I forwarded to her. Her husband, Dr. Bogdan Prokopovych, is from Kyiv and is a fellow faculty member of mine at the Isenberg School.

 There was even KSE "swag" on display.

The Management Team at KSE has many females and I was very impressed by the number of female students that we got a chance to meet. The research being conducted there is very innovative and has immense potential given the tech talents of many individuals as well as the natural resources that Ukraine has.

We had wonderful coffee breaks and meals and, after a very fulfilling and busy Saturday, we took part in a dinner cruise (with dancing) on the Dnipro River, which was a KSE alumni event. I met alums who now work in major consulting companies, the government, the energy sector, etc. - very impressive! It was extra special to have Dr. Timofiy Mylanov at this and other events. He is the Honorary President of KSE and was recently appointed the Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine! Amazingly, he is also an Economics Professor at the University of Pittsburgh (on leave).

The bridge in the photo above is over the Dnipro River and the light show was magnificent!

The beauty of Kyiv is spectacular and I managed to fit in a few walks to take in a number of sights.

I might add that the food was delicious at the hotel and at the various KSE events and I got a chance to have some borshcht but passed on the stuffed cabbage at the breakfast buffet.

I was delighted that I got asked for directions multiple times in both Ukrainian and in Russian. Ukrainian is my first language (I was born in Canada) and I have a degree from Brown University in Russian Language and Literature (as well as multiple degrees in Applied Math, specializing in Operations Research). My PhD dissertation was half on transportation and half on spatial economics.

Kyiv is quite a green city and I enjoyed the botanical gardens.

I purchased chocolates to bring back to my students, relatives, and friends, and, I must admit that the chocolates made in the factory of the former President of Ukraine, Poroshenko, are fabulous!

I made my flight from Kyiv to Amsterdam on Monday afternoon and then made it to Boston, also on KLM. Bright and early on Tuesday morning, I taught my Transportation and Logistics class. My students at the Isenberg School of Management were very interested to hear about my experiences in Ukraine, a country certainly in the news lately. And they devoured the box of chocolates below that I had brought back just for them.

I look forward to working with the faculty of KSE and its International Academic Board in order to further the success of its programs, faculty, and students. Reform is challenging but, if done right, will be transformative.

Supernetwork Center Associates as Outstanding Teachers

Yesterday, I received some wonderful news from Dr. Dong "Michelle" Li, who was my 18th doctoral student at the Isenberg School, and who received her PhD in Management Science in 2015.  The night before, Michelle received the Arkansas State University College of Business Faculty Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at the Honors Banquet. There is only one recipient for this award every year.
 
She was not even  planning on attending the banquet since she was working on a paper but her department chair told her that she had to go. Michelle is an Assistant Professor there and this is only her second year of teaching there. However, all of the PhD students in our doctoral program at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst are required to teach for a few semesters. This helps them a lot in their future positions as academics and even assists the few who opt to go to industry since public speaking is so important in any profession today. Michelle had been earlier recognized by the Isenberg School with the Outstanding Doctoral Student Researcher Award and together we wrote the Competing on Supply Chain Quality book, which was published by Springer in 2016.

 Below is a photo of Dr. Li with her award next to her colleague, Dr. Mello.

To achieve a teaching award so early in one's academic career is quite the accomplishment and to have the award be a surprise makes it extra special and sweet. Plus, Michelle is not a native speaker of English. It was thrilling to share in Michelle's happiness and much-deserved recognition. She attributes some of her success, even in teaching, to the support that she has received from the Supernetwork Center at the Isenberg School, which I founded in 2001 and continue to direct. She has been with the center since she matriculated at UMass Amherst and continues to collaborate with us as an Assistant Professor.

Last year, also in the spring, my doctoral student Shivani Shukla, who will be defending her dissertation soon, and will be my 20th PhD student (Dr. Sara Saberi, who is now an Assistant Professor at WPI, was my 19th),  received the 2016 Outstanding Doctoral Student Teaching Award from the Isenberg School. Given that the Isenberg School has 7 different departments and even more tracks in its PhD program, this is quite an accomplishment. 

And the good news about my former doctoral students, many of who are now professors, some even Full Professors, continues to arrive.

As for recognition for outstanding teaching, Dr. Trisha Anderson was recognized in 2014 by her university, Texas Wesleyan University,  with the Exemplary Teaching Award.

