Pitt INFORMS Student Chapter Builds Community, Makes the Grade

INFORMS, an international society for professionals and scholars in operations research, management services, and analytics, has recognized the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering INFORMS Student Chapter with a 2025 Cum Laude Award. The distinction highlights active chapters that make positive contributions across their department, university, and broader community.

Founded in 2009, Pitt’s INFORMS Student Chapter is comprised of approximately 20 industrial engineering graduate students who foster connections and help students develop academically and professionally in areas such as operations research, data science, and analytics.

“When I was a first-year PhD student, new to America, Pittsburgh, and the PhD program, I wanted to be more involved, and I heard about INFORMS,” said Soroush Akbarijokar, the chapter’s president last year. “They were hosting events both academic and social.”

Since getting involved, Akbarijokar has helped expand the chapter’s work. “Last year, with new members who wanted to contribute more, we reenvisioned how we conducted the organization,” he said. “Previously, we hosted events once a month, but we began doing it weekly.”  

These events include:

• Informal social gatherings.
• Coffee with faculty members.
• Guest speakers.
• Mock qualifying exams or research presentations.
• Workshops to teach undergraduate students skills like Python coding.

“Qualifying exams can be extremely stressful,” said Akbarijokar. “The opportunity to practice them or practice delivering an academic paper is so useful, especially for non-native English speakers.”  

The chapter also reaches out to undergraduates in industrial engineering and related fields like math and economics to discuss operations research and what a graduate pathway might look like.

For Rie Huntington, the effects of this outreach altered his trajectory. “As an undergraduate here at Pitt, I wasn’t sure about pursuing a PhD,” he said. “I didn’t know much about it.”

That changed this past February, when members of the INFORMS Student Chapter shared their experiences in graduate school to prospective undergraduates.  

“They showed us around their offices and took us to dinner,” Huntington said. “They made an unfamiliar environment feel more familiar and less insurmountable.”

Today, Huntington is the chapter’s treasurer as he pursues his PhD.

Beyond the Swanson School and Pitt, last year members of the chapter visited Pittsburgh Woolslair PreK – 5 STEAM magnet school. “We taught fifth grade students math using examples of operations research and optimization,” said Jared Lawrence, the chapter’s current president. 

The visit was a success. “We simplified the math and chose accessible problems,” said Prem Shenoy, a second-year PhD student who served as the events coordinator last year and is now the chapter’s secretary. “Events like these are important because there are always students who realize that this kind of work interests them, that it’s something they could pursue.”

“Our INFORMS student chapter has been invaluable to Pitt’s industrial engineering community,” said Lisa Maillart, Professor and Chair of Industrial Engineering. “Their work promoting the field and creating a welcoming culture fuels success across our department.”

“Doctoral programs can be isolating,” said Huntington. “You're doing research that few others understand, working all day at a computer, which can be tough.

“Community makes challenging situations more bearable, and creating community is something that our department does well.”