Juba Ziani, assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been named the 2025 recipient of the MIF Early Career Award from INFORMS. The purpose of the MIF Early Career Award is to recognize outstanding contributions to the theory or practice of OR/MS and service made by active members of MIF. The award recognizes exceptional researchers who have shown promise at the beginning of their academic or industrial career.

As part of the recognition, Ziani has been invited to present his work in the MIF Early Career Award session at the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta. His talk, titled “Towards Inclusive and Human-Centered AI: Research and Service at the Intersection of Algorithms and Society,” will take place on Monday, October 27, 2025.

In his presentation, Ziani will highlight how his research redefines fairness in algorithmic decision-making, treating it not simply as a technical requirement but as a property shaped by broader socio-economic contexts. His work leverages methods from computer science, operations research, and economics to study both immediate and long-term disparities and to evaluate the societal impacts of algorithm-driven systems.

“This award is a recognition not only of my research but also of the importance of building inclusive structures that support the next generation of researchers,” Ziani said.

Beyond research, Ziani has dedicated his career to supporting emerging scholars in the field. He has spearheaded initiatives such as ISyE-MS&E-IOE Rising Stars Workshop, in conjunction with Stanford University Management Science and Engineering and University of Michigan Industrial and Operations Engineering, and has served as Doctoral Consortium Chair for the ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO) for the past four years.

For more information on 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting, please visit the INFORMS website.