Businessweek has now recognized the Operations Management (OM) program/major at the Isenberg School at UMass Amherst as one of the top programs in this specialty for 2010!
Click here for the full list of OM program rankings for 2010.
To make it to the top 25 (actually, we are number 21) speaks to the excellence of the education that our students are receiving.
But education is a two-way street, and the students that our major attracts are amazing and a joy and a privilege to teach.
Background on the determination of the Businessweek rankings in OM and other business specialties is available here.
Our students benefit from a rigorous core curriculum in business and take foundational courses in Management Science, Operations Management, and Quality Management. They select electives in such topics as: Transportation & Logistics (which I teach), Supply Chain Management, Simulation, Forecasting, Business Process Optimization, and Advanced Operations Management.
With recent faculty hires, we are even offering a course in Cybertechnology!
As for what our recent graduates are doing now?! Some are working in exciting startups, others in established well-known retail companies and high-tech companies, while others have positions in logistics and even in government and in the military.
Several of our OM majors have worked for prominent consulting firms and have gone on to receive their MBAs from Harvard or a PhD from MIT.
No matter where their life journeys take them, the critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills that our Operations Management majors acquire, coupled with excellent communication and writing skills, will serve them well. Plus, with the variety of student clubs that we have at the Isenberg School, there are numerous opportunities for our students to assume leadership and officer positions, to travel and to live abroad, to take on wonderful internships, and to engage themselves in community service projects.
Thank you, Businessweek, for recognizing our truly terrific Operations Management program at the Isenberg School!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
A Genius Rides the Acela Alone
The title of the OpEd piece in today's New York Times caught my eye: "The Seat Not Taken."
Then I saw that it was written by John Edgar Wideman, who had been on the faculty at UMass Amherst, where I teach, and, upon "retirement," joined the faculty of Brown University, my alma mater. You can find our "connections" on the Provost's page at UMass Amherst.
The OpEd piece was haunting and painful for me to read so I had to write about it since it moved me very much.
John Edgar Wideman is a Fulbright scholar, a MacArthur Fellow (considered to be a genius award), and an author of acclaim who has received numerous awards and honors for his writings.
In the OpEd, he writes how during his commutes from DC to Providence, Rhode Island, where Brown University is located, via the Acela train, the seat next to him is often vacant.
He writes: I’m a man of color, one of the few on the train and often the only one in the quiet car, and I’ve concluded that color explains a lot about my experience. Unless the car is nearly full, color will determine, even if it doesn’t exactly clarify, why 9 times out of 10 people will shun a free seat if it means sitting beside me.
I would give anything to be able to sit next to him for the 6 hour ride on the Acela from DC to Providence or from Providence to DC to just be able to talk to him!
In the transportation & logistics class that I am teaching this semester the students and I often exchange our travel stories around the world and we have especially noted some magnificent train rides (including some high speed ones) that we have taken in Europe. We have even discussed such dreams as highspeed rail throughout the US. How painful that someone of the stature of a John Edgar Wideman feels ostracized while riding the Acela in the US!
By the way, his daughter, Jamila Wideman, who graduated from our local high school, Amherst High, and then went on to captain the Stanford University women's basketball team and then played for the WNBA, was just last week honored by the high school. She is now a lawyer and works in NYC.
Then I saw that it was written by John Edgar Wideman, who had been on the faculty at UMass Amherst, where I teach, and, upon "retirement," joined the faculty of Brown University, my alma mater. You can find our "connections" on the Provost's page at UMass Amherst.
The OpEd piece was haunting and painful for me to read so I had to write about it since it moved me very much.
John Edgar Wideman is a Fulbright scholar, a MacArthur Fellow (considered to be a genius award), and an author of acclaim who has received numerous awards and honors for his writings.
In the OpEd, he writes how during his commutes from DC to Providence, Rhode Island, where Brown University is located, via the Acela train, the seat next to him is often vacant.
