Ukraine on the Brink of Disaster and Why We Wrote to President Obama and Our Congressmen

Just over  year ago I took part in the Dynamics of Disasters AAAS Symposium in Boston that I had organized and which featured several of our superstars in the profession.

Who would have thought that, in a year, not only did we have the Boston Marathon bombing, but now we are witnessing at terrifying speed the arrival of Russian military troops in Crimea, Ukraine, the site of the Network Science conference, at which I was an invited speaker a few years ago. I even blogged about my great taxi driver, Igor, and the lack of security at the Simferopol airport, one of the sites of what I can only call an invasion of sovereign Ukraine, whose people have suffered over generations. Over the past several months they were demonstrating in Kiev and beyond when Yanukhovich refused to bring the country closer to the West and, specifically,  to the European Union.

In the height of irony or, should I say, perspicacity, the Boston Strong colors look like the Ukrainian flag, with brilliant blue on top, and yellow on the bottom, which I photographed and posted here.

So what is an academic to do when the freedom of  a country is at stake, its sovereignty, and the will of its people, and when international laws are outrightly violated?

Honestly, I was reminded of the movie, which I saw in a drivein one summer, as a child: The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming! and which I have written about.

As I have shared with my readers, my first language is Ukrainian, since I immigrated to the U.S., having been born in Canada. I do have a degree in Russian Language and Literature from Brown University (and 3 more in Applied Math, because I love Operations Research).

I have many Russian friends and I love the language, its literature, the ballet, art, and music and we share similar cuisines. I have been to St. Petersburg - magical!

I wrote about my heritage recently and we have written to President Obama as well as to our Congressmen (including Senators Ed  Markey and  Elizabeth Warren).

President Obama has started to speak out and our former great Senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry, who is now the Secretary of State is doing so as well.   Kerry is expected to arrive in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine,  soon.

I speak Russian - does this give Putin the right to invade the U.S.?

Even the Swedes, in one of my favorite cities on the planet, Gothenburg, where I will be very soon, are expected to support a Ukrainian demonstration for freedom.

I thank all the outstanding journalists who are covering the news from Ukraine. I have tried to personally thank them as well.  Special thanks to The Washington Post and to the BBC and CNN for expert coverage and numerous OpEd pieces in support of Ukraine and freedom-loving people everwhere.

And, would you believe, I was invited to speak recently at a conference in Moscow at the beginning of April, and I would have accepted this great invitation, but I am committed to speaking in Boston at the INFORMS Analytics Conference.

My husband wore the tie below to teach today with the Ukrainian flag and tryzub emblems for solidarity with Ukraine.

Congratulations to President Hanno!

Isn't it wonderful when great things happen to really good people?!

This blogpost is to celebrate the selection of Dr. Dennis Hanno, former Associate Dean of the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, and an Isenberg PhD '90, who also served in various top administrative posts at Babson College, as the newly selected President of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts!

One of my favorite photos, which I have in my collection in my home office in Amherst,  is the one below.

 

It was taken in our beautiful Massachusetts State House in Boston on April 11, 2007. We were there to celebrate the selection of our former Dean of the Isenberg School, the one and only Dr. Tom O'Brien, who was being recognized, with several others, with an annual Distinguished Alumni Award from the UMass Alumni Association. I am in the above photo along with Tom O'Brien, who has his arm around Dennis Hanno.

I had nominated Tom O'Brien for this award, which he received (I also nominated Dr. Tony Butterfield, who got the award a few years later).

When Hanno was our Undergrad Dean, one could never say no to him - whether it was to participate in "Pizza with a Professor" or any other activity or event. His energy, charisma, love of students we miss even today. He gave so much of himself - never missing one of our INFORMS Student Chapter parties and coming even to the dedication of our  Supernetwork Laboratory for Computation and Visualization, which was founded in the Fall of 2003 with support from Dean Tom O'Brien and then Associate Dean Dr. Jane Miller (who, would you believe, is back to being an Associate Dean again -- she is terrific)

Plus, Dr. Dennis Hanno was a neighbor of mine in Amherst and his pool parties were great! We all missed him and his wonderful family when they left our area.

Wheaton has posted some great videos introducing its new President.

