Congratulations to Dana Hassani on Receipt of the 2025 Outstanding Doctoral Student Researcher Award at the Isenberg School!

On May 9, the Isenberg School of Management held its All School Meeting to wrap up the academic year. At the meeting, various awards were given out to faculty, staff, and doctoral students.

My Isenberg PhD student in Operations Management Dana Hassani, who was announced as the recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Doctoral Student Researcher Award, was, at that time, was en route to the POM Society Conference in Atlanta, so could not attend. I had blogged about this conference in previous posts.

So, this past Thursday, after the Isenberg PhD robing ceremony, the Director of our PhD Program, Dr. George Milne, presented Dana with the award plaque in our Business Innovation Hub.

Dana arrived at UMass Amherst in January 2022, after a delay in obtaining his visa. He has published 3 journal articles, and one book chapter, which is quite remarkable. And he has also been teaching this past academic year a required course, "Business Data Analysis," for our business undergraduates each semester. Dana is the lead author of the paper, "A Multiperiod, Multicommodity, Capacitated International Agricultural Trade Network Equilibrium Model with Applications to Ukraine in Wartime," co-authored with me, and Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) colleagues: Oleg Nivievskyi and Pavlo Martyshev, which appears in in the INFORMS journal Transportation Science,  vol. 59, no. 1, January-February 2025, pp. 143–164. He is also the co-author (second author) with the same co-authors as above of the paper, "Multicommodity International Agricultural Trade Network Equilibrium: Competition for Limited Production and Transportation Capacity Under Disaster Scenarios with Implications for Food Security," published in the European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 314, no. 1, 2024,  pp. 1127-1142. He is also a co-author, with the same authors as above of the paper, "Exchange Rates and Multicommodity International Trade: Insights from Spatial Price Equilibrium Modeling with Policy Instruments via Variational Inequalities," published in the Journal of Global Optimization, vol.  87, 2023, pp. 1-30.

Dana's book chapter, co-authored with the same team as his journal articles, "Quantification of International Trade Network Performance Under Disruptions to Supply, Transportation, and Demand Capacity, and Exchange Rates in Disasters," was published in Dynamics of Disasters- From Natural Phenomena to Human Activity, I.S. Kotsireas, A. Nagurney, P.M. Pardalos, S. Pickl, C. Vogiatzis, Editors, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2024, pp. 151-179.

It is important to emphasize that there are 9 tracks in the Isenberg PhD Program so receiving this award is quite the achievement. And, Dana also got this award last year. He successfully defended his dissertation proposal a few months ago. I look forward to his successful PhD defense in the coming academic year. He has done excellent research focusing on agricultural supply chains and international trade under disruptions, including in Ukraine during wartime. It has been an honor to work with him and with colleagues at the Kyiv School of Economics. 

We Celebrated the Outstanding Exchange Students from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE)

This is the second full academic year that exchange students from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) in Ukraine have been studying at UMass Amherst. The exchange program, during wartime Ukraine, was made possible because of a partnership established between KSE and UMass Amherst, under the leadership of the Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs Dr. Kalpen Trivedi.

Two of the KSE exchange students have been with us for two academic years and are now returning back to Ukraine. Two are staying on for another year and we expect additional ones to arrive in the Fall.

I invited the students for a special dinner in order to celebrate their accomplishments. The dinner was at The Inn at Boltwood in downtown Amherst.  The warm conversations covered much territory - the students' classes and great professors, friends made from Massachusetts and from around the globe, the award-winning UMassAmherst food, college sports (notably, UMass hockey), life in beautiful Amherst, and the differences between learning in the US and in Ukraine. Traveling thousands of miles from their homes and their families, the students: Asta Motrenko, Marharyta Nechytailo, Oleksandra Horusieva, and Karyna Lutsenko have achieved so much and have left a big imprint on all those who have had the pleasure of interacting with them. Thanks to Lorraine Martinelle of Marcomm at the Isenberg School for the lovely, informative article on the students: https://www.isenberg.umass.edu/news/three-years-later-isenberg-reflects-umass-amherst-partnership-ukrainian-institution

They students have spoken on university panels (thanks to UMass Amherst Student Chapter of INFORMS), been on Talk the Talk radio show, made the Dean's List each semester, took part (Marharyta as an analyst) in the amazing and very impactful Isenberg Undergraduate Consulting Group (IUCG) and even placed second on a team in a national Capital One competition. Songs have been created, produced, and performed in Amherst (Asta). Since two students are returning to Kyiv, with Ukraine still enduring war, now in its 4th year,  this made the evening also bittersweet. 

