Maryland Smith’s Michael Fu received a National Science Foundation grant for research to improve kidney transplants. The project combines technological advances in medical science with operations research and artificial intelligence-based approaches to dramatically improve the kidney donor-recipient matching process to lead to better outcomes for end-stage kidney disease patients.

Across business industries, leaders are interested in applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to their work, but knowing when to apply them is just half of the battle. The bigger challenge is knowing how to make sense of data and leverage it to make the right operational and strategic decisions.

Recognized for her tireless efforts toward enhancing the student experience and mission of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Ritu Agarwal received the UMD President’s Medal during the 38th Annual Faculty and Staff Convocation on Wednesday.

Often referred to as “superwoman” by colleagues for her tireless work, Ritu Agarwal has dedicated her career to enhancing the experience of students at Maryland Smith. Now, the Distinguished University Professor and Dean’s Chair of Information Systems will be recognized for her hard work and accomplishments as the recipient of the highest honor the University of Maryland bestows, the President’s Medal.

As courses convene for the new academic year, Maryland Smith is welcoming eight new scholars to its faculty. Tejwansh (Tej) Anand is joining the decision, operations and information technologies department as a clinical professor. Anand earned a PhD from Columbia University.

Hailing from a lineage of educators, Maryland Smith’s Zeinab Karake always believed she’d find a career in the classroom. To her, teaching isn’t just a profession, it’s a calling. Originally from Lebanon, Karake described how teaching has shaped her family’s lives. Her great-grandfather was the first teacher in their village and of her six brothers and sisters, four of them became teachers as well. In that sense, Karake says, her career path and future were set early on.

The U.S. military’s abrupt Afghanistan withdrawal has left social media companies facing a complex new set of policy decisions. Maryland Smith’s Jui Ramaprasad said the subsequent Taliban takeover is especially problematic for the likes of Facebook and YouTube, which categorize the Taliban as “a dangerous organization” in accordance with the group being sanctioned as a terrorist organization under U.S. law. Facebook, for example, applies the policy when it shuts down a Taliban-affiliated account.

Maryland Smith’s Ritu Agarwal was elected as a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). The honor is in recognition of her lifetime contributions to the profession and is reserved for only the very top academics and professionals in the field.

Maryland Smith’s Ilya Ryzhov is leveraging a three-year grant awarded by the National Science Foundation to continue research on predictive and prescriptive methods for humanitarian logistics and disaster mitigation.