OR podcasts by INFORMS

It has been a hectic summer for me. I have inadvertently learning much about scheduling under uncertainty, critical paths, and why filling your schedule to capacity is actually really inefficient.

But I am finally taking some time out of my schedule to catch up with the INFORMS OR podcasts.

The first podcast is an interview with Dr. Michael W. Carter (from the University of Toronto) regarding health care research. The podcast deals with a number of issues, but my favorite part was about hospital emergency room data. One of Carter’s pet projects is to create a minimum data set for hospitals. No one is collecting the right kind of data. This reminds me of some of my EMS research. I have access to excellent data, but sometimes what I really need is not recorded or easy to glean from the data (e.g., first responder data, response time from the patient point of view). Working with a local county government to rebuild the CAD system to start collecting data that can aid in decision-making is an important part of OR research. I’m not sure if this work is publishable, but it will certainly be used to save lives, which makes it infinitely rewarding.

The second podcast is an interview with Karl Kempf from Intel regarding OR efforts that have saved millions of dollars.

The INFORMS podcast is a reminder that I, too, started a Punk Rock OR podcast last year, and it is about time to get started on another episode.  I promise to have another edition soon!