Rest in Peace, Nobel Laureate Kenneth G. Wilson

My husband, who has a PhD in physics, told me the sad news today that the Nobel laureate in physics, Dr. Kenneth G. Wilson, has died.

I remember him so fondly, since in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was heavily involved in supercomputing and parallel processing and utilized the Cornell National Supercomputer Facility, which Dr. Wilson led. I had heard hi speak on several occasions and enjoyed his vision very much.

I also served for several years on the National Allocation Committee for time at this supercomputer facility, which utilized primarily IBM computers.

My work there blended computational economics with operations research and many applications to spatial economics. I would fly to Ithaca several times a year and always enjoyed my time there.

In addition, IBM at that time would host outstanding short workshops on various themes in idyllic Lech, Austria and I spoke both at the Computational Economics one there and at the Computational Finance one and recall even seeing Dr. Alan King of OR/MS fame at one of them.

After Dr. Wilson's extended time at Cornell he then joined the faculty at Ohio State University.

He enjoyed hiking especially in the Dolomites, the Swiss Alps, and in New Zealand and he got many of his ideas while hiking. I do as well.

Rest in Peace, Dr. Wilson -- you will be missed.

An obituary on Professor Wilson is here.

The Anonymous $350 Million Donor is Revealed and It Is a Cornell Alum

He always flies coach. He does not own a house and his watch cost $15.

The mystery man who gave $350 million to Cornell to support the new science center that it was awarded yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg of NYC, in partnership with Technion of Israel, has now been revealed.

The magnanimous donor is a Cornell University alum, who graduated from its School of Hotel Management in 1956.

His name is Mr. Charles F. Feeney, and The New York Times has a wonderful article on him and his generosity and vision. He views this initiative as transformational and I concur.

According to The Times, Cornell and Technion promise to start offering classes next September in temporary space, and to complete 300,000 square feet of space on Roosevelt Island by 2017 and more than 2 million square feet by 2037. Plans call for about 280 faculty members and 2,500 students in master’s and doctoral programs, a larger contingent than the universities had proposed a few months ago.

The schools have also committed to training at least 200 teachers each year in science education.

The universities plan to organize the campus around three overlapping, shifting “hubs”: technologies for “connective media,” applicable to everything from finance to social media; health care industries; and sustainable development, chosen in part to mesh with the city’s existing strengths.

Now isn't the above something that one can get excited about?!

The Suspense is Building -- Will Cornell or Stanford or Another Institution get the New Graduate School of Science and Engineering in NYC

You may have heard that Mr. Bloomberg, the mayor of NYC, is very keen on having NYC become a high technology hub and is putting substantial financial resources behind this idea.

In only a few days, it will be announced as to which university (or will there be two) will receive the go-ahead and funding, including land, to build a new Graduate School that will focus on Applied Sciences and Engineering.

Cornell University and Stanford University (yes, in Silicon Valley) have emerged as the top contenders and Cornell is now partnering also with Technion in Israel.

Of course, one can't fully exclude Columbia and NYU from the mix.

It is a very interesting competition and I look forward to seeing who emerges as the top contender and gets the contract valued in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Some more background on this initiative can be found here.

Cornell has Posted the Videos of Professor Isard's Memorial and Symposium

On April 29, 2011, Cornell University was the site for the Memorial Service and Symposium in honor of Professor Walter Isard, who passed away last year at age 91. Professor Isard was the founder of regional science and peace science and a great friend and mentor to many.

I was to speak at the Symposium but because of bad weather in the US my flights on USAIR were cancelled.

Nevertheless, my presentation was delivered by my former student and colleague from SUNY Oswego, Professor June Dong. The above photos were kindly provided by Professor Dong.

Cornell, through the efforts of Professor Kieran Donaghy, who helped to organize the special day, has now posted the videos of both the morning memorial service and the afternoon symposium.

I spent the better part of last Saturday viewing the videos and was touched by the reflections of colleagues from around the world, by the presentations of several of his grown children (he and his wife had had 6 and then adopted 2 more). When on holidays with his children, who would cart along a trailer with a piano so that he could provide music

The music provided at the end of the memorial by Professors Donaghy, T. John Kim of the University of Illinois Urbana, and Jean Paelinck, who is now a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University, without any rehearsals, I might add, was touching.

I learned a lot from the speakers at the afternoon symposium and thank Professor June Dong for delivering my presentation! Luckily, she lives only about an hour away from Cornell and drove there.

