Tell us about yourself.
I am originally from Belgrade, Serbia, and I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Toronto, both in industrial engineering.
What degree did you receive from MIT and when?
I received my PhD in operations research (OR) in 2016.
Who was your advisor at MIT? What kind of research did you do?
My advisor was Professor Dimitris Bertsimas, and we worked together on two broad research areas. The first was on how to solve large-scale Markov decision processes using a new type of linear optimization formulation of the problem. The second was on how to make effective decisions in the presence of customers with product preferences—in particular, how to make strategic product line decisions under uncertainty about the underlying market, and how to make tactical product assortment decisions from limited data.
Where will you be going after graduation? What will you be doing? Why does it excite you to do this work?
I will be joining the Decisions, Operations and Technology Management (DOTM) group at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California Los Angeles as an assistant professor. I will be doing research, as well as teaching courses in operations management and analytics to MBA and PhD students.
I am really excited by this because I love research—thinking creatively about interesting and important problems is a lot of fun. There is something incredibly exhilarating when you discover a new theoretical result, or your simulations finish and some amazing insight is staring you in the face, or even when you sit down with a blank LaTeX document and turn it into a complete paper.
I also really enjoy teaching. At MIT, I have been a teaching assistant (TA) for The Analytics Edge class, in both its regular and executive MBA formats. The course teaches students how to use data to build powerful models for predicting things you wouldn’t think could be predicted—for example, how much a wine from Bordeaux will sell for at an auction, or how U.S. Supreme Court justices will vote on a case. I found it incredibly rewarding to be a TA for this course because it is a way to have an impact; each student who masters the material is someone who will take that knowledge and do something exciting and impactful with it tomorrow.
Why should prospective students come to the ORC?
The ORC is simply the best place to obtain a graduate education in OR. The faculty are leaders in the field and are extremely devoted to helping their students succeed and develop into the best researchers they can be. The students here are bright, highly motivated individuals, but as a group, they form a tight-knit, collegial, friendly community: There is an intramural soccer team; we go out for lunch together; we celebrate birthdays and housewarmings together, and so on. MIT, as an institution, is an energizing place to be—the people you meet around campus are talented and inspiring. Last but not least, the Boston/Cambridge area is wonderful—during my time here, I’ve really enjoyed exploring areas like Harvard Square and Brookline, and just like MIT, the attractions around MIT are first rate: For example, the best ice cream I have ever had in my life has been at Toscanini in Central Square.
What advice would you give to prospective students to the ORC?
Before you apply, do your research: Look up faculty who seem interesting to you, print out a couple of their papers, and read them in the summer before you apply. This will help you get a sense of what people are working on and whether or not you are interested in a particular area. Although it’s perfectly fine to be unsure about what you would be interested to work on, it always helps to have an initial idea.
How did the ORC contribute to your development as a scientist and as a person?
The only way to become a good researcher is to do lots of research. My graduate training at the ORC immersed me in research, and in all aspects of research. One of the most important skills that I have gained—and that I continue to develop—is choosing the right problem. Being able to solve a problem—analyze it theoretically, plan out and execute simulations, and so on—is one thing, but as an independent researcher, you have to be able to formulate the problem in the first place.
What is one memory about the ORC that you will carry with you?
There are many—one is the ORC retreat, which happens every year in late September. We rent out a house near a lake and spend the weekend together, enjoying good food, going canoeing/kayaking, playing football or soccer, and just having fun!
