The sad news reached me during a time when we celebrate many college graduations and other milestones.
John M. Quigley, a renowned urban economist and regional scientist, passed away last Saturday, May 12, 2012.
The news reached me via David E. Boyce, both an INFORMS Fellow and an RSAI Fellow.
The Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California Berkeley issued a statement on his passing, and Ed Glaeser of Harvard University wrote the following column for Bloomberg on Quigley's outstanding contributions to the understanding of housing and its pricing, "An Economist Who Changed the Way We Think About Housing." in which he also noted the important role that Quigley played in mentoring young scholars.
I couldn't agree more.
As a relatively fresh PhD, I published both co-authored (with Stella Dafermos) and single-authored papers in the journal, Regional Science and Urban Economics, on spatial competition and oligopolies and just this morning I was working on a draft of a paper that cites the paper published therein with Dafermos in 1987, which, in my opinion, contains some of the very first ideas that are relevant supply chain network competition. John Quigley was then the Editor in Chief of this journal.
In addition, David E. Boyce wrote in a message, reprinted below, that went out to RSAI Fellows today:
It seems appropriate to mention at this time John's role in establishing the RSAI Fellows Award. On November 7, 2000, I sent a letter to Geoffrey Hewings, then President of RSAI, proposing the establishment of a Fellows Award for our association. I did not discuss the proposal, or argue for its implementation, but only asked that it be presented to the RSAI Council for discussion.
As I recall, one member of the Council especially liked this idea, drafted a resolution for its implementation, and lobbied for its adoption. That person, of course, was John Quigley. We all have John to thank for whatever recognition we have received as RSAI Fellows.
John received the RSAI Fellows Award in 2004, the third group of scholars to be so honored.
David Boyce
We were honored to have known John M. Quigley. He will be missed.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Happy Mother's Day with a Bouquet of Flowers
The gorgeous bouquet of pink roses above was delivered by Fedex and came from one of my nieces in Rhode Island -- thank you!
I thought it fitting to share the photo of the beautiful flowers to thank all of the women who have supported one another as mothers. I also wanted to thank all the faculty moms, who have nurtured generations of students.
Thanks to all the great mothers out there -- where would civilizations be without you?
May your hard work, dedication, and selflessness in all of your endeavors give you great pride and satisfaction and may your children make you proud.
Happy Mother's Day to women around the globe!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
The Isenberg Graduation Was Fabulous as Were the Shoes that They Wore
In my previous post, I wrote about the graduate ceremonies at UMass Amherst that took place yesterday and posted a lot of photos.
This morning, I was back at the Mullins Center to take part, with over 1,000 of our graduating seniors, in the Isenberg School of Management 2012 ceremonies. Even Gene Isenberg, after whom our business school is named, was in attendance and sat in the front row.
I enjoy the special Isenberg graduation that takes place every May and this year was no exception.
The attendance was spectacular and I could not resist taking also some photos of the shoes that the graduates wore and noone toppled over descending the stairs (and, luckily, that includes the faculty). The distinctive shoes added a lot of color and style to the black robes of the graduates.
The faculty associated with each major lined up to shake the hands of the graduates with the major.
Kyle Lawless, a graduating senior, was the commencement speaker and should be invited back every year to give the commencement speech. He will be working for Ernst & Young.
He thanked his professors and singled out several professors that he had had and what he learned from them:
From Professor Dick Simpson, our esteemed accounting professor, who was still teaching this past year at the age of 77 (his 45th year of teaching) he learned that, whatever you do, it should be something that you love to do; from Professor Mike Whiteman, also an accounting professor who is retiring this year, he learned that you should be kind and nice to everyone, and from Professor Richard Rodgers, who is in Resource Economics, besides learning statistics from him, Kyle learned the importance of treasuring your family members and friends. Professor Rodgers told the class that he would give up his PhD and all of his publications to be able to have one more bike ride with his father.
The class of 2012 is amazing -- we wish you all much happiness and success -- you will be missed!
Thanks for the handshakes and the hugs!