He writes: I’m a man of color, one of the few on the train and often the only one in the quiet car, and I’ve concluded that color explains a lot about my experience. Unless the car is nearly full, color will determine, even if it doesn’t exactly clarify, why 9 times out of 10 people will shun a free seat if it means sitting beside me.
I would give anything to be able to sit next to him for the 6 hour ride on the Acela from DC to Providence or from Providence to DC to just be able to talk to him!
In the transportation & logistics class that I am teaching this semester the students and I often exchange our travel stories around the world and we have especially noted some magnificent train rides (including some high speed ones) that we have taken in Europe. We have even discussed such dreams as highspeed rail throughout the US. How painful that someone of the stature of a John Edgar Wideman feels ostracized while riding the Acela in the US!
By the way, his daughter, Jamila Wideman, who graduated from our local high school, Amherst High, and then went on to captain the Stanford University women's basketball team and then played for the WNBA, was just last week honored by the high school. She is now a lawyer and works in NYC.
Mark Newman Speaks on Networks at UMass Amherst
I attended a very enjoyable colloquium yesterday in the physics department at UMass Amherst given by Professor Mark Newman of the University of Michigan and the Santa Fe Institute.
The title of his talk was: Epidemics, Erdos Numbers, and the Internet: The Structure and Function of Complex Networks
Abstract: There are networks in almost every part of our lives. Some of them are familiar and obvious: the Internet, the power grid, the road network. Others are less obvious but just as important. The patterns of friendships or acquaintances between people form a social network; the species in an ecosystem join together to form a food web; the workings of the body's cells are dictated by a metabolic network of chemical reactions. As large-scale data on these networks and others have become available in the last few years, a new science of networks has grown up, drawing on ideas from physics, math, engineering, biology, and other fields to shed light on systems ranging from bacteria to the whole of human society. This talk will examine some new discoveries regarding networks, how those discoveries were made, and what they can tell us about the way the world works.
I had hosted Professor Newman several Octobers ago, when Professor David Parkes and I organized an Exploratory Seminar on Dynamic Networks at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, so it was nice to see him back in Massachusetts.
Some of the network images that he used in his talk yesterday are available here.
His audience yesterday was comprised of physicists, engineers, and computer scientists and yours truly (plus some folks I could not name nor did I know their backgrounds).
His talk (with a wonderful delivery and enthusiasm) focused mostly on network structure, whereas my research focuses on a wide spectrum of networks where flows and user behavior matters, in addition to network structure, from supply chains to transportation networks and the Internet as well as economic and financial networks and electric power networks. He mentioned food webs which I could relate to since my work in network economics is being applied to fisheries. I told him afterwards that I would like to see more work in social networks that includes flows (as the work that I did with my former doctoral student, who is now a Professor, Dr. Tina Wakolbinger, does).
Also, as I tell my students, we in operations research/management science and even in economics can trace the literature on the subject even back to the mid1800s! Networks in terms of model formulations, applications, and even methodologies and algorithms have been major topics of scientific research especially beginning with the 1950s and beyond. The fascination with networks and novel applications have made the subject seem "new" to some and especially to disciplines, who have more recently discovered networks and are applying tools from their disciplines to their study.
The title of his talk was: Epidemics, Erdos Numbers, and the Internet: The Structure and Function of Complex Networks
Abstract: There are networks in almost every part of our lives. Some of them are familiar and obvious: the Internet, the power grid, the road network. Others are less obvious but just as important. The patterns of friendships or acquaintances between people form a social network; the species in an ecosystem join together to form a food web; the workings of the body's cells are dictated by a metabolic network of chemical reactions. As large-scale data on these networks and others have become available in the last few years, a new science of networks has grown up, drawing on ideas from physics, math, engineering, biology, and other fields to shed light on systems ranging from bacteria to the whole of human society. This talk will examine some new discoveries regarding networks, how those discoveries were made, and what they can tell us about the way the world works.
