Panel Discussion on “Barriers to Practice", whose goal is to discuss the impact on our research posed by laws that restrict engagement with diversity, equity, and inclusion and related concepts at institutions of higher education.
Here are some take-aways from the webinar:
- the importance and value of diversity for research teams
- the scale of political efforts to hinder diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at universities
- causes and rationales for anti-DEI legislation
- the impacts of anti-DEI laws on research, instruction and service on the part of faculty members and learning experiences of students
- ways that INFORMS members who wish to take action against anti-DEI laws can do so in a responsible and thoughtful manner, or find ways to accommodate these laws into their work that will not comprise their professional standards.
Panelists
Justin Boutilier, University of Wisconsin
Justin J. Boutilier is the Charles Ringrose Assistant Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Faculty Affiliate in Emergency Medicine at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His research focuses on combining optimization and machine learning to improve the quality, access, and delivery of healthcare in a variety of settings. He is particularly interested in global health projects involving emergency response or digital health technologies, and he has ongoing projects with local stakeholder’s in India, Kenya, and Colombia. Justin received his B.Sc. in Mathematics and Statistics from Acadia University, and his Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin, he was a postdoctoral associate with the Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab and the Center for Transportation and Logistics at MIT.
Julie Ivy, North Carolina State University
Julie Simmons Ivy is a professor in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Fitts Faculty Fellow in Health Systems Engineering. She previously spent several years on the faculty of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan. She also received her M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a focus on Operations Research at Georgia Tech. She is a President of the Health Systems Engineering Alliance (HSEA) Board of Directors. She is an active member of the Institute of Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS), Dr. Ivy served as the 2007 Chair (President) of the INFORMS Health Applications Society and the 2012 – 13 President for the INFORMS Minority Issues Forum. Her research interests are mathematical modeling of stochastic dynamic systems with an emphasis on statistics and decision analysis as applied to health care, public health, and humanitarian logistics. This research has made an impact on how researchers and practitioners address complex societal issues, such as health disparities, public health preparedness, hunger relief, student performance, and personalized medical decision-making and has been funded by CDC, NSF, Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the UNC Cancer Center.
Adrienne Lu, Chronicle of Higher Education
Adrienne Lu is a senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education, where she writes about politics in higher education and students, with a focus on underrepresented students. She has led the Chronicle’s reporting on legislation to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in higher education this year, including a web site to track legislation across the country targeting DEI. Prior to joining the Chronicle, she studied local government fiscal distress as a researcher at The Pew Charitable Trusts. She previously wrote about education and state and local governments for Stateline, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The (Bergen County) Record, The (Raleigh) News & Observer, and the Chicago News Cooperative. She is a graduate of Williams College and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University.