Some of the many highlights:

Professor Geoff Hewings of the University of Illinois Urbana noted three things that he had learned from Walter Isard:

(1). Make your dreams a reality -- Just Do It (even if your institutions create roadblocks).

(2). Do high quality research -- Stand Out.

(3). Take care of the next generation.

Professor David E. Boyce, who is both an INFORMS Fellow and a Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Fellow, read a letter from Professor Martin Beckmann, in the morning. In Boyce's afternoon remarks on travels with Isard he noted how much Isard, when going to conferences, also liked to make time for visiting zoos (this made me smile) and when asked as to why, he said that the Nobel prize winner, Leontieff, also liked zoos. Karen Polenske of MIT, who also spoke, was a former student of Leontieff's at Harvard and reflected on how Isard, while at MIT, used to rollerblade to teach his classes (not a myth but the truth). I even learned of a book of Isard's from Professor Adam Rose of USC on ecological economic analysis, which I promptly ordered through Amazon.

Professor Isard, through his indomitable spirit, intellect, and organizational skills, built a community, which spans the globe, and he left so many friends. When I gave a seminar at Cornell, and was hosted by Professor Donaghy, on April 1, 2009, he showed up to my talk.

Also, I learned my lesson -- never take a USAIR flight that requires a connection in Philly. At least USAIR reimbursed me for the cancelled flights.

Travel Disrupted but Talk Will Take Place

Yesterday, the East Coast was feeling the aftereffects of the horrific tornadoes and storms that struck the South, especially Alabama, with estimates of as many as 300 deaths.

I was at Bradley airport, waiting for my flight to Philly, with a connection to Ithaca, where I was to attend and speak at the Walter Isard Symposium. Then the notice went up that my flight was delayed, but the estimated time for departure made it still feasible for me to catch my connecting flight. You can guess what happened -- after several hours at the airport my flight was cancelled (and the flight from Philly to Ithaca later that day, which I had been told was sold out, was also). Flights were being cancelled to Dulles, DC, Chicago, Newark, Philly, etc. and the gate agent told me of planes that were hours behind schedule. He said that traveling would not be a pleasant experience given all the storms even if you could get on a flight (which I couldn't).

I felt like Steve Martin in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles."

I was terribly disappointed since I so much wanted to pay tribute to the founder of regional science and to see colleagues and friends who were coming for the memorial service and symposium.Professor Isard died last Fall at the age of 91.

Times like these call for resiliency. I contacted Professor June Dong, my collaborator, who was going to the symposium and who lives only about an hour away by car from Cornell and she agreed to give my presentation -- so the talk will go on. Appropriately, she is even in a photo that I had put into the presentation in which she is seated right next to Professor Isard, who came to the talk that I gave at Cornell on April 1, 2009.

I have been told that both the memorial service and the symposium will be videotaped, and posted, which is wonderful.

As Professor David Boyce emailed me this morning, "The weather has been a major problem for this event."

As for two of my doctoral students, they made it to the POMS conference in Reno, Nevada, and are giving their presentations now.

Congratulations Are in Order!

My suitcase is packed and I will soon be off to Cornell University.

Yesterday, was one of those wonderful "academic" days.

My doctoral student, Min Yu, successfully defended her dissertation proposal, ANALYSIS, DESIGN, AND MANAGEMENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORKS WITH APPLICATIONS TO TIME-SENSITIVE PRODUCTS. Her major is Management Science and her minor is Resource Economics. She has a terrific dissertation committee. So many of her fellow students showed up to her defense to support her -- very professional and wonderful!

Min has also been selected to receive the 2011 Outstanding Doctoral Student Researcher Award, which she will receive in ceremonies at the Isenberg School next month. She is one of two recipients of the award this year.

Plus, a former doctoral student of mine, who received her PhD in 2010, Dr. Trisha "Woolley" Anderson, emailed me that she received, this past Tuesday, the John Maddux, Jr. Faculty Award from Texas Wesleyan University, where she teaches at its Business School. The award consists of an elegant glass "trophy" with $1500. It is named after the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Texas Wesleyan.

Stated on the award, "In recognition for playing a supportive, motivational, and inspirational role in the lives of students at Texas Wesleyan University."

Dr. Woolley and Min Yu are two of the Center Associates of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks that I direct.

And, while at Cornell, not only will I see many of my colleagues who are flying in to pay tribute to the legacy of Professor Walter Isard, but joining me will be Professor June Dong of the School of Business at SUNY Oswego, who is not only a former student of mine, but also an award-winning Full Professor and Center Associate!