Wheaton has produced some great leaders, including Ms. Shelley Borror Jackson, the Head of the fabulous Bement School, where my daughter went to elementary school. Several of her classmates from Bement are now at Wheaton. and, before too long, should be receiving their college diplomas from our great former colleague, President Dennis Hanno.

Dave Madsen of WGGB Gives Fascinating Lecture on Disaster News Coverage at the Isenberg School of Management

We have amazing professionals in our community, several of whom have delivered guest lectures in the Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare course that I am teaching this semester at the Isenberg School. For this I am extremely grateful as are my students.

Since I believe in disseminating information - yes, Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, there are quite a few of us academics who interact with the public, through our blogs, public forums and venues, OpEds, etc., (and  this, I promise,  will be a topic of a future blogpost) -  I present some of the highlights of another brilliant lecture today with photos.

Today, we hosted Mr. Dave Madsen, who is the Anchor and Managing Editor at WGGB - abc40 and he went to UMass Amherst! He has over 40 years of news broadcasting experience - imagine! Today, he shared with us his coverage of such major news events as 9/11 and the June 1, 2011 tornado that struck Springfield and covered 35 miles. He was also on the job in 1979 when a tornado hit Windsor Locks in neighboring Connecticut and the power in their newsroom went off. He spoke of newsreels, the advent of video, and the Internet, and the impacts on news.

Mr. Madsen grew up in western MA, and had a great story of being paid $3 per hour while doing data processing at Whitmore (this is the UMass Administration building) as a student with big IBM computers but the lure of broadcasting at $2 per hour, even after a counteroffer of $4 per hour, was a wise decision that he made, although his mother was not pleased at the time.

He told of how, as a young boy, he recalled (and this led him, in part, to pursue a career in news), when Ted Kennedy, then a young senator, at age 32, was in a plane that crashed in Southhampton, Madsen's hometown, in 1964, only months after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He showed us a news video from that event and followed up with some of his dramatic reports.

He emphasized the impact of technology on news coverage including that of social media.

He also noted how many of his interns come from UMass Amherst and what a great work ethic our students have - I agree!

He left the Isenberg School at about 11AM and then we just had to see him do the noon news broadcast -- the consummate professional.

We thank Dave Madsen  for his mesmerizing lecture complete with a video of the 2011 tornado and his reporting of the shutdown of the US airspace after 9/11, the controlled evacuation of our Bradley airport, and the important role that a news broadcaster plays in giving information out to the public and also in calming them in times of disasters.He even spoke of the "controlled chaos" in the newsroom during such times. He also noted that journalists and broadcasters used to check 3 sources - and now with the 24/7 news cycle and even news streaming on the Internet this may not occur.

Also, we are glad that he stayed in western Massachusetts, where he was born and raised,  since he serves the viewers so well and is truly the face of news in the Pioneer Valley!

Thanks to Dr. Pierre Rouzier for Sharing with Us Experiences from Haiti to the Boston Marathon Bombings

Today, we were mesmerized by the lecture given by Dr. Pierre Rouzier of the UMass University Health Services, who is also a team doctor. Dr. Rouzier shared with us, in the Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class that I teach at the Isenberg School of Management,  his work post the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake and his life-saving efforts during last year's Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013, where he was serving as a sports medicine expert volunteer.

His lecture was very dynamic and his presentation was filled with photographs of the people that he worked with both in Haiti and in Boston and of those  that he met that have made these two events forever ingrained in his memory and in the way we look at the world today, which is riddled with disasters, both man-made and natural. He told us how he stayed with a woman post the bombing who told him that she did not want to die alone.

His love of people, selflessness, intellect and courage during triage and times of great stress and uncertainty, captivated us.

He is the author not only of a sports medicine book but even of a recent children's book, Henry Gets Moving,  to help children stay in shape. He spoke of poverty, of inequality, and of the PTSD that he has experienced serving in these extremely difficult disasters. He also spoke of his efforts to raise funds for the recovery in Haiti and how he bicycled last summer hundreds of miles in Iowa to raise funds for the Boston Marathon bombing victims wearing his Boston Strong t-shirt.

He also spoke about how he discovered his love of teaching and will return to Haiti to teach sports medicine this summer. His father was Haitian but immigrated to the U.S. Dr. Rouzier's dream is to build a facility in Haiti that will inspire children through sports, especially, soccer, with a sports medicine clinic, and employment opportunities for families of the young athletes.


