A post from @wtgowers.bsky.social on math research with reasoning LLMs (e.g., ChatGPT 5.5-Pro). Having similar experiences and agree with his reflections. gowers.wordpress.com/2026/05/08/a...

Canvas appears to be up and running. Our admin has done a great job in keeping us updated, even providing instructions on alternative mechanisms to send emails. A lesson here is for us to have a local back-up server for basic functions should this happen again. #CANVAS #LLMs

Canvas, the LMS used in numerous universities, has been hacked. Not a good time for it to go down.

Simulation modelling helps test decisions before they happen in real life.  A core Operational Research method, it’s used to explore bottlenecks, risk, capacity and performance across complex systems.  Better decisions start with better testing.  #OperationalResearch #Simulation #OR

The deadline for applying is in two days. This is a marvelous opportunity for new graduates of IE departments and business schools. @informs.bsky.social I did get my first academic job through a connection I made at my first INFORMS conference! #ORMS

On a LinkedIn post that I had created on books that I've learned a lot from, I got nasty comments. Another post I shared on LinkedIn about an ongoing issue with the election of the INFORMS president, rude remarks again...I've deleted that entire post on the INFORMS election.

I just deactivated Facebook and am thinking of deleting my Twitter account. Initially many of us from the OR community joined Bluesky after leaving Twitter, but there's very little activity here now. I'm still on LinkedIn and will see how that goes.

📢 Calling job market candidates! Apply for the Job Market Showcase Track at the 2026 INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco (Nov 1–4). Senior PhD students, post-docs, and recent PhDs can connect directly with potential employers. 🗓 Deadline: April 30, 2026 🔗 meetings.informs.org/wordpress/an...

Research of my PhD student Joshua A. Afari, co-advised with Dr. Robert Marley, and with Dr. Jiaqiao Hu of Stonybrook Univ. as co-author. #Gratitude to all. The novel idea here is to solve the unequal-areas layout problem while reducing dead space. Open access: Read: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Research of my PhD student Joshua A. Afari, co-advised with Dr. Robert Marley, and with Dr. Jiaqiao Hu of Stonybrook Univ. as co-author. #Gratitude to all. The novel idea here is to solve the unequal-areas layout problem while reducing dead space. Open access: Read: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I remember reading about the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in an HS lesson. I had assumed that we would move towards peace with time. But that never happened: nuclear submarines, long-range missiles, and now drones.

Even back as an undergrad in Mechanical Engineering, I found myself drawn to a specific thread: Optimization. Really loved the mathematics in Mechanical Engineering but found systems and algorithms more fascinating! Delighted to support #ORAwarenessDay

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

Happy New Year to all my followers! Hope 2026 brings good news and peace to residents all over the 🌎! 🎉

In your IE/Systems/OR department, do PhD students usually teach an undergrad course (e.g., Linear Algebra or Engineering Econ.) after they've completed their own coursework? I remember doing that myself (for 3 semesters) as a PhD student and learning a significant amount from that experience.

Truly excited about teaching a course on Markov Decision Processes #MDPs after a gap of 8 years. #Gratitude to many for making this happen. Am making the notes from the first module publicly available here (comments welcome): simoptim.com/course-notes...

Please join us tomorrow for a timely panel & discussion on #supplychains & #vulnerabilities, thanks to The Democracy Forum, Lord Bruce & @humphreyhawksley.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyqP... @isenbergumass.bsky.social @umassamherst.bsky.social @informs.bsky.social @theorsociety.bsky.social

Scary: abcnews.go.com/US/passenger...

Plane crash: Ahmedabad, India, to London, UK www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

New addition to website optimization4all.com devoted to operations research, a repository for freely available material on #ORMS. Here is our latest case study w/ codes included for airline revenue management: airline-revenue-managment-or.streamlit.app Detailed write up: github.com/adhikaripraj...

An interesting new website just launched for folks in the optimization community. optimization4all.com

There has to be something wrong about a President openly taking a gift from a foreign entity.

The last week of classes for me. It has been a long semester. The last few months have not been easy for me or my siblings due to the passing of our mom. I'm looking forward to the summer now.

"Life is too short for wasting energy on anything that isn't mutual. I don't fear growing old. I fear losing myself just to please others. At this point in my life, I choose peace ---above everything else" Meryl Streep

The pandemic stole about two years from our life. Does anybody feel that way?

