UC Berkeley IEOR Heads to INFORMS 2026 in San Francisco

INFORMS Annual Meeting Logo

The 2026 INFORMS Annual Meeting is coming to San Francisco this fall, bringing together more than 6,000 scholars, students, practitioners and industry leaders from Nov. 1-4. The annual gathering will showcase the latest research, methods and applications in operations research, artificial intelligence, analytics and data science in support of INFORMS’ mission to fuel “Smarter Decisions for a Better World.”

UC Berkeley IEOR faculty and alumni will be represented throughout the meeting’s leadership and program. Professor Alper Atamturk is serving as a general co-chair alongside Tim Jacobs, vice president of applied AI and machine learning at Walmart and a member of the UC Berkeley IEOR Advisory Board.

Several Berkeley IEOR alumni and faculty members are also helping shape the conference program. Simge Küçükyavuz, Ph.D. ’04, chair of industrial engineering and management sciences at Northwestern University, is serving as a program co-chair. Alexandra Newman, Ph.D. ’98, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Operations Research with Engineering Program at Colorado School of Mines, is serving as a community sessions co-chair alongside Berkeley IEOR Professor Zeyu Zheng. Jiaxi Zhu, B.S. ’14, head of analytics for Google’s Small and Medium Business division, and Quico Spaen, Ph.D. ’19, senior manager of applied science at Amazon, are serving as practice- curated sessions co-chairs.

Berkeley Professor Emeritus Michael I. Jordan will deliver the meeting’s opening plenary on Nov. 1. His talk will examine AI through a social and economic lens, challenging approaches centered primarily on individual cognition and exploring how social, cultural and societal dimensions of intelligence can be incorporated more fully into algorithm design.

UC Berkeley alum Karen Smilowitz will deliver Monday’s plenary, focused on the role of operations research in improving access to public education and informing public-sector decision-making. Smilowitz, Northwestern University’s associate provost for undergraduate education, is a professor whose research applies operations research methods to logistics and transportation challenges across commercial, humanitarian and nonprofit sectors.

Berkeley IEOR Alumni & Friends Reception

With the meeting taking place just across the bay, members of the Berkeley IEOR community are invited to reconnect during the department’s Alumni & Friends Reception from 8-10 p.m. on Nov. 2 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. The room location will be announced closer to the event date. You can register to attend the Alumni & Friends Reception at the link found here.

Student Volunteer Opportunities

Students can also get involved by volunteering to support conference operations, including welcoming attendees, providing directions, and posting signage. Students selected for the program will work one full conference shift and receive a Bonder scholarship, which will cover their registration to the 2026 INFORMS Annual Meeting.

Applications are due Aug. 28, and applicants must be student members of INFORMS. Apply through the INFORMS Student Volunteer Program.