Dr. Jose M. Cruz, who was also my PhD student and is a Supernetwork Center Associate, has been sweeping teaching awards at the University of Connecticut since 2010. He holds 5 degrees from UMass Amherst!  He has received not only awards for his undergraduate teaching but also for his graduate teaching and has been recognized by the School of Business, where he is a tenured Associate Professor, as well as by the Provost of his university.

Also, Dr. Dmytro Matsypura, who is a tenured Senior Lecturer (like an Associate Professor) at the School of Business at the University of Sydney, Australia, has also been recognized for his outstanding teaching. In 2010 he received the Wayne Lonergan Outstanding Teaching Award (Early Career) from the Business School and in 2008 and 2013, he received the Discipline of Business Analytics Teaching Excellence Award.

The below photo was taken at the INFORMS conference in Nashville, where I treated all the Supernetwork Center Associates who could make it that evening, to a dinner. On my left are: Dr. Matsypura, Dr. Cruz, and Shivani Shukla, and Dr. Li is the second one on my right.

Now, as some of you may know, teaching Operations Management and Management Science requires the exchange and explanation of material that can be quite technical. Hence, to be recognized for teaching in this area is doubly impressive!  Then again, if you love what you research and your subject, the passion in sharing information and knowledge with your students shines through!

Blood Supply Chains and Great Journalists

My suitcase is packed and I am pumped for two conferences in Italy and in Greece at which I will be presenting research with collaborators on supply chain networks in time-sensitive markets.

But before I leave for the airport, I wanted to comment on what an amazing week this has been.

Early last week, I had the privilege of being contacted by a journalist,  Paul Sisson, of UT-San Diego.  Sisson focuses on healthcare topics. He was writing an article for his newspaper for the Sunday Business Section on a supply chain we should all very much care about - the blood supply chain. He was wondering, since my group at the Supernetwork Center at the Isenberg School had done quite a lot of research and writing on this topic (and even teaching about it), whether I would be willing to answer some questions.

Although I am now spending a few weeks in Sweden as a Visiting Professor, since effective healthcare supply chains, including the truly unique blood one, are passions of mine (and it was clear that Sisson feels the same way), I had to say, "yes!"

His questions were so interesting, insightful, and thoughtful, I enjoyed the process of addressing them very much.

Paul Sisson's article, "A Vital Supply Chain,"  is online on the newspaper website. 
A pdf version is available here.

Communicating research to a journalist who is very interested in the subject is very gratifying and it also helps one to further flesh out the important aspects of the research findings and their relevance. I very much respect the important work that journalists do in keeping us informed and educated! A hearty thank you! 

Journalists, working with academics, can even help to move research and education forward through appropriate and probing queries!

Although, of course, only some highlights of an interview, even even an extensive one, may actually be published in a newspaper article, the exchange stays with one. This kind of recognition is also further support of the research that we do with collaborators and with our students.

I highlight some fascinating factoids below about blood supply chains.

Think about this - The supply of human blood depends completely on volunteerism since human blood, unlike numerous products, cannot be manufactured. The producers of this critical needs product are humans themselves and they have to be altruistic in their donations, effectively giving a part of themselves to others. The great majority of blood collection facilities in the US are  managed by the Red Cross (about 45%)  or by the network of US Blood Centers (about 50%) and these are nonprofit organizations. Other suppliers of blood are certain hospitals, usually, larger ones.  The collection facilities themselves can be either mobile or fixed. According to the American Red Cross, over 39,000 donations are needed everyday and there have been times when the supply was just 2 days short of running out.

Given that the production and, hence,  supply of blood is based, primarily, to-date,  on volunteers, there is uncertainty on the supply side as well as risk - will donors show up?  Both great and bad weather days may result in insufficient donations. Donors may go to the beach in the case of the former and may be stuck due to a snowstorm in the case of the latter.  There is also uncertainty  on the demand side since although some medical procedures are pre-scheduled and for such procedures demand for blood products can  be more easily forecast, there are also unforeseeable emergencies that do take place (disasters, accidents, etc.).  Hence, balancing supply and demand is a matter of life and death in this supply chain. Of 1,700 hospitals taking part in a survey in 2007, a total of 492 reported cancellations of elective surgeries on one or more days due to blood shortages. Also, there are no economies of scale in "production" in this supply chain since many of the volunteers (can) donate only 1 pint at a time and do so, typically, in the case of repeat donors, only twice a year.

