Financial and Economic Networks, Executive Education at Harvard University and the World Bank, Science Magazine, and a Fulbright in Italy

Some of you may have seen Science magazine's special issue on Complex Systems and Networks, which was published on July 24, 2009. Coincidentally, that was the same day that I was teaching a course on Portfolio Optimization at Harvard University in its Executive Education AMDP program at the Graduate School of Design. In constructing the material for this course I assembled volumes of relevant literature and also made use of the following books that I had co-authored: Financial Networks: Statics and Dynamics and Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World, and the book, Innovations in Financial and Economic Networks, that I had edited. Information on these books, as well as on my Network Economics book can be found here.

In the special issue of Science there is also an article on Economic Networks, in which the authors argue the importance of this theme. However, the special issue has no contributions from the operations research and management science communities who have been principal contributors to the networks literature for over 50 years! Interestingly, last year I was invited by Professor Michael Trick of Carnegie Mellon University to comment on an article published in Operations Research by Professor David Alderson of the Naval Postgraduate School and did so. The article argued for closer collaborations across disciplines in the area of network science. The link to the article along with the commentaries can be found here. Professor Alderson was one of the invited speakers in the Dynamic Networks workshop that I organized with Professor David Parkes of Harvard, under the auspices of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study programs. This workshop brought together physicists, computer scientists, economists, operations researchers, and applied mathematicians to discuss frontier topics in dynamic networks. Last year, I had the distinct honor of being a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the University of Catania in Italy and with Professor Patrizia Daniele organized a Workshop on Complex Networks.

Towards the goal of further disseminating state-of-the-art research on networks in economics and finance I am sharing with you my lectures on Portfolio Optimization and on Network Economics, given, respectively, at Harvard University and at the World Bank.

Given how many important problems there are in the world to solve it makes no sense to be reinventing the wheel. Disciplines need to give credit where credit is due and to work together. Both my Portfolio Optimization course and Network Economics course lectures highlight the richness and depth of network analysis and what it can bring to the formulation, analysis, and solution of critical problems that we are facing today.

Research4life Initiative, International Transactions in Operational Research, and 15th PhD student to be defending

Today I received an email message from Dr. Celso Carneiro Ribeiro of Brazil, who is the Editor of the journal, International Transactions in Operational Research (ITOR), that this journal will be added to the list of journals included in the Research4Life Initiative, which provides low-cost access for developing nations to journal content. Wiley-Blackwell, the publisher of ITOR (and our Fragile Networks book, as well), is committed to the Research4Life initiative. In particular, Wiley-Blackwell is a member of the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers and ITOR, with its overarching theme of Operations Research, is applicable to all three areas covered by the initiative, that is, health, agriculture, and the environment. I urge you to read up on the Research4Life initiative and note that the testimonials are very touching. Research4Life is a partnership seeking to help out in achieving the United Nation's Millennium Development goals.

I am very honored to be a member of the Editorial Board of ITOR and the paper, co-authored with Trisha Woolley and Patrick Qiang, entitled, "Multiproduct Supply Chain Horizontal Network Integration: Models, Theory, and Computational Results," has now been published online by this journal. Coincidently, Patrick Qiang was my 14th PhD student to complete his dissertation (in May 2009) and Trisha Woolley will be defending her doctoral dissertation, entitled, Sustainable Supply Chains: Multicriteria Decision-Making and Policy Analysis for the Environment, next month. She will be my 15th PhD student, quite the milestone! Trisha Woolley begins next week her tenure-track Assistant Professorship at Texas Wesleyan University in its School of Management.

It is terrific to have students who are carrying out research on sustainable supply chains and policy interventions ranging from carbon taxes to tradable pollution permit systems (also known as cap and trade systems). Some of our recent research publications and studies can be found on the Virtual Center for Supernetworks website.

My former doctoral students who have conducted research on transportation, supply chains, and environmental concerns have now assumed positions in such universities as the University of Sydney in Australia, York University in Canada, the University of Connecticut, DePaul University in Chicago, and two different Penn State campuses. One of my former doctoral students, Dr. Padma Ramanujam, whose dissertation received the Transportation Science dissertation prize, is with SAS in North Carolina. Needless to say, I am so very proud of all those students, whose doctoral dissertations I have had the privilege to chair!

Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center's 50th Anniversary and Humanitarian Supply Chains

This year, the Bellagio Center, on Lake Como, Italy is marking its 50th anniversary so congratulations are certainly in order! The Bellagio Center runs programs through the Rockefeller Foundation and it has released a special book commemorating the 50th anniversary. I have been privileged to have hosted two events at the Bellagio Center. The first event took place in March 2004, and consisted of a research team residency for two weeks on dynamic networks. The second event took place in May 2008 and was the "Humanitarian Logistics: Networks for Africa" conference, which convened academics, researchers, and practitioners from several continents. Both of these programs that I organized, and for which the Isenberg School of Management is also credited, are documented in this Rockefeller Foundation publication.

It is truly worthwhile to explore the special publications with luminous photographs on the Bellagio Center website that mark its 50th anniversary. You may marvel at some of the scholars featured (some of whom have certainly been in the news a lot lately). I remember telling my undergrads at the Isenberg School when my first proposal to the Bellagio Center got funded. One of my students, Cristina Calvaneso (who not only received a Leaders for the 21st Century Award from UMass Amherst, served as a student associate of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks, and who also has had wonderful professional career since graduating in 2004) told her grandmother about this. Grandma was very pleased (but mistaken) and thought that I was going to the Bellagio in Las Vegas!

Recently, there has been increasing interest from both researchers and practitioners surrounding humanitarian logistics and supply chains and I have been receiving more and more queries about our research and activities in this dimension. I have updated the website that was created explicitly for the Humanitarian Logistics: Networks for Africa conference to include information on my new book, Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World, with Q. Qiang, and on the book, Humanitarian Logistics, by Tomasini (who took part in my most recent Bellagio conference) and Van Wassenhove.

In addition, several associates of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks that I direct have just completed a major study on the design of supply chain networks in the case of humanitarian operations in which there is not only demand uncertainty but partnerships between/among organizations may present themselves. The study documents a new analytical framework, which is network-based, along with computer tools for scenario evaluations and simulations. This research was conducted with tremendous passion and determination since we are reading about the possible escalation of the flu come this fall and the measures that are being taken not only by vaccine and medicine manufacturers but by government, healthcare, and even educational officials. It is critical that top-level research on supply chains for humanitarian needs gets disseminated. Nevertheless, publishing and refereeing take time. At least, we know that we have done our part. Our Fragile Networks book, which includes material on humanitarian operations and supply chains, acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, which will soon be celebrating its special 10th anniversary!

Giving Gifts, Conferences, Art and Creativity

The Chronicle of Higher Education had a very interesting article recently on "Giving Gifts." When I travel I enjoy bringing back souvenirs for those who have supported me both professionally and personally and who, in general, make life more pleasant. The article noted the giving of books that one has authored as gifts, which is something I have been doing recently since the publication of the Fragile Networks book. As the article states, books are costly, and, hence, their giving and receipt marks a valuable exchange. Reciprocity and gift giving occurs not only in academia but in all cultures. At the very least, those who are acknowledged in one's book, should be the recipients of a copy as well as those who have provided funding for the research that the book is based on.

Travel is one of my favorite experiences and is a gift, in and of itself. Academics, typically, engage in travel when they go to conferences since, despite the convenience and accessibility of virtual communications, face to face time really matters in knowledge exchange. Soon, we will be off to Chicago to take part in the 60th anniversary of the Mathematical Programming Symposium, which I am very much looking forward to. I also hope to get a chance to visit some museums since art and beauty feed my soul.

Last summer, I presented talks at two conferences in Paris (the Transportation Infrastructure Conference at La Defense and the Computing in Economics and Finance Conference at the glorious Sorbonne). The photos above were taken there. The NY Times had an article recently in which the journalist observed those in the Louvre and the time that they took in admiring the works of art (or not). Interestingly, it was noted that many just bounded through many of the rooms without notice of the beauty of the art displayed. I hope that you enjoy the photos above and also take the time to smell the roses. As psychologists have recently noted it is experiences, even more so than gifts, that leave lasting, pleasant memories. Books, however, as gorgeous paintings, may also last through the ages and be referred back to and enjoyed, time and time again.

Celebrating Diversity, Sotomayor and the American Dream

I concur that the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States is a testament to the American Dream and a reason for celebrating the possibilities and dreams of those residing in the US both now and in the future. Her story of struggles, growing up in NYC, and being raised by a single mother who worked tirelessly to support the education of her children, plus Sotomayor's work ethic which led her to and through Princeton University and Yale University Law School and now to the Supreme Court is one we should all be celebrating. I have enjoyed reading about Sotomayor growing up as a child -- her love of Nancy Drew books, which I also devoured as a child growing up in Yonkers and now so has my daughter -- her devotion to Perry Mason episodes -- her dedication to her friends and their families -- her exercising venue of walking the Brooklyn Bridge (one of my favorite "city" walks, as well). I watched part of the confirmation hearings on television and was touched by seeing her mother in the audience as well as her brother, a medical doctor. Congratulations to Chief Justice Sotomayor, to her family, and to all of her mentors who helped to pave the way!

