Start Research in IE/OR

1. Start Research in IE/OR New Graduate Student Orientation Lei Zhao IE @ Tsinghua University September 8, 2006 September 12, 2007 (rev)

2. Why This Talk? Some observations • My struggles • Students’ struggles

3. A Different Point of View “I believe that in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (sometimes referred to as SMET), the first and foremost requirement step is to inspire students to be curious/creative/innovative in a scientific way, and then to follow up the curiosity etc. with solid analysis, experiments etc. to support it. I would rather see a student learn by doing these things, than to learn how to do these things. ”

4. The Resource of This Lecture • Graduate students in IE @ Tsinghua • My own experience / lessons • My PhD advisor (Prof. Julia Higle) • My PhD dissertation committee members (Prof. Suvrajeet Sen and Prof. Cole Smith) • My mentors (Prof. Warren Powell, etc.) • Advices from my colleagues/friends

5. Outline • Introduction to IE/OR • General research guidelines • The “right” research • Literature review • Academic writing • Presentation skills • Computational experiments

6. Outline • Introduction to IE/OR • General research guidelines • The “right” research • Literature review • Academic writing • Presentation skills • Computational experiments

7. Introduction to IE/OR Industrial Engineering (IE)is concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment, and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems.” Institute of Industrial Engineering (IIE)

8. Introduction to IE/OR Operations research (OR) is the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions, based on • More complete data • Consideration of all available options • Careful predictions of outcomes and estimates of risk • The latest decision tools and techniques INFORMS

9. Introduction to IE/OR More about IE/OR • Societies • IIE (www.iienet.org) • IFORS (www.ifors.org) • INFORMS (www.informs.org) • ORSC (www.orsc.org.cn) • HistORy of OR • OR/MS Today, Vol. 29, No. 5, October 2002. • Everyday lessons from OR • Prof. Mark Daskin, INFORMS 2006, Pittsburgh • Operation Everything • Virginia Postrel, The Boston Globe, June 27, 2004)

10. Introduction to IE/OR Research/application fields Logistics, manufacturing, transportation, telecommunication, energy, financial services, health care, military, sports, … • Interfaces • OR/MS Today (http://lionhrtpub.com/ORMS.shtml) • INFORMS Transactions on Education (http://ite.pubs.informs.org) • Tutorial topics at current conferences and meetings • Literature research

11. Introduction to IE/OR • Basic science for IE/OR – methods of understanding systems • Mathematics • Statistics • Computer science

12. Introduction to IE/OR • Basic science for IE/OR – methods of understanding systems • Two papers • Stecke, K. E. (2005), “Using Mathematics to Solve Some Problems in Industry,”INFORMS Transactions on Education, Vol. 5, No. 2. • Stecke, K. E. (2005), “Addressing Industrial Problems Using Various Mathematical Models,”INFORMS Transactions on Education, Vol. 5, No. 3. • IFORS tutORial http://www.ifors.ms.unimelb.edu.au/tutorial/

13. Outline • Introduction to IE/OR • General research guidelines • The “right” research • Literature review • Academic writing • Presentation skills • Computational experiments

14. Be Prepared • Deal with frustration • Try 10,000 things, but only one works • Prepared for frustration, but not get frustrated at all • Begin to work independently • Know your strength and interests • Ascertain your field as soon as possible • Read LOTS of papers • Career plan / personal goal

15. Research Processes - Ten Questions • What is the problem? – selecting a research topic • Who cares? – significance, necessity, validation • What have others done? – literature review • What is your approach? – research methods, feasibility • What are you going to do explicitly? – research design • What may happen? – forecasting the results • What does this mean? – significant impact • Who cares? – applications / expanding human knowledge • Where will you publish these results? –“our” journals • What will you do in five years? – career plan

16. Choose an Advisor • Accomplishments in teaching and research • Enthusiasm for advising students • Experience in directing graduate students • Management and organization of his/her research group • Reputation for setting high standards in a congenial environment • Compatible personality Graduate Research: A Guide for Students in the Science (ISI Press, 1984), by Robert Smith

17. Choose an Advisor (CCCR) • Common research interests • Comfortable to work with • Compatible work style • Research reputation

18. Outline • Introduction to IE/OR • General research guidelines • The “right” research • Literature review • Academic writing • Presentation skills • Computational experiments

19. Doing the Right Research “It is really important to do the right research as well as to do the research right. You need to do 'wow' research, research that is compelling, not just interesting.” George Springer chairman of the aeronautics and astronautics department at Stanford University

20. Doing the Right Research A very good and encouraging guideline • Richard Hamming, “You and Your Research,” Transcription of the Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar, 1986.

