Teaching Face to Face in the Pandemic - The First 3 Weeks

It has been exciting, and quite interesting, to be back to teaching face to face at UMass Amherst in the pandemic.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, I was on sabbatical for that spring term, and, hence, was not teaching.

Last academic year the instruction was done remotely, except for a few classes at the Isenberg School of Management. Hence, I taught all my courses in the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 remotely via Zoom. It was a novel experience, especially since I had never taught online before. With the right technology, coupled with a lot of energy and creativity, the courses actually worked out quite well. A big plus was being able to host remarkable guest speakers, who are top professionals, in classes (and the speakers did not have to travel but could Zoom in even from Europe). 

The students regularly showed up to my Zoom office hours and I got to know many of them as individuals. Quite a few continue to stay in touch, even though they have now graduated!

UMass Amherst has a vaccination mandate (with exceptions for medical and religious reasons) for students, faculty, and staff, so that has provided some reassurance even with the Delta variant. Of course, there are still hundreds who are not vaccinated.

Also, UMass Amherst has a mask mandate inside buildings and students have to be masked in classes (although, strangely, faculty do not, and this has been bothering me a lot but this policy, to date, has not been changed). I am teaching with an N95 mask my Transportation and Logistics course.

It is very clear to me that students are glad that the instruction is now face to face. The first two lectures (I have now taught for three weeks) I reminded the students that the masks must be worn so that they cover their noses and mouths. If a student needs to drink, then the student should leave the classroom, and do so outside the room. The students have been truly wonderful at complying. They care about the health and safety of all and doing their best so that we can continue to have the university open and classes conducted in person.

Some features of  "remote" learning remain, which are actually positives. Assignments, lecture notes, and homeworks are all posted on Blackboard. This saves paper and the environment and the grades are easy to calculate but the "marking" of the homeworks can be challenging since it is much easier to write on paper. The students have gotten used to submitting homeworks online and this positive feature remains.

Also, and this is also advantageous pedagogically, when we were teaching (and learning) via Zoom, the classes were recorded and I would post the videos on Blackboard. Students, could then go back to review the material. This feature was very convenient and helpful.

Now, each of my classes (I had to have a classroom switch, due to several issues, including broken windows and technology that did not work) is recorded via Echo 360. I post the videos of the classes on Blackboard. Last year, I taught synchronously on Zoom and I liked the fact that we had a set schedule, which provided a nice rhythm to the week with the class meetings and also office hours. The students very much appreciated that the classes were "live" and not prerecorded (asynchronous teaching and learning).

I emphasize to the students that they must let me know if they will be missing a class and that is certainly happening in the pandemic. Having recordings of class meetings helps, but being healthy and in class is the best. The courses I teach are quite technical and having students ask questions while the class is in session can save a lot of time and enhances learning. 

I make sure that a window is open and the door to the classroom as well for ventilation since a layered approach to minimizing risk and contagion is important. Even the vaccinated can transmit the Delta variant so one has to be very careful.

So far, the teaching in person experience (once I got a new classroom) has been enjoyable and rewarding, despite it being the pandemic. 

I receive many "Thank you!s" after each class, which makes my day. I hope to instill the passion that I have for the subject in my students.

I am sure that this semester will bring new challenges, but, so far, I am feeling, more or less, "safe" and I love teaching my Transportation and Logistics class and interacting with the students in person.

Now, if only my PhD student had gotten his visa in time, so that he could be my TA. He is scheduled to arrive now in Spring 2020.

Fabulous Talk by Professor Mike Knodler on Transportation Safety and Operations with Cake Before!

Today we had the pleasure of hearing Professor Mike Knodler from the UMass Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering speak in our UMass Amherst INFORMS Speaker Series.

Dr. Knodler in the Director of the UMass Transportation Center, which includes the UMass traffic Safety Research program. We were all very much looking forward to his presentation and it was fascinating and very dynamic!

The morning began with a celebration of the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter's receipt of the Cum Laude Award from INFORMS at the INFORMS Conference in Phoenix, earlier this month, complete with a cake.

And we took a photo of the officers present.

It was great for the audience to have a chance to mingle with the speaker and one another before the presentation.

 And we enjoyed Dr. Knodler's Transportation Center socks - great branding!

Professor Knodler was introduced by this year's Chapter President, Katerina Deliali.

Professor Knodler began his presentation with the question: "What is OR (Operations Research)?" and stated that their work in transportation is to get OR into practice. He emphasized the incredible diversity of transportation and that the Center has 100 different funded topics in 60 different areas. The UMass Transportation Center links researchers with practitioners and now even includes an Aviation Center with an air traffic control simulator. Several of those affiliated with the Center are also conducting research on drones.

In his presentation he described some of the innovations to enhance traffic safety from signals to infrastructure design and also emphasized that recently the number of traffic deaths have been increasing in the US. He highlighted the many different modes of transportation introduced fairly recently, from electric bikes and scooters to under development, even hovercraft. He also spoke about complete streets and complete networks.

