Research
My research interests are in responsible analytics and AI and data-driven optimization under uncertainty, with applications in global supply chain management, FinTech, and healthcare. Broadly speaking, my work has two main threads. The first is methodological: building better tools – tools that are more efficient, fair, robust, or transparent – for decision-making. The second is more applied: pairing data analytics and AI with incentives and contracts to address complex value chain problems, with the overaching goal of improving efficiency while advancing equity and broader social and environmental goals.
 |
Key areas of interest
The word cloud on the left, created from some of my papers’ abstracts, gives you perhaps the best five-second snapshot of what it is that I do… |
Under Review
“Stable and Profitable Trading Platforms for Smallholder Commodity Supply Chains” with S. Camelo and J. de Zegher, [ Major Revision in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2025. ]
“Optimality of Linear Policies in Distributionally Robust Linear Quadratic Control”, with B. Taşkesen, Ç. Koçyiğit, and D. Kuhn. [ Major Revision in Management Science, 2025. ]
Some of this material appeared in a preliminary conference paper entitled “Distributionally Robust Linear Quadratic Control”
Finalist for the INFORMS George Nicholson Student Paper Competition (B. Taskesen, 2023)
“Area Conditions and Positive Incentives: Engaging Local Communities to Protect Forests” with X. Warnes, J. de Zegher, and E. Plambeck, [ Major Revision in Management Science, 2025. ]
Some of this material appeared in a previous paper entitled “Sustaining Smallholders and Rainforests by Eliminating Payment Delay in a Commodity Supply Chain – It Takes a Village” [ link to original paper and e-companion ]
Winner SAWIT Challenge, USAID & Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (2016)
Finalist for the INFORMS George Nicholson Student Paper Competition (J. de Zegher, 2018)
“Optimized Targeted Confinements for Future Pandemic Response” with S. Camelo, D.F. Ciocan, X. Warnes, and S. Zoumpoulis, [ Major Revision in Operations Research, 2025. ]
Previously circulated as “Quantifying and Realizing the Benefits of Targeting for Pandemic Response”
Journal Publications
“Boosting Sales and Customer Welfare from Premade Foods (Let the Freshest Chicken Fly Off the Shelf First)” with J. Park and E. Plambeck, [ Management Science, articles in advance, 2025. ]
Previously circulated as “On the Management of Premade Foods”
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
“Climate Impacts of Digital Use Supply Chains” with L. Shi, A. Brandt, K. Mach, C. Field, M-J Cho, S. Chey, N. Ram, T. Robinson, B. Reeves, [ Environmental Research : Climate, vol. 3, 2024. ]
“Value Loss in Allocation Systems with Provider Guarantees,” with Y. Gur and X. Warnes. [ Management Science, vol. 67, no. 6, pp. 3321-3984, 2021.]
Code to validate the paper's results: [ code ]
“Monitoring With Limited Information,” with D.-Y. Yoon and N. Trichakis. [ Management Science, vol. 67, no. 7, pp. 3985-4642, 2021. ]
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
“Loyalty Program Liabilities and Point Values,” with S.-Y. Chun and N. Trichakis. [ M&SOM, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 223-428, 2020. ]
Previously circulated as “Points for Peanuts or Peanuts for Points? Dynamic Management of a Loyalty Program”
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
“Designing Contracts and Sourcing Channels to Create Shared Value,” with J. de Zegher and H. Lee. [ M&SOM, 21, no. 2, pp. 251-477, 2019. ]
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
Finalist for the M&SOM Journal Best Paper Prize (2021 and 2022)
Second Place, Best Student Paper in Supply Chain Management (Joann de Zegher), POMS Society (2016)
“Dynamic Pricing under Debt: Spiraling Distortions and Efficiency Losses,” with O. Besbes and N. Trichakis. [ Management Science , articles in advance ]
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
“Is Operating Flexibility Harmful under Debt?” with N. Trichakis, G. Tsoukalas. [ Management Science, articles in advance ]
Previously circulated as “Operationalizing Financial Covenants”
Winner of the MSOM Interface of Finance, Operations and Risk Management Best Paper Award (2018)
Coverage by Stanford Business Insights
“Dynamic Learning of Patient Response Rates: An Application to Treating Chronic Diseases,” with K. Bimpikis, M. Brandeau, D. Negoescu [ Management Science, vol. 64, no. 8, pp. 3469-3488, 2018. ]
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
Finalist for the INFORMS Health Applications William Pierskalla best paper award (2014)
“Disruption Risk and Optimal Sourcing in Multi-tier Supply Networks,” with E. Ang, R. Swinney [ Management Science, vol. 63, no. 8, pp. 2397-2419, 2017. ]
