As we approach the end of the academic year, we take the opportunity to reflect on our community’s accomplishments. We celebrate our students who are eager to graduate, MS&E celebrates 25 years since its formation, and Stanford Engineering celebrates its centennial anniversary.
Explore articles, videos, and more in this issue of the MS&E Newsletter.
Our lead story: MS&E celebrates its 25th anniversary
Attendees at MS&E's 25th anniversary celebration | Patrick Beaudouin
Although our history begins earlier, MS&E was formed in 2000 through a merger of the departments of Industrial Engineering-Engineering Management and Engineering Economic Systems-Operations Research. On May 2, 2025, we welcomed nearly 200 alumni, faculty, and staff to campus for a day of learning, community, and celebration.
The main part of the day featured five academic sessions. Each focused on a different intellectual area of the department and highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of MS&E’s research, as well as how advances in artificial intelligence are affecting our field. The sessions explored the following topics:
The Stanford Sports Nutrition team (left to right): Jayson Raines, Taylor Wilson, Anthony Franklin, Kale Lucas | Image submitted by the group
MS&E seniors presented their capstone projects in March 2025. Across a wide breadth of industries and using a variety of MS&E techniques, the students offered data-driven solutions to help organizations make better decisions.
Many of this year’s projects made use of AI-powered tools such as Stanford’s STORM, LangGraph, and even a custom-built AI-powered platform to aid in decision-making for their sponsor organizations. All of the students used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to understand both the data and human factors at play.
Using AI in a highly regulated environment? Valerie Przekop (BS '22) shares tips and tricks for navigating regulatory compliance while making use of the latest tools.
Informing Policy Decisions
Research projects from Associate Professor Chuck Eesley and Professor Ashish Goel were selected for grants and support from the Sustainability Accelerator at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Their projects address financing to support climate innovation and how to help the public develop informed opinions related to climate policy.
Research by Professor Emeritus Bob Sutton and Graduate School of Business Professor Huggy Rao was cited in an article about the Simplifying Work at Stanford initiative.
Nico Christianson joins the 2025 Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship cohort; he will be advised by Assistant Professor Ellen Vitercik and will develop approaches for reliable AI-driven decision-making in energy systems.
Associate Professor Chuck Eesley discusses his experiences from the Stanford Impact Labs Faculty Design Fellowship, focusing on scalable solutions for refugee entrepreneurship in Uganda using a design-thinking approach.
More than 200 Stanford students have participated in the Global Engineering Internship (GEI) Program, which partners with companies across Asia. Professor Pamela Hinds is the faculty director for Stanford Engineering’s Global Engineering Programs, which oversees GEI.
Career Events
Presenters and several participants at a career event exploring the role of Chief of Staff | Lindsey Akin
Thank you to the alums and others who hosted
MS&E Career Services events this quarter! Specifically, thank you to Samuel Beskind, Monica Shen Knotts, and Meera Clark for hosting sessions about the role of a Chief of Staff and helping students build their professional image.
Lindsey Akin, MS&E’s Career Services Officer, is actively building the workshop schedule for the upcoming academic year. If you’d like to chat about how you can share your expertise and meet the next generation of MS&E grads,
contact Lindsey.
Awards & recognition
Faculty
Assistant Professor Irene Lo was selected for the William T. Grant Scholars Class of 2030. The Scholars Program will help support her research, which studies fairness and optimization in school choice algorithms.
