# Blog: Public Impact Analytics Science (PIAS) Sort & Filters close ## Filters Publish Date expand\_more 2021 (4) 2022 (1) 2023 (2) 2024 (2) 2025 (1) 2026 (1) Search Within Results Search Within Results search ## 11 results Show filters filter\_alt Sort by NewestOldestAlphabetical A-ZAlphabetical Z-APublish Date (DESC)Publish Date (ASC) sort list grid\_view ## 11 results [### Preparing AI for Sequential Decision-Making — and Why It Matters ](/news/2026/06/preparing-ai-sequential-decision-making-and-why-it-matters) June 18, 2026 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) From a few demonstrations to a near-optimal policy: fine-tuned LLM reasoning across time. Large language models (LLMs) have become remarkably good at learning from examples on the fly. Show a pretrained... ![AI](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/Picture1_1.png?itok=ku0ARRGv) [### Ambiguity Versus Risk in Sequential Decision-Making: Incomplete Information, Causal Inference, and Reinforcement Learning ](/blog/ambiguity-versus-risk-sequential-decision-making-incomplete-information-causal) February 08, 2021 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) Sequential decision-making requires one to know, or at least anticipate with confidence, the future consequences of the decisions that will be made today. The vast majority of the analytical tools in... ![AI](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/Picture1_1.png?itok=ku0ARRGv) [### What AI is Lacking: Insight-Driven Problem Solving ](/blog/what-ai-lacking-insight-driven-problem-solving) February 17, 2025 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) Photo Credit: DALL.E 2025 While computers in the age of AI possess the ability to follow data-driven problem solving approaches, they largely lack what is needed to solve complex and lingering societal... ![inisgh-driven](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/a_conceptual_digital_illustration_emphasizing_prob.jpeg?itok=OMb27p4x) [### Digital Phenotyping: Analytics Science from the Inception of Computer Networks (Data Pushing) to the Age of Fitbit Data (Data Pulling) ](/blog/digital-phenotyping-analytics-science-inception-computer-networks-data-pushing-age) November 30, 2024 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) Photo Credit: DALL.E 2024 About half a century after Erlang invented the queueing theory, an analytics scientist named Leonard Kleinrock developed a mathematical theory for the efficient routing of data... ![Fitbit Data](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/fitbit.jpg?itok=G6N4waeg) [### The Public Impact of Using Observational Data to Enhance Efficiency and Effectiveness: From COVID-19 Vaccines to Startups to Emergency Rooms ](/blog/public-impact-using-observational-data-enhance-efficiency-and-effectiveness-covid-19) June 06, 2024 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) Photo Credit: DALL.E 2023 In February of 2021, a significant problem was on top of mind for many officials across the globe: are recently developed COVID-19 vaccines effective enough to end the terrible... ![closure](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/closure.png?itok=1cM_swHp) [### AI, Human Rights, and Public Impact: Promises and Risks ](/blog/ai-human-rights-and-public-impact-promises-and-risks) December 21, 2023 Soroush Saghafian Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) Note: This is a short piece I recently wrote as part of a university-wide article that aimed at celebrating the 75 th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To... ![Photo Credit: DALL.E 2023](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/aihumanrightpublicimpact.jpg?itok=lNz2Z7Mt) [### The Analytics Science Behind ChatGPT: Human, Algorithm, or a Human-Algorithm Centaur? ](/blog/analytics-science-behind-chatgpt-human-algorithm-or-human-algorithm-centaur) January 10, 2023 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) Note: a more detailed version is here. Figure: Image of Chiron the Centaur in Daniel Le Clerc, Histoire de la médecine … (Amsterdam, 1723), p. 30. Developing analytics science methods that can enable... ![Centaur](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/centaur.jpg?itok=lhaZ_3yR) [### The Public Impact of Queueing Theory: From Queen Elizabeth to Internet to Emergency Rooms ](/blog/public-impact-queueing-theory-queen-elizabeth-internet-emergency-rooms) October 12, 2022 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) Figure: A map of the long queue formed for Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 [Credit: Kim Mogg / NationalWorld] On September 8, 2022 Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II— the longest reigning monarch in... ![A map of the long queue formed for Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/queen_queue.jpg?itok=zDED1j1x) [### The Public Impact Analytics Science Behind Mobile Health (mHealth) and Digital Health Interventions ](/blog/public-impact-analytics-science-behind-mobile-health-mhealth-and-digital-health) August 27, 2021 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) “Failure doesn’t exist. It’s only a change of direction.” [Alejandro Jodorowsky] Traditionally, healthcare delivery mechanisms have been limited to both the availability of a provider (e.g., a physician)... ![mHealth](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/mHealth.jpg?itok=RLGdRRZ1) [### Successful Public Impact Analytics Science in the Era of Information and Algorithmic Transparency Movements ](/blog/successful-public-impact-analytics-science-era-information-and-algorithmic) March 16, 2021 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) In this post, I argue for a new minimum transparency criterion for developing successful analytics science methods and algorithms that are aimed at having a positive public impact: making sure that they... ![picture1](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/picture1.jpg?itok=zj9Emfdg) [### The Public Impact Analytics Science Blog ](/blog/analytics-science-blog) January 24, 2021 Blog Series: PUBLIC IMPACT ANALYTICS SCIENCE (PIAS) In my blog posts I discuss how techniques in analytics science can impac the life of many indivuals. Stay tuned. ![pic](/sites/g/files/omnuum11646/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/saghafian/files/pic.jpg?itok=rmX3yj0F)