I am sure that the KSE exchange students will play an important role, through their education, experiences and friendships made, in the recovery and rebuilding of Ukraine. A big thanks to their professors, including those at the Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst, who have provided such outstanding courses and have mentored them. And, thanks to the top administrators: Provost Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Vice Provost for Global Affairs Kalpen Trivedi, and Isenberg Dean Anne P. Massey for the support in the global partnership between UMass Amherst and KSE. 

Presentations of Our POMS Talks in Atlanta Have Been Posted: From Agricultural Trade to War Risk Insurance

Last week,  I was busy with events and the last week of the academic year, but my Isenberg School PhD students traveled to Atlanta to present our joint work at the POM (Production and Operations Management) Society 35th Conference. They had an outstanding time and also, thanks to Isenberg PhD alumna, Dr. Deniz Besik of the University of Richmond, enjoyed a delicious lunch at a Turkish restaurant. My former PhD student, now at the University of Portland, as a tenured Associate Professor, Dr. Min Yu, also joined them. Below is a collage of photos of my PhD students: Dana Hassani, Ismael Pour, and Samira Samadi, presenting plus a lunch photo.

Dr. Deniz Besik also presented on our work on food banks. Below is a graphic of the first slide of our four presentations.

The slide decks of the full presentations, which, in the case of my PhD students, were all based on recently published papers, can be found on the Supernetwork Center website:  https://supernet.isenberg.umass.edu/visuals.html Dana's presentation was based on a paper published in the INFORMS journal Transportation Science. Ismael's paper appeared recently in International Transactions in Operational Research, and both his and Dana's paper was co-authored with colleagues in Ukraine. Samira's paper, which was co-authored also with Ismael, appeared in the Journal of Nonlinear and Variational Analysis.

I am very lucky to have excellent PhD students (present and former).

My 3 PhD Students Will Present Our Recently Published Papers at the POMS Conference in Atlanta

I am a very lucky and proud Academic Mom. My 3 Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst PhD students will present our recently published papers at the POMS Conference in Atlanta, which overlaps with Mother's Day https://pomsmeetings.org/conf-2025/

Dana Hassani will present the paper, "A Multiperiod, Multicommodity, Capacitated International Agricultural Trade Network Equilibrium Model with Applications to Ukraine in Wartime," which was co-authored with colleagues at the Kyiv School of Economics: Oleg Nivievskyi and Pavel Martyshev, and published in the INFORMS journal Transportation Science: https://lnkd.in/eUC3PA3J.  Ismael will present the paper, "Integrated Crop and Cargo War Risk Insurance: Application to Ukraine," which was co-authored with Borys Kormych of the National University "Odessa Law Academy" and published just this morning in the IFORS journal International Transactions in Operational Research: https://lnkd.in/e-3MxaDY. Samira will present the paper, "A Variational Inequality Trade Network Model in Prices and Quantities Under Commodity Losses," that we co-authored with Ismael, and that was published open access in the Journal of Nonlinear and Variational Analysis: https://lnkd.in/eSuiqC_C. Support for co-authors in Ukraine was made possible through the outstanding partnership between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Kyiv School of Economics, thanks to the leadership of Vice Chancellor of Global Affairs Kalpen Trivedi and Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst Dean Anne P. Massey. 

Our presentations are ready!

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Conferencing! 

The UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter Celebrated the End of the Semester with a Great Party and Congratulations Cake

Yesterday, during the next to the final week of classes in the 2024-2025 academic year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, we had our UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter party. This is a tradition of this wonderful student chapter that brings both students and faculty together who work in the areas of Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

It has been a very busy week, with many additional events, that I even blogged about, including the 2025 OIM Awards Celebration just the evening before. And, yesterday morning, for the first time ever, the OIM Department Chair Professor Senay Solak organized a retreat for the department.

I left the retreat early, since, as is also the tradition, my husband and I always bring warm varenyky/pierogies, kielbasa, and desserts.

Some faculty mistakenly thought the party was at 4PM, although the poster circulated stated that the start time was 4:30PM. We appreciate the enthusiasm.

There was a kerfuffle - with all the events happening now at UMass Amherst, because of the end of the academic year, the order for food that the Chapter President Ismael Pour (one of my PhD students) put in got cancelled in the last minute. He scrambled then to get food orders from Atkins and from the famous Antonio's Pizza in downtown Amherst.

The food spread was fantastic and took up two large tables in Room N135 in the Business Innovation Hub at the Isenberg School of Management. Besides the Ukrainian food and the pizza, there were veggie and fruit trays, cold cuts and cheeses, and different types of sandwiches.

Josh Gladstone did a great job slicing the Congratulations cake. 