This blood  supply chain is, in effect, a reverse supply chain. Most products - think of cars and high tech products - are assembled by putting distinct parts/components together to make the final product. Whole blood, when extracted, on the other hand, is disassembled into such components as Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and plasma with platelets extracted through a process known as asphoresis. Interestingly, thus, blood supply chains have commonality with reverse supply chains as in the electronic recycling of such products as computers and cell phones (where extraction of certain elements can be a treasure trove). (We have done research on these supply chains as well.)

Blood is highly perishable with the shelf life of RBCs ranging from 35 days - 42 days, that of platelets 5 days, whereas plasma can be frozen for up to 1 year. Therefor, there are immense time pressures on this product;  at the same time, blood must undergo numerous steps of testing, processing, storage, and distribution to the points of demand such as hospitals and other healthcare facilities.


For those of you who are interested in reading more about our research on blood supply chains, which was inspired by one of my former doctoral student's (Amir H. Masoumi's) great interest in the subject, I have highlighted papers with links below.

Supply Chain Network Operations Management of a Blood Banking System with Cost and Risk Minimization, Anna Nagurney, Amir H. Masoumi, and Min Yu, Computational Management Science 9(2): (2012) pp 205-231.

Supply Chain Network Design of a Sustainable Blood Banking System, Anna Nagurney and Amir H. Masoumi, in Sustainable Supply Chains: Models, Methods and Public Policy Implications, T. Boone, V. Jayaraman, and R. Ganeshan, Editors, Springer, London, England (2012) pp 49-72.

Also, our latest book, Networks Against Time: Supply Chains for Perishable Products, co-authored with Professor Min Yu of the University of Portland, Professor Amir H. Masoumi of Manhattan College, and Professor Ladimer S. Nagurney of the University of Hartford, provides a synthesis of some of the other fascinating supply chains, along with blood supply chains,  that we have worked on that deal with perishable and time-sensitive products.

Both Dr. Min Yu and Dr. Amir H. Masoumi received their PhDs from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and their concentrations were in Management Science.

Defying Gravity and Success is the Best Revenge - Nurturing STEM Talent in Our Students, Females and Males

The article by Eileen Pollack in The New York Times, Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science? is a must read. Eileen was one of only two females to receive an undergrad degree in physics from Yale in 1978 and writes eloquently about her experiences and those of other females then and more recently in the pursuit of studies in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. She asks a fundamental question as to why still in the new millennium there are so few women in science and math. The conclusion reached in her very thoughtful and well-written article, filled with highlights from various studies as well as personal stories, is that it is the culture and the lack of support and mentorship.

She ends her aticle by describing a picnic back at Yale recently at which there were several female grad students (it was a picnic for the physics and astrophysics departments) in which there were a few female grad students including one African American.  Pollack concludes as follows:
 

The young black woman told me she did her undergraduate work at a historically black college, then entered a master’s program designed to help minority students develop the research skills and one-on-one mentoring relationships that would help them make the transition to a Ph.D. program. Her first year at Yale was rough, but her mentors helped her through. “As my mother always taught me,” she said, “success is the best revenge.” 

As so many studies have demonstrated, success in math and the hard sciences, far from being a matter of gender, is almost entirely dependent on culture — a culture that teaches girls math isn’t cool and no one will date them if they excel in physics; a culture in which professors rarely encourage their female students to continue on for advanced degrees; a culture in which success in graduate school is a matter of isolation, competition and ridiculously long hours in the lab; a culture in which female scientists are hired less frequently than men, earn less money and are allotted fewer resources.

The above speaks to resiliency and the role that, we, as educators, have in nurturing talent and confidence in our students, both females and males alike, in technical fields.  I teach in a business school but have 3 degrees in Applied Math, with a PhD in the specialty of operations research.  I love math, computer programming, and the applications that our tools and methodologies can help to formulate and solve from transportation to financial services to healthcare to logistics and supply chains. I have written about gender inequality in business schools as well.

A kind sentence can make a difference in a student's life and can give her (or him) the confidence to believe in her or himself and to pursue  advanced degrees and careers in areas where you may stand out (this may have some negatives, at first, but people will remember you).

My seventh grade math teacher, Mrs. Fuller, back in Yonkers, NY, said to me, "One day you will be a calculus professor." That statement has stayed with me to this day as have those that have said: "Anna, being a professor is the loneliest profession," and "Anna, the higher you rise, the greater of a target you will be." The latter two were by two of my male professors at Brown and there is wisdom in both statements, which I appreciate.

And culture is clearly so important so we need to increase the visibility of female scientists, engineers, and also business professionals and scholars. The Times article noted the rather stereotypical representation of female scientists and females in the TV series Big Bang Theory.

