Optimizing You
We discuss all things optimization. Through interviewing professors and practitioners in fields like Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, we show a variety of perspectives on what it is like to study optimization, what it's like to get a PhD in a field related to optimization, and why it's important to study optimization.
Optimizing You
Dr. Woody Zhu: Generative Models for Public Policy Making
Woody (Shixiang) Zhu is an Assistant Professor of data analytics at Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. He received his PhD in Machine Learning at Georgia Tech in ISyE. He develops models for spatio-temporal data and dynamic networks, and decision making under uncertainty. He was a finalist for the 2021 INFORMS Wagner prize and won second place in the 2019 INFORMS Doing Good with Good OR.
First 1/2:
We discuss Woody's decision to pursue a PhD in ML at Georgia Tech, and we discuss Woody's decision to become a professor at CMU.
Second 1/2:
We talk about two of Woody's recent papers. One work titled Counterfactual Generative Models for Time-Varying Treatments and the other titled Data-Driven Optimization for Atlanta Police Zone Design.
Enjoy!