March for Science on Earth Day in Amherst, Massachusetts

We just returned from the March for Science in Amherst, Massachusetts, which many said was the biggest march they ever recalled in our great town. Marches for Science were planned in over 600 cities on 6 continents today.

My husband made our signs - he is a Professor of Engineering and had the posts neatly nailed.

We had received the notice about the march from a colleague at UMass Amherst, Dr. Barbara Pearson, and had also read about it in our local paper.  If I had not been marching I would have been revising another paper and refereeing one for a journal; these activities could wait - the march could not.

Below are some photos taken from the march which took almost 30 minutes for us to process from Kendrick Park in Amherst to our Town Common where a sustainability fair was taking place since it is Earth Day!

What I found so impressive was the sense of community today and a true sense of purpose. Below are some photos taken of the March for Science in Amherst. Seeing colleagues from UMass Amherst and other colleges and universities, friends, and neighbors, along with many children and dogs, demonstrates how universal the importance of science is to us and our world.

 

It was terrific to see Dr. Linda Slakey, former Dean of NSF at UMass Amherst, and NSF program officer, who gave a marvelous speech before we marched!

It was also great to see my Operations Research colleague, Professor Erin Baker, and her husband, as well as to chat with Dr. Connie Daniel, a management professor and Isenberg School of Management PhD alumna! We also saw Professor Sigfird Yngvesson of UMass Engineering and my colleague, and fellow Ukrainian and lover of anything Swedish, Dr. Bogdan Propovych.

Now it's back to research (and proofing two students' dissertations, whose committees I am chairing) with renewed energy and support and also fortified with the best cappuccino anywhere on the planet, from Amherst Coffee!

Summer Scenes of Nature's Beauty

I have been back in US now for a couple of days and although I miss Sweden and Europe a lot, it is truly a beautiful time now in Amherst and western Massachusetts.

In between episodes of revising a paper this weekend, and waiting for a collaborator to respond, I took some hikes in nature in both Amherst and Deerfield and below I share photos of nature's beauty. Some locals may recognize Puffer's Pond and Old Deerfield.

Nothing like nature to inspire.

Photos of Spring in Beautiful Sweden

As promised in my previous blogpost, in this post I am including photos that I took this past week in Gothenburg, Sweden, where I spent 10 days, as part of my contract as a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. This visit overlapped with spring break at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I am a professor at its Isenberg School of Management.

Given that there is more cold and snow in the forecast for Massachusetts this week even though spring has arrived, at least on the calendar, the below photos, taken in central Gothenburg and in Haga, which borders the Business School,  will remind us that, hopefully, we will eventually see some flowers and milder temperatures in New England!

Welcome back from spring break!

With best wishes for a great rest of the spring semester!

Our Legislators' Vision Good for Healthcare and National Security

The below blogpost was written with Professor Ladimer S. Nagurney, Professor of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Hartford, CT.

Several years ago, we became interested in the Supply Chain of the Medical Nuclear Isotope Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) that decays into Technetium-99m (Tc-99m), which is used for countless medical tests, especially for cardiac symptoms and cancer diagnostics. At that time, no US reactor was generating Mo-99. As a result, this critical radioisotope that is used in over 50,000 procedures per day in the US with over 1000 procedures per year at Cooley Dickinson Hospital (our local hospital in Northampton, MA) had to be imported from reactors in Canada, Western Europe, and the former Eastern Bloc countries. In addition to the potential security problems caused by reliance on foreign sources, most of the isotope was generated in reactors using Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) fuel, which could, if not properly secured, be diverted to nuclear weapons.

Concern about the security of the supply of this radioisotope from medical professionals, scientists, and nuclear security experts led the House of Representatives in the 111^th Congress to pass the American Medical Isotope Production Act, sponsored by Representative (now Senator) Ed Markey (D-MA) and co-sponsored by Representative James McGovern (D-MA), whose district, after the 2010 census, now includes Amherst and Northampton.

Just over two years later, the results of these efforts are closer to being realized. Their legislative initiatives were fulfilled with the passage of Public Law 112-239 in January 2013, which includes Subtitle F —American Medical Isotopes Production as part of the Department of Energy National Security Programs.