I had hosted Professor Newman several Octobers ago, when Professor David Parkes and I organized an Exploratory Seminar on Dynamic Networks at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, so it was nice to see him back in Massachusetts.
Some of the network images that he used in his talk yesterday are available here.
His audience yesterday was comprised of physicists, engineers, and computer scientists and yours truly (plus some folks I could not name nor did I know their backgrounds).
His talk (with a wonderful delivery and enthusiasm) focused mostly on network structure, whereas my research focuses on a wide spectrum of networks where flows and user behavior matters, in addition to network structure, from supply chains to transportation networks and the Internet as well as economic and financial networks and electric power networks. He mentioned food webs which I could relate to since my work in network economics is being applied to fisheries. I told him afterwards that I would like to see more work in social networks that includes flows (as the work that I did with my former doctoral student, who is now a Professor, Dr. Tina Wakolbinger, does).
Also, as I tell my students, we in operations research/management science and even in economics can trace the literature on the subject even back to the mid1800s! Networks in terms of model formulations, applications, and even methodologies and algorithms have been major topics of scientific research especially beginning with the 1950s and beyond. The fascination with networks and novel applications have made the subject seem "new" to some and especially to disciplines, who have more recently discovered networks and are applying tools from their disciplines to their study.
Sustainable Fashion Supply Chain Management Under Competition and Brand Differentiation
In an earlier blogpost, I wrote about our recent work in fashion supply chain management and in sustainable supply chain network design.
I am pleased to announce that one of my doctoral students, Min Yu, and I have completed a study of sustainable fashion supply chain management. In the study, which is documented in our research paper, we developed a modeling framework that captures competition in fashion supply chains in the case of differentiated products with the inclusion of environmental concerns. The model assumes that each fashion firm's product is distinct by brand.
Each fashion firm seeks to maximize its profits and to minimize the emissions that it generates throughout its supply chain as it engages in its activities of manufacturing, storage, and distribution, with a weight associated with the latter criterion. The model allows for alternative modes of transportation from manufacturing sites to distribution centers and from distribution centers to the demand markets, since different modes of transportation are known to emit different amounts of emissions.
The competitive supply chain network model advances the state-of-the-art of fashion supply chain modeling in several ways:
1. it captures competition through brand differentiation, which is an important feature of the fashion industry;
2. it allows for each firm to individually weight its concern for the environment in its decision-making, and
3. through a general network framework, alternatives such as multiple modes of transportation can be investigated.
In our paper, we also presented a case study, in which, through a series of numerical examples, we demonstrated the effects of changes on the demand price functions; the total cost and total emission functions, as well as the weights associated with the environmental criterion on the equilibrium product demands, the product prices, profits, and utilities. We noted that the environmental weights could also be interpreted as taxes and, thus, in exploring different values an authority such as the government could assess a priori the effects on the firms' emissions and profits.
The case study also demonstrated that consumers can have a major impact, through their environmental consciousness, on the level of profits of firms in their favoring of firms that adopt environmental pollution-abatement technologies for their supply chain activities.
I am pleased to announce that one of my doctoral students, Min Yu, and I have completed a study of sustainable fashion supply chain management. In the study, which is documented in our research paper, we developed a modeling framework that captures competition in fashion supply chains in the case of differentiated products with the inclusion of environmental concerns. The model assumes that each fashion firm's product is distinct by brand.
Each fashion firm seeks to maximize its profits and to minimize the emissions that it generates throughout its supply chain as it engages in its activities of manufacturing, storage, and distribution, with a weight associated with the latter criterion. The model allows for alternative modes of transportation from manufacturing sites to distribution centers and from distribution centers to the demand markets, since different modes of transportation are known to emit different amounts of emissions.