Let me give you a VERY cool and REAL example of a top female scientist, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the UMass Rising gala event last April that I wrote about -- the astronaut Dr. Cady Coleman. Cady received her undergrad degree from MIT and her PhD from UMass Amherst in polymer science and engineering.

The photo of Cady and me below was taken at the UMass Rising gala. Cady lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and son when not training and flying in outer space. She was one of the Masters of the Ceremony (along with Ken Feinberg).

There was an article yesterday in our local newspaper, the great Daily Hampshire Gazette (DHG), about Dr. Cady Coleman and how she consulted with Sandra Bullock on the movie Gravity, which will be released today and which also stars George Clooney. She was also featured in Mother Jones with the full article here as well as in Wired. 

In the DHG article, Cady states: I think it's an especially good film for girls. They need models of strong, courageous women who may not always know what to do, but can figure it out. I liked it, in that respect.

 So do be positive with your students -- a few words that recognize talent and an achievement can change a direction of a life!

Be an Advocate for Female Researchers

I was (very) pleasantly surprised and pleased when the Editor of a journal in Operations Research recently approached me to suggest names of female researchers who might be added to the editorial board as Associate Editors since the volume of submissions to the journal was growing dramatically.

The Editor wrote me since he knows that I care about (and try to act accordingly)  promoting the visibility of female researchers and this is clearly a substantive way in which visibility and reputation can both be increased.

This got me to thinking about being an Advocate vs. a Mentor, a topic that has been receiving a lot of attention in corporations and, also,  in scientific and academic circles, but which needs more.

According to this report, which cites several Harvard Business School publications, the hallmark of an Advocate (sometimes referred to as a Sponsor), is the inherent public nature in that advocates "stick their necks out" and, while a lot of mentoring can be done behind the scenes, advocates put their names next to your performance and make their support highly visible.

Hence, your advocate should promote your visibility, advocate for your next promotion, make connections for you with senior leaders, and connect you with career opportunities. Of course, an advocate, is still a mentor, and can offer career advice.

Dr. Joan M. Herbers, the President of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) in an interview on Advocating for Women in Science, offers this excellent advice:

One mentor is not enough; in addition to mentors, cultivate sponsors – senior people of influence who will promote your ideas and support your career through nominations to key symposia, society awards, and the like.  

I also believe that administrators could and should be Advocates but, sometimes, and this may be due to academic politics, may try to just "work behind the scenes" whereas sending out an announcement to faculty and upper level administrators commending someone on a great accomplishment would create not only good will but would also extend the communications outreach.

Some administrators acknowledge and advocate whereas others may have their own agendas.

However, when faculty (and students) achieve the entire enterprise gains.

Academics need to feel "connected" to their schools and universities and professional societies and without advocates they may just seek acknowledgment elsewhere.

So, how can you advocate to increase the visibility of female researchers? Some ways are listed below:

• Have them be part of a Speakers Program -- I chaired the INFORMS Speakers Program and one of the best things that we did, I think, was not only to increase the geographic representation but also the diversity. 
• If you are organizing a conference, have at least one female plenary speaker (just recently, I received a notice for a conference with about 8 male plenary speakers and not a single female -- no chance that I'll be going there nor will I send any of my doctoral students).
• Nominate females for professional recognitions -- from students to senior colleagues.
• Invite female researchers to speak at your campuses.
• Share the news about the successes of the accomplishments of females in newsletters, media, press releases, etc.
• Nominate females for professional society offices.
• Appoint females to editorial boards. 
• And, when someone achieves, send a congratulatory note (I try to do this for all my colleagues, male or female)!

In Glorious Gothenburg

I arrived yesterday in Gothenburg, Sweden with a short layover in London Heathrow.

Both flights on British Airways were packed but very comfortable although I had a middle seat on the first leg out of Boston Logan. I was seated next to a female going back to Ukraine who works in healthcare IT and another female PhD student who was off to Oslo to present at a history workshop.

My apartment is lovely and so quiet.

The city was teaming with life yesterday, a Sunday, and the cafes were packed.

I wandered for miles and found the School of Business, Economics and Law where I will be giving two talks today. The first will be to a class and the title is Financial Networks. I will be speaking on mergers and acquisitions and also providing an overview of financial networks.

I will also have the pleasure of introducing myself through a formal seminar. I will focus on international collaborations.

The sun is shining and new adventures are beginning.