A highlight was when he brought out a Segway (and then another one was delivered) and brave members in the audience had the opportunity to ride one.

What very much impressed me was how the research done at the Transportation Center has become policy not only in the state of Massachusetts but even nationally.

After the great presentation and exciting Q&A we took a group photo.

Then it was time for lunch at the University Club and continuing conversations. Professor Knodler, though, had a meeting, and had to miss the desserts.

We thank Professor Knodler for taking the time out of his very busy schedule to share with us the exciting contributions of his research group and the UMass Amherst Transportation Center!

For more photos, do check out the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter writeup by Haris Csipetas.

Airport Security (or Lack Thereof) at a Remote Airport

Now that I am (safely) back from almost two weeks of air (and other) travel in Europe to speak at conferences, I can reflect on my observations regarding airport security (or lack thereof).

As an academic, I speak at conferences frequently, and especially, as a female, I believe that it is very important to, when asked, to accept invitations to give plenary talks. Such invitations brought me recently to the 2010 Computational Management Science conference in Vienna, Austria and to the Yalta Optimization Conference in the Crimea, Ukraine.

I was traveling to these conferences alone.

What struck me in a dramatic fashion was the different levels of airport security. My journey began on July 26, 2010, when I flew out of Logan airport in Boston and I flew on a total of 8 different flights over the subsequent 12 days, getting back to Boston on August 5 (and landing just before a major thunderstorm hit the area).

I conduct research in operations, with a focus on transportation, logistics, and network systems, and have a special interest in risk management and safety and security issues.

The airport security at Logan was, as one would expect, visible and thorough, and all air travelers had to remove their shoes, jackets, etc., while passing through security, and to have their liquids in plastic quart bags. My journey took me through the Frankfurt airport (en route to Vienna and then back from Vienna to Boston after my conference in Ukraine). Strangely enough, passengers did not need to remove their shoes (which is standard in every airport that I have flown through in the US in the past several years) when going through security at the Frankfurt airport but we did have to have the liquids that we were carrying through security in appropriately-sized plastic bags.

After my conference in Vienna (please see my earlier blogposts with photos on this great experience) I flew to the Simferopol airport, which is in the Crimea, Ukraine, through Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. My flights in Ukraine were on Ukraine International Airlines, and they were, unexpectedly, very comfortable and delightful.

The Yalta conference was a fascinating experience scientifically, culturally, and also personally, since this was my first trip to Ukraine, the country of the birthplace of my parents (and Ukrainian is my first language with Russian being my fifth).

Landing at the Simferopol airport, we disembarked under the skies, which were turning to dusk to a welcoming by a sea of taxi drivers (you can read about my driver "Igor" here). I urge all passengers to use the facilities of your airplane before disembarking your plane here since the restroom facilities are shocking (see bottom photo above). Not only is handicap-accessibility unknown but one has to lug the suitcases down slippery steps and then go up and down and then up again to reach a stall (with small wooden door) featured above. Yes, folks, I had nightmares after this travel experience and I have been to many countries.

After the conference in Yalta, on August 4, 2010, I was back at the Simferopol airport to take my flight to Kiev and then onwards to Vienna before I would begin my journey back to Boston via Frankfurt.

The almost gingerbread-looking house above is the terminal for intra-Ukraine flights. The landscaping, also featured above, is rather delightful. I noticed two gentlemen walking towards this terminal who were clearly tourists and who I had overheard speaking German so I spoke to them and they also spoke English (English is my second language and German my fourth). They were on my flight (see them drinking coffee above in the tiny airport coffeeshop) and, coincidentally (despite our flight being not even 1/3 full), had received seats next to me (21A,B,C). Some weird assignment algorithm must have been used for our seat allocation (or, perhaps, the gate agent just thought we were traveling together although we checked in separately).

Now for the punchline, at security at the Simferopol airport, not only did we not have to remove our shoes, we did not have to remove our plastic bags with liquids, AND we were all carrying large plastic bottles of water since it was so hot! Once the three of us passed the so-called security, we looked at one another with wide eyes. One of the Germans remarked that he was praying that the plane would not blow up. He was a physicist and even made sure on our flight that folks had their electronic equipment turned off upon takeoff and landing.

Waiting to board we were filled with anxiety and the plane (a Boeing) taxied for 15 minutes on a jetway with cracks and grass growing through. One of my new "friends" commented that if we were to have an emergency landing that it would be softened by the grass. Nothing like humor and jokes to alleviate some of the tension. We promised to all hold hands in the case of a "crash" landing.

Well, we made it to Kiev, transfered to the international terminal, whose main feature was the Irish Pub, and we hung out together until they were off on towards Dusseldorf and I was off to Vienna. My overnight at the NH hotel by the Vienna airport was heavenly and, if I am ever stuck, for some reason, at the Vienna airport, where you certainly can't starve, I will definitely stay at this terrific business hotel.