Salwa Ammar

Department of Business Administration

Le Moyne College

Syracuse NY, 13214

Voice (315) 445-5474
Fax (315) 445-4787

ammar@lemoyne.edu

Educational Background

 

·          Ph.D., Decision and Information Sciences, Warrington College of Business Administration, University of Florida (UF), 1986.

·          M.S., Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, UF, 1982.

·          B.S., Electronic Engineering (with Honors), University of Salford, UK, 1979.

 

Administrative Experience

 

·          Dean of Management, Le Moyne College, May 2006-present.

·          Director of MBA Program, Le Moyne College, 2004-2006.

·          Associate Director of MBA Program, Le Moyne College, May 1995-1997.

·          Management Science Program Director, 2000-2004.

 

Other Professional Experience

 

Professor of Management Science

·          Full Professor, Department of Business Administration, Le Moyne College, 2000-present.

·          Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration, Le Moyne College, 1993-2000.

·          Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Le Moyne College, 1987-1993.

 

Journal Editor

·          Editor in Chief, INFORMS Transactions on Education, 2005-2008.

·          Resource Review Area Editor, INFORMS Transactions on Education, 2003-2005.

·          Associate Editor, INFORMS Transaction on Education, 2000-2003.

·          Editor, Column of "Issues in Education", ORMS Today, 1999-2002.

 

Business Consultant

·          Developed a Financial Condition Indicator System for School Districts, New York State Department of Education, 2002 - present.

With Ronald Wright of Le Moyne College and William Duncombe and Bernard Jump of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, working to development expert systems to evaluate the financial health of school districts. System also indicates areas for improvement.

 

·          Expert System to Create Bond Ratings in Public Finance, Fitch Ratings Inc. 2001-2003.

With Ronald Wright, developed expert system to assist in the process of creating bond ratings for publicly financed US airports. System produces both a rating as well as a report of the rationale for the rating.

 

·          Calculating Heat Content for Natural Gas, Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, 1998.

With Ronald Wright, developing procedures for calculating the heat content of natural gas from factors, which can be easily measured without combustion.

 

·          Evaluation of Performance Surveys, Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, 1995-96.

With Ronald Wright, developed a fuzzy logic rule based system to evaluate performance survey for the corporate information system division. Formal model is annually used by Information Technology at NMPC.

 

Teaching Experience

·          Taught a variety of courses in management science and operation management since 1986, both at the undergraduate and MBA levels, including: Cases in Management Science, Production and Inventory Control, Production and Operations Management, Quantitative Methods, Simulation, Statistics, Entrepreneurship, Supply Chain Management, and Visual Basic.

 

·          Received Recognition as a finalist in the DSI Instructional Innovation Competition in 1997.

 

·          Invited to present teaching tutorials for national and international operations research professional societies including IFORS, INFORMS, and CORS.

 

·          Selected as faculty for the second workshop on teaching Management Science sponsored by INFORMS, DSI, IFORS and the Ivey School of Business, and held in London Ontario, June 1999.

 

Academic and Professional Service

 

·          Advisory Board Member, Northside Collaboratory, 2006-present.

·          Advisory Board Member, Northside Assets Development Initiative, 2007-present.

·          Management Council Member, Syracuse Community-Campus Entrepreneurship Initiative, 2007-present.

·          Le Moyne College Curriculum Committee, 2006-present.

·          Le Moyne College Academic Relations, Policies, and Procedures Committee, 2006-present.

·          Le Moyne College AACSB Accreditation Steering Committee, 2004-present.

·          Le Moyne College Management Curriculum Committee, 2004-present.

·          Le Moyne College Rank and Tenure Committee, Le Moyne College, 1995-97, and 2001-05.

·          Le Moyne College Rank and Tenure Review Committee, Le Moyne College, 1998, 2001.

·          Le Moyne College Faculty Senate Executive Board of Le Moyne College, 1999-2001.

 


Refereed Publications

 

“Understanding Portfolio Risk Analysis using Monte Carlo Simulation”, with R. Wright and C. Kim, Journal of Financial Education, forthcoming. 

