Temitayo “Tayo” Ajayi, an alumnus who earned his Ph.D. last year in computational and applied mathematics (CAAM) at Rice University, took second place in the 2021 Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award competition sponsored by the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE).
Ajayi, whose dissertation is titled “Integer Programming Approaches to Cancer Treatment,” now works as an operations research analyst for Nature Source Improved Plants in Ithaca, N.Y., where he uses optimization tools to determine the most favorable breeding programs for agriculture companies.
In 2015, Ajayi earned a B.S. in applied mathematics from Yale University. His adviser at Rice was Andrew Schaefer, the Noah Harding Chair and Professor of CAAM.
Ajayi will formally receive the award during the virtual IISE Annual Conference and Expo, which is scheduled for May 22-25.