• About ME

    Hi, my name is Tu Ni, arguably the shortest name you have ever seen.

    (The story of my name: my Chinese name "倪土" is essentially a homophonic joke for "泥土", which is pronounced the same as "Soil" in Chinese. My parents wish that I could be like the soil, nourishing the growth of others and embracing the beauty of life. More importantly, I could plant the seeds of dreams myself and let them sprout and grow!)

     

    I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School -- Data Science Operations Lab, led by Iavor Bojinov and Edward McFowland III, which is also a part of Digital Data Design Institute.  I obtained my Ph.D. in the Institute of Operations Research & Analytics at NUS, advised by Chung Piaw Teo and Long He.

     

    My research interests lie in the design of analytics models in operations by asking the following questions:

    • How to conduct experimentation effectively and efficiently, for complex applications in revenue management and supply chain management.
    • How to make the best use of data and leverage optimization tools in analytics.
    • How to ''correctly'' understand and study human-algorithm relations in the development of DS/AI products.

     

     

  • Education

    "There’s only one moment in which you can arrive in time. If you’re not there, you’re either too early or too late." -- Johan Cruyff

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    National University of Singapore

    2018 - 2023

    Ph.D. in Operations Research and Analytics

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    University of California, Berkeley

    2016 - 2017

    M.Eng. in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research

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    Zhejiang University

    2012 - 2016

    B.S. in Mathematics & Applied Mathematics

  • Experience

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    S.F. Express

    Aug 2017 - July 2018

    Operations Research Engineer

  • Research

    “Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.” -- Johan Cruyff

    Working Papers

    • "Design of Panel Experiments with Spatial and Temporal Interference." with Iavor Bojinov and Jinglong Zhao
      • A preliminary version is accepted for an oral presentation at NeurIPS Workshop 2022.
      • A preliminary version is accepted for a poster session at MIT CoDE 2022.
    • "Reducing Recommendation Inequality via Stable Matching with Random Preferences." with Juan He, Chung Piaw Teo, and Hai Wang.
      • A preliminary version is submitted.
    • "Non-parametric Approach for Data Aggregation." with Zhengling Qi and Long He.
      • A preliminary version is submitted.
    • "Crowd-start a Shared Service with Customer Suggestions. " with Long He.
      • Under minor revision in POM.

     

    Work in Progress

    • "Joint Sparse Design of Inventory Allocation and Order Fulfillment" with Hanzhang Qin and Chung Piaw Teo
    • "On the Value of Flexibility for Adaptive Experimentation" with Yifan Feng and Huijun Zhu.
    • "Large-scale Coupon Assignment Optimization: The Case of Tokopedia" with Guodong Lyu and Chung Piaw Teo.
    • "Efficient Bridging of Experimental and Observational Data" with Gordon Burtch and Edward McFowland III.

     

  • SerVICE

     I am grateful to contribute to the academic community

    Conference 

    • Organizing committee chair -- Analytics for X conference, 2022
    • Session co-chair -- POMS conference, 2024
    • Session chair -- INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2024

    Journal

    • Ad-hoc reviewer for Management Science
  • TeACHING

    "If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better." -- Johan Cruyff

    Instructor

    • Decision Analytics using Spreadsheets, NUS Business School, Semester 1, 2021-2022
      • Undergraduate Core Module with Class Size 50
      • Won the Teaching Excellence Award with Teaching Evaluation: 4.6/5.0
      • Selected Testimonials from Students
        • "Even as a new lecturer, I like Ni Tu a lot because he is passionate and shows interest in helping students. His feedback is helpful
          and he goes beyond to teach concepts and provides ample practice. His lectures are engaging and interesting
          ."
        • "Though he is new to teaching, I like to point out that he is excellent in doing so. He breaks down theoretical and mathematical
          concepts really well, making it easy for all to understand. He is patient when answering questions and actually answers them very
          well. Furthermore, it is evident to see his sincerity and passion in the subject he is teaching as he would always arrange for
          meeting slots with students outside of class and would gladly re–explain step by step again for students who still have questions. I
          would say, all in all, he is most deserving of a teaching award.
          "

    Tutor/Teaching Assistant

    • Decision Analytics, NUS Business School, Semester 2, 2019-2020
    • Predictive Analytics, NUS Business School, Semester 1, 2019-2020
  • COursework

    "Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your teammate." -- Johan Cruyff

    National University of Singapore

    • OR models
      • Foundation of Optimization: notes(credit to Prof. Zhenyu Hu)
      • Discrete Optimization & Algorithms
      • Robust Optimization & Algorithms: notes(credit to me)
      • Stochastic Process
      • Logistics & Supply Chain Management: notes(credit to me)
      • Theory & Algorithms for Nonlinear Optimization: notes(credit to Prof. Kim Chuan Toh)
      • Revenue Management: notes(credit to me)
      • Theory & Algorithms for Dynamic Programming
    • CS/Stats models
      • Theory & Algorithms for Machine Learning
      • Introduction to Data Analytics: A High-dimensional Probability Perspective: notes(credit to Dr. Long Zhao)
      • Theory & Algorithms for Online Learning
    • Econ models
      • Advanced Microeconomics Theory: notes(credit to me)
      • Advanced Econometrics
      • Structural Models in Economics

    UC Berkeley

    • Math  Programming
    • Risk Modeling & Simulation
    • Statistical Learning Theory
    • Modern Optimization for Statistical Learning
    • Data Analytics
    • Project Management
    • Organizational Behavior 
    • Marketing & Product Management
    • Accounting & Finance 
    • Communications for Engineering Leaders
  • Personal interests

    Things I've picked up over the years

    Sports

    I am a crazy sports fan with diverse interests including BJJ, basketball, soccer, football, badminton, tennis, swimming, ping pong, etc. My favorite sports team is FC Bayern Munchen.

     

    • I am a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. (Currently a white belt with 4 stripes)
    • I was a member of the primary school basketball team as PG.
    • I was the captain of the high school soccer team as GK.
    • I was the coach of my soccer team at university.

    Traveling

    • Asia
      • Korea, Japan, Singapore, UAE, Indonesia, Thailand, Qatar, Guam(Due to an emergency landing of my flight on Lunar New Year's Eve)
    • North America
      • USA, Canada
    • Europe
      • Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, UK, Monaco

    ​​Calligraphy

    I learned Chinese calligraphy when I was 8 and last for 10 years, during which I won lots of national prizes.

  • Connections to my Academic Family

    Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, Business School

    Ph.D. in Operations Research at NUS IORA

    Assistant Professor at SJTU, Antai Business School

    Ph.D. in Operations Research at NUS IORA

    Assistant Professor at SUFE

    Ph.D. in Operations Research at NUS Business School

    Assistant Professor at HKUST, Business School

    Ph.D. in Operations Research at NUS Business School