Dr. Rouzier's humanity and humanitarianism is an inspiration for all of us. How lucky are we at UMass Amherst to have such a hero and role model in our midst.

A Truly Inspiring Lecture by Mr. Rick Lee of the Red Cross at the Isenberg School

Yesterday, we had the distinct honor and privilege of hearing from Mr. Rick Lee, the Executive Director of the American Red Cross, Pioneer Valley Chapter.  He was a guest lecturer in the Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare course that I am teaching this semester at the Isenberg School of Management.

Mr. Lee oversees 38 employees and 1,000 volunteers and was instrumental in the development of the Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) program with a focus on communications.

We heard about Henri Dunant, the Swiss businessman,  who led what became the international Red Cross movement in the mid 1800s, received a Nobel Peace Prize, but then lost his business and died as a penniless hermit in Switzerland. Mr. Lee spoke about the Geneva Convention and how it is imperative to inject humanity in the inhumane act of war. He also spoke about the amazing Clara Barton, all 5 feet and 90 pounds of her, who, after a trip to Switzerland, realized what needed to be done and, through her incredible leadership abilities, founded the American Red Cross. She did so in 1881 at age 60 and continued to lead it for 23 years!

The foundation of the Red Cross is trust and ethics and contact with donors and volunteers. The provisioning of food, shelter, evaluation of how bad it is, and communications to the public, are all aspects of Red Cross activities in disaster relief. Mr. Lee also emphasized that disaster relief is "a team sport." Interestingly, he also said that there is emphasis now on mitigation, as well.

We heard of the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and the need to understand different community groups and their roles as well as the great importance of communications with stakeholders.

We were very surprised to learn that since the Red Cross depends on financial donations, that if these were to stop, the Red Cross would shut down in only 180 days! My former doctoral students, who are now very successful international professors, Dr. Tina Wakolbinger and Dr. Fuminori Toyasaki, have done research on the modeling of financial flow of funds for disaster relief and the earmarking of donations.

We also heard about the tremendous role that the Red Cross played in sheltering and feeding hundreds of people for a month after the tornado hit Springfield, MA on June 1, 2011. He also emphasized how helpful private organizations are and can be in disaster relief by providing discounts for much-needed supplies, warehousing between disasters, and helping with deliveries. He singled out Walmart and Big-Y supermarkets and even noted hotels and motels who provide discounts for sheltering purposes.

He also emphasized the importance of buying locally and the importance of building relationships over time so that,  when disasters strike, one is ready. He even told us of free mobile apps for first aid and emergency preparedness offered by the Red Cross, including earthquake and tornado warning apps.

What is the power of one person? Clara Barton changed the world and over a century before the Internet. her impact continues to this day.

Mr. Lee, your presentation changed all of us. Thank you for being the heart and soul of our American Red Cross and our Hometown Hero!

I am Ukrainian and Canadian and American

I was at an optimization conference in Florida when the violence in Ukraine started to escalate and, coincidentally, two other U.S.-based faculty, who were also at the conference, but were born in Ukraine, brought this news to my attention.

Since my return to Amherst the news in Ukraine has only gotten worse with horrifying bloodshed and deaths and with many vivid reports -- see the one by Frida Ghitis, writing for CNN, with whom I have communicated.

The country of my parents, Ukraine, and that of my first language, is now frontpage news not only in the European press but also in the U.S.

I was born in Canada but did not learn how to speak English until we immigrated to the U.S., and I entered kindergarten.  Ukrainian was the language that we spoke at home. I, finally, visited Ukraine, when  I was invited to give a keynote talk in Yalta in August 2010 at the Network Science conference.

I first made a stop in Kiev,  now the epicenter of the demonstrations, which began in November, and which have reached a tipping point this week because of the frustration of the people.

Below are some photos from Kiev, where I was welcomed by a colleague from the University of Pittsbrugh, and ate the most delicious borshcht in my life and the same for the varenyky!

Yalta, the site of the conference, was spectacular as the photos below reveal and another location of historical importance plus the conference was fantastic!

Given the suffering in Ukraine, and that even one of my former doctoral students at the Isenberg School, Dmytro Matsypura, who is now tenured at the School of Business at the University of Sydney in Australia, took part in the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, I had to speak out.

Please, let the people be free. The government should protect its own citizens and let them be governed as they wish to be.  Look at how brilliantly Poland is doing, Ukraine's neighbor to the west.