 

“Evaluating Customer Satisfaction Using a Fuzzy Rule-Based Decision Support System”, with R. Wright and D. Moore, Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, Vol 15, No.2, p91-105, 2008.

 

“Analyzing Customer Satisfaction Surveys Using Decision Support Systems”, with D. Moore and R. Wright, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, 2007.

 

“An Investigation of the Use of Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems to Interpret Organizational Behavior Research Surveys,” with M. Collins and R. Wright, Proceedings of Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland, March 2007.  Won Robert Pearson Memorial Award for the Best Theory Paper.  Presented again, by invitation, in Best Papers Session at 38th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, 2007.

 

“O.R. in the Jesuit Tradition: What's an operations research professor doing in a nice, liberal arts school like Le Moyne college?”, OR/MS Today, August 2007.

 

“Using Simulation Software to Provide Experiential Learning in Finance Courses”, with C. Kim and R. Wright, Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, San Antonio, November 2006.

 

"Creating an Index of Manufacturing Climates in the US: An Application of Multi-level Fuzzy Rule-based Systems”" with R. Wright and W. Wright, Proceedings of NAFIPS (North American Fuzzy Information Processing Society) Annual Meeting, Montreal, June 2006.

 

“Antidote for Academic Schizophrenia”, OR/MS Today, August 2006.

 

 “An Interactive Multi-Level Reporting System: An Application in Evaluating Financial Conditions of New York State School Districts”, with R. Wright, Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, San Francisco, November 2005.

 

"A Financial Condition Indicator System for School Districts: A Case Study of New York", with R. Wright, W. Duncombe, B. Jump, Journal of Finance Education, Vol 30, No. 3, p231-258, 2005.

 

“Avoiding Fiscal Stress: The use of Expert Systems to Assess School District Financial Condition”, with R. Wright, W. Duncombe, B, Jump, Developments in School Finance, 2004: Fiscal Proceedings From the Annual State Data Conference of July 2004, edited by W.J. Fowler, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, 2005, pp. 19-37, 2005.

 

 “Comparing the Impact of Star Rookies Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James: An Example on Simulating Team Performances in the NBA League”, with R. Wright, INFORMS Transactions on Education, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2004, pp.67-74.

 

"Constructing a Fuzzy-Knowledge-Based System: An Application for Assessing the Financial Condition of Public Schools", with W. Duncombe, B. Jump, R. Wright, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2004, pp. 349-364.

 

“Producing ‘No Child Left Behind’ Report Cards That Include Expert Judgment”, with R. Wright, Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, November 2004, Boston.

 

"A Hybrid System  for Modeling Credit Ratings for US Airports", with R. Wright, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems, July 2004, Budapest.

 

"A Decision Support System for Rating the Bond Issues of Public Institutions", with R. Wright, Proceedings of Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Meeting, March 2004, Atlantic City, pp 183-185.

 

 “Characteristics and Features of a Performance Evaluation Model Using Multilevel Fuzzy Rule-based Systems”, with R. Wright, International Journal of Technology, Policy, and Management, 2003.

 

"A Demonstration of a Push/Pull Assembly Line", with R. Wright, INFORMS Transactions on Education, Vol. 2, No.3, May 2002.

 

"Ensuring Consistent Expert Judgment in a Multilevel Fuzzy Rule-based System: A Case Study in Evaluating the Credit Ratings of Public Institutions", with R. Wright, Special Focus Symposium on Decision Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Proceedings of the International Conference on System Research, Informatics and Cybernetics, July 2002, Baden-Baden, Germany.

 

"Using Neural Networks to Validate Fuzzy Rule-based Systems: An application in Determining the Credit-Worthiness of US Cities", with R. Wright & D. Walters, Proceedings of Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Meeting, March 2002, San Juan, Puerto Rico, pp.208-213.

 

“Where's the Beef in Undergraduate Business Education" with R. Wright, ORMS Today, Vol. 29, No.4, August 2002.

 

"A Symposium on Evaluating Financial Management of Large Cities: An application of Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems", with W. Duncombe, B. Jump, R. Wright, Public Budgeting & Finance, Winter 2001.

