Reflections from my Analytical Journey: Challenges, Opportunities, Lessons Learned

Dr. Radhika Kulkarni, Retired VP of Advanced Analytics, SAS

Reflections from my Analytical Journey: Challenges, Opportunities, Lessons Learned

As you embark on your journey with an interest in the STEM field, you may wonder about the choices you have for your major as an undergraduate or for your post-graduation work. This presentation provides a perspective from the other end of a wonderful journey in the world of Operations Research, Analytics and Data Science. Having spent more than four decades in this exciting arena, I am still excited by the new problems and the potential to save lives, save money and solve problems with the innovative research and applications in these fields.

Starting with a brief introduction to Operations Research and continuing to the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration across the many analytical fields, I will present several examples of problems that can be solved using these fields. I will also discuss the lessons learned as a young professional and also as a leader of a large Analytics R&D organization.

Dr. Radhika Kulkarni is an Advanced Analytics professional, active in the area of Operations Research, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. She retired after 35 years of leading various areas of analytics R&D at SAS Institute, Inc. For the last 10 years of her career, Kulkarni was the Vice President of Advanced Analytics R&D, overseeing software development in many analytical areas including Statistics, Operations Research, Econometrics, Forecasting and Data Mining.

 Dr. Kulkarni has been an active member in the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) throughout her career and is a recipient of the Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences (WORMS) Award. She was recognized as an INFORMS Fellow in 2014 and served as the 2022 President of INFORMS

Dr. Kulkarni serves on the Advisory Council of the School of ORIE at Cornell University, the Master of Science in Analytics Advisory Board at Georgia Tech and the Advisory Board for the Business Analytics Program at Sabanci University in Turkey.