This morning, I was back at the Mullins Center to take part, with over 1,000 of our graduating seniors, in the Isenberg School of Management 2012 ceremonies. Even Gene Isenberg, after whom our business school is named, was in attendance and sat in the front row.
I enjoy the special Isenberg graduation that takes place every May and this year was no exception.
The attendance was spectacular and I could not resist taking also some photos of the shoes that the graduates wore and noone toppled over descending the stairs (and, luckily, that includes the faculty). The distinctive shoes added a lot of color and style to the black robes of the graduates.
The faculty associated with each major lined up to shake the hands of the graduates with the major.
Kyle Lawless, a graduating senior, was the commencement speaker and should be invited back every year to give the commencement speech. He will be working for Ernst & Young.
He thanked his professors and singled out several professors that he had had and what he learned from them:
From Professor Dick Simpson, our esteemed accounting professor, who was still teaching this past year at the age of 77 (his 45th year of teaching) he learned that, whatever you do, it should be something that you love to do; from Professor Mike Whiteman, also an accounting professor who is retiring this year, he learned that you should be kind and nice to everyone, and from Professor Richard Rodgers, who is in Resource Economics, besides learning statistics from him, Kyle learned the importance of treasuring your family members and friends. Professor Rodgers told the class that he would give up his PhD and all of his publications to be able to have one more bike ride with his father.
The class of 2012 is amazing -- we wish you all much happiness and success -- you will be missed!
Thanks for the handshakes and the hugs!
Friday, May 11, 2012
Photos from the Spectacular UMass Amherst Graduate Ceremonies
The day could not have been more perfect with the sun shining, flowering trees blooming, and with gentle breezes.
Families and friends traveled from across the globe to celebrate with those who received the PhDs and Masters degrees at the Mullins Center at UMass Amherst today.
I very much enjoyed hearing our Chancellor's wonderful speech as well as the speech of the honorary degree recipient -- Mark E. Russell of Raytheon who spoke of persistence in one's endeavors and in doing great, sustained work so that you earn trust. I also very much appreciated him highlighting the terrific work that the NSF Engineering Research Center CASA is doing (and I sat next to its Director, Dr. David McLaughlin) in designing radars for extreme weather prediction, including tornadoes. There is a nice writeup about the graduate ceremony here.
The ceremony flowed smoothly and the pageantry was spectacular.
I especially wish to congratulate my PhD student who became Dr. Min Yu today and whose family traveled from China to recognize her and to celebrate with her. Congrats also to Dr. Davit Kachatryan who came from DC to march in the ceremonies. He had received his PhD a while back but came today since he promised his family that he would march.
Several of our doctoral students in Management Science, in Organizational Behavior, and in Strategic Management, and Finance, at the Isenberg School, came out to support the graduates (and to get a sense of what it will be like when they receive their PhD degrees). Special thanks to my doctoral students, Dong "Michelle" Li and Amir Masoumi, for taking numerous photos today.
Congratulations to all the graduate degree recipients. Your hard work and scholarship were recognized today.
With best wishes for very successful, satisfying, and worthwhile professional careers!
Tomorrow I will be back at the Mullins Center at UMass Amherst to take part in the Isenberg School of Management undergraduate graduation ceremonies.
Families and friends traveled from across the globe to celebrate with those who received the PhDs and Masters degrees at the Mullins Center at UMass Amherst today.
I very much enjoyed hearing our Chancellor's wonderful speech as well as the speech of the honorary degree recipient -- Mark E. Russell of Raytheon who spoke of persistence in one's endeavors and in doing great, sustained work so that you earn trust. I also very much appreciated him highlighting the terrific work that the NSF Engineering Research Center CASA is doing (and I sat next to its Director, Dr. David McLaughlin) in designing radars for extreme weather prediction, including tornadoes. There is a nice writeup about the graduate ceremony here.
The ceremony flowed smoothly and the pageantry was spectacular.