In this day and age, celebrating diversity matters and so does service to one's profession. I am reminded of the words of past-President of INFORMS (The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences), Dr. Mark Daskin of Northwestern University, who in one of his columns in ORMS Today emphasized volunteerism and also recognized that our professional societies can benefit from more diversity. At that time I had chaired an ad-hoc committee on diversity and our "preliminary" study noted some areas that needed improvement. Obviously, getting nomination packets to recognize females and other deserving members of the professions for various positions, awards, etc., takes time and effort but needs to be done. As a member of an awards committee recently told me at the conclusion of our deliberations: the fact that we are giving this award is a reward in itself and I fully concurred.

In celebration of diversity and great achievements, despite what seem, at times, insurmountable odds, I leave you with a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge, to honor Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor and all those who do their very best. The photo was taken during a walk I took last November while I was at the Regional Science Association's annual conference to give a plenary talk as a Fellow of that society.

Electric Power Supply Chains and Grit

My co-author, Dr. Zugang "Leo" Liu, and I are very pleased that our paper on electric power supply chains and New England is now officially published and is available online in the journal, Naval Research Logistics; see: NRL. This paper required several revisions and even in its original format was a huge amount of work from the conceptualization of the large-scale mathematical model, the collection of the data, the asking of interesting and relevant questions, the coding of the algorithm(s) used to solve the model -- not to mention the actual writing of the paper, the design and drawing of the figures, including the networks! But the reward for the stamina and endurance needed to finish the paper, revise it according to the anonymous reviewers' and editors' suggestions, is to see it in print. In fact, it already is being cited internationally since it is the first general electric power supply chain network model with fuel markets and data for a large region and the methodology that we use for formulation and analysis is very cool, too -- that of variational inequalities. You can always read up on my Network Economics book to get some background. Our NRL paper can be used as the baseline for the investigation of not only tradable pollution permits (a very hot topic now) but also serve as a model on which smart grid issues can be formulated and studied.

Doing this project required true grit, and, just in time, the Boston Globe has a marvelous article on what it takes to be successful -- Grit! I think that you will enjoy reading the article as much as I did and it shows that you just have to stick to what you love and to work very hard at it.

However, when it comes to publishing, some highly original research papers can be and have been rejected. This topic alone we can write numerous blog posts on so I will just leave you with the following. You may have heard of a new journal recently founded called Rejecta Mathematica, which considers submissions of papers previously rejected elsewhere. It was founded by graduate students who decided to take action. Indeed, The Economist recently noted that Paul Lauterbur, the father of magnetic resonance imaging, had his seminal paper rejected when he first submitted it to Nature. He later received the Nobel prize for this work. Peter Higgs, the predictor of physics' missing boson, faced a similar experience with the journal Physics Letters (and he is expected to win the Nobel prize). So, the moral of the story is, hard work pays off and don't give up if you believe in your work!

Thank you letters, the World Science Festival, and the Association for Women in Mathematics Newsletter

Summer is a time when academics and researchers continue to challenge themselves with new and novel professional experiences. These they can then bring back to their classrooms, come the Fall.

One of the high points of my summer was taking part in the Traffic panel at the World Science Festival in NYC and being among invited participants that included Nobel prize winners, celebrated authors and scientists, and, yes, even movie stars. Such a festival and associated experiences elevate research and discovery and emphasize the importance of sharing and explaining science to general audiences in a fun and exciting manner. Of course, if one loves one's work and my research area of networks, in general, and transportation, in particular, is one of the most fascinating subjects and thrilling to communicate about, taking part in the World Science Festival (WSF) is a true celebration of science with lasting memories that continue to resonate. In fact, even last week, while teaching at Harvard University, the festival came up in discussions!

Yesterday, I received a thank you letter (and photos) from the organizers of the WSF, Professor Brian Greene of Columbia University, and Tracy Day, an award-winning journalist. Such attention to detail speaks volumes about their professionalism. Thank you letters matter, as I tell my students, and I try to practice this very important courtesy. In fact, my offices and desks are covered with thank you letters and letters of appreciation that I have received over the years, which serve as inspiration and acknowledgment of extended efforts.

The July-August issue of the Association for Women in Mathematics Newsletter has a feature article on my participation in the WSF. Thank you to the editor for this great coverage and for reinforcing the memories of those magical days in New York City in June!