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
Finalist for the MSOM Interface of Finance, Operations and Risk Management Best Paper Award (2019)
“Pareto Efficiency in Robust Optimization,” with N. Trichakis [ Management Science , vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 130-147, 2014 ]
Winner of the INFORMS Optimization Society Young Researchers Prize (2018)
First place in the INFORMS JFIG Paper Competition (2013)
“Fairness and Efficiency in Multiportfolio Optimization,” with N. Trichakis [ Operations Research , vol. 62, no. 6, pp. 1283-1301, 2014 ]
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
Coverage by Stanford Business Insights
“Tight Approximations of Dynamic Risk Measures,” with M. Petrik, D. Subramanian [ Math. of Oper. Research vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 655-682, 2015 ]
“Supermodularity and Affine Policies in Dynamic Robust Optimization,” with M. Sharma, M. Sviridenko [ Operations Research , vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 941-956, 2013 ]
Online companion for the paper: [ pdf ]
“A New Local Search Algorithm for Binary Optimization,” with D. Bertsimas, D. Katz-Rogozhnikov [ Informs J. on Computing, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 208-221, 2013 ]
“A Hierarchy of Near-Optimal Policies for Multi-stage Adaptive Optimization,” with D. Bertsimas, P. A. Parrilo [ IEEE Trans. in Aut. Control, vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 2809-2824, 2011 ]
“Optimality of Affine Policies in Multi-stage Robust Optimization,” with D. Bertsimas, P. A. Parrilo [ Math. of Oper. Research, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 363-394, 2010 ]
Best Student Paper Prize of the INFORMS Optimization Society (2009)
Other Publications
“Robust Multi-stage Decision Making,” with E. Delage [ TutORials in Operations Research , pp. 20-46, 2015 ]
[ Link to slides for the presentation slides. ]
“Financial Access or Price Premiums? A Nuanced View into Improving FarmerWelfare and Reducing Child Labor in Commodity Supply Chains,” with A. P. Calmon, A. K. Gernert, L. N. Van Wassenhove [ Book Chapter in Responsible and Sustainable Operations: The New Frontier, Springer Series in Supply Chain Management, vol. 24, 2024. ]
Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers (Selection)
“Optimality of Linear Policies in Distributionally Robust Linear Quadratic Control,” with B. Taşkesen, Ç. Koçyiğit, and D. Kuhn. [ Neural Information Processing Systems, 2025.]
Distributionally Robust Linear Quadratic Control,” with B. Taşkesen, Ç. Koçyiğit, and D. Kuhn. [ Neural Information Processing Systems, 2023.]
Accepted as spotlight (3.06% out of 12,343 submissions)
‘‘Power Generation Management Under Time-Varying Power and Demand Conditions,’’ with S. Ghosh, D. Katz-Rogozhnikov, D. Phan and M. Squillante. Proceedings of the IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, 2011.
‘‘Optimality of Affine Policies in Multi-stage Robust Optimization,’’ with D. Bertsimas and P. Parrilo. Proceedings of the 48th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), December 2009.
Working Papers and Active Research
“An Operational View into Improving Farmer Welfare and Reducing Child Labor in Commodity Supply Chains,” with A. Calmon, A. Gernert, D.A. Iancu, L. Van Wassenhove.
“Payments for Ecosystem Services: Balancing Upfront and Ex-Post Payments to Overcome Financial Barriers,” with I. Ashlagi and Z. Liu.
“Identifying Forced Labor in the Construction and Food Industries,” with A. Torres-Skillikorn and S. Billington.
“Inventory for Impact: Scalable Inventory Routing for Clean Cooking Access in Developing Economies,” with S. Camelo, M. Schiffer, S. Thoma.
“Supply Chain Intermediation for Clean Cooking Solutions,” with Ö. Karaduman.
“Dynamic Incentives for Improving Smallholder Welfare and Protecting Forests,” with E. Plambeck and X. Warnes.
Some of this material appeared in a previous paper entitled “Sustaining Smallholders and Rainforests by Eliminating Payment Delay in a Commodity Supply Chain – It Takes a Village” [ link to original paper and e-companion ]
Winner SAWIT Challenge, USAID & Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (2016)
Finalist for the INFORMS George Nicholson Student Paper Competition (J. de Zegher, 2018)
“AI Solutions for Incentivizing Sustainable Protein Choices in Diets,” with A. Desir, D. A. Iancu, F. Vizzoto.
“The Price of Funding Inflexibility in Humanitarian Operations,” with T. Breugem, E. Gürserliler, L. N. Van Wassenhove.
Theses
Adaptive Robust Optimization with Applications in Inventory and Revenue Management. [ Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 2010 ]
Geometric Approach to Digital Quantum Information. Quantum Entanglement. [ B.S. Thesis, Yale University, May 2004 ]