The Warmth of a Department: A Student Perspective

“You’re in Minnesota? It must be very cold there!”

“Yes, very cold. The coldest day I’ve experienced so far was -29°C.”

This is probably the question I’ve been asked the most since coming to the U.S. Coldness seems to have become Minnesota’s trademark. Yet, in this place where it snows for nearly half the year, I’ve come to experience support and warmth.

I joined the ISyE PhD program in Fall 2023. Before that, I completed my undergraduate and master degrees in Mathematics, and my research focused on optimization theory. I was drawn to ISyE because it has strong theoretical research and uses mathematical tools to address real-world problems. What ultimately made me choose ISyE, though, was the atmosphere I felt during the interview process. Faculty mentioned that the department had just moved into a shared space that makes it easy for people to see each other and talk. I also spoke with senior students and felt the department is very supportive. For me, doing a PhD is not only about the research topic; it is also about being in a place where people are willing to talk, exchange ideas, and grow together.

My research focuses on organ transplantation systems. I currently work with two faculty members. With Professor Saumya Sinha, I study how novel organ preservation technologies affect the overall transplant system. Our work begins with building mathematical models and then using them to understand system behavior and trade-offs. Coming from a mathematics background, I tended to focus on the model’s structure and solvability. In this project, however, Sinha has consistently brought our discussions back to a fundamental question: what insight can we extract from the model? At one point I had a long list of stakeholder questions I hoped the model could address. Professor Sinha encouraged me to step back and ask what those questions had in common and what core aspects of the system we were really trying to understand. Through this process, I began to adjust how I think about modeling, and started to see models not only as objects to be formulated and analyzed, but also as tools for thinking about how the system works.

And to think it all began at a department pizza party at the beginning of my second semester. The event was casual; people walked around with pizza and chatted in groups. I asked her what research directions she was planning to explore next. She mentioned several ideas and said she was looking for students to work with. I took the chance to introduce myself and told her I was interested in her work. Instead of asking me to commit to a large project right away, she suggested we start by reading papers together and gradually develop a research topic from there.

My collaborations didn’t stop there. Working with Professor Nick Arnosti and my classmate Zijian Wang has shaped my thinking from another angle. Together, we study a dynamic patient-matching problem. The project began in Professor Arnosti’s class, “Engineering the Allocation of Public Resources,” and later developed into a formal research project. At first, we focused on mathematical generalizations, such as relaxing assumptions and checking whether results still hold. Through discussions with Arnosti, I started to see how these results could be interpreted as policy implications, such as how different allocation rules might affect patients’ welfare. This experience has helped me connect theoretical analysis with questions that matter for real-world allocation systems.

Together these projects have helped me connect my theoretical background with practical questions and develop a broader perspective on how operations research can inform real-world systems.

Looking back, my experiences in ISyE reflect what I appreciate most about the department: students are given opportunities to grow, and they are supported while doing so. Professors are always open to discussing research ideas, and students naturally share experiences and resources with each other. This makes the environment warm and supportive.

When people think of Minnesota, the first thing that comes to mind is usually “cold,” but during my time in ISyE, what I’ve felt more often is “warm.” Whether it’s professors’ patience during research discussions, classmates learning and exploring together, the laughter at Wednesday Tea Times, or the enthusiasm everyone shows in organizing events, these are the things that have added warmth to my ISyE journey.