CV and contact | Sebastián Souyris
CV and contact
About
Sebastián Souyris is an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Analytics at the RPI Lally School of Management. His research addresses challenges and the means of achieving environmental and human sustainability, combining data-driven optimization, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. He has developed impactful analytic solutions for sustainability, energy, healthcare, logistics, media, and sports. His work has been published in Operations Research, Production and Operations Management, the European Journal of Operations Research, and the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, among other outlets. In addition, he is an INFORMS Franz Edelman Laureate, a finalist of the EURO Excellence in Practice Award, and the INFORMS Innovative Applications in Analytics Award, and a prizewinner of the INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Practice Award.
Professor Souyris earned his Ph.D. in information, risk, and operations management from The University of Texas at Austin in 2019. He joined Lally in 2022 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was a visiting assistant professor at the Gies College of Business. In addition, he obtained an M.Phil. in operations management from New York University and a bachelor's (industrial engineering) and master's (operations management) degrees from the University of Chile.
Research interests. Sustainability, supply chain management, media analytics, data-driven optimization, machine learning, artificial intelligence.
Education
| 2019 | Ph.D., Information, Risk, and Operations Management The University of Texas at Austin |
| 2009 | M.Phil., Operations Management New York University |
| 2005 | M.S., Operations Management University of Chile |
| 2003 | B.S., Industrial Engineering University of Chile |
Academic appointments
| 2022– | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Lally School of Management Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Analytics, August 2022 to present Dean R. Wellington ’83 Chair, August 2022 to 2025 |
| 2020–2022 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Gies College of Business Visiting Assistant Professor, January 2022 to July 2022 Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2020 to 2021 |
| 2010–2016 | The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business Instructor, 2015 to 2016 Research Assistant, 2010 to 2016 |
| 2005–2007 | University of Los Andes, School of Engineering Full-time Instructor, 2005 to 2007 |
| 2003–2007 | University of Chile, Department of Industrial Engineering Instructor, 2007 Research Assistant, 2003 to 2006 |
Industry appointments
| 2009–2019 | RSG Media, New York Vice President of Data Science, 2016 to 2019 Optimization Scientist, 2009 to 2010 |
| 2011 | BNSF Railway, Fort Worth Optimization Scientist Intern |
| 2003 | Xerox, Santiago Simulation Engineer Intern |
Affiliations
| Research centres | CEPM, Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine, RPI and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai CRAFT, Center for Research toward Advancing Financial Technologies, Stevens and RPI Healthcare Analytics Group, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| Societies | Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) |
Honors and awards
| 2024 | Finalist, INFORMS Innovative Applications in Analytics Award |
| 2022 | First prize, INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Section Practice Award |
| 2022 | Named Dean R. Wellington ’83 (Junior) Chair, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| 2018 | Second place, Global BIGGIES Awards, Excellence in the Use of Predictive Analytics |
| 2016 | INFORMS Franz Edelman Laureate |
| 2009 | Finalist, EURO Excellence in Practice Award |
Grants and fellowships
| 2026 | PI, $50K, Fidelity Center for Applied Technology University Research Awards. Closing the Retirement-Savings Gap with a Personalized AI Agent: Behavioral Heterogeneity Meets Conversational AI |
| 2025 | PI, $30K, CRAFT. Identifying Drivers of Volatility in Energy Commodity Markets |
| 2025 | RPI OVPR Catalyst Data Access Award |
| 2025 | Co-PI, $100K, IBM-RPI FCRC Track-4. A Hybrid Quantum-Classic Approach to Solve Semidefinite Programming Problems |
| 2023 | Co-PI, $90K, SHIELD Illinois. The Pivotal Role of Regular Testing at Educational Institutions for the Safety and Equity of Health Outcomes of General Community Populations |
| 2021 | Co-PI, $100K, Gies College of Business. How to Facilitate Business Continuity by Addressing Supply Chain Constraints Caused by COVID-19? |
| 2021 | Co-PI, $100K, Jump ARCHES. How to design and operate end-to-end vaccine deployment using social media, addressing supply chain allocation constraints, and utilizing telemedicine? |
| 2020 | Co-PI, $100K, C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute. Dynamic Resource Management in Response to Pandemics |
| 2020 | PI, $10K, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Health Make-a-Thon |
| 2016 | Dissertation Writing Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin, Graduate School |
| 2011 | Doctor Cooper Fellowship for Strong Doctoral Student Research, McCombs School of Business |
| 2010–2015 | Fellowship for Graduate Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business |
| 2007–2008 | Fellowship for Graduate Studies, New York University, Stern School of Business |
Service and advising
| Technical reviewer | Operations Research, Management Science, Production and Operations Management, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Journal of Operations Management, Operations Research Letters |
| Track chair | POMS 2025, Data Science, Analytics and AI; POMS 2024, Data Science and Analytics |
| Session chair | POMS 2023 and 2022; INFORMS 2021 and 2019 |
| Doctoral supervisor | Mariana Losada Agudelo, Ph.D. student, Lally School of Management. Expected 2028 |
| Doctoral committees | Julia Amaral, Ph.D. Transportation Engineering, RPI, 2023 Milan Preet Kaur, Ph.D. Industrial and Systems Engineering, RPI, 2025 |
In the media
| Forbes, 2024 | The Untapped Power of Social Media in Fighting Health Safety Concerns |
| Illinois News Bureau, 2024 | Default testing for COVID-19 in K-12 schools more effective than voluntary testing |
| NPR WAMC, 2023 | As COVID emergencies end, RPI finds social media played a critical role in decreasing positivity rates at educational institutions |
| Gies News, 2023 | A nudge in the right direction: Using social media to influence public health |
| Forbes, 2023 | How To Maximize The Value Of Cable Television Audiences |
| TV Spectrum News, 2023 | COVID-19 and Visual Nudges |
| Rensselaer News, 2023 | Lessons Learned From COVID: the Role of Social Media |
| Gies News, 2023 | Breaking Waves: How Gies research could turn the tide in the next global pandemic |
| DCS News, 2023 | Research presented at the Business Analytics seminar discusses incentives for residential adoption of PV systems |
| Rensselaer News, 2023 | Researchers’ Model for TV Ad Scheduling Reaps Revenue Increase for Networks |
| CISION PRWeb, 2022 | RSG Media Bests MIT, NYU, and Carnegie Mellon to Take Home the 2022 INFORMS RM&P Section Practice Award |
| Pathways UIC, 2021 | UICOMP Faculty Receive Jump ARCHES Spring Grant Awards |
| University Business, 2021 | Frequent COVID testing still vital to keep colleges safe |
| Illinois Research News, 2021 | Rapid bulk-testing for COVID-19 key to reopening universities |
| Forbes, 2018 | 10 Ways Tech Executives Can Help Their Organization Grow |
| Cooperativa, 2016 | Creadores del fixture de la ANFP postulan a prestigioso premio |
| La Tercera, 2016 | La ANFP finalista del prestigioso premio Franz Edelman |
| CISION PR Newswire, 2015 | World’s Best Analytics Teams Selected for 2016 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award Competition |
Contact
| Office | Pittsburgh Building, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180 |
| Telephone | +1 518 276 6582 |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3580-8205 |
| Google Scholar | scholar.google.com |
| GitHub | github.com/ssouyris |
| linkedin.com/in/sebastian-souyris | |
| RPI profile | faculty.rpi.edu/sebastian-souyris |