The chapters in this year’s TutORials volume span a number of exciting topics in modeling, optimization, and decision making for contemporary OR/MS problems. The areas covered include machine learning, chronic disease modeling, food safety, financial networks, and production problems; methodological advances are presented for deterministic and stochastic optimization, as well as several heuristic approaches. Expert advice from practitioners involved in real-world applications is also provided.

The 2019 edition of the INFORMS TutORials volume features 10 chapters on the common topic of “Management Science and Operations Research in the Age of Analytics.” We are delighted to be able to present this exciting collection of chapters focusing on cutting-edge issues around collection of data, usage of data, data analytics, optimization analytics, as well their applications in important practical areas. The readers will find treatment of these topics in the chapters to be accessible yet rigorous, demonstrating a number of novel methods while addressing the issues of implementation. We group chapters in this volume around three overarching themes, as described next.

The TutORials in Operations Research series is published annually by INFORMS as an introduction to emerging and classical subfields of operations research and management science. These chapters are designed to be accessible for all constituents of the INFORMS community, including current students, practitioners, faculty, and researchers. The publication allows readers to keep pace with new developments in the field, and serves as augmenting material for a selection of the tutorial presentations offered at the INFORMS Annual Meetings.

The TutORials in Operations Research series is published annually by INFORMS as an introduction to emerging and classical subfields of operations research and management science. These chapters are designed to be accessible for all constituents of the INFORMS community, including current students, practitioners, faculty, and researchers. The publication allows readers to keep pace with new developments in the field, and serves as augmenting material for a selection of the tutorial presentations offered at the INFORMS Annual Meetings.