Do any of you in #ORMS take the journal impact factor into consideration when submitting a manuscript for peer review? I'm also v. interested in knowing what the younger generation is thinking for--let's face it--they are the future 😃

Interesting thoughts on research productivity from Higgs: www.theguardian.com/science/2013...

The Woman of the Campus Award, which is something very special & unique to Missouri S&T, will be announced today. Unfortunately, I have a lab scheduled for my Layout course at the same time. Please to attend if your schedule permits: econnection.mst.edu/2025/03/atte...

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I get almost no reaction here anymore. Is it just me or has interest in Blue Sky diminished?

Difficult news from Myanmar about the #earthquake & the devastating death toll. Many buildings were not designed to withstand an earthquake. Do you know we also have such buildings in St. Louis, MO, which is in an earthquake zone? #disaster simoptim.com/main/paper_d...

Overwhelming volunteer response to the EF2 tornado that struck Rolla recently, bringing the situation under control! #DisasterResponse www.phelpscountyfocus.com/news/article...

It's truly nice how my Yahoo calendar nicely synchs with my smartphone calendar, but I've never gotten the MS Outlook calendar to do the same 🤦‍♂️

Fantastic news for reinforcement learning and the Bellman equation! This McKinsey report shows they used #RL within a digital twin for process improvement! www.mckinsey.com/capabilities...

Fantastic news for reinforcement learning and the Bellman equation! This McKinsey report shows they used #RL within a digital twin for process improvement! www.mckinsey.com/capabilities...

The 72-hr period after the disaster is not a good time to collect data on disaster response, especially by physically visiting the affected area or even using drones. Let the cleanup & repair crews finish their work. Power is needed to save lives. Data on damage can be gathered later.

Lessons learned from the EF2 tornado that struck Rolla, MO on March 14: Downed electric lines on the roads are dangerous and have to cleared rapidly; plus, roads need to remain blocked until that happens. Best to minimize driving in the area until power is restored and all debris is cleared!

Last Chance to Book for #SW25! Join the 12th #Simulation Workshop (31 March – 2 April 2025) at Mercure Rougemont Hotel, Exeter. Highlights: 🔹Keynotes & panels 🔹Tutorials 🔹Networking & dinner 🔹Latest in simulation software Book now: https://f.mtr.cool/lcfoakyjws

Power has returned to many parts of Rolla but it's on & off in some areas. RMU folks have advised people to stay away from the streets, so they can finish their work. Terrible tragedy in other parts of MO where lives were lost.

"I believe that very soon — probably in 2026 or 2027, but possibly as soon as this year — one or more A.I. companies will claim they’ve created an artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I."

Anyone who needs a shelter for tonight can reach: First Baptist Church Ministry Center on 10th and Cedar. Temps will be nearly 33 at night, so if power is not restored by then, this is an option.

Never thought I would actually see a 🌪️ in my life. Rolla-ites stay safe! Watch on until 11 pm.

The Turing Award for Sutton and Barto is a well-deserved acknowledgment of their foundational contributions to reinforcement learning, particularly their work on actor critics and TD(λ), both of which have directly shaped modern RL. A day to celebrate and ignore critics of #RL and Bellman equation.

Joining us for #2025Analytics? Make sure to reserve your hotel room by March 13. #analytics #orms #datascience #AI #ML meetings.informs.org/wordpress/an...

The Turing Award for Sutton and Barto is a well-deserved acknowledgment of their foundational contributions to reinforcement learning, particularly their work on actor critics and TD(λ), both of which have directly shaped modern RL. A day to celebrate and ignore critics of #RL and Bellman equation.

Congrats Andrew and Rich, well deserved!! apnews.com/article/turi...

For those questioning academic research: I have ventured into industry to get some funding. FWIW: The science of preventive maintenance has roots in academic work. In airline revenue management: both DAVN (Glover et al in UC Boulder) and EMSR (Belobaba in MIT) models were derived in academia.

With #2025Analytics just around the corner, we kick off our Resoundingly Human coverage with an interview w Keynote Dick den Hertog, University of Amsterdam, who shares a look behind the scenes at his session, #Analytics for a Better World. #wickedproblems #hope hubs.ly/Q038LQ_z0

I'm looking forward to grading my first set of lab reports for the Layout course I teach. It's unusual to have labs in a Layout course, I know, but over the years, I've grown to like them---as I come to know all the kids well, and coz they see #ORSM in a hands-on manner 😃