Thanks to Dr. Les Servi for Speaking in Our UMass Amherst INFORMS Speaker Series

On April 10, 2026, we had the honor and pleasure of having Dr. Les Servi speak in our UMass Amherst INFORMS Speaker Series. We were very excited to have Dr. Servi back at UMass Amherst. 

The title of his presentation was: “Identifying Critical Nodes in Mission Systems: An Operations Research Framework.” 

Dr. Les Servi is an Operations Research Scientist and former Chief Scientist for Cyber Operations Research at The MITRE Corporation. Earlier, he conducted research at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Bell Laboratories, and GTE Laboratories (now Verizon), and spent a sabbatical year as a visiting scientist at Harvard University and MIT.  He has served as an Associate Editor for the journals: Operations Research, Management Science, and the INFORMS Journal on Computing. He is also  a MORS Fellow, an INFORMS Fellow, and served six years on the INFORMS Board of Directors. Dr. Servi is an INFORMS VP Chapters and Forums Board member.

Dr. Servi's book, "Mission Dependency Network Analysis," was published by Springer in 2026 and he kindly presented me with a copy. It was nice to see one of my papers with Patrick Qiang cited therein.

We had a great discussion after his presentation and at lunch. Many thanks to the INFORMS Student Chapter for doing such a nice job in publicizing his presentation - the announcement even made the UMass Amherst homepage with special thanks to the Chapter President Samira Samadi.

And, after the delicious lunch at the UMass Commonwealth Restaurant, Dr. Servi was off to Logan Airport to catch a flight to DC for the INFORMS Analytics Conference, where I joined him on Sunday!

I Thoroughly Enjoyed Speaking on Trade Wars and Game Theory at the Great INFORMS Analytics Conference

Conferences can be deeply engaging and energizing and the recent INFORMS Analytics Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center set new standards https://meetings.informs.org/wordpress/analytics/! Many thanks to all those who helped to make this conference a great success!

I love the serendipity of great conferences from the meeting of new colleagues to seeing friends that you did not even realize would be attending! 

There were over 500 attendees and about 60 one hour presentations. I was honored and delighted to be able speak on Trade Wars and Game Theory. Who Wins, Who Loses? The audience was terrific with many excellent, thoughtful questions. And, as promised, I have now posted the slide deck from my presentation: https://supernet.isenberg.umass.edu/visuals/Analytics-Nagurney-2026.pdf

I very much enjoyed many of the Edelman Award presentations of the finalists and the networking events. The food was also delicious and the venue was stunning! Engagement of academics with practitioners is critically important and, after I returned, I shared some of the many highlights with the students in my class at the Isenberg School of Management.

The Experience of Giving a Distinguished Engineering Lecture at Purdue University Was Extraordinary - Thank You!

Last evening I returned from a whirlwind trip to Purdue University, where I was deeply honored to deliver a Distinguished Engineering Lecture entitled: "Agricultural Supply Chain Networks: Trade, Policies, Food Security, and Resilience."

My lecture took place on March 26, 2026, and my travel from Amherst,  MA to West Lafayette, Indiana as well as back was wonderful via shuttles and two legged flights each way via American Airlines. Many thanks to the selfless, unpaid still, TSA workers at Bradley International Airport and at the Indianapolis Airport.

I'd like to thank the Purdue University College of Engineering and the Purdue University Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering for the outstanding hospitality extended to me. It was a great honor and pleasure to be introduced by Associate Dean Nikhilesh Chawla. The Distinguished Engineering Lecture took place in the stunning atrium of the Armstrong Building, named after its alumnus, the astronaut Neil Armstrong. The format was very intellectually engaging with a panel afterwards on: "Bridging Engineering and Agriculture: Innovations for Resilient Supply Chains," with fellow panelists: Purdue University Professors Maksym Chepeliev, Sivaranjani Seetharaman, and Yu She, expertly moderated by Professor Hua Cai. It was very special to be presented by James J. Solberg Head of the Edwardson School Professor Young-Jun Son with a beautiful engraved glass award afterwards. 

