CV

Education

• Ph.D. Operations Research; Track: Data Analytics; the University of Ilinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021.
• M.Sc. Industrial Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2015.
• B.Sc Industrial Engineering, University of Tehran, 2013.

Work Experience (also check-out here )

• Staff/Sr Data Scientist at Walmart Labs (Aug 2021- Present)/Data Scientist(Sep 2020-May 2021)
  • Recommender System Optimization,
  • Customer Intent Inference,
  • Revenue per Click Optimization,
  • Analyzing Product Substitution Patterns,
  • Context Design for Sponsored Product in e-Commerce

Research Experience (also check-out here )

• Research Assistant at UIUC ( Aug 2016 - July 2021):
  • Choice Modeling and recommendation Optimization in Presence of Context Effects,
  • Optimization-based imprevement of Recommender Systems,
  • Dynamic Learning of Customer Choice Models,
  • Easing Optimization of Non-Convex Functions with overparameterization Using Neural Nets.
  • Supervisor: Professor Xin Chen.
• My Research for my master thesis at Sharif University of Technology (Jan 2014-Jul 2015):
  • Game Theoretic Analysis of Stochastic Financial Systems,
  • Policy Design,
  • Mechanism Design.
  • Supervisor for my master Thesis: Professor Mohammad Modarres.

Skills

• Coding: Python, R, SQL, Bash script, \(\LaTeX\), Git.
• Python Libraries: sklearn, pandas, scipy, numpy, matplotlib.
• Big Data Tech: Hadoop, Mapreduce, Hive, Pyspark.
• Optimization Modeling and Solvers: Pyomo, AMPL, Gurobi, BARON, CPLEX.
• Languages :English: Fluent, Azerbaijani: Native, Persian: Native Turkish: Experienced, Arabic: Elementary.

Projects

Most of my projects are in learning customer patters by using different supervised and unsupervised learning methods and then using the learnt information in pricing and revenue management setteings by solving large-scale optimization problems. Please see here for details.

Teaching Experience

• Production Planning & Control, IE361, UIUC, Spring 2018, 2019:
  • Use of data analytics tools and optimization modeling in addressing problems in planning and control of facilities, human resources, projects, products, material, and information in production systems.
• Facility Design and Planning, IE360, UIUC, Fall 2019:
  • Facilities Planning and Design: Optimization Modeling for problems in manufacturing, warehousing, and office planning.
• Final Exam review sessions for Applied Stochastic Processes:
  • covering concepts from probability theory and applied stochastic processes in a review session for final exam. See here for details.

Honors and Awards

• Hansen Fellowship: Fellowship for the 2015-2016 Academic Year- Ph.D. Program in Industrial Engineering, recognized as future outstanding researcher.
• Spring 2015: Winner of about $350K Fellowships, Scholarships, and Tuition Waivers; Awarded by 7 Different Universities in the US.
• Selected Student in National Mathematics Olympiad and National Physics Olympiad: Small Feb 2008; Awarded by Young Scholars Club, National Center for Exceptional Talents.
• 2nd and 4th Top Ranked among 8,000 Candidates in National Exam for the Master of Science Programs in Financial Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Awarded by Sanjesh.org.

Service and leadership

• Member of Engineering Graduate Advisory Committee (EGSAC) at Grainger College of Engineering, Aug 2018- June 2019.
• Co-founder of Pouyandegan DaneshPajooh Mehr, May 2014-Present. Pouyandegan DaneshPajooh Mehr is an NGO that focuses on providing educational and financial support for talented children with a geographical focus on the Northwest of Iran.