Management Science and Engineering

Winter 2023 Newsletter

Our lead story: Artificial intelligence and MS&E

At MS&E Reunion 2022, speakers shared their thoughts on AI | Image by Jennifer Sitter

Faculty discuss impact of AI

At the MS&E Reunion 2022 event, former classmates gathered for a mini-symposium and networking brunch. The symposium featured three MS&E faculty speakers, who shared different perspectives about the ways artificial intelligence is impacting research and teaching in the department.

• Professor Ben Van Roy discussed recent breakthroughs in AI, how AI is giving rise to technologies that might shape humanity's future, and how scholars with MS&E training are positioned to positively impact this evolution.
  
  
• Professor Amin Saberi discussed the evolution of markets into systems in which the so-called "invisible hand of the market" is often an algorithm, as well as the implications of such an arrangement.
  
  
• Professor Kathleen Eisenhardt discussed the value of small data sets and qualitative insights, and pondered whether machine learning is a re-creation of how humans become experts.

Read more about their talks and the event, and view the photo gallery.

How to harness AI's value

Madeleine Udell and Johan Ugander received NSF CAREER awards | Images courtesy of MS&E

• It's no secret: There is tremendous value in big data. But the process of extracting that value and becoming a data-driven organization can be more difficult to discern. That's where Professor Madeleine Udell comes in. She received an NSF CAREER award for helping automate and accelerate basic machine learning workflows—and training data scientists to use them. Professor Udell joins Professor Johan Ugander among Stanford's nine recent NSF CAREER award winners.
  
  
• At AI Summit New York, Professor Arvind Karunakaran discussed how to harness data science in business. He also delivered a keynote on leaders' roles in digital transformation and sat on multiple panels at the conference.

AI in action

• One example of an organization that successfully found value in AI comes from Professor Melissa Valentine. At the Stanford Human-Centered AI fall conference, she shared her research on how data science and fashion buyer teams designed and implemented an AI-powered tool to aid their business practices.
  
  
• In this episode of The Future of Everything, Professor Valentine discusses the automation and algorithms that help perform the matchmaking behind gig work, as well as the future of the gig economy.
  
  
• The Stanford Online Deliberation Platform, which facilitates equitable conversations using automated moderation, was co-developed by a team including Professor Ashish Goel, PhD students Lodewijk Gelauff and Sukolsak Sakshuwong, and master's student Bhargav Dindukurthi. The platform has limited availability for testing and has already been used around the world.

AI for leaders

• The recent acceleration of digital transformation has led some to think every leader needs to be an AI-expert technologist. But that's not the case, say Paul Leonardi (PhD '07) and Tsedal Neeley (PhD '07). In this episode of Dare to Lead with Brené Brown, the pair discuss how leaders who develop a digital mindset can lead successfully in the age of data, algorithms, and AI.
  
  
• For those in charge of digital transformation for their organizations, Professor Valentine discusses five mistakes managers make when introducing AI—as well as how to fix them.

STORIES & VOICES

THE LATEST IN MS&E

MS&E careers

• Time travel: David Telleen Lawton (MS '78, BS '77) helps students get in touch with their FutureSelf.
  
  
• We host in-person and virtual workshops almost every quarter. Interested in helping MS&E students by hosting a future career development workshop? If so, please contact Lindsey Akin, our new Career Services Officer: [email protected].
  

Better organizations

• Hierarchy at work can do terrible damage when done poorly, but that doesn't mean decentralization is always a good thing. Professor Robert Sutton explains why.
  
  
• Rebecca Hinds (PhD '22) researches how to evolve organizations for the future of work as head of the Work Innovation Lab at Asana. A few recent insights: Your goal-setting approach needs to change, collaborative intelligence beats productivity, beware of collaboration overload, and how to fix broken meetings.
  

Other news

• Professor Emeritus Siegfried Hecker will serve as chair of the Board of Sponsors for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The group, created by Albert Einstein, is best known for setting the Bulletin's Doomsday Clock.
  
  
• MS&E faculty and students are among those seeking solutions to complex climate and stability challenges through deep analysis, innovative thinking, and careful collaboration with those most affected. Read more about the course that's enabling this work.
  
  
• Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders returns on Wednesdays this quarter. Check out the lineup and mark your calendars for the winter speaker series.

Inspire your inner entrepreneur with this quarter's ETL speakers | Images courtesy of eCorner

AWARDS AND HONORS

MS&E faculty

• Professor Riitta Katila was elected as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society. In addition, she was recently elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management, and received the PhD Distinguished Alumnus Award from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
  
  
• MS&E published a repository of faculty award winners from the 1940s to today.

MS&E students and alums

• Several alums and one student were honored in the 2023 Forbes 30 under 30 list: Harrison Hochman (MS '21, BS '20), Kenzi Inman (BS '18), Olamide Oladeji (PhD student), Abuzar Royesh (MS '21), Michael Strand (PhD '20, MS '18), Jacqueline Wibowo (MS '18), and Andy Zhao (BS '16).
  
  
• Grace Isford (MS '19, BS '19) was named one of Insider Business's 71 Rising Stars of Venture Capital (link requires Insider Business subscription). For the first time, this year's list includes more women than men and showcases several women who made partner at their firms, including Isford.
  
  
• Patrick Fields (MS '22) was named a first team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators.
  
  
• Naomi Girma (MS '22) was named to the NCAA Honors Committee's Today's Top 10 awardee pool.
  
  
• Camila Katz (MS '22) was named a Class of 2023-24 Schwarzman Scholar.
  
  
• Fifth-year undergraduate Brody Malone was one of three Stanford gymnasts who represented Team USA in the 2022 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
  
  
• Senior Cam Cilley was named a first team Scholar All-American by United Soccer Coaches.
  
  
• Junior Mackenna Turner, a computer science major who intends to pursue a master's degree in MS&E, was selected in the inaugural cohort of Voyager Scholars. The program supports students interested in pursuing public service careers.

Management Science & Engineering
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