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Vishal Gupta in his natural environment

Before joining USC, I completed my B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy at Yale University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with honors, and completed Part III of the Mathematics Tripos at the University of Cambridge with distinction. I then spent four years working as a “quant” in finance at Barclays Capital, focusing on commodities modeling, derivatives pricing, and risk management. Eventually, I realized how much I missed working towards a larger mission of impact, and left the private sector to complete my Ph.D. in Operations Research at MIT in 2014 under Prof. Dimitris Bertsimas.

My research focuses on data-driven decision-making and optimization, particularly in settings where data are scarce.
Such settings are common in applications that rely on personalization (like precision healthcare) and real-time decision-making (like risk management). Consequently, my research spans a wide variety of areas including revenue management, education, healthcare, and artificial intelligence. I have been fortunate enough to receive a number of recognitions for my work, including the Wagner Prize for Excellence in the Practice of Advanced Analytics and Operations Research, the Pierskalla Best Paper Prize, the Jagdish Sheth Impact of Research on Practice Award. See my CV for more details.

See also some Popular News Coverage on some of my research projects: