Workshop — May 2026

GenAI for
Operational
Decision-making

A single-track workshop exploring how generative AI and autonomous agents are transforming the way businesses make operational decisions — from inventory and pricing to scheduling and resource allocation.

Date
FRI May 8, 2026
Location
Columbia Business School
Format
Single-Track · All Day
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Can AI agents facilitate and augment operational business decisions that are typically made by humans and optimization algorithms?

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> Speakers: confirmed  |  registration: open
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Registration

$25: students  |  $50: non-students

We appreciate the generous support of the Columbia Business School AI in Business Initiative.

Register on Eventbrite
Speakers

The Lineup

Talks from researchers at the forefront of AI-driven operations.

Keynote
Yannai Gonczarowski
Harvard Economics and Computer Science
Keynote
John Horton
MIT Sloan School of Management
Keynote
Athul Paul Jacob
Percepta.ai
Keynote
Francis de Vericourt
ESMT Berlin
Talk
Jackie Baek
NYU Stern School of Business
Talk
Guanting Chen
UNC Chapel Hill Department of Statistics and Operations Research
Talk
Sharon (Xuan) Di
Columbia Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics
Talk
Nikhil Garg
Cornell ORIE @ Cornell Tech
Talk
George (Zhida) Gui
Columbia Business School
Talk
Yichun Hu
Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management
Talk
Akshit Kumar
Yale University Center for Algorithms, Data and Market Design
Talk
Andrew Li
CMU Tepper School of Business
Talk
Zhen Lian
Yale School of Management
Talk
Eugene Vinitsky
NYU Civil Engineering, Percepta.ai
Talk
Kaizheng Wang
Columbia IEOR
Talk
Linwei Xin
Cornell ORIE
Schedule

Friday, May 8

Four sessions across the day; each session consists of 1 keynote + 3 shorter talks.

📋 Program Overview

8:30 - 9:00
Breakfast
9:00 - 10:30
Session 1
10:30 - 11:00
Break
11:00 - 12:30
Session 2
12:30 - 2:00
Lunch
2:00 - 3:30
Session 3
3:30 - 4:00
Break
4:00 - 5:30
Session 4
6:00 - 9:00 PM
Reception at Baylander
A waterfront reception aboard a historic boat on the Hudson
Venue

Geffen Hall

Location Details

📍 Geffen Hall, 645 W 130th St, New York, NY 10027
🎤 Talks: Cooperman Commons (1st floor, Room 120)
🍽️ Breakfast & Lunch: Board Rooms (3rd floor, Rooms 310–330)
🥂 Reception: 6:00 - 9:00 PM at Baylander, aboard a historic boat on the Hudson
🚇 Nearest subway: 125th St (1 train)
Organizers

Organized By

Omar Besbes
Columbia Business School
Will Ma
Columbia Business School