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Alumni ProfilesGSAS catches up with some of the school’s alumniAri BuchalterAstronomy Ph.D., 1999What are you doing now?I am currently Chief Operating Officerof MediaMath, a digital media technologycompany. Our platform helps advertisersand agencies figure out wherethey should buy ads and how to pay forthem, execute the buy, and analyze theresults. I also advise a number of technologystartups in the New York area.Why did you choose your degreeprogram and Columbia?After completing my undergraduatestudies in physics at Stanford University,I took a year off to work part-time,travel, and generally see if the worldcould dissuade me from my long-timeinterest in pursuing a graduate degreein astrophysics. It couldn’t. So when itcame time to apply to programs, I wasdriven by two factors: first, wanting atop-tier program, and second, wantingto be closer to New York City, myhometown. Columbia was the obviouschoice.What was your research focus?My Ph.D. research was in theoreticalcosmology—understanding theorigin of the universe. There werethree different areas of investigation:describing the statistics of how matterin the universe evolved from a relativelysmooth distribution to the structureddistribution we see today; improvingan observational test of the expansionof the universe that used a type of radiogalaxy as a unit for measuring distance;and identifying large-scale clusters ofgalaxies from data from a radio surveyof the sky. After my degree, I pursueda postdoctoral fellowship in theoreticalastrophysics at Caltech, where I did researchon the formation and evolutionof galaxies and on the properties of cosmicmicrowave background radiation.What did you like most and leastabout your time as a student atthe Graduate School?I enjoyed having the latitude to workon a wide range of research topics thatinterested me, and the chance to do sowith brilliant and supportive faculty.I didn’t mind the trips to Sicily or theFrench Alps for conferences, either.I enjoyed the subway ride least,given that I lived downtown.How did you get into yourcurrent field?When I finished my Ph.D., I had everyintention of continuing on the traditionalacademic path from a postdoc ortwo to tenure and a full professorship.A year into my postdoc, the financialmarkets were booming, and I developedan interest in financial derivativesmodeling. At first it was a purely mathematicalinterest, but as I started toapply it in practice as a part-time trader,I met with success.I decided a few months later to starta small hedge fund, which I ran whilepursuing my postdoctoral studies. Itwas invaluable experience in startingand running a business and it openedmy eyes to the worlds of finance andbusiness. After much deliberation, Idecided to explore it further, leavingacademia and the hedge fund behindto apply for quantitative trading positionsat various investment banks. I wasoffered a job as a general consultant. Inmy work, I found myself drawn to media.I spent a majority of my years workingin the media practice with a focuson digital media, innovation, marketinganalytics, and consumer marketingstrategy.After nearly a decade working atlarge- and medium-sized companies,I decided to join a friend who waslaunching a new technology startup—MediaMath—which seemed like theperfect chance to blend the skills I haddeveloped over the prior decade.Link back to contents page34 Superscript
How have you applied your degreework to your career developmentand current position?The business world, and marketingin particular, is increasingly beingdriven by data and analytics, so a strongquantitative background is a uniqueand valuable asset. A few years into mytime as a consultant, I started to explorethe application of advanced quantitativemethods to business problems suchas customer segmentation and predictivemodeling of consumer behavior.I found that I not only enjoyed it butwas valued for the ability to “bridge thegap” between designing and buildingapproaches and putting them to practicalapplication while explaining them tonon-technical audiences.In my current job, I’ve also put myquantitative skills to use by designingour bid optimization algorithm that determineshow much advertisers shouldbid on different types of ads based onthe data associated with those ads andeach advertiser’s goals.Have you found your field surprisingin any way?The things that drive success in thebusiness world are different from whatdrives success in academia. In theacademic world, research success oftencomes from applying highly specializedknowledge and skills to a very specificaspect of a discipline to discover somethingoriginal. The business world isless about originality and more aboutimpact. Decisions have to be madequickly and often on little to no data,and much of achievement hinges onpractical judgment, common sense,and people skills.What are the most challengingand most satisfying aspects ofyour work?What I enjoy most is working witha highly talented team in a dynamicsector of the market. There’s a sense ofelectricity. We’re building somethingthat could be big, that could change theway marketing is done. The most challengingis prioritizing in a fast-movingmarket.If you could give advice to currentstudents, what would it be?Don’t plan more than two years ahead.Plan to spend the next two years doingsomething you enjoy and are excitedabout, and do a great job at it. Build astrong network of contacts, colleagues,and mentors. Opportunities presentthemselves to people who arepassionate, talented, and plugged intothe world around them.Superscript 35Link back to contents page
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Page 43 and 44: IEOR: Operations ResearchYu Hang Ka
Page 45 and 46: Naira Musallam, Examining thepercei
Page 47 and 48: Professors IOANNIS MYLONOPOU-LOS, A
Page 49 and 50: The GSAS Alumni Association invites
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