 

"Evaluating Capital Management: A New Approach", with R. Wright, W. Duncombe, Public Budgeting & Finance, Winter 2001.

 

"Evaluating City Financial Management Using FRBS", with R. Wright, W. Duncombe, Y. Hou, Public Budgeting & Finance, Winter 2001.

 

"Using Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems to Evaluate Overall Financial Performance of Governments: An Enhancement to the Bond Rating Process", with W. Duncombe, Y. Hou, B. Jump, R. Wright, Public Budgeting & Finance, Winter 2001.

 

"What Chance Does the USA Have of Going to the World Cup?: An Example of Spreadsheet Monte-Carlo Simulation using Visual Basic" with R. Wright, Proceedings of Decision Sciences Institute National Meeting, November 2001, San Francisco, selected for Innovative Approaches for Teaching with Spreadsheets Miniconference.

 

"Keep INFORM-ED with Column”, ORMS Today, Vol. 28, No.4, August 2001.

 

"A New Approach to Assessing Performance of State Human Resource Management Systems: A Multi-Level Fuzzy Rule-Based System" with S. Selden, W. Jacobson, R. Wright, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Vol. 20, No. 3., Summer 2000, pp. 58-74.

 

"Applying Fuzzy Set Theory to Performance Evaluation" with R. Wright, Socio-Economics Planning Sciences, Vol. 34, No.4, December, 2000, pp. 285-302.

 

"Identifying Low-Performance Public Schools" with R.Bifulco, W.Duncombe, R. Wright, Studies in Educational Evaluation, Vol. 26, No.3, September, 2000, pp.259-287.

 

Ranking State Financial Management: A Multi-Level Fuzzy Rule Based System" with R. Wright, S. Selden, Decision Sciences, Vol.31, No. 2., Spring 2000, pp. 449-481.

 

"Solver, Forms, Macros and VBA: Enhancements to Teaching Quantitative Methods with Spreadsheets" with R. Wright, Proceedings of Decision Sciences Institute National Meeting, November 2000, Orlando, selected for Innovative Approaches for Teaching with Spreadsheets Miniconference.

 

"Achieving Consistency and Completeness in Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems" with R. Wright, Proceedings of Northeast Decision Science Institute, March 2000, Atlantic City, pp. 137-139.

 

"Experiential Learning in POM: It Don't Mean a Thing If You Ain't Got That Swing" with R. Wright, ORMS Today, Vol. 26, No.2, April 1999, p. 8.

 

"Experiential Learning Activities in Operations Management" with R. Wright, International Transactions in Operations Research, Vol. 6, No. 2, March 1999, pp. 183-197.

 

"Consistency in Fuzzy Rule Based Systems: An Application in Elementary School Performance Evaluation" with R. Wright, R. Bifulco, W. Duncombe, Proceedings of North American Fuzzy Information Processing Society (NAFIPS) National Meeting, 1999, New York, NY, pp. 120-124.

 

"Introduction to Operations Management: The MBA In-Class Experience" with R. Wright, Decision Lines, Vol. 29, No.2, September/October 1998, pp. 3-6. (Finalist in Instructional Innovation Award Competition.)

 

"We played the OPM Games and Won" with R. Wright, Proceedings of Decision Sciences Institute National Meeting, San Diego, CA, 1997, pp. 75-77.

 

"Using Fuzzy Rule Based Economic Models to Measure the Performance of State Funded Agencies" with R. Wright, J. Leathley, I. McDonnell, Proceedings of NAFIPS National Meeting, Syracuse, NY, 1997, pp. 418-422.

 

"Fuzzy Logic: A Case Study in Performance Measurement" with R. Wright, chapter in Uncertainty Analysis in Engineering and the Sciences, edited by B. Ayyub and M. Gupta, Kluwer Academic Publishing in September, 1997.

 


"A Fuzzy Logic Approach to Performance Evaluation" with R. Wright, Proceedings of ISUMA & NAFIPS, joint national meeting, College Park, MD, 1995, pp. 246-251.

 

"Neural Networks and Reorder Point Estimation" with G. Lepak, Proceedings of ABA annual meeting, Aruba, 1995.

