Short Bio
I grew up in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where I stayed until finishing high-school. From there I moved to the city of Campinas, in the state of São Paulo, where I received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering and a Master's degree in Computer Science from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). While at UNICAMP, I was introduced to Operations Research by a professor who is now a great friend of mine. I fell in love with the subject and I decided to steer my career toward using analytical methods to help people make better decisions. This led me to western Pennsylvania, where I received a Ph.D. degree from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. I have been a member of the UM faculty since the Fall of 2005.
My Curriculum Vitæ contains more information, including a complete list of publications, working papers, talks, teaching experience, and consulting activities.
Research Interests
I am interested in solving optimization problems that arise from a variety of practical applications, such as: scheduling (sports, crews, machines), product line simplification, computational geometry, transportation, location, and operations management in general. In order to address such problems, I use analytical tools from the fields of Operations Research (OR) and Constraint Programming (CP). These tools are essentially mathematical models that contain a simplified (but still useful) representation of the actual problem in a way that can be treated (i.e. solved) by a computer.
Sometimes, standard techniques for solving OR and CP models are not able to satisfactorily handle the problem at hand, when considered in isolation. Hence, part of my research focuses on developing the theory and facilitating the implementation of optimization algorithms that integrate multiple solution techniques. The Spring 2006 issue of the Tepper Magazine has an article on this topic entitled "Two disciplines join to optimize solutions to enterprise-wide problems". To have an idea of what integrated optimization can do for you, take a look at some success stories.
More recently, I've also studied ways to simplify product lines while finding a profitable balance between customer satisfaction and complexity costs, which include costs related to manufacturing, marketing, training, etc. The Spring 2008 issue of the BusinessMiami Magazine has an article on this topic entitled "The Costs of Customization".
Ph.D. Program in Management Science/Operations Research
Our department has recently started accepting applications to the PhD program in Management Science/Operations Research. The School of Business Administration at the University of Miami offers a challenging and stimulating work environment, talented faculty committed to high quality research, and world-class facilities. For more information, go to this page.
