Today, we're talking about a topic that sits at the heart of the INFORMS mission: public engagement. While many people think of analytics and operations research as tools used in businesses, universities, or research labs, these disciplines also play an important role in informing public policy, improving government decision-making, and helping communities tackle difficult problems.

Joining me today is someone who has spent his career not only advancing the field, but helping others understand its value and impact. Jim Cochran is a professor at the University of Alabama, an internationally recognized educator, researcher, and advocate for analytics and operations research. He is also the recipient of the 2025 INFORMS Advocacy and Governance Committee Award for Public Engagement.

Earlier this year, we kicked off 2026 with INFORMS President Mark Lewis, talking about his vision for the year ahead.

Now, just after the INFORMS Analytics+ Conference – his first major event as president – we're checking back in to reflect on what we've seen so far, what stood out, and what's still ahead for the INFORMS community.

In this episode, we're diving into something every one of us experiences - but may not always think about strategically: customer relationships. Why do we stay loyal to some brands and leave others after one frustrating interaction? How are analytics and AI helping companies predict churn, personalize experiences, and build trust in a world where customers have more power than ever before?

Helping tackle these questions is Ankit Agrawal, whose work sits at the intersection of analytics, customer experience, and business strategy. We'll talk about what companies are getting wrong about loyalty, how CRM has evolved, and why the future of customer relationships may depend as much on empathy as it does on algorithms.

In the final epiosde of our special series highlighting the finalists of the 2026 Franz Edelman Award, members of the team from Microsoft share special insight on their project, which is transforming how global cloud infrastructure is supplied and delivered.

As demand for cloud services continues to grow, the logistics behind delivering the hardware that powers data centers have become increasingly complex. To meet this challenge, Microsoft developed a platform – the Intelligent Fulfillment Service – that combines machine learning, mathematical optimization, and generative and agentic AI to automate global shipment

This latest episode in the mini-series highlighting the 2026 Franz Edelman Award finalist featues members of the team from Google, whose project is advancing a new approach to managing energy and computing resources across the company's global data center network.

Data centers power the digital services we rely on every day, but they also require enormous amounts of energy. To address this challenge, Google developed a first-of-its-kind system that intelligently shifts flexible computing workloads across both time and location to take advantage of cleaner energy sources.

In this episode, we'll hear more about how this innovative system works and the impact it's having.

Each year, organizations from around the world demonstrate how advanced analytics and operations research are solving real problems at massive scale – and are recognized and celebrated by the INFORMS community with the Franz Edelman Award competition.

Joining me today are members of the team from NVIDIA, a global leader in accelerated computing and artificial intelligence.

As companies grow and their products evolve, the demand–supply networks that support them often become incredibly complex. To stay ahead of this complexity and remain responsive in fast-moving markets, organizations need smarter and more adaptive supply chain management systems.

To tackle this challenge, NVIDIA developed an AI-powered planning platform designed to maintain stability, responsiveness, and agility across their global supply chain. The platform brings together a full stack of advanced technologies, all working together to support intelligent supply chain planning at scale.

Today, we'll hear more about how this powerful combination of AI and optimization is transforming supply chain decision-making.

Each year, organizations from around the world demonstrate how advanced analytics and operations research are solving real problems at massive scale – from retail and logistics to healthcare systems, public services, and the complex networks that keep our world moving.

Joining me today are members of the team from India's Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), working in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme in India and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

Together, they developed Anna Chakra, an operations research–based decision support system designed to strengthen India's Public Distribution System by optimizing the logistics that move food across the country.

Today we'll hear how this ambitious project came together – and how operations research is helping transform food distribution at national scale.

Each year, organizations from around the world compete in the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award competition, demonstrating how advanced analytics and O.R. are solving real problems at massive scale.

In this episode, members of the team from Chewy, the largest online pet retailer and pharmacy in the United States, share how they tackled a challenge that sounds simple on the surface but becomes incredibly complex at scale: replenishment.

Using a science-driven suite of models, supported by a custom engineering platform and continuous analytics monitoring, the team transformed how Chewy manages purchase orders, safety stock, and inventory placement – all while accounting for unreliable data, supply uncertainty, and vendor constraints.

The result? Improved inventory placement, fewer split shipments, shorter shipping distances, and meaningful financial impact in a thin-margin industry.