INFORMS Open Forum

Call for Abstracts – 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting

Railway Applications Section (RAS) Invited Sessions

Dear fellow RAS members,

The 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting will take place in Atlanta, October 26–29, 2025. The INFORMS Railway Applications Section (RAS) is introducing a new centralized system for abstract submissions to streamline the organization of RAS-sponsored sessions.

If you would like to be considered for an invited presentation slot in a RAS session, please complete this submission form by May 21, 2025.

Important Guidelines:

• INFORMS limits one presentation per attendee. Therefore, please submit only one abstract as the presenting author.
• You may still be listed as a non-presenting co-author on other submissions.

Submitting Your Abstract:

To ease the transition to this new system, members may also submit abstracts directly to the RAS cluster chairs or session chairs listed below. If you use this method, please include:

• Presentation title
• Abstract
• Author(s)
• Email address
• A few relevant keywords

Use the subject line: "RAS Presentation Submission – 2025 Annual Meeting" in your email.

RAS Invited Sessions and Chairs

·        Session: Optimizing Passenger and Freight Rail with Energy and Automation Perspectives

• Chair: Xuesong (Simon) Zhou, xzhou74@asu.edu

·        Session: AI and OR Applications in Freight Railroad

• Co-Chair: Nikola Besinovic,  nikola.besinovic@tu-dresden.de
• Co-Chair: Daniel Haalboom, jelle_daniel.haalboom@tu-dresden.de

·        Session: Transportation Network Optimization

• Chair: Krishna Jha, krishna.jha@optym.com

·        Session: Operations Research and Analytics at Norfolk Southern

• Chair: Yudi Pranoto, yudi.pranoto@nscorp.com

·        Session: RAS Student Paper Competition

• Chair: Marcella Sama, marcella.sama@uniroma3.it
• Co-Chair: Pengling Wang, pengling_wang@tongji.edu.cn
• Co-Chair: Nikola Markovic, nikola.markovic@utah.edu

·        Session: RAS Problem Solving Competition

• Chair: Marty Schlenker, marty@schlenkerllc.com

·        Session: Round Table on Trending Topics in Transportation

• Marc Meketon, marc.meketon@villanova.edu

We look forward to your submissions and another impactful RAS presence at the INFORMS Annual Meeting.

Best regards,

INFORMS Railway Applications Section (RAS) Cluster Co-Chairs

Clark Cheng - clark.cheng.railtek@gmail.com

Carl Van Dyke - carl@cvdzone.com

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Peiran Han
Public Relations Officer, Railway Applications Section
Beijing Jiaotong University
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