A big highlight, after the lively panel discussions, was to meet Associate Vice Provost and Dean of the John Martinson Honors College Professor Felisa (Preciado) Higgins and two undergraduate students from Panama! In my Distinguished Lecture, I spoke about various disruptions to agricultural supply chains (and there are many), as well as trade policies, and resilience, and noted, of course, impacts of the recent drought affecting the Panama Canal as well as wars on Ukraine and in the Middle East. Also, two undergraduate students from Jordan came up to me and presented me with a type-written project plan on Agricultural Supply Networks for their country! Fellow panelist Maksym Chepeliev was born in Ukraine and his sister is now studying at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). It is such a small world - I continue to serve on the Board of Directors of KSE and on its International Academic Board.

Everything surrounding my visit was organized beautifully with great attention to detail. I am very grateful to the exceptional staff members: Leza Dellinger and Cole Stonebraker for making my visit so comfortable and well-planned.

I thoroughly enjoyed the delicious welcome dinner with Professors Susan Hunter, David Johnson (who recently returned from Singapore), and Yuehwern Yih and terrific conversations; breakfast with fellow panelists and moderator; a catered lunch, plus closing dinner at a fabulous Japanese restaurant with exceptional host James J. Solberg Head Professor Young-Jun Son and faculty: Professors Reem Khir, Miaolan Xie, Sivaranjani Seetharaman, and Liwei Jiang. We had extra excitement at that dinner because of a tornado siren warning and lots of lightning. The positive excitement continued when Purdue beat Texas in the Sweet Sixteen basketball tournament.

Other highlights included a tour of the Gateway Lab, thanks to David Kish, PE, and two excellent undergraduate students, one of whom was named Kai and was from LA, and the other one, whose name I did not catch, was from Tennessee. 

I'm very grateful to Engineering Dean Arvind Raman for taking the time to meet with me and to show me, from his stunning outdoor office suite balcony, a "replica" trail of Armstrong's lunar footprints marking: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Thanks also to Professors Srinivasan Chandrasekar and Nan Kong for the friendly, engaging conversations. Amazingly, Dr. Kong remembered me when I gave a talk at the University of Pittsburgh through the INFORMS Speakers Program, when he was a graduate student there!

The meeting with Dr. Chandresakar took place in a boardroom with paintings of  Professor Yuehwern Yih, who was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. Dr. Yih is a name not only in engineering but also in ballroom dancing! She is now a Chair of  the USA Dance National DanceSport Championships, taking place in Pittsburgh.  

Many thanks for the extraordinary experience!

Thanks to the Outstanding Guest Lecturers in My Humanitarian Logistics Class at the Isenberg School of Management

This spring, I am, again, teaching my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class at the Isenberg School of Management. The class meets, bright and early, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8:30AM.

I have amazing students this term - one of whom commutes by bus from Boston and many times he beats me to the classroom before 8AM. He is completing two Master's degrees this spring from UMass Amherst, as is another student in the class. The enrolled students come from the Isenberg School of Management, the Riccio College of Engineering, and the School of Public Health. The course is interdisciplinary since it requires a team approach to handle challenges associated with all phases of disaster management.

I work hard on making the course material very current and relevant. An aspect of the course that the students and I enjoy very much is the presentations by invited guest speakers.

So far this semester, we have had the great honor of having Mr. Jeff Hescock, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Environmental Health & Safety and Emergency Management at UMass Amherst, and Ms. Nicole Barbosa,  American Red Cross Community Disaster Program Manager - Western Massachusetts, speak in the class.

Mr. Hescock and his team have done outstanding work in support of the health and safety of all of us at UMass Amherst and even the neighboring community. Students very much relate to him and he shared with us his career trajectory, his focus on relationships and community building, and the numerous disasters that his team has responded to from the meningitis outbreak at UMass Amherst and the COVID-19 pandemic to the recent Olympia Drive fires in Amherst, MA. The latter fires burnt down a private apartment complex off-campus and one under construction, where the fire started. Over 200 students resided in the complex. Luckily, there were no injuries but housing had to be quickly found for those affected as well as the replacement of many essentials, destroyed in the fire.

Mr. Hescock spoke on February 12, 2026 this semester and,  since the date was close to Valentine's Day, I surprised everyone with these special cupcakes, which were enjoyed. 

I am a big proponent of writing Thank You letters to our guest speakers and in copying the letters to their supervisors and also share photos. 

Ms. Nicole Barbosa spoke to the class on March 5, 2026 and her passion in working for the American Red Cross (ARC) resonated with all of us. She has worked with Mr. Hescock, most recently, in the response to the Olympia Drive fires.  

