Exclusive Interview with Jerry Yurchisin, Senior Data Science Strategist, on Gurobi: A Mathematical Optimization Solver Company Exploration
Jerry Yurchisin, a seasoned data scientist and mathematical optimization specialist, is making waves at Gurobi, a leading company in the field of mathematical optimization. His journey into this niche began with a strong foundation in mathematics and education.
Yurchisin earned a Bachelor of Education degree in Integrated Mathematics and further pursued master’s degrees in Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, and Statistics. He started his career as an adjunct professor, teaching these subjects at a local community college.
His interest in mathematical optimization was piqued during his graduate studies. This led him to work on optimization problems as a consultant and federal contractor, a path that eventually transitioned into a focus on data science with a keen emphasis on machine learning and analytics.
In 2013, Yurchisin joined Gurobi, where he now serves as a Senior Data Science Strategist. At Gurobi, he applies mathematical optimization to solve complex decision-making problems in various industries, including the NFL scheduling process. This enables planners to analyse tens of thousands of schedule options rapidly.
Yurchisin is also passionate about educating the community about the intersection of mathematical optimization and AI. He has created lessons in Gurobi's Optimization for Data Scientists training series, aiming to dispel the common misconception that optimization requires in-depth mathematical knowledge.
The role of optimization, as Yurchisin explains, is to add a prescriptive element to data insights, taking the guesswork out of decisions. The user's job is to represent their decisions, constraints, and objectives mathematically and call the solver for an action plan.
Gurobi's core product, the Gurobi Optimizer, is the world's fastest mathematical optimization solver. It powers the National Football League (NFL) scheduling process, simplifying the creation of fair and exciting schedules. The process, which used to take time to generate and analyse five options, now handles over 50,000 in the same amount of time, thanks to Yurchisin's work.
Moreover, the Gurobi Compute Server offloads intense computations needed for optimization problems onto dedicated and clustered servers. The Gurobi Instant Cloud enables users to run the Optimizer on their choice of Azure or AWS cloud environments at scale.
Yurchisin's work experience includes optimization problems as a consultant and in a federal contractor role. His current role at Gurobi is to reach the data science and artificial intelligence communities and demonstrate the benefits of incorporating mathematical optimization into their skillset.
With a background in Integrated Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, and Statistics, Yurchisin has worked on both sides of the data science and optimization coin. His dedication to bridging these fields is evident in his work at Gurobi, where he continues to educate and innovate in the realm of mathematical optimization.
Data-and-cloud-computing technology plays a vital role in Yurchisin's work at Gurobi, as the Gurobi Compute Server offloads intense computations onto dedicated and clustered servers, while the Gurobi Instant Cloud enables users to run the Optimizer on their choice of Azure or AWS cloud environments at scale. The optimization problems that Yurchisin worked on as a consultant and federal contractor are now addressed using technology that leverages data and cloud computing.
