Saying Goodbye to an Outstanding Visiting Professor Program

Tomorrow is my last full day here in Gothenburg and it also marks the end of my tenure over 4 years as a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. I was part of its outstanding Visiting Professor Program, which I found out about in The Economist and applied.
 
I have made 10 visits to this great school and university and today my colleagues hosted a delicious cake "fika" party in my honor. The cake was a layered one of passion fruit cream and chocolate bottom - yummy! My colleagues gave me stunning gifts of a book on Sweden, an elegant navy scarf with the university emblem patterned on it, and a beautiful blue crystal apple of Swedish glass. They also gave me a lovely card and note and the administrative assistant here who has been so accommodating and helpful in always finding me a comfortable office brought me a red glass heart.


How do you say goodbye to doctoral students, who have now received their PhDs, some have gotten married, over the time period that I have been coming and some, including colleagues,  have had children that I have met? I have laughed many times with my colleagues, both in Finance and in Transportation and Logistics here, since I collaborate with both, and we have shared many wonderful experiences.My research has benefited greatly through numerous discussions and papers, I might add, with Professor Jonas Floden, whose expertise in freight transport I truly value and have come to rely upon. I have gone to transport and logistics conferences here and a finance conference and have always felt so much at home here.


Their friendship, humanity, and civility, and stories I will always treasure. I am now writing another book and in the acknowledgments I am thanking my colleagues and staff here at the University of Gothenburg. They say I am always smiling - it is because of the community that they have built in one of the greatest countries on our planet - Sweden.


Thank you to the School of Business, Economics and Law and the University of Gothenburg for being such exceptional hosts. You will always be a part of me and I wish you all the best. As for future Visiting Professors, enjoy!


And several of my colleagues said to me today - when are you coming?!

Why I've Fallen in Love with Sweden

I've been in Gothenburg for 3 weeks now, my tenth trip here as a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law (Handelshogskolan)  at the University of Gothenburg.

I have been immerse in writing a book and also discussing research topics with colleagues and also talking with doctoral students.

Below I have a panoply of photos that show the charm of this city and Sweden.

My colleagues have standing desks (better for one's health):

At the same time, there is a folding seat in the elevators:

The Business School's cafeteria is fabulous but today was the last day of service of the academic year so I had to thank the chef and server.

 The parental leaves are great so there are a lot of hipster Daddies taking care of children:

The public transportation is fabulous and I have 4 choices for commuting to work: walking (a good couple of miles), taking the trolley, taking a bus, or the ferry. Today I took the ferry home and the ride was free! The view was pretty great, too.

Where else do you find color-coordinated blankets on chairs outside cafes in case you need them.

The nature and preservation of it are spectacular.

The high school graduation celebrations are so stylish:

 The fish and treats are delicious:

And were else can you find parts of a Viking ship (the museums are favorite destinations of mine)!

Trolleys - My Favorite Mode of Transport

It's been wonderful to be back in beautiful Sweden!

I especially enjoy the great public transportation system - such a contrast to what we have in the United States.

This time around, the apartment that the University of Gothenburg has provided for me is not in walking distance of the School of Business, Economics and Law where I am a Visiting Professor, so my commute has been by public transit.

My favorite mode of transportation here is trolleys! I have a month's pass of unlimited travel and it is money well spent.

There are three types of trolleys (also known as trams) in Gothenburg, based on their ages (vintage) as well as a trolley that one can rent for special events and that flies the Ukrainian flag (my heritage) and is featured below.

 

Gothenburg has the largest tram network system in Sweden.  Some of the various trolleys that I have ridden are below.

Many of the trolleys have the symbol of the city on them.

One of my favorite trolleys is  Number 6  since it is only about 2 blocks from my apartment complex and leaves me about 2 blocks from my Business School here. I have never had to wait longer than 5 minutes for a trolley.

And, with Sweden's emphasis on technology and sustainability, at each trolley stop there is an electronic board with information on the time for the arrival of the trolleys:

 I like the trolley map in front of the Central Train Station in Gothenburg.

Sometimes though, I will purposely hop off the trolley one or two stops before my final destination so that I can walk (another favorite mode of transport for me) and experience the beauty of the landscape here as well as the architecture. Below is my favorite tree in Gothenburg.

Whenever I teach my Transportation and Logistics class at the Isenberg School at UMass, which I do each Fall and I love teaching this class, I always ask my students what is their favorite mode of transportation. Regularly, I hear that airplanes or trains are favorites and, sometimes, bicycles. I have to say that my answer will now be trolleys!

Exciting Finance Conference on Banking Regulation and Stability at Gothenburg University

I very much like interdisciplinary research and being an operations researcher one is able to explore and also to contribute to different disciplines.

Here at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, where I am a Visiting Professor, I sit in a suite of offices with Transportation & Logistics colleagues and also Finance ones. Since I used to be in the Department of Finance and Operations Management at the Isenberg School (until the number of students really grew and now we have the Finance Department and my Operations & Information Management Department)  I feel so comfortable and welcome here in Sweden.

One of my Finance colleagues in Gothenburg, Professor Ted Lindblom, invited me to a conference that is taking place next week here that I am very excited about and will be attending. Moreover, there will be colleagues from MIT and UConn in attendance and even friends of my Finance colleagues at Isenberg, Professor Mila Sherman and Nikunj Kapadia. I am very much interested in systemic risk issues and that was one of the themes of the Cybersecurity Risk Workshop that Mila, Professor Senay Solak, Professor Wayne Burleson, and I organized last September with support provided by the Advanced Cyber Security Center and also Professor Andrew Lo of MIT.

Below is the program for the Banking conference next week -- looking forward to it! There will also be practitioners in attendance and as speakers. More info is here.

 I'll be reporting on the conference on this blog, so do stay tuned.

Blogging from Sweden

It's great to be back in Sweden. Since 2012 I have been a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg and I spend about 44 days a year in the beautiful city of Gothenburg.

I arrived in Gothenburg on Thursday to a day of glorious sunshine which held up even yesterday.

I am living in another part of the city than I have been in the past so it is a bit too far to walk to work since I would have to walk over a long bridge. So, instead, I have a monthly pass to ride the trolleys, which I love.

The trolleys (sometimes called trams here) run frequently, are reliable, and are very comfortable - what more can you ask for!

I will not be getting into a car for a month. A taxi brought me from the airport and the next time I will be in a car will be when I head back to the airport.

I've already had a chance to explore some of my favorite spots in this very green city including the Slottskogan Park, where I was asked for directions in Swedish. I was able to give directions in English. It's also been delightful to find new foodstores and to carry the food home. Swedish cities and towns are so walkable and designed with amenities in mind. About 2 blocks from my apartment complex is a Saluhall where I can buy fresh fish, baked goods, and lots of fruits and vegetables.

I am looking forward to seeing my Swedish colleagues at work on Monday!

Where Do You Get Your Research Ideas From?

Towards the end of my lecture today in my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class, which was  on perishable product supply chains in healthcare, a student asked a very intriguing question:

Where do you get your research ideas from?

This class I very much enjoy teaching because of the topics that we cover, the diversity of the students (from the Isnberg School of Management, the College of Engineering, Public Health, and Regional Planning), the great guest speakers that we bring in. Plus, we even did a tour last Friday of ISO - New England which I will be blogging about, since electric power is essential to our modern society.

Also, I get great questions from the students and we have really good discussions that are even pushing research frontiers.

To answer the question above, in addition to the points that I made in class today,  I promised to provide some additional resources. Since this is a great question and some answers may be relevant also to my readers from near and far, below I have posted two sources of information.

The first is a study conducted by Professor Bin Jiang of DePaul University in Chicago  and entitled:
How to Do Research: Advice from Stellar Scholars in the POM Field. POM stands for "Production and Operations Management," but many of the suggestions are relevant to related and other disciplines. His study had been posted in the Journal of Operations Management page a while back and many of the points are relevant and current. I enjoyed being interviewed by Professor Jiang and honored to be included in the list of stellar scholars. The h-indices have increased since this study.

Also, almost two years ago I gave a presentation in Sweden, where I hold a Visiting Professorship at the University of Gothenburg in which I highlighted where some of my ideas for research come from and I summarized Dr. Jiang's findings.

