Management Science and Engineering

October 2023 Newsletter

Our lead story: Connect with us

Explore new ways to connect with MS&E | Newsletter icon by Artif Arshad from Noun Project

As the academic year begins, we are focusing on building a sense of community. In addition to changes in this newsletter (see above), we invite you to follow and engage with us on the platforms below:

Instagram (new)
Our IG account will center around community, as well as feature some of our latest research insights. Get to know the people behind the department @stanfordmsande! Fun fact about one such person: Kevin Systrom, who co-founded Instagram, received his undergraduate degree from MS&E back in 2006.

Subscribe to this newsletter (new)
Have a friend who wasn’t an MS&E student but could benefit from the information we share? New this year, anyone can subscribe to this newsletter. We invite those who are interested in MS&E’s research, impact, and people—including prospective students, employers, thought leaders, and more—to subscribe.

LinkedIn
We celebrate MS&E’s research, legacy, and people on LinkedIn, as well as share insights from alums, faculty, and others at Stanford.

Spotify
Our podcast series, Stanford MS&E: Stories & Voices, is a great way to get to know the MS&E community. Episodes are around 25 minutes, and tell the story of MS&E through its people.

NEW EMPLOYMENT DATA

OPINIONS NEEDED

On artificial intelligence: Nonprofits and grant makers/foundations
The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) is conducting a national survey to better understand the current use, interest in, and opportunity for AI technology. It is open to anyone involved in nonprofits or grant-offering organizations.

On Stanford’s Presidential search: All Stanford alums
The Presidential Search Committee invites feedback from all alums about the values, traits, and abilities our next President should embody. Anyone can share their thoughts by emailing [email protected], and specific alum outreach efforts are also underway.

THE LATEST IN MS&E

Professor Kathleen Eisenhardt (center) has influenced a generation of scholars | Image by Anthony Ruth

Event updates

• We’re looking forward to MS&E’s 25th anniversary in 2025, when we’ll host an event to celebrate the department’s legacy and future. If you'd like to help, take this short survey to support our planning committee. And in the meantime, there won’t be any MS&E-specific programming at Reunion 2023 this year.
  
  
• Save the date for January 27, 2024! We’re hosting a virtual event where we’ll share how to reduce friction in your organization and more. Details coming soon.

Research & impact

• With the Google antitrust trial well underway, and an FTC suit recently filed against Amazon, professor Riitta Katila discusses the impacts of anti-competition regulation on innovation.
  
  
• Most people don’t have an entire method of scholarship named after them. But professor Kathleen Eisenhardt is not most people. Learn how the “Eisenhardt Method” has influenced a generation of scholars.
  
  
• Today’s workers feel numbed by an overwhelming collection of collaboration tools—the very things designed to boost their productivity. To combat this, professor Bob Sutton, along with Paul Leonardi (PhD ‘07) and Rebecca Hinds (PhD ‘22), designed a “collaboration cleanse” to help simplify employees’ lives.

SUMMER RESEARCH ROUNDUP

MS&E alums discussed the challenges of creating a carbon-neutral economy | Adapted from an image by Murat Taner/Getty Images

AI & data science

• The gateway course for Stanford’s new Data Science & Social Systems major teaches students how to use data to address important social problems. Professor Ramesh Johari and adjunct professor David Scheinker introduced students to the challenge of delivering equitable access to healthcare.
  
  
• How can leaders harness AI’s transformative abilities while managing its challenges and uncertainties? A group led by Rebecca Hinds (PhD ‘22) surveyed over 4,500 workers to help leaders get the most out of AI.
  

Computational social science

• A team led by professor Irene Lo studies whether redesigning lottery-based school choice can promote diversity of enrollment across San Francisco.
  
  
• Deliberative Polls continued to utilize professor Ashish Goel’s Stanford Online Deliberation Platform: A national poll showed many significant changes toward bipartisan agreement among Americans even on contentious issues, and a first-of-its-kind global poll addressed bullying and harassment.
  
  
• Algorithmic decisions based on “fairness” don’t always lead to equitable or desirable outcomes, according to a new study co-authored by Alex Chohlas-Wood (PhD ‘22).
  

The future of organizing

• According to a study by professor Riitta Katila and colleagues, the effectiveness of tech industry ethics teams is spotty at best because they lack resources and authority.
  
  
• Younger workers are craving connection to their jobs, and leaders need to help foster that sense of belonging and purpose, says professor Pamela Hinds.
  
  
• Professor Edison Tse explores how digital philanthropy has shifted the role of charitable giving.
  

Informing policy decisions

• Stanford Magazine talked with experts, including Jason Glickman (MS ‘02) and Amy Guy Wagner (MS ‘08), about the challenges California faces around its goal to make the state’s economy fully carbon-neutral by 2045.
  
  
• Master’s student Maximus Santosa and Guillaume Nozière (MS ‘23) received awards from the TomKat Center’s Innovation Transfer Program to help move energy and sustainability technologies from Stanford into the real world.
  

Management Science and Engineering
Stanford School of Engineering
475 Via Ortega MC 4026
Stanford, California 94305
[email protected]

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