Ravindra K. Ahuja

Ahuja specializes in mathematical modeling, state-of-the-art network optimization techniques and solving large-scale scheduling problems arising in Logistics and transportation. He has developed models and algorithms for scheduling and Logistics problems in airline, trucking and railroad industries worldwide. Many of these industry-specific problems were previously considered intractable. Ahuja’s optimization solutions are implemented by Optym’s advanced decision support systems.

Over the years, Ahuja has played a key role in Optym’s evolution from a local start-up to a global provider of ground-breaking decision automation and optimization solutions in the fields of transportation and Logistics. As Founder & CEO of Optym, he is a hands-on innovator and leader who works with colleagues to solve business problems, design algorithms and create effective user interfaces. He also performs consulting work and oversees new product development, partnership opportunities and business development initiatives.

While conducting research for transportation and Logistics companies, Ahuja discovered a large discrepancy between academic theory and prevailing industry practices. He observed that advances taking place in optimization and computer science were not benefitting the transportation and Logistics industry, which continued to use rudimentary techniques. Determined to change that, Ahuja founded Innovative Scheduling, Inc. in 2000, which changed its name to Optym in 2014, to bring the latest advances from academic theory into the business world.

Ahuja co-authored three books: “Network Flows: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications”, first published in 1993; “Developing Spreadsheet-Based Decision Support Systems”, published in 2007, and “Developing Web-Enabled Decision Support Systems”, also published in 2007. The textbook “Network Flows: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications” has sold more than 20,000 copies.

Ahuja has held positions at several prestigious universities, including at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management as Visiting Professor from 1986 to 1998, at the Rutgers University School of Management as Visiting Professor from 1996 to 1997 and at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), in India as a faculty member from 1982 to 1996. Since 1998, Ahuja has served as Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

In 1972, Ahuja entered the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), to study mechanical engineering. He earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1977 and continued his education as a graduate student at his alma mater. Between 1977 and 1979, he studied maximal arc-disjoint and node-disjoint flow in multicommodity networks and earned a Master of Science in Industrial & Management Engineering. In 1982, he earned a Ph.D. in Industrial & Management Engineering (BB) for his work on the role of parametric programming in network flow problems.

Dr. Ravindra K. Ahuja (born February 20, 1956) is an Indian-born American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is currently Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and CEO of the automation and optimization solutions provider Optym, which he founded in 2000 as Innovative Scheduling, Inc.