Every day our lives are filled with decision making, as individuals, as professionals, and as members of groups and communities that we belong to.
We are all operations researchers since survival of the fittest requires optimization and if our ancestors had not optimized we wouldn't be around today.
What never fails to fascinate me is the number of applications to which optimization can be applied to make processes and even organizations perform better.
As researchers and scholars it is imperative that we document our findings and I am delighted to report that the special issue of Computational Management Science, edited by Georg Pflug is now out and the theme is Optimal Decision Making.
This special issue, which is volume 9(2) of this journal, is the May 2012 issue. It is a collection of plenary papers from the Computational Management Science conference held in Vienna along with several invited papers. I had the pleasure of giving a plenary talk there.
Min recently successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on time-sensitive supply chains and will be receiving her PhD with a concentration in Management Science next week at the UMass Amherst graduation ceremonies.
She will be a faculty member next Fall and will be imparting her knowledge of optimal decision making to a new generation of students.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Isenberg School of Management Celebrates Research
This past Wednesday, in the lovely atrium of the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, we held our annual reception at which the research awards were given out and teaching was also recognized.
It was very special to receive the research excellence award this year. Other faculty colleagues that were recognized for their research included, from my department: Mila Sherman, Bing Liang, Nikunj Kapadia, and Traci Hess. Christian Rojas of the Resource Economics department also received a research award. The majority of the research award recipients were in my department (it is a great department, I do admit, and my colleagues are smart but also very interesting and nice).
The Isenberg School consists of 7 departments: my department of Finance and Operations Management, the Accounting department, the Marketing department, the Management department, and three other departments which add to the uniqueness (and fun of the school); Sports Management, Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Resource Economics.
Yes, our great Dean, Mark Fuller, was wearing a UMass Amherst sweatshirt since immediately afterwards there was a senior barbecue for graduating seniors outside the atrium at which he expertly flipped the burgers.
Publications in premier journals were recognized as well as grants and research productivity.
The reception was fabulous as well as the turnout.
It was very special to receive the research excellence award this year. Other faculty colleagues that were recognized for their research included, from my department: Mila Sherman, Bing Liang, Nikunj Kapadia, and Traci Hess. Christian Rojas of the Resource Economics department also received a research award. The majority of the research award recipients were in my department (it is a great department, I do admit, and my colleagues are smart but also very interesting and nice).
The Isenberg School consists of 7 departments: my department of Finance and Operations Management, the Accounting department, the Marketing department, the Management department, and three other departments which add to the uniqueness (and fun of the school); Sports Management, Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Resource Economics.
Yes, our great Dean, Mark Fuller, was wearing a UMass Amherst sweatshirt since immediately afterwards there was a senior barbecue for graduating seniors outside the atrium at which he expertly flipped the burgers.
Publications in premier journals were recognized as well as grants and research productivity.
The reception was fabulous as well as the turnout.
Another Successful INFORMS Student Chapter Party -- Great Colleagues, Students, and Food
Yes, now is the end of the academic year with papers and projects due, final exams to take, and for the faculty -- a lot of grading to do.
It is also the time of the year when we hold many events -- from award ceremonies to the grand finales -- the graduations.
As the Faculty Advisor to the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter we have a tradition of holding a party at the end of each semester and yesterday we had our 16th such party.
It was a great event with colleagues in the Isenberg School of management and the College of Engineering getting together, along with students, to sample cuisine from around the world and to engage in fun conversations and social interactions.
A great time was had by all -- such events bring the members of our community closer together.
Thanks to all for their support -- it means a lot to the students (and to me, as well)!
It is also the time of the year when we hold many events -- from award ceremonies to the grand finales -- the graduations.
As the Faculty Advisor to the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter we have a tradition of holding a party at the end of each semester and yesterday we had our 16th such party.
It was a great event with colleagues in the Isenberg School of management and the College of Engineering getting together, along with students, to sample cuisine from around the world and to engage in fun conversations and social interactions.
A great time was had by all -- such events bring the members of our community closer together.
Thanks to all for their support -- it means a lot to the students (and to me, as well)!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Congrats to newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences has announced its newly elected members for 2012 and it is really nice to have names on the list that I recognize from the Director of the National Science Foundation Subra Suresh to Professors Lovasz, Athey, and Williams.
