- Academic Programs
- Faculty & Research
- Alumni
- Executive Education
- Corporate Connection
- Newsroom
- About MIT Sloan
Professor of Operations Research
Teaching at MIT Sloan since: 1998
My students really make things happen for me intellectually, both the MBAs and the PhDs. In class, I feel I'm getting something out of it myself, because students challenge my thinking. My research direction actually changed because of the way MBA students think. My original research was pretty mathematical and theoretical. But my students taught me to appreciate the applications side.
I work on applications where companies compete, trying to do the best they can for themselves: How are those environments affected by dynamic changes of data, how does the presence of competition affects a company's profits, and what opportunities do these effects present for those companies? For example, I study the application of quantitative models as they apply to the pricing of products like airline tickets.
If I were to rate the four semesters of the MBA program, the first one is the toughest. Fortunately, the program is structured so students work together through that period. You shouldn't expect it to be a trivial adjustment, but there is a lot of support — from your team advisor, your cohort advisor, your career advisor, and certainly from your peers.
My students are very smart, very interesting — and in a way I like it when they don't have extensive technical backgrounds, because they don't have fixed ideas about how to approach things. It happens every year and it gives me great pleasure: to give an “A” to a student with a liberal arts background! If you're smart and energetic, you can be very successful at MIT Sloan.
© 2012 MIT SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT