Phebe Vayanos

Phebe Vayanos is an Associate Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, where she holds the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair in Engineering. She is also Co-Director of the CAIS Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society and the ORAI Interdisciplinary PhD Certificate Program.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Operations Research and an MEng in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, both from Imperial College London. Prior to joining USC, she was a lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and a postdoctoral research associate at MIT's Operations Research Center.

Dr. Vayanos's research focuses on advancing integer, stochastic, and robust optimization and their interface with machine learning, causal inference, and economics. Her work aims to create robust, interpretable, and fair predictive and prescriptive models for high-stakes domains, including:

• Public Policy: housing and organ allocation
• Public Health: suicide and substance use prevention
• Biodiversity Conservation

Her scientific awards include:

• NSF CAREER award
• Imperial College Emerging Alumni Leader Award
• USC Viterbi Junior Research Award

She is also a TED Speaker and participated in the Time 100 Impact Dinner for Extraordinary Women Shaping the Future of AI.

Dr. Vayanos advises students who have received awards such as the NSF GRFP and USC Discovery Scholar Prize. Her research is funded by:

• National Science Foundation
• National Alliance to End Homelessness
• Hilton Foundation
• Home for Good Foundation
• Homeless Policy Research Institute
• U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Army Research Office
• Schmidt Futures
• METRANS Transportation Center
• Zumberge Grant Program at USC

She serves as an Associate Editor for Operations Research, Management Science, Computational Management Science, and Operations Research Letters. Professional service highlights:

• Chair of the Committee on Stochastic Programming (COSP) since 2023
• Member of the INFORMS AI Roadmap Adhoc Committee
• Former member of COSP
• Former member of the INFORMS AI Strategy Advisory Committee
• Former VP of Communications for the Section on Public Sector OR (PSOR) at INFORMS

Dr. Vayanos leads research initiatives through the CAIS Center and ORAI program, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to address societal challenges using AI and operations research.