Now for Some Great News -- 3 Isenberg PhDs in Management Science Receive Promotion and Tenure

With the new academic year upon us and with so much happening in the world, I thought that it would be inspirational to share some great news.

For this blogpost, I am wearing my "Academic Mom" hat as the chair of doctoral students' dissertations.

Getting a PhD is one milestone, getting a good job afterwards is another, and getting promotion and tenure, yet another big achievement.

2012 has been quite an eventful year for several graduates of our Isenberg School of Management PhD track in Management Science program at UMass Amherst, but, then again, I am biased, since I was their dissertation chair.

I always say that "Good news happens in threes."

Earlier, I had shared that my former doctoral student, Dr. Jose M. Cruz (with the 5 UMass Amherst degrees) had been named an Ackerman Scholar. He has also  been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the School of Business at the University of Connecticut Storrs. He is now the Interim Director of the Business Analytics and Project Management Master's program at UConn.


In addition, Dr. Ke "Grace" Ke was also promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the College of Business at Central Washington University. She was also my doctoral student at the Isenberg School.

And, just this past week, my former doctoral student, Dr. Fuminori Toyasaki, informed me that he was  promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the School of Administrative Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada. Prior to joining the faculty at York University, he had had a two year fabulous postdoc at McGill University in Montreal and worked there with our esteemed colleagues, Professor Vedat Verter and Professor Tamer Boyaci.

In the photo above, from a few years back, I am standing with (l-r) Dr. Fuminori Toyasaki, Dr. Tina Wakolbinger (who is now a Full Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business), Dr. Ke "Grace" Ke, Dr. Jose M. Cruz, celebrating the visit of Dr. Patrizia Daniele of Italy nd her husband, along with Dr. Dmytro Matsypura (who a year or so ago received tenure at the University of Sydney), and Dr. Zugang "Leo" Liu of Penn State University Hazleton.

It is great to see Operations Research and Management Science thriving!

You can find the titles of their PhD dissertations and the abstracts, along with links to several of their publications on the Supernetworks website.


 

From Hurricane Irene to Hurricane Isaac

We are now marking the first anniversary of Hurricane Irene that had a devastating impact on the Northeast and our area of western Massachusetts with flooding of schools, farms, and businesses that we all hold dear.

Deerfield Academy, my daughter's alma mater,  is even marking the first anniversary with a benefit  concert tonight entitled, "Goodnight Irene."

The impacts of Hurricane Irene resulted in a once in 500 years flood in the Deerfield area and affected not only Deerfield Academy, the much-loved Bement School, but also the Deerfield Inn, and the neighboring farms. The impacts resonate to this day.

Now the states along the Gulf Coast are preparing for Hurricane Isaac, and, hopefully, the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, which marks its 7th anniversary, ironically, this Wednesday, have been learned.

From the prepositioning of supplies to disaster communications to the evacuation of residents -- let's hope that the impact this time is nowehere at the level of pain, suffering, and economic losses as in the past.

Such disasters inspired me to teach a new course at the Isenberg School of Management on Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare and Katrina also, in part, inspired a workshop that I led on Humanitarian Logistics at the Rockefeller Center's Bellagio Center in Italy.  

Professor Emmett Lodree at the latter gave a presentation on "Inventory Planning for Hurricane Events," in which he spoke of his personal experiences with Katrina, which is grandmother survived but which flooded her home and showed how science in the form of weather forecasting and operations research modeling could enhance emergency preparedness and disaster relief.

The WORMS Luncheon -- Always a Great Event at the Annual INFORMS Conference

As colleges and universities gear up for the new academic year, it is also a time to begin planning for conferencing.

The Annual INFORMS Conference is always a highlight -- bringing together operations researchers and management scientists from around the globe to exchange their latest research, to reconnect, learn from one another, and also to network and to see old friends and to make new ones.

This year the INFORMS Conference will take place in Phoenix, Arizona, October 14-17, 2012.

In addition to the various society business meetings, which I also enjoy, one of the BEST events is the Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences (WORMS) luncheon. The meal is always delicious and at this luncheon the WORMS Award is given. I posted some photos from an earlier WORMS luncheon here.

This year,  tickets will no longer be sold at the lunch so please plan accordingly, since we don't want disappointed colleagues!

We expect room for 200 at the lunch.

Below is the email that was just circulated to the WORMS community which I am reposting for communication purposes.

Dear WORMS Members,

I am writing to invite you to the annual WORMS luncheon that will be held on Tuesday, October 16, from 12:30-1:30 at the Hyatt Hotel in Phoenix, AZ. This will be another great networking and celebration event for women in OR/MS and other supporters of diversity in the profession.

Luncheon tickets are $18 ($8 for students). You can purchase tickets when you register for the INFORMS conference at http://meetings2.informs.org/phoenix2012/register.html, or during on-site registration when you arrive in Phoenix (if tickets last). Different from the earlier years, we will not be able to sell any tickets at the door, and only those who can present tickets will be admitted to the luncheon. Traditionally, WORMS luncheons have been very popular and previous years' luncheons consistently sold out, so please purchase your tickets early!

During the luncheon, we will be presenting the WORMS award for the Advancement of Women in OR/MS. We have been fortunate to secure sponsorships from various institutions, and we will be hosting a table with our sponsors' recruitment materials and job ads, which we believe will be an excellent opportunity for networking and visibility.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Phoenix! Please join us at the WORMS luncheon!