 

The list below as to where research ideas come from, as per stellar scholars in Dr. Jiang's study, remains very valid and worthwhile. Research ideas come from:

• Teaching: students’ questions, and working with doctoral
  students;
• Contact with the real world: working with and talking to
  industrial partners, reading practitioner-oriented publications,
  news magazines, etc.;
• Intellectual curiosity: observing the real world, delving deeply
  into issues, having passion;
• Networking: discussing problems with colleagues, going to
  conferences, talking to others even outside your professional
  circles;
•  Reading the literature: how can you improve on what has
  been done? Do you have new tools or new ideas for old
  problems or old tools for new problems?

And today in class I even shared that some of my research ideas have come from my undergraduate students.

Real Men Push Strollers - At Least in Sweden They Do

Sweden is one of the most egalitarian societies in the world and, perhaps, that is another reason why I so much enjoy living in Sweden whenever I have an opportunity to.  I have been lucky to hold a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, and am now in my third year as a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. The latter commitment involves a multiple weeks in residence, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Sweden has generous parental leave policies, among other policies, that support both men and women. And my male colleagues at the university enjoy taking parental leaves and are very serious about them. This makes for a wonderful professional and personal climate.

Over the past several days, while walking to lunch in beautiful Gothenburg, or just doing errands, I decided to take photos of men pushing strollers because I love this aspect of Swedish culture.

Men, women, and children all benefit from such a supportive set of governmental policies!

From Sweden to Sicily for the Love of Supply Chains

This past Tuesday, we had quite the adventurous travel from Gothenburg, Sweden to Taormina, Sicily. We made it uneventfully via Air Berlin from Landvetter Airport in Gothenburg to Berlin, Germany (can't wait for the new Berlin Airport to be finally finished) and enjoyed the delicious chocolates that we were given upon disembarking (through the back door of the plane, no less).

After a great lunch at the Berlin Airport we saw that our flight to Catania, Sicily was on time so we went to security only to find out that our carryon bags were too heavy so that we had to check them. Upon arriving at the  checkin counter for Air Berlin  we were told our flight was delayed by 8 hours and would leave (if you trust) at 10:30PM! Since there was still about a one hour trip by taxi from Catania to Taormina we knew that this would not work for us and there was too much uncertainty, in any event.

After standuing in line for 40 minutes at the Air Berlin counter to wait for a reassignment we were told we were on our own so off we ran to the Germanwings counter to try and get on a flight at 4:20PM. Great service and not a bad price and after a wait we were comfortably seated and en route to Sicily!

Upon arrival in Catania, we were met by an Italian taxi driver who took us in his black Mercedes to Taormina where the conference, Mathematics in Industry. was taking place. The drive at high speed on the flowerstudded expressway was quite the experience and, when we arrived at the conference hotel, we were told that we were put into another hotel (5 star!) a 10 minute walk away.

The venue in Taormina has been magical but, best of all, was seeing Professor Patrizia Daniele, who is a Supernetwork Center Associate and who has visited me at the Isenberg School and when I was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. She invited me to speak at this conference and organized a special session, Recent Advances on Equilibrium Problems with Applications to Networks. Plus, one of my former doctoral students, Professor Fuminori Toyasaki, who is a Professor at York University in Toronto, is also here and he will be presenting a joint paper of ours on electronic recycling, co-authored with Professor Tina Wakolbinger of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (who also was my former doctoral student at the Isenberg School of Management), and her doctoral student, Thomas Nowak. That paper was just published in the International Journal of Production Economics.

Our session takes place later today and I am so exited to be presenting the paper, Supply Chain Network Competition in Time-Sensitive Markets, co-authored with my former doctoral student, Professor Min Yu of the University of Portland, my great colleague at the University of Gothenburg, Professor Jonas Floden, and even my husband, Professor Ladimer S. Nagurney of the University of Hartford!

The photos below were taken at the conference venue and surrounding area. No wonder movie stars will soon be converging here in Taormina where a major movie festival will take place. The beauty of this part of Italy is breathtaking and the people are so friendly and generous.

And I have to mention that the food in Sicily is delicious and so beautifully presented! I can see why those who consume the Mediterranean diet live longer, but, perhaps, it is also the climate and the beauty of where they live.