{"id":1231,"date":"2019-05-01T17:02:23","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T17:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2020-08-14T14:32:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T14:32:00","slug":"a-life-of-practical-mathematics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/2019\/05\/a-life-of-practical-mathematics\/","title":{"rendered":"University Professor! A Life of Practical Mathematics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Monday earlier this week, I was finalizing our paper<\/a> on Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers (from Google, IBM, Rigetti), a different paradigm from Adiabatic Quantum Computations (AQC, from D-Wave, on which we have several papers<\/a>),<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knuth Bendix Completion Algorithm and Shuffle Algebras for Compiling NISQ Circuits<\/p>\n\n\n\n

when I received a call from CMU Provost Jim Garrett informing me that I was elected to the rank of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University Professor.😏<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few days earlier, Georgia Perakis and I had received an email from Ozge Sahin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you again for agreeing to speak at the POMS Doctoral Consortium on May 4 (Saturday)…I have included questions targeted to your panel…  The format of the panel is open, please feel free to choose which questions you\u2019d like to address and decide on the format…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Several of the questions from the students, not surprisingly, were on <\/p>\n\n\n\n

how to balance research, teaching and impact<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>as they build their academic career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perfect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My academic Cursus Honorum <\/em>is, mirabile dictu<\/em>, a direct result of the intertwining of mathematical <\/em>research, real-world <\/em>implementations and teaching:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1991: Appointed as Assistant Professor (without tenure). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IPA Derivative technique for Multi-Echelon Inventory Systems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FYI: “Multi-echelon” was “supply chain” avant la lettre.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papers (sample paths, anti-matroids, Schur-convexity) from PhD Thesis on Kanban Systems published<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented Kanban and Lean methods for short, reliable Lead Time quotation at GE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published papers (adaptive adversary, stochastic dynamic programming) on Reliable Lead Time quotation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awarded Undergraduate Teaching Award<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grobner Basis (algebraic geometry) methods for Stochastic Scheduling Problems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randomized Polynomial Time Algorithm (using rapidly mixing Markov Chains) for Convex Optimization<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1994: Promoted to Associate Professor (without tenure).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented Vanilla Boxes at IBM (using IPA and Stochastic Programming with Recourse)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 My first PhD Student wins INFORMS Nicholson Prize<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented MILP Algorithm for Fractional Jet Scheduling at Raytheon (acquired by Flight Options)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1996: Promoted to Associate Professor (with Tenure). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grobner Basis methods for Integer Programs (Hilbert\u2019s Nullstellensatz yields Weak duality!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented Rapid-Response Supply Chain at Caterpillar (using IPA and Stochastic Inventory models)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1998: Promoted to Full Professor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited Handbook on Quantitative Models for Supply Chain Management<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsultant to the Firm\u201d of McKinsey & Company<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Executive Education on Internet-based Supply Chains for McKinsey\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Prize in INFORMS Teaching Case Competition (on Scheduling Private Jets)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awarded MBA Teaching Award<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Founded (and became CEO of) SmartOps Corporation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Advisor and limited partner (LP) in a private equity (PE) fund <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2003: Received an Endowed Chair Professorship.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented SmartOps at Deere (that saved them over $1 Billion in four years)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented Seasonal Logistics Strategy at Deere (MILP plus Stochastic Inventory Theory)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented Product Line Rationalization at Deere (Constrained Programming and MILP)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented SmartOps at Caterpillar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented Lane Strategy, Bundling and Pricing at Caterpillar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented algorithms for scheduling ads in video games at Massive (acquired by Microsoft)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PhD Student wins INFORMS Dantzig Prize for best PhD Thesis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implemented Production Planning at ConAgra Foods (40+ factories)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darden Case Study on SmartOps (resold by HBS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sold SmartOps to SAP  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded OrganJet Corporation and GuardianWings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HBS Case Study on OrganJet and GuardianWings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest Lectures at HBS and HKS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OrganJet paper published in Management Science (uses queuing games) wins INFORMS Pierskalla Prize<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invited to the White House by President Obama for innovative contributions in Organ Transplantation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angel Investor and advisor in startups <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papers on Omni-channel retailing (IPA!) and Online-to-Offline Platforms <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advisor and limited partner (LP) in a venture capital (VC) fund<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Dark side of global supply chains”: Combating Counterfeiting, Child Labor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited Handbook<\/a> of Healthcare Analytics<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Collaboration with NASA Quantum AI Lab (QuAIL) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Algebraic Geometry compiling framework for Adiabatic Quantum Computions (AQC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fundamental analysis of AQC using Morse Homology, Cerf Theory and Differential Geometry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graver basis and hybrid quantum-classical approach for non-linear integer optimization<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knuth-Bendix and Shuffle Algebras for Quantum Circuit Compilation on NISQ computers      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019: Elected as University Professor. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote about a bunch of this stuff in my invited article An Essay on Operations Management<\/a><\/em>. You may enjoy it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday earlier this week, I was finalizing our paper on Noisy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[251,31,250,254,36,60,29,253,252,20,12,249],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1231"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3577,"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions\/3577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myamplelife.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}