In September 2013, NorthStar Medical Technologies, of Madison, Wisconsin, a manufacturer and distributor of domestically-produced radioisotopes for the nuclear medicine industry, was able to raise $13.5 million from private investors to begin production of Mo-99 at the Missouri University Research Reactor. According to a recent article in Physics Today, production will begin, following FDA approval, in mid 2014 and, by late 2015, Northstar should be able to produce 3000 six-day curies of Mo-99 per week, approximately half of the US demand for this critical radioisotope.

In November 2013, NorthStar was awarded a $21.8 million cooperative agreement that included $10.9 millionfrom the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear SecurityAdministration (NNSA) as part of its Global Threat ReductionInitiative. Currently, a large portion of Mo-99 is produced in reactors using Highly Enriched Uranium, HEU. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative aims to accelerate the development of a reliable, domestic supply of Mo-99 while reducing the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in civilian applications worldwide. NorthStar plans to develop non-uranium-based production of Mo-99 via neutron capture.

This funding will reduce potential supply shortages, address national security concerns associated with the use of HEU for civilian applications and reliance on foreign sources, and simplify the logistical complexities of the shipping and disposal of a highly radioactive isotope with long life byproducts. We discussed these issues in our book, Networks Against Time: Supply Chain Analytics for Perishable Products, co-authored with then UMass Isenberg School of Management doctoral students Min Yu and Amir Masoumi, and published in 2013.

As we look forward to the production of Mo-99 in Missouri and Northstar's new technology, we see the efforts of many scientists, engineers, medical professionals, public policy makers, and our outstanding elected officials bearing fruit (or Mo-99/TC99m, as it be). 

Our OpED of a few years ago, emphasized the severity of this issue.

Very glad to see such great progress made, thanks to our legislators in Massachusetts!

Dynamics of Disasters Symposium at AAAS in Boston

There is much that by working together we can achieve.

In particular, by bringing disciplines together to harness our skills and expertise, there is some hope that we can help to relieve some of the suffering associated with disasters, whether natural or man-made.

I have organized a symposium for the AAAS 2013 Annual Meeting, which will take place February 14-18, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. The symposium, entitled, Dynamics of Disasters: Harnessing the Science of Networks To Save Lives, will take place on Sunday, February 17. at the Hynes Convention Center.

I would like to thank the AAAS and AMS for supporting the proposal that described this symposium. 

I would also like to thank the experts who are luminaries in their fields of engineering, operations research and management science, and optimization and supply chains and logistics, for agreeing to take part in it. Without them. and their terrific work, this symposium would not be possible. 

The discussants are: Dr. Jose Holguin-Veras, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Dr. Tina Wakolbinger, Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria.

The speakers are:

Dr. David McLaughlin, University of Massachusetts Amherst, who will be speaking on
Chasing Storms Across Disciplines,

Dr. Laura McLay, Virginia Commonwealth University, who will speak about
The Emergency Medical and Fire Calls During Severe Weather Events, and 

Dr. Panos M. Pardalos, University of Florida, whose presentation is on Assessing the Vulnerability of Evacuation Plans via Critical Element Detection.

The motivation for organizing such a timely symposium was as follows: The number of disasters is growing as well as the number of people of affected by disasters, with accompanying societal and economic losses as vividly demonstrated by Superstorm Sandy and Hurricanes Katrina and Irene. The understanding of the dynamics of natural or man-made disasters is, hence, a problem of great importance globally.

However, due to the inherent nature of disasters, there are complex challenges: the critical infrastructure, including the transportation, logistical and communication systems, may have been severely negatively impacted and their functionality compromised; there is a short time window in which to respond with the critical needs products, which must be delivered in order to prevent loss of life and human suffering, and there may be great uncertainty due to the disruptions, among other complications.

Moreover, there may be different organizations competing for resources and the complex interactions may result in inadequate financing, inappropriate coordination and response, congestion, inadequate delivery of supplies, including of relief personnel, etc. This symposium focuses on the dynamics of disasters, through the prism of mathematical modeling and the science of networks, to address such issues as prediction, communications, response and recovery, and the resiliency of evacuation networks. This symposium is intended to be accessible to a general scientific audience and will communicate the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary approach for the investigation of critical real-world phenomena. 