Next week is the end of classes in the academic year, and we will be hosting our end of the year UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter party and will also be very busy with the First Northeast Regional INFORMS Conference at UMass Amherst; see the nice article in the UMass "In the Loop."

Will be Speaking at the Cornell Memorial Symposium for Walter Isard

Later this week, I will be flying to Cornell to speak at the Symposium on the Legacy of Walter Isard.

The symposium will take place April 29, 2011, in the afternoon, and the Memorial Service that morning. The Isard family is expected to attend.

Professor Kieran P. Donaghy, who is Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell and the Director of Graduate Studies in Regional Science, has organized the day's events, for which I am most grateful for.

Professor Walter Isard passed away last November at age 91 and I wrote a tribute to him on this blog. I'll never forget how he came to my talk at Cornell on April 1, 2009.

The program for the symposium, which will take place from 2-5PM at Cornell next Friday will include the following speakers and their titles (we have been allotted about 15 minutes) each:

Tony Smith -- The General Theory Book -- A Retrospective

Adam Rose (w/ Henk Folmer) -- Walter Isard’s Contributions to Ecological Economics

Peter Nijkamp -- Behaviour of Humans and Behaviour of Models: A Retrospective View on Walter Isard’s Contribution

I will speak on "A Thank You for the Network Legacy of Professor Isard."

Christine Smith -- Modeling Conflict Resolution

Charles Anderton -- Emergence of Peace Economics

David Boyce -- RSA and Travels with Walter

Peter Batey-- The Development of Regional Science in Europe

T. John Kim-- Input-Output in Urban Models and Founding of the Korean Regional Science Association

Lay Gibson -- Organization of the Mexican and other PRSCO sections

Iwan Azis -- Walter’s Ideas in Action

Glenn Palmer-- Walter Isard and the Peace Science Society.

The confirmed speakers for the morning Memorial Service are: Mike Teitz, Kingsley Haynes, Art Getis, Jean Paelinck, Geoff Hewings, Karen Polenske, Yoshitsugu Kanemoto, Michale Romanos, Dick Schuler, Janet Kohlhase, Maria Willumsen, Manas Chatterji, Judith Reppy, Jean Paelinck, with remarks from Dina Zinnes, Janice Madden, Martin Beckmann read by Kieran Donaghy.

I think that Professor Walter Isard would be very pleased to see how many are traveling even from Europe to honor his contributions and his legacy.

My presentation can be accessed here.

A Tribute to the Founder of Regional Science, Walter Isard

It has taken me a few days to come to terms that the founder of the field of Regional Science, Walter Isard, passed away last Saturday at the age of 91. I heard the sad news while at the INFORMS conference in Austin, Texas through a message from David E. Boyce who is not only an INFORMS Fellow but also a Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Fellow.

The Regional Science conference is now taking place in Denver, Colorado.

The New York Times ran an obituary on Professor Isard last Monday and Professor Boyce graciously prepared an obituary on the RSAI website.

There aren't many individuals today who can say that they established entirely new fields.

Professor Isard, you will always be remembered as a great scholar, humanitarian, and gentleman. Thank you for coming to my talk at Cornell University on April 1, 2009. Having you in the audience meant the world to me.

The middle and bottom photos above were taken at Cornell that day. In the middle photo joining me with Isard were Professors Kieran Donaghy, my kind host, and Sid Saltzman (the father of Matt Saltzman, who is well-known in INFORMS circles). In the bottom photo, in the background, is my collaborator, Professor June Dong of SUNY Oswego.

The top photo above was taken at the RSAI conference in November 2008 in Brooklyn. I am standing behind Isard who is seated between my two dear friends, Professors Manfred Fischer and David E. Boyce.

Coach Cal on Social Networking and Kentucky vs. Cornell in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen

I may live in Amherst, but, as an academic, I certainly "get around." Last year, I gave invited talks at various universities and colleges in the US as well as in Europe.

Given the big NCAA basketball game tonight (Yes, I am speaking about Kentucky vs. Cornell) I could not help but reflect on some of the favorite venues that I spoke at last year that have a connection to the Kentucky vs. Cornell basketball game tonight.