I especially wish to congratulate my PhD student who became Dr. Min Yu today and whose family traveled from China to recognize her and to celebrate with her. Congrats also to Dr. Davit Kachatryan who came from DC to march in the ceremonies. He had received his PhD a while back but came today since he promised his family that he would march.
With best wishes for very successful, satisfying, and worthwhile professional careers!
Tomorrow I will be back at the Mullins Center at UMass Amherst to take part in the Isenberg School of Management undergraduate graduation ceremonies.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Looking Forward to the UMass and Isenberg School Graduations
Tomorrow and Saturday the town of Amherst will be buzzing with multiple graduation ceremonies, beginning with the graduate and undergraduate commencements at UMass Amherst tomorrow morning and afternoon, respectively.
On Saturday morning, the Isenberg School of Management will also be honoring its graduating undergraduates in a special ceremony.
The legendary journalist, Ted Koppel, will be receiving an honorary degree tomorrow. Also, Eugene Isenberg, after whom our School of Management is named, will be receiving a special award for his philanthropy.
I am very much looking forward to these events-- tomorrow morning one of my doctoral students, Min Yu, will be receiving her doctorate diploma and several of her family members have already arrived from China for this very special occasion. I also will be sending off the Isenberg School of Management undergraduates, especially our Operations Management majors.
There is a very nice writeup In the Loop on those being honored at commencement ceremonies.
Congratulations to all those receiving their diplomas as well as to their families!
Next month, I will be giving a commencement speech at Gothenburg University to those receiving Masters degrees from the School of Business, Economics and Law. I received an outline of the associated ceremonies, which include a lunch and end with strawberries and sparkling wine.
I have started working on my commencement speech. This will be a special experience.
I have given a commencement speech earlier, but it was to students graduating from the Isenberg School and their guests.
On Saturday morning, the Isenberg School of Management will also be honoring its graduating undergraduates in a special ceremony.
The legendary journalist, Ted Koppel, will be receiving an honorary degree tomorrow. Also, Eugene Isenberg, after whom our School of Management is named, will be receiving a special award for his philanthropy.
I am very much looking forward to these events-- tomorrow morning one of my doctoral students, Min Yu, will be receiving her doctorate diploma and several of her family members have already arrived from China for this very special occasion. I also will be sending off the Isenberg School of Management undergraduates, especially our Operations Management majors.
There is a very nice writeup In the Loop on those being honored at commencement ceremonies.
Congratulations to all those receiving their diplomas as well as to their families!
Next month, I will be giving a commencement speech at Gothenburg University to those receiving Masters degrees from the School of Business, Economics and Law. I received an outline of the associated ceremonies, which include a lunch and end with strawberries and sparkling wine.
I have started working on my commencement speech. This will be a special experience.
I have given a commencement speech earlier, but it was to students graduating from the Isenberg School and their guests.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Critical Needs Supply Chains Under Capacity and Demand Disruptions
The special issue of Transportation Research A on the theme of Network Vulnerability in Large Scale Transport Networks, edited by Michael A.P. Taylor, is now published.
Our paper, "A bi-criteria indicator to assess supply chain network performance for critical needs under capacity and demand disruptions," Patrick Qiang and Anna Nagurney, appears in this issue, which is volume 46 (5), June 2012.
This paper was also highlighted in a newsletter of the OR Society (thanks). Patrick is a faculty member at the Graduate School of Professional Studies at Penn State University Malvern and I am at the Isenberg School at UMass Amherst.
In this paper, we developed a supply chain network model for critical needs products, which captures disruptions in capacities associated with the various supply chain activities of production, transportation, and storage, as well as those associated with the demands for the product at the various demand points. Critical needs products may be defined as those products and supplies that are essential to human health and life. Examples include food, water, medicines, and vaccines. The demand for critical needs is always present and, hence, the disruption to the production, storage, transportation/distribution, and ultimate delivery of such products can result not only in discomfort and human suffering but also in loss of life. Such supplies are essential in times of disasters and emergencies.