We brought both potato cheese varenyky and cabbage varenyky and the cake with Congratulations on it we bought at Whole Foods, along with a wide assortment of cookies. There were also various desserts from Atkins and even a spread of baklava pastries from Stop and Shop. It was appropriate to celebrate with a Congratulations cake since this chapter, in October, received the Magna Cum Laude Award from INFORMS at the Seattle Annual Meeting. Also, several of our PhD student members: Semih Boz, Dana Hassani (last year's Chapter President), Ismael Pour, and Samira Samadi have had journal articles published this past year and others are in press!

We have hosted a variety of events and speakers this past academic year. We were delighted that Lorraine Martinelle, of the Isenberg Marcomm Department, wrote an excellent article on our events associated with a panel with the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) exchange students and the visit and talk of the KSE President Tymofiy Mylovanov from Ukraine:  https://www.isenberg.umass.edu/news/three-years-later-isenberg-reflects-umass-amherst-partnership-ukrainian-institution Two of the exchange students, Marharyta Nechytailo and Karyna Lutsenko, joined our party. Also, it was wonderful to see Dr. Natalia Bychkova from Ukraine, who has been teaching at Amherst College.

The student chapter aims to enhance networking, share scientific knowledge through seminars, and also to build community. The students also present their research in a tune-up before the INFORMS Annual Meeting each year. Lasting friendships are made (and even a few marriages) through the chapter. Its members come not only from the Isenberg School but also from the College of Engineering at UMass Amherst and from the Manning College of  Information and Computer Sciences.

I have been the Faculty Advisor of the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter since 2004.

To learn more about the Chapter, its Officers, and its activities, please, visit its website: https://websites.umass.edu/umassinf/

Outstanding Operations & Information Management Awards Celebration 2025!

Last evening, we had our second annual Operations & Information Management (OIM) Awards Celebration. Our Isenberg School of Management OIM Department, during this lovely evening ceremony and delicious buffet banquet at The Inn at Boltwood in Amherst, MA, recognized the outstanding award recipients.

Congratulations to ALL the amazing students receiving the awards last evening and to the recipient of the OIM Distinguished Alumni Award Brian Howell! The awards celebration was stunning - with excellent organization, thanks to the Department Chair Senay Solak, the Associate Department Chair Michele Burch, and our superb Office Manager Samantha Whittle. My colleague Dr. Oscar Lopez, took many photos of the event.  

The students inspire us: the OIM Exceptional Impact Scholarship Recipients: Joseph Ganley, Jasmine Tran, Anna Wagner, and Elizabeth Elvin; the Isenberg Senior Leadership Award Recipient: Shane DeRubeis; the Isenberg Academic Excellence Award Recipient: Fiona Tanikonda plus Hunter Edwards and Emma Dengler, both nominated for the William F. Field Alumni Scholar Award. Congratulations also to: Sydney Edlund, who received The NCG Operations and Information Scholarship Award and to Gavin Acocelli, the recipient of The Nagurney Scholarship. Gavin is still in Florence, Italy on an exchange program but will be back for the University of Massachusetts Amherst graduation. Kudos to Patrick Little on receipt of the RSM U.S. Foundation Consulting Scholarship and to Macy Ring for her receipt of the David J. Czarnecki Scholarship. Congrats to the OIM Elevate Scholarship Recipients: Treyden Finlay, Carolin Z., Julia Sheridan, and Nicholas Blinn! Bravo to OIM Elevate Scholarship (PhD) Recipients: Mantek Bhatia and Dana Hassani, who is my PhD student in Operations Management.

The above group photo includes faculty, Brian Howell, and also some friends. It was a truly memorable evening and the food was exceptional and included salmon, lovely salads, chowder, breads, and yummy desserts. Wishing our students all the best as they graduate and assume their professional careers! 

Thrilled that My Blackett Lecture paper, "NetwORks and Policies: OR to the Rescue," is Now Published and Free Access!

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to The Operational Research Society for publishing my  Blackett Lecture paper, "NetwORks and Policies: OR to the Rescue," in its flagship journal, the Journal of the Operational Research Society (JORS),  and for making it free to access through 2025! JORS recently celebrated its 75th anniversary and is the oldest journal in Operational Research (OR).

The full paper can be downloaded from the link:  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01605682.2025.2494706?src=exp-la#d1e107

For a post on the incredible experience of delivering the Blackett Lecture on December 5, 2024 at The Royal Society in London, England, click here: https://annanagurney.blogspot.com/2024/12/an-incredible-blackett-lecture.html

I have enjoyed, over the years, reading other Blackett Lecture papers and have even used several of them in my classes. Deeply honored to have been selected as a Blackett Lecturer and to be "in the company" of such former Blackett Lecturers as: Arnold Barnett, Luc Van Wassenhove, and William Cooper, who has since passed away.