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December 5, 2005 Vol.
77, no. 14F
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| IEOR professor Rhonda Righter joined
the department in July 2003. Before that, she taught operations
management, computer-based decision models, and statistics
at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.
She received a Ph.D. and M.S. in industrial engineering and
operations research from Berkeley and a B.S. in mathematics
and business administration from Carnegie Mellon. Her primary
research interests are in the general area of stochastic modeling
and optimization, especially as applied to manufacturing and
telecommunication systems. (Peg Skorpinski Photo)
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Professor Minute with IEOR professor Rhonda Righter
What first inspired
you to go into engineering?
I’ve always loved math yet wanted to do something a bit more
applied. My dad was an engineer, though he encouraged me to become
a secretary! Thank heavens times have changed.
Whom do you most admire?
Professor emeritus David Blackwell of the statistics department here
at Berkeley. He is both a brilliant researcher and teacher, and
he overcame a lot of discrimination to have a huge impact on statistics
and mathematics. He is the first African American to be a member of
the National Academy of Sciences and was the first and only African
American president of the American Statistical Society and vice president
of the American Mathematical Society. He is also charming and accessible,
and I feel personally very fortunate to have had the opportunity to
interact with him while working on my dissertation.
If you had a few extra
hours, what would you do?
Go hiking!
What should engineering students make sure they do at Berkeley before
they graduate?
Audit one of the wonderful classes in something completely unrelated
to engineering.
What are you currently
reading?
The Ancestor’s Tale, by Richard Dawkins, a fascinating book
about evolution, and a great read.
What is one thing you would
like to learn how to do?
Hang glide.
If you would like us
to feature your favorite professor, please e-mail his or her name to
engnews@coe.berkeley.edu.
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