Airline Security: A Lost Cause?
Arnold Barnett
Thu Jan 22, 10:30am-12:00pm, E40-106
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
The airline-security situation changes so rapidly that it is hard to predict what will seem most urgent in late January. Possible topics include profiling systems to identify "high risk" passengers, precautions for items carried in aircraft luggage compartments, and the recent abolition of certain security measures even though they cost practically nothing. We will approach all topics from an Operations Research perspective.
Contact: Yann Le Tallec, Ketty Tanizar, Kendell Timmers, letallec@mit.edu, ktanizar@mit.edu, ktimmers@mit.edu
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Copper Cable Matching Optimization
Dr. Mitchell H. Burman, Dr. Timothy S. Kniker Analytics Operations Engineering, Inc.
Wed Jan 7, 10:30am-12:00pm, E40-106
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Developing OR models in industry can be intellectually challenging, frustrating, rewarding, but most of all fun. The modeling, however, is a surprisingly small component of the entire process. This talk describes a “real-life” implementation of an optimization algorithm that has been incorporated into the daily operations of a major wire and cable manufacturing company. The company has many thousands of reels of different product spread throughout six facilities across the country. When an order comes in, it must be decided from which facility and reel it should be cut in order to minimize the transportation, operations, and waste costs for the company, while still meeting the customer’s service requirements.
Contact: Yann Le Tallec, Ketty Tanizar, Kendell Timmers, E40-130, x3-7412, letallec@mit,edu,ktanizar@mit.edu,ktimmers@mit.edu
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Finance Made Difficult: Intellectual Challenges and Career Opportunities for OR Students on Wall Street
Dr. Andrew Lo
Wed Jan 14, 11:30-12:30am, E40-106
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Recent breakthroughs in financial economics have led to a virtual explosion of quantitative research in academics and on Wall Street. What used to be considered esoteric mathematical minutiae is now part of the standard lexicon of traders, arbitrageurs, and portfolio managers. What is financial engineering? Can investors really beat the market using quantitative strategies? What were the “breakthroughs” in financial technology over the past thirty years? What are the current intellectual challenges and career opportunities in the financial sector most relevant to scientists and engineers? Professor Lo will address these issues, and provide an overview of current market conditions.
Contact: Yann Letallec, Ketty Tanizar, Kendell Timmers, letallec@mit.edu, tanizar@mit.edu, timmers@mit.edu
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Oldies but Goodies: Rediscovering the Roots of OR
Prof. Richard C. Larson
Thu Jan 8, Fri Jan 9, 10:30am-12:00pm, E40-298
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Influence the development of the field of operations research! Join Professor Richard C. Larson, the new President-Elect of INFORMS and an MIT professor, for a two-day seminar about the direction of operations research. The first session will consist of a presentation about the empirically-based model-focused origins of OR and how we can gain perspective on the field by returning to our roots and examining the original goals and methods of the physicists who founded it. The second session will include brainstorming and presentations by participants with ideas of how to revitalize the study and practice of OR. (INFORMS=Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)
Contact: Yann Le Tallec, Ketty Tanizar, Kendell Timmers, E40-130, x3-7412, letallec@mit.edu, ktanizar@mit.edu, ktimmers@mit.edu
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Real Time Optimization for Real World Problems
Prof. Warren Powell Operations Research and Financial Engineering, Princeton Uni
Wed Jan 28, 10:30am-12:00pm, E40-106
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Optimization offers the potential for providing companies with computer support system for complex operational problems. Despite their promise, the implementation of optimization models in these settings has proved difficult. Aside from the technical challenge of solving complex models quickly, real-time models encounter a range of data problems that do not arise in a laboratory setting. Professor Powell will review the major classes of data problems that we have encountered. He will show how some of these problems can be partially overcome in a cost-effective way. Professor Powell will also share his own views on how real-time models should be implemented and what management can and should expect from a real-time system.
Contact: Yann Le Tallec, Ketty Tanizar, Kendell Timmers, E40-130, x3-7412, letallec@mit.edu,ktanizar@mit.edu,ktimmers@mit.edu
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Risk Management in Emerging Market Debt
C.S Venkatakrishnan
Fri Jan 30, 10:30-12:00am, E40-106
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Fixed income index returns are computed as a weighted average of index constituent returns where the weights correspond to the market value of the constituent. These market values are, in turn, closely associated with the amount of debt issuance. There is no guarantee that these indices provide a risk/return efficient approach to gaining market exposure. We discuss the case of traditional Emerging Market debt indices which are heavily weighted by certain countries and regions and discuss an optimization based approach to construct a new index which is risk-return efficient. We also examine a bootstrap based sampling strategy to help establish portfolio holding limits for exposure to debt from specific countries.
Contact: Kendell Timmers, ktimmers@mit.edu
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What Is Operations Research? What Is Management Science?
John Little, Jim Orlin
Wed Jan 14, Fri Jan 16, 10:30am-12:00pm, 2-105
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
Do you enjoy mathematics and computers? Would you like to apply your skills to business, government, and non-profit institutions? Then come and learn about the fields of operations research and management science, a science for improving the decisions of organizations. These fields typically use data, mathematical models, and computer-based information systems. Intended for undergraduates and graduate students considering OR/MS as a field of study. The second session will be followed by a lunch in E40-106. Participants welcome at individual sessions but attendance at both sessions is encouraged.
Contact: Yann Le Tallec, Ketty Tanizar, Kendell Timmers, E40-130, x3-7412, letallec@mit.edu,ktanizar@mit.edu,ktimmers@mit.edu
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