It was also very special to see Professor Wendell Fleming of the Division of Applied Math at Brown University, who was chair of that department when I received my 3 degrees in Applied Math from Brown, on the list! He is now professor emeritus.
Congrats to everyone!
The full list is here.
It was also very special to see Professor Wendell Fleming of the Division of Applied Math at Brown University, who was chair of that department when I received my 3 degrees in Applied Math from Brown, on the list! He is now professor emeritus.
Congrats to everyone!
The full list is here.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
So Looking Forward to Graduations and Giving a Commencement Speech
May and June are the months for graduations (at least north of the equator) and with spring in full bloom the excitement surrounding the marking of such milestones is palpable.
Living and working in Amherst, Massachusetts with the 5 colleges (UMass, Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire) plus numerous colleges in our knowledge corridor and in Massachusetts and neighboring Connecticut, this marks a truly special time of the year.
I am very much looking forward to the UMass Amherst graduation, both the undergrad and grad ceremonies that will be taking place on May 11, 2012.
I am so proud of all that our undergraduate students at the Isenberg School of Management have accomplished as well as the graduate students. This year, my PhD student, Min Yu, will be receiving her PhD, and her family is traveling from China for the graduation ceremony and festivities.
The Isenberg School has been graduating 25% of the UMass Amherst graduates -- an amazing number and our students are outstanding with several Jack Welch Scholars and recipients of the Leaders for the 21st Century Award.
The Isenberg School will be sending off its graduates in an additional special ceremony on May 12 at the Mullins Center,
I am also looking forward to high school graduations and, especially this year, since my daughter, Alexandra, will be graduating from Deerfield Academy. You can view some photos of graduations that I have enjoyed at Deerfield Academy and UMass Amherst here and here.
As for commencement speeches, which are supposed to be inspiring, Ted Koppel, the renowned journalist, will be speaking at UMass Amherst.
This morning, I accepted an invitation to be a commencement speaker at graduate graduation ceremonies at the University of Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law in mid-June.
Having given a Isenberg School of Management undergraduate commencement speech a few years ago, I am very much looking forward to inspiring graduating students in Gothenburg, Sweden! I have become enchanted by that institution.
Congrats to all the graduates and their family members!
Living and working in Amherst, Massachusetts with the 5 colleges (UMass, Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire) plus numerous colleges in our knowledge corridor and in Massachusetts and neighboring Connecticut, this marks a truly special time of the year.
I am very much looking forward to the UMass Amherst graduation, both the undergrad and grad ceremonies that will be taking place on May 11, 2012.
I am so proud of all that our undergraduate students at the Isenberg School of Management have accomplished as well as the graduate students. This year, my PhD student, Min Yu, will be receiving her PhD, and her family is traveling from China for the graduation ceremony and festivities.
The Isenberg School has been graduating 25% of the UMass Amherst graduates -- an amazing number and our students are outstanding with several Jack Welch Scholars and recipients of the Leaders for the 21st Century Award.
The Isenberg School will be sending off its graduates in an additional special ceremony on May 12 at the Mullins Center,
I am also looking forward to high school graduations and, especially this year, since my daughter, Alexandra, will be graduating from Deerfield Academy. You can view some photos of graduations that I have enjoyed at Deerfield Academy and UMass Amherst here and here.
As for commencement speeches, which are supposed to be inspiring, Ted Koppel, the renowned journalist, will be speaking at UMass Amherst.
This morning, I accepted an invitation to be a commencement speaker at graduate graduation ceremonies at the University of Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law in mid-June.
Having given a Isenberg School of Management undergraduate commencement speech a few years ago, I am very much looking forward to inspiring graduating students in Gothenburg, Sweden! I have become enchanted by that institution.
Congrats to all the graduates and their family members!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
College D-Day
Today, May 1st, is for many colleges and universities, what I call D-Day, where "D' stands for "deposit."
High school seniors have evaluated their college acceptances and decide (with postmarked response forms and their deposits) where they plan to spend the next 4 years of their lives.
I know of students who have woken up on May 1, in years past, to finally make the college decision that morning and I know of students this year who cannot decide and will be taking a gap year, which means that they will not be attending college next year.
With several additional colleges this year allowing for early action, it will be very interesting to see the "yields." In other words, what percentage of those accepted at a given college will actually matriculate?
Personally, I know of students accepted Early Action to Yale and to Harvard, who still kept on applying after getting in to such schools. I guess some are never satisfied.
It was an extremely competitive year for college acceptances and the competition for admittance into US colleges and universities is now global plus with the Common Application more students are applying to many colleges (some of which they have not even visited).
The shuffling will begin soon, and it will be interesting to see how deep certain colleges will have to go down their waiting lists.
In the meantime, I wish the college admissions officers and the financial aid officers lots of luck.The same goes for the high school seniors and their families.
It has been a long road for many with college visits, lengthy college applications, interviews, and then the waiting for the college acceptance decisions followed by second college visits and numerous discussions with family members and maybe even friends.
Congrats to all those who have weathered this long process and best of luck after your high school graduations.
Before you know it, you will also be holding college diplomas so enjoy college -- those four years are truly transformative and the hard work you do then pays off.
Remember, it is the work that you do and who you are that ultimately makes for being successful in life.
High school seniors have evaluated their college acceptances and decide (with postmarked response forms and their deposits) where they plan to spend the next 4 years of their lives.
I know of students who have woken up on May 1, in years past, to finally make the college decision that morning and I know of students this year who cannot decide and will be taking a gap year, which means that they will not be attending college next year.
With several additional colleges this year allowing for early action, it will be very interesting to see the "yields." In other words, what percentage of those accepted at a given college will actually matriculate?
Personally, I know of students accepted Early Action to Yale and to Harvard, who still kept on applying after getting in to such schools. I guess some are never satisfied.
It was an extremely competitive year for college acceptances and the competition for admittance into US colleges and universities is now global plus with the Common Application more students are applying to many colleges (some of which they have not even visited).
The shuffling will begin soon, and it will be interesting to see how deep certain colleges will have to go down their waiting lists.
In the meantime, I wish the college admissions officers and the financial aid officers lots of luck.The same goes for the high school seniors and their families.
It has been a long road for many with college visits, lengthy college applications, interviews, and then the waiting for the college acceptance decisions followed by second college visits and numerous discussions with family members and maybe even friends.
Congrats to all those who have weathered this long process and best of luck after your high school graduations.
Before you know it, you will also be holding college diplomas so enjoy college -- those four years are truly transformative and the hard work you do then pays off.
Remember, it is the work that you do and who you are that ultimately makes for being successful in life.
Simons Foundation Funds Major Computing Institute at UC Berkeley
I was delighted to read in The New York Times that the University of California Berkeley has been selected as the home of a new Computing Institute to be headed by Richard Karp with support from Christos Papadimitrou. Papadimitrou, you may recall, is credited for the term "price of anarchy," which I have written about in some of my work, including in the Fragile Networks book co-authored with Qiang "Patrick" Qiang.
The Institute is being funded by the Simons Foundation.
The Simons Foundation was established by James Simons, who had been a faculty member at SUNY Stony Brook in Math (I had an offer from the department when I was on the job market finishing up my PhD at Brown University) and then went on to establish and lead the very successful hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies. He is now one of the wealthiest people in the world but doesn't just sit on his gold.
I have written about the good work that his foundation has been doing in supporting research and education on this blog.
It is thrilling to see that this institute will be focusing on computing and will support research and applications in algorithmics and computational thinking that are now permeating so many disciplines.
I wish UC Berkeley lots of success in bringing disciplines together and in making discoveries through analyzing big data. I appreciated also seeing massively parallel architectures noted in the Times article and seeing Jeannette Wing quoted. Yes, there are females that love to compute and to solve problems.
The Institute is being funded by the Simons Foundation.
The Simons Foundation was established by James Simons, who had been a faculty member at SUNY Stony Brook in Math (I had an offer from the department when I was on the job market finishing up my PhD at Brown University) and then went on to establish and lead the very successful hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies. He is now one of the wealthiest people in the world but doesn't just sit on his gold.
I have written about the good work that his foundation has been doing in supporting research and education on this blog.
It is thrilling to see that this institute will be focusing on computing and will support research and applications in algorithmics and computational thinking that are now permeating so many disciplines.
I wish UC Berkeley lots of success in bringing disciplines together and in making discoveries through analyzing big data. I appreciated also seeing massively parallel architectures noted in the Times article and seeing Jeannette Wing quoted. Yes, there are females that love to compute and to solve problems.
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