Rina Schneur works for PTCG, a software development company that specializes in developing optimization and decision support software for the transportation industry. The company is located in Burlington Massachusetts, just outside Boston, and started with developing optimization solutions for trucking companies -- 7 of the 10 largest US carriers are its customers. In the past two years PTCG has diverged into other modes of transportation, namely air freight and railroad, and has been working with large shippers on solving their transportation logistics problems.
Currently the company has about 45 employees with backgrounds in operations research, mathematics and computer science. "Typically," says Rina, "we work in a team of a few software developers, an analyst (with a mathematics or operations research background) and an operations research expert who is responsible for developing the solution algorithms. I am responsible for the optimization algorithmic development of some of our products. Also, when we discuss with a client the development of a new product my role is to determine whether we can solve the problem or what parts of the operation we should concentrate on."
"When working on a new problem, the challenges are: (i) formulating a mathematical model of the problem that represents the underlying operation; (ii) developing an algorithm that can not only find an efficient solution, but also takes into account various practical constraints and therefore assures that the solution can be implemented; and (iii) making sure that the solution can be determined in a reasonable time, depending on the scope of the problem.
"It is extremely challenging to try to model and develop an optimization algorithm for practical operations. It is very rewarding to see a model's solution getting implemented and saving money (or improves the operation in other ways). I enjoy very much working with clients to define the optimization problem in hand. The advantage in industry is the opportunity to see your solutions actually implemented. The possible disadvantage is the constraint to work on solutions for problems that occur in practice and have marketing potential. Therefore, when going to work in industry one needs to make sure (s)he enjoys the particular application area of the work. Personally, I find the transportation field to have a rich variety of interesting and challenging problems. I think that some of the most important skills in such work (besides of course the mathematical background itself) are being able to keep an open mind, listening carefully to what the clients say, and making sure the solution fits their needs."
Rina has a B.S. in Civil Engineering (Fluid Mechanics) from the Technion, Israel, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Transportation and Operations Research from M.I.T. She joined PTCG three years ago after doing a Post Doctorate at IBM Watson Research Center in the Mathematics department (Optimization division). "I knew some people that had been working at PTCG," she adds, "so when I moved back to Boston after my Post Doctorate, this was one of the options I checked."
Courses that she has found valuable include: mathematical programming, network optimization, combinatorial optimization, non-linear optimization, linear algebra, computer algorithm design and transportation systems.
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