I gave two talks at the University of Memphis in October 2008 and was hosted by Dean Rajiv Grover there and my former doctoral student, Professor Tina Wakolbinger, of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. Of course, while at the U. of Memphis, I also had to visit Coach Cal (John Calipari) and the photo above was taken in his office. You may notice a lot of UMass Amherst memorabilia. He had been our men's basketball coach earlier in his career and has many friends here. His older daughter even graduated from UMass Amherst. Coach Cal was his usual charismatic and incredibly friendly self and I enjoyed talking with him and reminiscing.

Of course, as the whole world knows, Coach Cal is now the coach of the University of Kentucky men's basketball team, which is playing tonight against Cornell. The New York Times had a terrific article on Coach Cal and his use of social networking media to get the news out to his fans around the globe.

On April 1, 2009, I gave a talk at Cornell University and was hosted by my colleague, Professor Kieran Donaghy, and I had a superb time. I was joined by another former doctoral student of mine, Professor June Dong, who drove from SUNY Oswego and who is a Professor at the School of Business there, along with her husband. It is very sweet that an Ivy League university has made the Sweet Sixteen again (last time this happened was in 1979 with UPENN).

The Kentucky vs. Cornell game tonight will be a very interesting basketball game! Indeed, this is the hot topic in our neighborhood.

**** an update on this story **** Kentucky ended up beating Cornell with a score of 62-45 and proceeds now to the Elite 8. Interestingly, Syracuse got beaten by Butler. Kentucky will be matched against West Virgina in a game to take place over the weekend.

Cornell University,Regional Science, and the Flights Back

I would like to thank Dr. Kieran Donaghy, the Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University, for being such a wonderful host during my visit to Cornell. I was really thrilled to have Professor Walter Isard, who will be 90 years old in a few days, and who is the founder of the field of Regional Science, attend my talk yesterday. Plus, Professor Sid Saltzman also came to my talk. Professor Saltzman is in his late 80s, and is the father of Matt Saltzman, who is well-known in the Operations Research community and is a Professor at Clemson University. Having Professor Tim Mount of Agricultural Economics in the audience also brought such wonderful memories of collaborations with Cornell folks on spatial price equilibrium problems, ad valorem taxes, and applications to the dairy industry.

We had dinner last night in Ithaca and Dr. June Dong and Professor Mark Turnquist joined Professor Kieran and me at "Willow," a restaurant that alone is worth the travel to Ithaca, New York! Nothing like a great conversation about transportation, regional science, and the state-of-our universities over a delicious meal! The stories that we shared were terrific and, of course, we had to mention my dissertation advisor at Brown University, Dr. Stella Dafermos, who died almost exactly 19 years ago. Her first academic appointment after receiving her PhD was at Cornell. Dr. Mark Eisner, who also attended my talk, came up to me afterwards and told me how he, George Nemhauser, and Stella had worked together when she was at Cornell.

What would a speaking engagement be without another travel/transportation adventure?! Today I woke up at 5:30AM (I do recommend the Statler hotel at Cornell -- great service and it is quiet) and caught the 6:00AM shuttle to the tiny Ithaca airport only to find out that the second leg of my USAIR flight from Philly to Bradley was cancelled. I was rebooked on a flight 2 hours later. Security at the Ithaca Airport took about 1 hour to process 10 people but the pain was mild since I saw Professor Linda Nozick of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell (a colleague of Turnquist's) ahead of me in line. We talked through the 1 hour delay in Ithaca and got front row seats on the flight to Philly. Another case of having an ideal "seatmate" to fly with. Our discussions ranged from infrastructure management and systems engineering, to teaching, to research, to having kids! Nozick was flying to DC to give a presentation at the Department of Energy and I was trying to make it back to UMass Amherst for an exit interview with a Dean's candidate (I did not make it).

Talk at Cornell University

Today I will be speaking at Cornell University and will be hosted by Dr. Kieran Donaghy. I will be speaking in the Regional Science and Policy seminar series. My talk will be on global supply chains and the associated vulnerabilities and synergies today. My host I have known from the Regional Science community and I hope to also be able to connect with faculty and students in Operations Research and Civil Engineering at Cornell.

My dissertation advisor at Brown University, Dr. Stella Dafermos, who was the second female in the world to receive her PhD in Operations Research was at Cornell after receiving her PhD from Johns Hopkins University. She, with her husband, then moved to Brown University. Stella Dafermos died at the age of 49 and she was one of the few honored with an obituary in the journal Operations Research (which I wrote).

I used to serve on the Cornell Supercomputer National Allocation Committee and would fly regularly to Cornell and stay at the wonderful Stadtler hotel. I am very much looking forward to seeing Cornell again.