The competitive supply chain network model advances the state-of-the-art of fashion supply chain modeling in several ways:
1. it captures competition through brand differentiation, which is an important feature of the fashion industry;
2. it allows for each firm to individually weight its concern for the environment in its decision-making, and
3. through a general network framework, alternatives such as multiple modes of transportation can be investigated.
In our paper, we also presented a case study, in which, through a series of numerical examples, we demonstrated the effects of changes on the demand price functions; the total cost and total emission functions, as well as the weights associated with the environmental criterion on the equilibrium product demands, the product prices, profits, and utilities. We noted that the environmental weights could also be interpreted as taxes and, thus, in exploring different values an authority such as the government could assess a priori the effects on the firms' emissions and profits.
The case study also demonstrated that consumers can have a major impact, through their environmental consciousness, on the level of profits of firms in their favoring of firms that adopt environmental pollution-abatement technologies for their supply chain activities.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
President of Amherst College to Lead the New York Public Library
Dr. Anthony "Tony" Marx, the President of Amherst College, is expected to be approved today to head the New York Public Library. This news was reported in today's New York Times as well as in our "local" paper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
************An Update -- It is Now Official*******************
Dr. Marx will step down from his Presidency of Amherst College on June 30, 2011 to become President of the New York Public Library, with approval of the board.
Dr. Marx is the product of NYC's public schools and holds advanced degrees, including his PhD, from Princeton University. His wife is a Professor at Columbia University. He is a wonderful father and, in fact, just Monday night at a dinner for parents (his son and my daughter attend the same school), our tablemates were discussing how the 5 College System, which includes UMass Amherst, Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and Hampshire College, provides wonderful resources for our community in western Massachusetts.
Speaking of previous heads of the New York Public Library, Dr. Vartan Gregorian, served as President of the New York Public Library, and then became President of Brown University, my alma mater. Now he heads the Carnegie Corporation.
We wish Dr. Tony Marx the best in his very exciting new position in NYC!
Now, who will take over as President of Amherst College?!
************An Update -- It is Now Official*******************
Dr. Marx will step down from his Presidency of Amherst College on June 30, 2011 to become President of the New York Public Library, with approval of the board.
Dr. Marx is the product of NYC's public schools and holds advanced degrees, including his PhD, from Princeton University. His wife is a Professor at Columbia University. He is a wonderful father and, in fact, just Monday night at a dinner for parents (his son and my daughter attend the same school), our tablemates were discussing how the 5 College System, which includes UMass Amherst, Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and Hampshire College, provides wonderful resources for our community in western Massachusetts.
Speaking of previous heads of the New York Public Library, Dr. Vartan Gregorian, served as President of the New York Public Library, and then became President of Brown University, my alma mater. Now he heads the Carnegie Corporation.
We wish Dr. Tony Marx the best in his very exciting new position in NYC!
Now, who will take over as President of Amherst College?!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Experiential Marketing and the Negation of the Braess Paradox with the Wisdom of Crowds
I enjoyed reading the recent blogpost by the Texas-based marketing firm, bloomfield knoble, that discussed how waiting times during events such as visits to museums, amusement parks, and even to Vegas casinos should be manipulated to garner the best experiences for customers/clients. And speaking of Las Vegas, Adam Nagourney writes in the NYTimes that it needs help!
bloomfield knoble connected waiting times (think of standing in line to get to what you really want to do) in the context of marketing experiences with the Braess paradox, which identifies a situation where a new route, when added, under user-optimizing or selfish behavior, may result in an increase in travel time for all.
I was pleased that in bloomfield knoble's post my most recent work on the subject proving that the Braess paradox will be negated under a suitably high demand was also noted so that there is a wisdom of crowds phenomenon taking place.
The post also recognized that such paradoxes can occur in other types of networks (and not just in transportation ones), a related topic that I have done a lot of research on.