Yesterday, after not much sleep, since I had returned from the Florida conference in the wee hours of the morn, I gathered some beautiful Ukrainian creations and photographed them. I display them below -- from our Easter eggs, to our ceramics, to lavish embroideries. Let's make peace and have art, beauty, and science rule instead of hatred and violence.

I am Ukrainian and Canadian and American.

Fabulous Optimization Conference in Florida Plus a Too Exciting Plane Landing

I returned from Gainesville,  Florida this morning about 1:30AM on a two-legged flight through Charlotte to Bradley airport in Hartford/Springfield and was greeted with more snow.  The flight from Gainesville to Charlotte on a puddle jumper plane was rather exciting since the pilot announced that our wingflaps would not go down (this was a first for me and I have written about various flying adventures on this blog). We were to land going very fast, he announced, and, as we were landing, I could see the pageant of firetrucks that were there to welcome us. As we taxied I was amazed at the number of fire trucks that were on both sides of us with flashing lights. I was waiting to smell smoke but that did not happen. We were asked whether we needed "Customer Service" after the experience and when the pilot exited the cockpit I thought that he could be one of my undergraduates at the Isenberg School.  Great job - we made it safely and that is what counts. My flight from Charlotte to Bradley was uneventful and I enjoyed speaking with a UConn student who was returning from a med school interview.

I had been in Florida for two days to attend and speak at the Learning and Intelligent Optimization (LION 8) Conference that was organized by Professor Panos M. Pardalos of the University of Florida and Dr. Mauricio Resende of AT&T Labs Research with great support provided by Dr. Pardalos' doctoral students.

Panos, as some of you may have heard, was recently appointed a Preeminent Chair at the University of Florida for his work in Big Data. Bravo, bravo, bravissimo. Coincidentally, just one year ago, I was with Panos and other luminaries at the AAAS Symposium Dynamics of Disasters in very cold Boston.

Speakers and participants came to the optimization conference in Gainesville from Japan, Russia, Singapore, China, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Franc, Ireland, Australia, Greece, Colombia, Canada, Spain, and the U.S.

The venue was lovely and warm and it was great to get away from the white stuff (snow), albeit for only two days. The audience consisted primarily of operations researchers, computer scientists, and engineers,  with papers ranging from models  to algorithms with interesting directions such as portfolios of algorithms and configuration optimization for solvers. 

On Monday I enjoyed the first (invited) talk given by Dr. Vijay Vazirani of Georgia Tech who spoke on Linear Complementarity Problems and Walrasian equilibria. I do find the continuing interplay among economics, operations research, and computer science exciting and intriguing. I brought to his attention the work of Dafermos and others in variational inequalities and the computation of equilibria, which has been a very active field over the past 20 years. Conferences such as this are so important for communication!

Many of the presentation slides are being made available by the authors and are being posted on the conference website, which is great.

I enjoyed giving my presentation on joint work with one of my doctoral students, Dong "Michelle" Li, entitled: "Equilibria and Dynamics of Supply Chain Network Competition with Information Asymmetry in Quality and Minimum Quality Standards."  Given last Friday's article in The New York Times on the global manufacturing of medicines and quality issues, the talk, I thought,  was quite timely.

The photos below were taken at the conference. It was great to engage the mind and also the soul with the warmth and beauty of the surroundings. We had lunches and the conference dinner outside. I see why people move to Florida, given this winter in the Northeast.

The food was fabulous, too.

As was the ambience both inside and outside.

Some had to sleep in the Atlanta airport, given the 10,000 flight cancellations last week in the U.S., because of the snow and ice, but everyone made it to the conference. One of our Russian colleagues, did laps in the pool above at 7AM.

Although the Springer books and journals arrived yesterday, it was so nice to see our book, Networks Against Time: Supply Chain Analytics for Perishable Products, that I co-authored with Dr. Min Yu, Dr. Amir H. Masoumi (both my former doctoral students), and the other "Professor Nagurney," Dr. Ladimer S. Nagurney, on display. It was also wonderful to meet Ramzia Amad from Springer, who was a Math major in college and was also attending the conference. Our book survived Superstorm Sandy last year and was emailed and then the Springer offices closed. But we are resilient!

Thanks to the organizers for bringing researchers from around the globe with a passion for models, algorithms, and computations together!