Thanks to the National Science Foundation for Great Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program

I returned around 1AM from Colorado where I had spent a few days visiting my daughter who is taking part in a 10 week National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Colorado Boulder.

This was my first time in Boulder and I loved the vibe there, the natural beauty, the friendliness of the people, and, of course, the University of Colorado. I had been to Colorado multiple times for both conferences and visiting relatives but this was my first time in Boulder.

 

The specific project that my daughter, Alexandra, is working on is: Emissions Consequences of Shale Gas Production in the Rocky Mountain Region.  She is being hosted by Professor Jana Milford, who has both a a PhD and a law degree - impressive! In essence, she is quantifying the emissions associated with fracking but not only in terms of production but also in terms of delivery, which I think is very cool. One of my passions is sustainable supply chains and energy systems but more from the math modeling, game theory and optimization perspectives.

The National Science Foundation funds a number of REU sites around the US.  One has to apply for these and they are wonderful opportunities for undergraduates to become deeply engaged in research. Typically, about 10 or so students are part of an REU program. Now at Boulder there is both an environmental REU taking place as well as a physics one, and my daughter, who loves science - the hard kind - geological science - is involved in the environmental sustainability REU.

The students also get to visit other research sites, go to local conferences, do a lot of on-site field work and data analysis, meet students from around the country, and enjoy living and growing in a new environment.

Needless to say, she loves Boulder and is very grateful for the scientific experiences that she has had because of this great National Science Foundation program.

Boulder reminds us a bit of the Pioneer Valley, with Amherst, Northampton, and Deerfield at the core,  but on a much more majestic scale with the Rockies as a backdrop and with many high tech firms having research outlets there. I love just listening to the conversations as you walk on Pearl Street or sit in the numerous cafes. I heard "analytics" multiple times.

And another aspect of an REU is exploring a new location so, along with some new friends, my daughter climbed Grays Peak, a 14,000 foot mountain, quite the achievement.

I have sponsored about a dozen of undergraduates at the Isenberg School of Management under an REU supplementary grant that I had as part of a previous National Science Foundation grant.  Students worked in my Supernetwork Lab for Computational and Visualization, which is part of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks that I founded in 2001 and direct. And one of those students, Christina Calvaneso, who graduated back in 2003, was recently recognized by the Isenberg School of Management, with a Young Alumna Business Leadership Award.

On Being a Proud Academic Mom

When your children surprise you by doing something unexpected and wonderful, they certainly make a mother proud.

I have been smiling all morning since I heard that a group of my former students at the Isenberg School, all of whom received their PhDs in Management Science from UMass Amherst, co-authored a paper, which has now been accepted for publication.

I was the chair of their doctoral dissertation committees.

Yes, we in academia, consider genealogy, especially of the academic kind, to be important; see a recent blogpost and links on this.

Not only is the topic of the paper so timely -- that of closed loop supply chains (CLSCs) -- but the team is made up of four, Assistant and Full Professors, who hail from the states of Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, and Washington.

The paper, The Closed-loop Supply Chain Network with Competition, Distribution Channel Investment, and Uncertainties, Qiang Qiang, Ke Ke, Trisha Anderson, and June Dong, has been accepted in the journal, OMEGA.

In this paper, the authors developed a CLSC network model, consisting of raw material suppliers, manufacturers, and retail outlets. The demand of the retailers was satisfied either by newly manufactured products or by remanufactured products which were deemed comparable to the new ones in function and quality. The consumers were indifferent in their demand for either products.

The authors assumed that the manufacturers collected the recycled product directly from the demand market, similar to the operations of Hewlett-Packard and Xerox Corporation regarding printer cartridges.

The model has a sufficient level of complexity to capture the major environmental and behavioral as well as pricing issues, while, at the same time, being both theoretically sound and computable (very important for practice and analytics).

In the paper, the authors note that:

The volume of waste is growing at an alarming rate and environmental recovery is an option that is underutilized since firms are unsure how to mitigate the ambiguity surrounding economic performance. By providing clarification of reverse supply chain issues, and firms re-examine their recovery efforts, the environmental benefits can be pronounced, for example, reducing landfill space, reducing air pollution, and leveraging the earth’s natural resources, to name a few. Equipped with our model, one can “fine- tune” the parameters to study the behaviors of different decision makers in the CLSC, which also can generate some implications for the policy maker.

Nothing can make a Mom prouder than when her "children" soar!