I am delighted to share with you that, according to the Academic Newswire and the Library Journal, the Fragile Networks book that I co-authored with my former doctoral student, Patrick Qiang, is a top 20 best seller in the Engineering/Technology category. Our publisher, John Wiley & Sons, is very pleased by this recognition. This is based on data since July 2009. Our book is number 20 on this best seller list and the list contains some very well-known authors and very prestigious presses.
This news appeared in the April 8 edition
or you can access the best seller list directly here.
The book is relevant to numerous applications, ranging from critical infrastructure (transportation networks, electric power networks, financial networks, the Internet) to military operations, corporate supply chains and mergers and acquisitions, as well as humanitarian logistics. It was recently featured in the Air Force Research Laboratory Library Newsletter at Wright-Patterson's Air Force Base.
Showing posts with label Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World. Show all posts
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Friday, December 4, 2009
Logistics and Transportation 341, Last Lecture, and Surge in Afghanistan
This week I gave my last lecture of the semester in my undergraduate Transportation and Logistics course, FOMGT 341, and next week the students will be presenting their team projects, which I am very much looking forward to listening to. Each year there is a different theme that the students seem to resonate towards as to their projects, which they select to work on and to report on. As Charles Darwin said it well, It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.
This year a clear predominant theme that has emerged that has captured the students' interest and imagination is the fragility of the network infrastructure, especially that of transportation.
Today, CNN is reporting on Logistical Problems Could Plague Afghanistan Troop Surge, and the article is featured in CNN Politics. I have extracted several quotes from the article, which I highlight below and these quotes are powerful (and frightening enough) that I will not editorialize on them. It is clear that without appropriate infrastructure and planning for logistics and transportation networks, no enterprise, be it corporate or military (as we know in the discipline of operations research going back to World War II), will likely be successful.
The authors of the CNN article, Hornick, Lawrence, and Pleitgen state in regards to the new surge:
A lot of it is going to be dictated by conditions on the ground: Can they build the new bases, the new roads, new infrastructure to handle the influx of troops? They proceed to discuss the many obstacles: A lack of paved roads outside the largest cities are easy places... to place roadside bombs... In addition, the main way to move troops and supplies around the country is by helicopter. The country is landlocked, and no navigable waterways lead to the ocean.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, quoted in the article, said in mid-November:
It's not going to be a brigade a month, because of the infrastructure piece.
Air Force Sergeant Nicholas Caldwell is building a new road at Camp Wolverine and says, We [are] working hard and doing as much as we can. It would be nice if we could get some help.
Recall that this is the second surge, with soldiers saying that in the first surge it took months for supplies to catch up with them.
There are concerns as to where to even house the soldiers, especially given the extremes of temperatures in that part of the world in winters and summers. Clearly, as the article also recognizes, under the tight schedule not only will roads and new housing and dining facilities be necessary but also more medical facilities, more supplies, including fuel, as well as electricity.
I write books for many reasons. Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World perhaps should be used as a textbook to educate regarding the above, before it is too late.
This year a clear predominant theme that has emerged that has captured the students' interest and imagination is the fragility of the network infrastructure, especially that of transportation.
Today, CNN is reporting on Logistical Problems Could Plague Afghanistan Troop Surge, and the article is featured in CNN Politics. I have extracted several quotes from the article, which I highlight below and these quotes are powerful (and frightening enough) that I will not editorialize on them. It is clear that without appropriate infrastructure and planning for logistics and transportation networks, no enterprise, be it corporate or military (as we know in the discipline of operations research going back to World War II), will likely be successful.
The authors of the CNN article, Hornick, Lawrence, and Pleitgen state in regards to the new surge:
A lot of it is going to be dictated by conditions on the ground: Can they build the new bases, the new roads, new infrastructure to handle the influx of troops? They proceed to discuss the many obstacles: A lack of paved roads outside the largest cities are easy places... to place roadside bombs... In addition, the main way to move troops and supplies around the country is by helicopter. The country is landlocked, and no navigable waterways lead to the ocean.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, quoted in the article, said in mid-November:
It's not going to be a brigade a month, because of the infrastructure piece.
Air Force Sergeant Nicholas Caldwell is building a new road at Camp Wolverine and says, We [are] working hard and doing as much as we can. It would be nice if we could get some help.
Recall that this is the second surge, with soldiers saying that in the first surge it took months for supplies to catch up with them.
There are concerns as to where to even house the soldiers, especially given the extremes of temperatures in that part of the world in winters and summers. Clearly, as the article also recognizes, under the tight schedule not only will roads and new housing and dining facilities be necessary but also more medical facilities, more supplies, including fuel, as well as electricity.
I write books for many reasons. Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World perhaps should be used as a textbook to educate regarding the above, before it is too late.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Our Fragile Networks on Display in San Diego
Our book, Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World, was on display at our publisher's booth at the INFORMS San Diego conference. The editors and marketing folks at our publisher, John Wiley & Sons, have told my co-author, Dr. Patrick Qiang, and me, that the book is selling very well! We are delighted that many libraries have already acquired the book and it has also been doing very well in individual sales.We thank all of the funding agencies and foundations as well as organizations, institutions, and colleagues and collaborators who made the research behind this book and the writing of it possible! We also thank our families for their support!
More information about the Fragile Networks book can be found here.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Celebrating the 4th of July and the Fragile Networks book press release goes viral
Yesterday was a brilliant 4th of July in Amherst, Massachusetts and we celebrated the day by going to the town parade in which neighbors and friends who weren't lining the downtown streets marched. Amherst is celebrating its 250th anniversary so there was a float to commemorate this major anniversary as well as groups from the Knights of Columbus and from the League of Women voters to the local Kung Fu club. The parade began with town emergency vehicles from the police cars to the fire trucks and ambulances, complete with blaring sirens, and the parade even featured a group of dancing horses.We watched the parade with my co-author of the Fragile Networks book, Dr. Qiang "Patrick" Qiang, who brought his infant son (who slept through it all in the very fresh air), wife, and mother-in-law, who had recently arrived from China. It was especially sweet and interesting to see her experience her first 4th of July parade in the USA. Last night the sky over Amherst lit up with the fireworks display, which was spectacular!
Friday, July 3, 2009, ResearchandMarkets issued a press release on our Fragile Networks book that was circulated through Business Wire and that went viral with the news posted on Forbes.com, Fox.com, cnbc.com, abc.com, and a spectrum of business, supply chain, finance, engineering, math, and other web sites. It was very exciting to see our book, published by Wiley, publicized in this way. We have captured some of the links here.
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