Dan Zhang, Associate Dean for Research and Academics

You teach students ranging from undergraduates to doctoral candidates. What do you hope they remember from your classes long after they've left your classroom? 

More than any particular formula or model, I hope my students stay curious and continue to enjoy learning. I also hope they find work that they care about and bring energy and passion to what they do every day. 

Was there a specific moment when you realized the research you were doing could become something like Ramsi [an AI-powered revenue management company for the hospitality industry]?

There wasn’t one specific moment. For several years, I worked closely with industry partners through consulting and research projects, and I also had opportunities to lead pricing teams at technology companies. I saw a real opportunity to bring cutting-edge pricing science to businesses that historically haven’t had access to the technology available to large companies. 

If you could go back and talk to yourself as an engineering student at Chongqing University, what would you tell him about where his career is going to take him? 

I would tell him to be more ambitious and take more risks. I think we often underestimate what is possible because we focus too much on the risks of trying something new. We only live once, so I would tell my younger self not to be afraid of taking a few more chances along the way. 

 One of the great things about academia is that there is always something new to learn, including how other people approach the same problems.