Best Regards,
Ozgun


Ozgun C. Demirag, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Sam and Irene Black School of Business
Penn State Erie
814-898-6717
ozc1@psu.edu

Rest in Peace, Neil Armstrong, the First Man to Walk on the Moon

I think that many of us, tonight, when the sun sets, will go outside and look at the moon and marvel at one of mankind's extraordinary scientific achievements -- when Neil Armstrong, the first man,  walked on the moon. He was the commander, at age 38, of the Apollo 11 mission that landed him in the lunar module on the moon on July 20, 1969, with fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Neil Armstrong died today at age 82.

Many of his quotes are legendary and, in his honor, I repeat my favorite one. As he stepped off the lunar module and set foot on the moon's surface, he said: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

According to USA Today, his family released a statement following his death, attributed to post-cardiac surgery complications, which said:

For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.

His death was preceded one month ago by the death of another astronaut who made history/herstory -- Sally Ride, who was the first female in space.

A Great College Move-In Day Experience

I have just come back from a long walk with many neighbors asking "How was your daughter's move-in to college?"

Wearing a "parent" hat, rather than an "academic" hat, and reflecting on my own move-in experience freshman year, I was very impressed as to how well-organized, painless, and, actually, very pleasant the whole experience was.

Some colleges have figured out systems to make what could be a very tiring, onerous process flow well and efficiently, and as someone who teaches operations, I care about having processes work and flow well.

We had driven our overloaded Volvo with a carrier on top, and, after overnighting in a local hotel, proceeded to her college. We  followed the directions that we were given, parked our car a few feet from my daughter's dorm, and there was a group of upper classmen in nice college t-shirts just waiting to carry all the labeled boxes to her dorm room.

We even had members of the college football team (Division 1 for those who care about such things) complete the job. It took no more than 15 minutes! Her room is on the second floor but I counted 3 short flights of stairs to get there. Coaches were driving around providing water and energy drinks.

My daughter managed to unpack and organize many of her belongings and then her room-mate came. It was wonderful how they had communicated beforehand to determine who would bring what that they could share.

While the room-mates were getting to know one another and organizing their room, I had  time to meet many of her dorm-mates, their parents, and relatives. It is a very good sign when the conversations with so many of the parents are so enjoyable that you wish that you can continue talking for hours (this also brings a sense of relief).

Afterwards -- certain colleges certainly do move-in days nicely -- during the convocation and even reception with the College President and his wife,  we met a family from the Philippines, a girl from Madagascar, and several new freshmen from China, plus families that had come from California, Idaho, Montana, and Nebraska to situate their college  freshmen.

When I was dropped off as a freshman at Brown University I had a minimal amount of  clothes (but I did take some of my paintings that I had done) and my freshman room-mate, who was from Kansas, and one of only two engineering majors that year, had already picked her side of the room.

We had a room at the end of the corridor and now so does my daughter.

Now for those who have dorm rooms in high rises (some of my daughter's friends will be living in rooms above the 20th floor at their universities), the scheduling of arrivals has been done with great finesse. Let's hope that the elevators work throughout the process.

The New York Times has an article on college move-in day but I especially enjoyed Professor Boylan's essay on "A Freshman All Over Again," in which she wrote about her son's move-in day into Vassar and reflected on her freshman transition at Wesleyan University. The comments from readers on the latter piece are very engaging and here we go again with the deja vu.

Food Supply Chain Networks and Food Safety -- When Research Captures the Real-World

I tell my students to read not only books but also such publications as The New York Times and The Economist.

I believe that the real world can and should inspire research and those who are curious and care about solving problems can find many challenging problems out there.

One of our most recent papers was of modeling competitive food supply chains with a focus on product perishability through the use of arc multipliers and generalized networks.

The paper,  Competitive Food Supply Chain Networks with Application to Fresh Produce,  Min Yu and Anna Nagurney, is now in press in the European Journal of Operational Research.

In the paper, which utilizes game theory and variational inequality theory for formulation, analysis, and computations, we also presented a case study, focused on the cantaloupe market, in the scenario of a foodborne illness, that was inspired by an actual outbreak that occurred a while back.


 Now USA Today is reporting,  that the Latest deadly salmonella outbreak angers food-safety experts.

According to the article:

Agricultural experts say the frequent problems with cantaloupes come from the nature of the melons and sloppy agricultural practices.

In the latest outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, two people have died and 141 have fallen ill in 20 states in a salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated cantaloupe grown in southwestern Indiana. Thirty-one victims have been hospitalized. Both deaths were in Kentucky.

Last year's epidemic was caused by cantaloupes contaminated with listeria, from Colorado's Jensen Farms, according to the CDC.

We all know the importance of consuming fresh produce and how delicious ripe fresh fruit is -- at least we should be confident and secure that it will support health and not cause illnesses and death because of inappropriate handling and processing. 

In our paper, we show the economic impact of such a foodborne outbreak of the involved firms.

Hike to the Rock -- Keeping Up An Old Deerfield Academy Ritual as You Build New Ones

As many high school graduates are preparing for their new lives as college students, it is special to see that some old traditions still matter.

My daughter will soon be off to college and, as a 2012 Deerfield Academy graduate, she has been getting together with classmates and other friends before they embark on their new journeys in life and disperse to more than 50 different colleges and universities.. It was a challenging year for many with Hurricane Irene and the flooding, almost exactly one year ago, and  the power outages during the freaky October "Halloween" snowstorm.

Yesterday, and what could be more appropriate, she and a friend hiked to the Rock, which is an old Deerfield school tradition.

The day was picture perfect and the photo below is of the spectacular view (and reward) when one reaches the top. Western Massachusetts' beauty can be appreciated from this vantage point in any season.

New traditions and rituals await but old school ties are strong and friendships made and lessons learned will sustain those on their new adventures.