Canadian Operational Research Society

Calgary Section

http://www.corscalgary.org/

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR

When: Noon to 1:30 PM, Thursday, May 21, 2009

Room 217

TransCanada Tower

450 - 1 Street SW

(See attached map)

SPEAKER

Jaydeep Balakrishnan

Professor, Operations Management,

Haskayne School of Business

University of Calgary

TOPIC

Using Spreadsheets to Teach Management Science: Opportunities, Adaptations and Caveats

Abstract:

For over a decade, business schools have slowly been moving to teaching Management Science using spreadsheets. Most instructors would agree that topics such as Mathematical Programming, Monte Carlo Simulation, Decision Trees, Queuing and Statistics can be brought to life in the classroom with spreadsheets more effectively than could be done without software and even non-spreadsheet software. This talk focuses on the advantages of teaching with spreadsheets as well as some of the changes that are required in pedagogy while using spreadsheets. Typically though, any advancement in technology is not without its disadvantages. This is true regarding spreadsheet based Management Science instruction also, and so we discuss some of the caveats in this regard.

About the Speaker:

Jaydeep Balakrishnan completed his doctorate in Operations Management from Indiana University. Prior to this he obtained an MBA at the University of Georgia, and an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur University, India. He has worked for Ashok Leyland Limited, a truck and bus manufacturer in India. Dr. Balakrishnan is certified in Production and Inventory Management by APICS - The Association for Operations Management. He has been a visiting, teaching and research scholar in Hong Kong, Poland, Austria, Iran, and Singapore. Dr. Balakrishnan has served as the president of the Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Operational Research Society and the Calgary chapter of APICS.

His research interests include facility layout and supply chain management. Dr. Balakrishnan has presented papers at various international conferences and has published over thirty articles in reputable journals. He has also provided seminars to practitioners and academics internationally. Dr. Balakrishnan has been the recipient of several achievement awards including the 2007 Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Achievement for accomplishments over the past five years, an Honourable Mention from the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) for Instructional Innovation in 2005, and the Best Operations Management Paper Award at the Western DSI Meeting in 1994. Dr. Balakrishnan has been a holder of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grants and is listed in the Who's Who in Canadian Business published by the University of Toronto Press.

There is no charge for attending the meeting. The room is available until 1:30 PM for those interested in staying afterwards to mingle and meet other OR practitioners.

Sketch of Location for CORS Meetings at TransCanada Tower in Conference Rooms 214 and 217.