Everything can be optimized

I am an Assistant Professor in the Operations Research Department at the Naval Postgraduate School. I enjoy researching optimization methodologies, teaching optimization courses, and writing software that uses optimization to solve real-world problems.

My journey:

1. Assistant Professor in the Operations Research Department at the Naval Postgraduate School (2026-)
2. MIP Engineer at OptiLogic (2025-2026)
   • Solving MIPs for Supply Chain design problems.
3. Ph.D in Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business (2020-2025)
   • Researched models and methods for solving discrete optimization problems. I was advised by the amazing Willem-Jan van Hoeve.
   • Supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
4. Quantiative Developer for Marshall Wace Asset Management (2017-2020)
   • Built a treasury optimization system and improved the automated trading system.
5. B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Johns Hopkins University (2014-2017)
   • Solved umpire crew scheduling problems for Minor League Baseball.

My research:

1. Arc-Flow Formulations and Exact Methods.
   • My dissertation focused on developing a new exact method that computes dual bounds for large-scale discrete optimization problems with a particular form. slides.
     • Gerald L. Thompson Doctoral Dissertation Award in Management Science (2025).
   • Column Elimination: An Iterative Approach to Solving Arc Flow Formulations
     • With Willem-Jan van Hoeve.
     • Major Revision at Operations Research.
     • Finalist for the TSL Best Student Paper Award (2025).
   • Column Elimination For Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problems
     • With Willem-Jan van Hoeve.
     • Published in CPAIOR conference proceedings (2023).
     • Best Student Paper at CPAIOR.
2. Computation.
   • From cliques to colorings and back again develops a state-of-the-art SAT solver for the vertex coloring problem.
     • With Marijn Heule and Willem-Jan van Hoeve.
     • Published in Constraint Programming conference proceedings (2022).
   • A Quantum-Inspired Bilevel Optimization Algorithm for the First Responder Network Design Problem is a quantum approach to solving a network design problem.
     • With Sridhar Tayur, Ananth Tenneti, Amirreza Pashapour, Sibel Salman, and Baris Yildiz.
     • Published in INFORMS Journal on Computing (2025).
   • Work-in-progress “Computing a Nonnegative Dyadic Solution to a System of Linear Equations” is the first implementation of a dyadic linear programming solver.
3. Algorithm portfolios.
   • Variable ordering for decision diagrams: A portfolio approach tries to allocate limited runtime to several heuristics with unknown performance.
     • With Willem-Jan van Hoeve.
     • Published in Constraints (2022).

Fun things:

1. I won a 3.5+ Pickleball Tournament with my pal Daniel Yamin.
2. I won two Chess Tournaments near Pittsburgh before moving to Monterey.
3. I recently completed my first Triathlon.
4. I won a charity competition while working at Marshall Wace to support the All Stars Project Development School for Youth.
5. I am a former president of the CMU INFORMS Student Chapter and former chair of the student-run YinzOR Conference.
6. I am a former president of the Hopkins Undergraduate Society of Applied Mathematics.
7. I used to work as a freelancer solving optimization problems on Upwork.com. Some projects involved staffing nurses in hospitals, scheduling youth basketball leagues, and planning construction projects!
8. I used to host a podcast called Optimizing You.
9. I used to be a math tutor for local high school students.

Checkout my CV.

Thanks for visiting, and feel free to reach out.