The objective is to minimize the total network costs, which are generalized costs that may include the monetary, risk, time, and social costs. Two different cases of disruption scenarios are considered. In the first case, we assume that the impacts of the disruptions are mild and that the demands can be met. In the second case, the demands cannot all be satisfied. For these two cases, we propose two individual performance indicators.
We showed that the governing optimality conditions can be formulated as a variational inequality problem with nice features for numerical solution.
In addition, we proposed two distinct supply chain network performance indicators for critical needs products. The first indicator considers disruptions in the link capacities but assumes that the demands for the product can be met. The second indicator captures the unsatisfied demand. We then constructed a bi-criteria supply chain network performance indicator and used it for the evaluation of distinct supply chain networks. The bi-criteria indicator allows for the comparison of the robustness of different supply chain networks under a spectrum of real-world scenarios. We illustrated the new concepts in the paper with numerical supply chain network examples in which the supply chains were subject to a spectrum of disruptions involving capacity reductions as well as demand changes.
Given that the number of disasters has been growing globally, we expect that the methodological tools introduced in this paper will be applicable in practice in disaster planning and emergency preparedness.
Thanks also to Wiley for publicizing our first critical needs supply chain network paper, which focused on design, in its Asia blog on What's New in Operations Research.
Our paper, "A bi-criteria indicator to assess supply chain network performance for critical needs under capacity and demand disruptions," Patrick Qiang and Anna Nagurney, appears in this issue, which is volume 46 (5), June 2012.
This paper was also highlighted in a newsletter of the OR Society (thanks). Patrick is a faculty member at the Graduate School of Professional Studies at Penn State University Malvern and I am at the Isenberg School at UMass Amherst.
In this paper, we developed a supply chain network model for critical needs products, which captures disruptions in capacities associated with the various supply chain activities of production, transportation, and storage, as well as those associated with the demands for the product at the various demand points. Critical needs products may be defined as those products and supplies that are essential to human health and life. Examples include food, water, medicines, and vaccines. The demand for critical needs is always present and, hence, the disruption to the production, storage, transportation/distribution, and ultimate delivery of such products can result not only in discomfort and human suffering but also in loss of life. Such supplies are essential in times of disasters and emergencies.
The objective is to minimize the total network costs, which are generalized costs that may include the monetary, risk, time, and social costs. Two different cases of disruption scenarios are considered. In the first case, we assume that the impacts of the disruptions are mild and that the demands can be met. In the second case, the demands cannot all be satisfied. For these two cases, we propose two individual performance indicators.
We showed that the governing optimality conditions can be formulated as a variational inequality problem with nice features for numerical solution.
In addition, we proposed two distinct supply chain network performance indicators for critical needs products. The first indicator considers disruptions in the link capacities but assumes that the demands for the product can be met. The second indicator captures the unsatisfied demand. We then constructed a bi-criteria supply chain network performance indicator and used it for the evaluation of distinct supply chain networks. The bi-criteria indicator allows for the comparison of the robustness of different supply chain networks under a spectrum of real-world scenarios. We illustrated the new concepts in the paper with numerical supply chain network examples in which the supply chains were subject to a spectrum of disruptions involving capacity reductions as well as demand changes.
Given that the number of disasters has been growing globally, we expect that the methodological tools introduced in this paper will be applicable in practice in disaster planning and emergency preparedness.
Thanks also to Wiley for publicizing our first critical needs supply chain network paper, which focused on design, in its Asia blog on What's New in Operations Research.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
I Was the Academic Mother of the Bride
The bride met the groom at the POMS Conference in Dallas, Texas, a few years ago appropriately, on May 5 and the wedding was on May 5, which was also the 38th anniversary of her parents' wedding.
I have had invitations to attend weddings of my doctoral students in India and outside London (I have videos of those weddings since I could not attend them) and have been to the wedding of Dr. Jose M. Cruz, which took place at Smith College.
As for my academic family tree, see the math genealogy list, which has now been traced back to Newton and Galileo.
Remember, next Sunday is Mother's Day!
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