The ARC has been very innovative and focuses much more now on recovery and reconstruction and also in providing victims of disasters financial support. The ARC has 7 levels of disasters. Ms. Barbosa told of one of their volunteers, who has been with the ARC for 44 years. The ARC relies heavily on volunteers for disaster response. Ms. Barbosa was such an inspiring guest speaker and an outstanding Professor for a Day. Our great Isenberg Dean Ann P. Massey signed the framed certificate that I presented her with.

I was touched by the beautiful letter I received from Mr. Ryan Avery, Mr. Barbosa's supervisor at the ARC, in response to my letter of appreciation for her guest lecture. Mr. Ryan Avery is a Regional Disaster Officer for the ARC.

We are very lucky to have in our community such incredible experts in disaster management.

Thank you for your service and for sharing some of your very valuable lessons learned with my students.

Looking Forward to Giving a Distinguished Engineering Lecture at Purdue University

I have been enjoying working on the presentation that I will be giving at Purdue University, after our mutual spring breaks next week.

I was actually scheduled to deliver a Distinguished Lecture in Engineering at Purdue in February, 2025 but my flights were cancelled because of snowstorms so we rescheduled for 2026 and in late March.

A few years back I was offered a faculty position at Purdue but I received a counteroffer from UMass Amherst, so I stayed at the Isenberg School of Management. It will be nice to be back at Purdue and to see its growth and changes.

My talk will cover a lot of territory on research I have done with wonderful colleagues and PhD students on agricultural supply chain networks, with a focus on policies and international trade as well as disruptions (and there have been and continue to be many) plus resilience.

And, after my presentation, there will be a panel, which will allow for additional discussions.

Travel and the exchange of ideas are truly wonderful aspects of being an academic. I am very grateful to all institutions and the faculty, students, and staff who are engaged in organizing seminar series!

Front Page Coverage of Our Panel on Ukraine

Last Friday, we had our panel on Ukraine, which included both faculty from the Isenberg School (Dr. Bogdan Prokopovych) and Amherst College (Drs. Nataliia Bychkova and Myroslav Kryven) as well as recently arrived exchange students (Alisa Mikhieieva, Olesia Rozhanska, and Yuliia Zaitseva) from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) in Ukraine. The panel was to mark the 4th anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The event took place at the Isenberg School of Management with help from the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter and its President, Samira Samadi. It was an honor to moderate the panel.

Below is a collage of photos from the event with the announcement.

In the audience was Sam Gelinas, who is a journalist for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, DHG, and, today (after so much that has transpired in the world since our panel), his article on the panel was published on the front page of the DHG.

The link to the article is: https://gazettenet.com/2026/03/02/ukrainians-reflect-on-war-four-years-on/

I was very busy with teaching all day today, and now a heavy snow is falling, but Professor Ladimer S. Nagurney kindly went to purchase 3 hardcopies of the DHG and then delivered them to the exchange students from Ukraine.  It's not every day that one makes the front page of the newspaper!

And for additional photos and discussions, please visit the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter website for their writeup on the event: https://websites.umass.edu/umassinf/2026/03/02/panel-discussion-faculty-and-student-perspectives-on-the-4th-anniversary-of-russias-full-scale-invasion-of-ukraine-2/

I am very grateful for all the support.

We Must Not Forget Ukraine's Plight

UPDATE: Since this blogpost was published, I am delighted that our Letter to the Editor was posted online on masslive.com on February 18, 2026. It can be read (one needs to scroll down) on the following link https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2026/02/lets-see-action-on-audit-of-state-legislature-letters-to-the-republican.html

As we approach the 4th anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it is important to appropriately acknowledge it.

Last week, Professor Ladimer S. Nagurney and I had a Letter to the Editor published in the biggest western Massachusetts newspaper: The Springfield Republican. The letter, "We must not forget Ukraine's plight," appeared in the hard copy of this newspaper on February 12, 2026. It has not yet appeared online on masslive.com.

Below I am posting it (apologies for the small print).

We worked diligently on this letter and are grateful that the publisher of The Springfield Republican, Larry Parnass, accepted it.

It has been shared with relatives and also with Razom for Ukraine and the UNWLA (Soyuz Ukrainok), organizations who have been outstanding advocates for support of Ukraine.

And, in my previous post, I provided information on a panel of faculty and exchange students from Ukraine that I organized and that I will moderate, with support from the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter: https://annanagurney.blogspot.com/2026/02/panel-at-isenberg-school-to-mark-4th.html

Slava Ukraini!