Dr. Subodha Kumar, PhD’01, MBA’00, credited the Jindal School as critical in the success which helped lead to the honor.
“The school teaches you to think deeply about your subject, consider its potential effect on the world and keep growing in your learning,” he said. “I graduated as part of a program that was smaller at the time and that focused on what was cutting edge. You were told to look at what was new and what was on the horizon, to have a mindset of thinking differently.”
Achieving many accomplishments in information systems, including ranking as high as number one worldwide in information systems research and publishing more than 200 papers, Kumar is the deputy editor of the Production and Operations Management Journal and the founding executive editor of Management and Business Review. He is also the Paul R. Anderson Distinguished Chair Professor of Statistics, Operations, and Data Science at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
Kumar previously was Carol and G. David Van Houten, Jr. ’71 Professor at the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and assistant professor at the Michael G. Foster Business School at the University of Washington. He singled out the faculty at the Jindal School with setting an example for his own time as a professor, one which has seen him win his share of teaching awards.
“I had wonderful professors and I took that experience with me,” he said. “I have enjoyed the chance to help others grow their skills and expand their thinking. Teaching has been such a rewarding part of my career.”
Today, his work focuses largely on artificial intelligence and blockchain, serving on the board of the Blockchain Advisory.
“It’s an incredible time to be in these kinds of research area as the world continues to change and we better understand the opportunities these areas have,” said Kumar, who is the author of the book Optimization Issues in Web and Mobile Advertising: Past and Future Trends. He also has worked with companies, which have included Microsoft, AT&T and HP Enterprise over the years, and earlier in his career was a senior engineer at automobile manufacturer Tata Motors and, as a research scientist at FSI International, helped design robotic arms for manufacturing.
The INFORMS fellow achievement received by Kumar brought a great deal of pride to Dr. Varghese Jacob, Jindal School vice dean and Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair.
“It is a prestigious honor and reflects his production, his research and impact,” Jacob said. “He is extremely hardworking and won this award at a very young age when you consider what it means. It shows how he hit the ground running on his research and pushed himself to grow in his work. He has terrific accomplishments and has shown tremendous drive and devotion to his research.”
Kumar sees the fellow honor as strong encouragement and assures he isn’t about to slow down in his research goals.
“It means a great deal to be recognized by your peers, especially when we have so many terrific researchers in our field,” said Kumar, who is also co-author of the book Social Media Analytics and Practical Applications: The Change to the Competition Landscape. “To me, it means to push on and keep exploring. There is so much to find out.”