We hope that you can join us for the AAAS 2013 Annual Meeting and for our symposium. 

No 4th of July Parade in Our Small Town -- How Sad

For a decade now we have all come to enjoy what has become a tradition -- the 4th of July parade in our small town of Amherst, Massachusetts.

Over the years, we have gathered with neighbors, friends, and even families of my doctoral students, who come from many different countries to celebrate Independence Day, which would begin with the parade from Amherst College to UMass Amherst at around 3PM.

This year, because of "funding woes," as reported on masslive.com, there will be no parade, which we have enjoyed immensely -- from the bagpipers, to the women doing something like square dancing on a moving truck, to the veterans, police and fire trucks from different communities, and even dancing horses. There were never many floats but who would not enjoy candy thrown out for the children and, sometimes, even apples distributed by Atkins Farms.

The parade marked a time when we came out as a community and one of my favorite comments was from a mother of one of my students, who had just received his PhD, Dr. Patrick Qiang,  and his wife had borne a son the day after his graduation from UMass Amherst. The "grandma" had traveled from China to help take care of the infant, who had been born in May, 2009. They all joined us for the 4th of July parade that year in Amherst, and, despite the blaring horns and sirens, the baby slept through it all. The grandma said that the police in the US, that she saw marching, were so much handsomer than those in China!

At least we have the memories of previous parades and you can see photos of them from last year here, from 2010 here, and from 2009 here.

Amherst somehow managed to mark its 250th anniversary with a parade, also back in 2009, although it rained on that parade. 

Our neighboring town of Hadley, Massachusetts put on a spectacular 350th anniversary parade in 2009 and photos can be viewed here.

Let's hope that the forecast does not knock out the fireworks tonight in our area!

Photos and Reflections on a Great Ice Show Today

Today the Wild Weather Ice Show took place at the FMC Ice Sports Arena in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

My husband and I shuttled several of my daughter's Deerfield Academy friends to the arena to watch the show and to see our daughter, Alexandra, skate in her senior solo. There is nothing like the cheering and enthusiasm of Deerfield students!

The event took place at 2PM and the show was fabulous. Skaters skated as soloists, in pairs, and in small groups and there were several invited skaters including Junior National ice dance competitors as well as adult skaters.

Skaters skated to such songs as "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," "Singing in the Rain," "Gone with the Wind," and even "Over the Rainbow" and "Let it Snow."

The emcee and organizer of this rousing show was my daughter's truly special coach, Ms. Suzy McCaughtry. She wrote a touching tribute to my daughter who is a senior at Deerfield that was published in the program. We can't thank Suzy sufficiently for the wonderful journey that she has taken our daughter on -- as her skating coach and mentor. Because of Suzy, my daughter has medaled at regional and national skating competitions, passed additional skating tests, was an invited soloist at the ice show at the 2012 Bay State Games at Williams College, and has had the opportunity to coach young skaters, whom she adores. All such experiences in just the past two years!

I wish that Alexandra could take her coach along with her to college next Fall.

Congrats to all the skaters today for such a memorable afternoon!

Photos of the Great Ice Show and Competition at the 2012 Bay State Winter Games at Williams College

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank and to congratulate Mr. Kevin Cummings, the Executive Director of the Bay State Games, along with the organizing committee, and all the volunteers for such a wonderful 2012 Winter Games that are concluding today in Williamstown, Massachusetts.


The figure skating competition has been a three day event with a highlight being the Ice Show that took place last night.

I very much appreciated the attention to detail, the parade of the athletes, along with their club banners, plus a wonderful late evening reception at the Williams Inn after the Ice Show last night.

Above are some photos taken yesterday of the activities, the banners, and the invited skaters at the Ice Show. Everyone had a fabulous time and it was very special to see my daughter, Alexandra, be one of the featured soloist skaters at the Ice Show last evening. You can see her skating performance at the 2012 Winter Bay State Games here.

The soloists and gold medalists all received special jackets, compliments of New Balance with the games logo.

Additional photos are available here.