Department Honors & Awards Kevin Leder Awarded Grant Funding for Cancer Therapy Proposal being adopted more widely as data science goes mainstream,” says Lahmar, the current Head of Data Science at Google Customer Solutions. “I consider myself fortunate enough to have had the chance to work at forward-looking companies that are eager to test and implement cutting-edge data solutions to business problems at scale.” After working for Target, Walmart, IBM and others, Lahmar now manages a multidisciplinary team of 15 data scientists at Google. His team is made up of particle physicists, astrophysicists, economists, statisticians, industrial engineers, materials scientists, among others. Looking back at his years at the University of Minnesota, Lahmar again believes it was the faculty—many of whom are still with the ISyE department—who gave him the direction he needed to succeed today. In one instance, Lahmar was being challenged by the high standards for writing in English held by scholarly publications in his field of study. “My advisor Saif Benjaafar highlighted the importance of communication skills,” Lahmar says. “To be successful, [Benjaafar told me] I need to have a growth mindset and strive to go beyond my current challenges and be the best in everything I do. This was one of the most genuine pieces of career advice that I continue to cherish till today.” Years after graduating from the ISyE department, Lahmar says he is “fascinated” by how his PhD experience deeply shaped his career. At Google, Lahmar has a keen ability to quickly spot process inefficiencies, frame business problems, and transform them to mathematical models. “These are some of the critical skills,” he says, “that I developed at the University of Minnesota and now apply daily in my current role.”
Leder’s research will be done collaboratively with faculty from the University of Minnesota and the University of Oslo.
The Norwegian Centennial Chair Program has awarded seed grant funding to ISyE Associate Professor Kevin Leder for his cancer therapy research proposal. In the first year of Leder’s project, he will receive $75,000, followed by a second allocation of funds in his second year based on progress. Funding comes from the NOCC program, a grant program established in 2006 with support from the Norwegian government.
Associate Professor Kevin Leder
Leder and collaborators intend to develop novel computational approaches to address the problem of heterogeneity in personalized cancer therapy. Leder’s project will include faculty from both the University of Minnesota and University of Oslo.
Saif Benjaafar Elected as INFORMS Fellow A virtual Fellows Ceremony will be held this fall to honor Benjaafar and those elected as this year’s INFORMS Fellows.
The Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS) has elected Saif Benjaafar, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, as a Fellow. “This honor is reserved for a few select members of INFORMS,” said Pinar Keskinocak, President of INFORMS. INFORMS Fellows are examples of outstanding lifetime achievement in operations research and the management sciences. They have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments and made significant contributions to the advancement of operations research and management sciences over a period of time.
Distinguished McKnight University Professor Saif Benjaafar
INFORMS is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to and promoting the best practices and advances in operations research, management science and analytics to improve operational processes, decision-making and outcomes.
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