21. Choosing a Research Topic • Faculty need to play a major role • Advices • Pick a topic in a field that is not too crowded. • Be careful with topics where there is limited theoretical upside. • Pick a topic that has enough richness to allow a young researcher to blossom for about 5 years.

22. Choosing a Research Topic • Can it be enthusiastically pursued? • Can interest be sustained by it? • Is the problem solvable? • Is it worth doing? • Will it lead to other research problems? • Is it manageable in size? • What is the potential for making an original contribution to the literature in the field? Graduate Research: A Guide for Students in the Science (ISI Press, 1984), by Robert Smith

23. Choosing a Research Topic • If the problem is solved, will the results be reviewed well by scholars in your field? • Are you, or will you become, competent to solve it? • By solving it, will you have demonstrated independent skills in your discipline? • Will the necessary research prepare you in an area of demand or promise for the future? Graduate Research: A Guide for Students in the Science (ISI Press, 1984), by Robert Smith

24. Outline • Introduction to IE/OR • General research guidelines • The “right” research • Literature review • Academic writing • Presentation skills • Computational experiments

25. Literature Review • Libraries • Online resources • Goooooooooooooooooooogle • http://scholar.google.com • http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu • http://portal.acm.org • Professors’ home pages • Research institutes/societies (INFORMS, IIE, ORSC, etc.) • Advisor • Others (professors, classmates, …)

26. Literature Review • How to find the “right” papers? • Look for (good) survey articles if possible. • ISI Web of Knowledge • Read good journals of our field • ISI Journal Citation Report (ORMS) • A first guess of important papers • What they cite - “recursive review” • Who cite them?

27. How to Read a Paper efficiently? “Get better at reading papers ONLY by struggling with papers at first.”

28. How to Read a Paper Efficiently? Questions to think about when reading a paper • What constitutes a good paper? • How a good paper is written? • What is new in our field?

29. How to Read a Paper Efficiently? Questions to think about when reading a paper • What problem is this paper trying to solve? Applications? • How has the problem been solved (literature review in this paper)? • What are the contributions of this paper (What's new? Modeling approaches/assumptions/solution techniques)? • What is the solution approach of the paper? What assumptions does it make? • How does the proposed solution approach perform (proof/computational experiment results)? • What are the limitations of the model or solution approach proposed by this paper (conclusion remarks)? • How can the model/solution approach proposed by this paper be improved (extensions)?

30. Outline • Introduction to IE/OR • General research guidelines • The “right” research • Literature review • Academic writing • Presentation skills • Computational experiments

31. Some Facts about Writing • Writing is a skill rather than a character trait • Writing can be learned • Writing can be fun • Writing is thinking • Writing rules are factual rather than logical • Writing to discover rather than to hide

32. Some Useful Writing Tips • Write everyday! • Write, rewrite, rewrite, … • Writing habits • Dictionaries • Personal book of quotations • Take notes and give each note a title or a keyword • Writing early rather than late • Start with a (broad) outline • Pick a part to write for today • Write another (narrower) outline, if you get stuck • Write down ideas when inspired

33. Very Helpful Writing Tips • Say it out loud • Learn from good writers • Write honestly and self-critically • Answer the question “So what?” • “At the end of a session, or at any substantial break, always write down your thoughts, however vague, on what will come next.” (McCloskey)

34. Some Basic Principles • Be clear • Be precise • Use definite, specific, concrete language • Use the active verbs • Paragraphs should have points • Put statement in positive form • Avoid elegant variation • Avoid acronyms

35. An Example (from McCloskey)  “In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigour it will give to your style.” Sydney Smith “Run your pen through every other word; you have no idea what vigour it will give.” McCloskey