Coincidentally, recently, while teaching my Management Science graduate class I shared the story with my students about how one can reduce the perception of onerous waiting times by making the experience of waiting more pleasant. Those of us in this area of research and practice enjoy recalling how the waiting times for elevators to arrive can be reduced -- just add mirrors to the outer doors so that people can admire themselves and, perhaps, one another, and time will go by "faster." The same holds for how queues in banks or amusement parks can be designed or in playing music while customers are waiting for some service (but recognizing that not everyone has the same taste in music).
bloomfield knoble connected waiting times (think of standing in line to get to what you really want to do) in the context of marketing experiences with the Braess paradox, which identifies a situation where a new route, when added, under user-optimizing or selfish behavior, may result in an increase in travel time for all.
I was pleased that in bloomfield knoble's post my most recent work on the subject proving that the Braess paradox will be negated under a suitably high demand was also noted so that there is a wisdom of crowds phenomenon taking place.
The post also recognized that such paradoxes can occur in other types of networks (and not just in transportation ones), a related topic that I have done a lot of research on.
Coincidentally, recently, while teaching my Management Science graduate class I shared the story with my students about how one can reduce the perception of onerous waiting times by making the experience of waiting more pleasant. Those of us in this area of research and practice enjoy recalling how the waiting times for elevators to arrive can be reduced -- just add mirrors to the outer doors so that people can admire themselves and, perhaps, one another, and time will go by "faster." The same holds for how queues in banks or amusement parks can be designed or in playing music while customers are waiting for some service (but recognizing that not everyone has the same taste in music).
Friday, October 1, 2010
2010 Ig Noble Prizes Announced at Harvard
The annual awarding of Ig Noble prizes at Harvard (not to be confused with the Nobel prizes) is always very entertaining and fun. The ceremony took place yesterday and 5 (real) Nobel laureates, including Professor William Lipscomb (whose son was a classmate of my husband's) gave out these awards.
This year there are some terrific ones in transportation, management, engineering, and economics so enjoy the full list, which was reported on already in The Guardian and in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
My favorite "winner" on this year's list, which I had written about a few months ago on this blog, and noted that the researchers had not cited earlier relevant literature in transportation, was on:
Transportation planning: Toshiyuki Nakagaki of the Future University-Hakodate, in Japan; Kentaro Ito of Hiroshima University; Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi, Atsushi Tero, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, all of unidentified institutions; and Dan Bebber and Mark Fricker of the University of Oxford, "for using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks." (Paper: "Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design," Science, January 22, 2010.)
Actually, some of the out-of-the-mainstream ideas can be quite brilliant. For example, my work in Network Economics is now being applied to complex food webs and fisheries.
And the recipient for:
Management: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo, all of the University of Catania, Italy, "for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random." (Paper: "The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study," Physica A, February 2010.)
Coincidentally, I was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Business Administration at the University of Catania in Italy in 2008 and together with my collaborator there, Professor Patrizia Daniele, we organized a workshop on complex networks.
This year there are some terrific ones in transportation, management, engineering, and economics so enjoy the full list, which was reported on already in The Guardian and in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
My favorite "winner" on this year's list, which I had written about a few months ago on this blog, and noted that the researchers had not cited earlier relevant literature in transportation, was on:
Transportation planning: Toshiyuki Nakagaki of the Future University-Hakodate, in Japan; Kentaro Ito of Hiroshima University; Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi, Atsushi Tero, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, all of unidentified institutions; and Dan Bebber and Mark Fricker of the University of Oxford, "for using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks." (Paper: "Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design," Science, January 22, 2010.)
Actually, some of the out-of-the-mainstream ideas can be quite brilliant. For example, my work in Network Economics is now being applied to complex food webs and fisheries.
And the recipient for:
Management: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo, all of the University of Catania, Italy, "for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random." (Paper: "The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study," Physica A, February 2010.)
Coincidentally, I was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Business Administration at the University of Catania in Italy in 2008 and together with my collaborator there, Professor Patrizia Daniele, we organized a workshop on complex networks.
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