Anahita Khojandi

Associate Professor
Industrial and Systems Engineering
University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK)

Education

Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2014

M.S. University of Pittsburgh, 2009

B.S. Sharif University of Technology, 2008 

Professional Experience

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2014–present

Selected INFORMS and Related Activities

  • 2022–present: Chair, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEIC)
  • 2022–present: Faculty Advisor, INFORMS Student Chapter at UTK
  • 2022, 2020: Cluster Co-chair, Health Applications Society (HAS) Track, INFORMS Annual Meeting
  • 2021, 2020: Vice Chair and Ambassador Program Subcommittee Chair, DEIC
  • 2021, 2016: Organizing Committee, INFORMS Annual Meeting
  • 2019: Volume Co-editor, INFORMS Editor’s Cut, Diversity & Inclusion: Analytics for Social Impact
  • 2018: President, Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG)

Selected Professional Honors and Awards

  • First Place, Harvey J. Greenberg Research Award, INFORMS Computing Society, 2022
  • Volunteer Service Award, INFORMS, 2022
  • Best Paper Award of the Year, OMEGA – The International Journal of Management Science, 2021, 2020
  • Honorable Mention, George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award, INFORMS, 2014

Selected National Service Activities

  • Associate Editor, IISE Transactions, 2020–present
  • Associate Editor, Optimization Letters, 2022–present
  • Topic Editor, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2021–2022
  • Proposal Reviewer for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy (DOE)

Selected Publications

  • Baucum, M., Khojandi, A., Vasudevan, R. and Ramdhani, R. (2023). Optimizing Patient-Specific Medication Regimen Policies Using Wearable Sensors in Parkinson’s Disease, Management Science (forthcoming, https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4747).
  • Liu, Z., Ramshani, M., Khojandi, A. and Li, X. (2023). Optimal Utilization of Integrated Photovoltaic Battery Systems: An Application in the Residential Sector. IISE Transactions, (forthcoming, https://doi.org/10.1080/24725854.2022.2156003).
  • Baucum, M., Khojandi, A., Vasudevan, R. and Davis, R. (2022). Adapting Reinforcement Learning Treatment Policies Using Limited Data to Personalize Critical Care. INFORMS Journal on Data Science, 1(1), 27-49.
  • Liu, Z., Khojandi, A., Li, X., Mohammed, A., Davis, R. and Kamaleswaran, R. (2022). A Machine Learning-Enabled Partially Observable Markov Decision Process Framework for Early Sepsis Prediction. INFORMS Journal on Computing, 34(4), 2039-2057.

Vision Statement

First, I would like to thank the nominating committee for including me on the slate of nominees for the 2023 election. I am honored to be considered as a candidate for the VP of Membership and Professional Recognition, among all the impressive and dedicated candidates who have volunteered their time (and continue to do so) to make INFORMS a better and more inclusive society. 

Over the past few years, I have had the great honor of serving INFORMS members in various capacities, including president of the Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) and the chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. Through these experiences, I have had the opportunity to learn more about various aspects of how INFORMS operates and how it provides value to members. I have also had the chance to facilitate various cross-cutting activities, with an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity, focused on research, teaching, practice, and communication and community building, among others. My past roles have given me new insights into the broader INFORMS membership, and allowed me to interact with various volunteers and staff across INFORMS to better understand their goals and concerns.

The VP of Membership and Professional Recognition has to actively engage with activities that grow the INFORMS membership, maximize member engagement and satisfaction, and recognize members’ outstanding accomplishments. As such, the person taking on this role has to understand who our current and potential members are and what creates value for them. This includes understanding members’ professional backgrounds and aspirations, as well as ensuring they feel welcome, seen, and included. Aligned with the strategic goals of INFORMS, this further means advancing the science and technology of decision-making and championing our profession, while simultaneously and purposefully pursuing diversity, equity, and inclusion within our institution and in all we do.

In the role of VP of Membership and Professional Recognition, I plan to support and further the strategic goals of INFORMS and create value for the membership. This includes evaluating the composition of membership and how it may have changed over the past few years (practitioner vs. academician, U.S. vs. international, etc.) to identify (1) the areas of growth and see how to better serve these new members and ensure sustained growth; and (2) the areas with untapped potential and see how new services can be provided to increase engagement. This also includes looking into various diversity and inclusion metrics to examine where we stand in terms of member engagement and recognition, and how to address the areas where representation may be lagging. Another goal will be to create value for members beyond the meetings and conferences and engage them yearlong. This can potentially be accomplished through creating additional multimedia content, better leveraging social media, and providing additional mentorship programs with an emphasis on underrepresented groups. Lastly, one way to sustain the growth in INFORMS membership would be through building on the recent emphasis on the broader domain of analytics and engaging the audience working or doing research in data science. This goal can be pursued via various initiatives, such as creating new data science-related offerings, possibly through collaborations with other institutions that are active in the area. As the membership grows, however, there is a need for more formal documentation and communication of INFORMS’ values with members. This can be made possible through leveraging the current knowledge and infrastructure within INFORMS to ensure that all members feel welcome and consider INFORMS their professional home.

For more information, please visit: https://ise.utk.edu/people/anahita-khojandi/