36. Another Example  “I ordered three books, one is arrived in two weeks, one still not arrived after three weeks, seems lost, and the <book name> seem not even shipped, because you did not charge me and told me this book is out of order, so I got the book from other book store. Regarding this book, I can not rate it. And I lost foreign currency exchange fee because of this book. So I am not planning to order any book from USA web page. ” A book review at amazon.com

37. Writing an Academic Paper • Great resources • The Elements of Styles, Strunk and White • Economical Writing, McCloskey • Ten simple rules for Mathematical Writing, Bertsekas • Mathematical Writing, Knuth et al. • Writing a Math Phase Two Paper, Kleiman • Hints on Writing Technical Papers and Making Presentations, Li

38. Writing an Academic Paper • A good online resources • OWL at Purdue (http://owl.english.purdue.edu) • Dictionary • http://dictionary.com • Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.m-w.com) • Cambridge Dictionaries Online (http://dictionary.cambridge.org)

39. Writing a Thesis Proposal Four major pieces • A description of the general topic area • Why it is important, interesting, challenging • A summary of existing research • What have been solved • What remain unsolved • Why additional research is necessary? In what area? • A description of the thesis topics/hypotheses/questions • Testable, well-defined, and manageable • A outline of the research plan

40. To Publish – Know the Journal For example, Management Science “Management Science is a scholarly journal that publishes scientific research into the problems, interests and concerns of managers.” Editor-in-Chief Wally Hopp Northwestern University

41. To Publish – Know the Journal For example, Management Science (cont.) Journal scope • Management research using tools from traditional fields such as operations research, mathematics, statistics, industrial engineering, psychology, sociology and political science. • Cross-functional, multidisciplinary research that reflects the diversity of the management science professions. • Research into emerging domains, such as those created by economic globalization, public policy shifts, technological improvements and trends in management practice.

42. To Publish – Know the Journal For example, Management Science (cont.) Doing Good Analytic Research • Start with a real problem • observe actual system • collect real data • Use simple models to yield insights • analytic where possible • graphical display of results • Close the loop with practice • genuine interpretation of insights • combine analytic work with empirical work

43. To Publish – Know the Journal For example, Interfaces “The goals of Interfaces are to improve the exchange of information between managers and professionals in operations research and management science (OR/MS) and to inform the academic community about practice.” Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey D. Camm University of Cincinnati

44. To Publish – Know the Journal For example, Interfaces (continued) • Therefore, the most appropriate papers are descriptions of the practice of OR/MS in commerce, industry, government, or education with strong emphasis on implementation. • Interfaces also publishesopinion papers about operational problems with less quantifiable results, tutorials, reports on OR/MS training programs, news items on specific applications, state-of-the-art reviews and surveys of use, and comments from corporation managers.

45. To Publish – Know the Journal For example, Operations Research • Simchi-Levi, D. (2006). From the Editor. Operations Research, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp. 1-4. • Area Editors’ Statements. Operations Research, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp. 5-10.

46. Outline • Introduction to IE/OR • General research guidelines • The “right” research • Literature review • Academic writing • Presentation skills • Computational experiments

47. Presentation Skills - Guidelines • Present a coherent and self-adhesive story • Forest first, then trees • Share insights • Smooth logic • Rehearse • Speak slowly, clearly, and rigorously • Time management!!!

48. Presentation Skills - Contents • U.S. Military’s Big 3 • Tell them what you are going to tell them. • Tell them. • Tell them what you told them. • Schmeiser’s Big 3 (for a technical seminar) • Define the problem, its context, its motivation. • Define properties of a good solution. • Discuss your solution.

49. Presentation Skills – Eight Tips • Know your audience • Keep slides simple • Keep transitions smooth • Keep people engaged • Communicate with people • Repeat questions • Do NOT read script. Explain it. • Do NOT say “I don’t know”. Instead, discuss.

50. Presentation Skills – Some Details • Animations • To convey ideas, NOT to decorate. • Notations • Define, be consistent, reinforce. • Avoid unnecessary notations. • Motivate definitions, e.g., with examples. • Explain tables and figures clearly. • Dense/sparse slides. • Avoid acronyms except commonly used ones. • Does anybody remember CCCR?