 

"Combining Compositional & Decompositional Attitudinal Data: Fuzzy Numbers in Conjoint Modeling" with G. Lepak, Proceedings of ABA annual meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1994.

 

"Approximate Reasoning and Reorder Point Estimation in Inventory Models" with C. Isik, Proceedings of NAFIPS, Allentown, Pa, 1993.

 

"Fuzzy optimal search methods", International Journal of Fuzzy Sets and Systems, Vol. 46, 1992.

 

"Hierarchical Decision Process with Approximate Payoffs," Proceedings of NAFIPS, Toronto, Canada, 1990.

 

"Determining the 'best' decision in the presence of imprecise information," International Journal of Fuzzy Sets and Systems, Vol. 29, 1989.

 

"Search Methods with Approximate Costs" with C. Isik, Proceedings of International Fuzzy Systems Association, Seattle, Washington, 1989.

 

"Fuzzy Dynamic-Programming in Robot Path-Planning" with C. Isik, Proceedings of NAFIPS, San Francisco, California, 1988.

 

"A fuzzy set theoretic approach to decision making," (abstract), International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, Vol. 2, 1988.

 

Presentations at Professional Meetings

 

“The Past, Present, and Future of OR/MS education, Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of INFORM-ED”, Panelist, INFORMS National Meeting, San Francisco, November 2005.

 

“A System Approach to Evaluating the Financial Condition of Public Airports”, with R. Wright, INFORMS National Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2003.

 

“A Financial Condition Indicator System for School Districts: A Case Study of New York” with R. Wright, William Duncombe, Bernard Jump, 2003 ABFM Annual Conference, Washington, DC, September 2003.

 

“Using Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems as a Diagnostic Tool for Evaluating the Performance of Governments”, with R. Wright, WSSA Public Finance and Budgeting Section, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 2003.

 

Fuzzy-Rule Based Systems to Evaluate the Performance of Complex Organizations: Bond Ratings for Large US Cities”, with R. Wright, The Institute of Public Affairs, University of Connecticut, February 2003.

 

"Where is OR/MS in Undergraduate Business Curriculum?" Session Co-Chair and Panelists, INFORMS National Meeting, San Jose, California, 2002.

 

"Including VBA in Introductory Quantitative Methods Courses", INFORMS National Meeting, San Antonio Texas, 2000.

 

Organizer and Chair of Session on "Beyond Spreadsheets", INFORMS National Meeting, San Antonio Texas, 2000. -- Presentation: "VBA in Production and Operations Management ".

"Integrative Cases for Teaching OR/MS in the MBA Curricula", Panelist, INFORMS National Meeting, Philadelphia, 1999.

 

Faculty Presenter, TMS2: The Second Summer Workshop on Teaching Management Science/Operations Research, Richard Ivey School of Business, London, Ontario Canada, June 1999.

 

"The Use of Linked Spreadsheets in Teaching Production Planning & Inventory Control: For a Little More Swing", with R. Wright, INFORMS National Meeting, Cincinnati Ohio, 1999.

 

"Teaching OR/MS Topics in a Finance Context", with R. Wright, INFORMS National Meeting, Seattle Washington, 1998.

 

Organizer and Co-Chair of Session on "Teaching with Spreadsheets", INFORMS National Meeting, Montreal Canada, 1998. -- Presentation: "Can Business School Statisticians Teach with Spreadsheets" (with R. Wright).

 

Tutorial: "Teaching Tips for New Teachers", with R. Wright, presented in INFORMS National Meeting, Dallas Texas, 1997.

 

Organizer and Co-Chair of Session on "Integrating Consulting and Teaching for OR Faculty: How and Why", INFORMS National Meeting, Dallas Texas, 1997. --Presentation: "The Interaction between Academic Teaching and Faculty Consulting", with R. Wright.

 

Tutorial: "In-Class Activities of Operations Management", with R. Wright, presented in INFORMS National Meeting, San Diego Ca, 1997, and Canadian Operations Research Society National Meeting, Ottawa, CA, 1997.

 

Tutorial: "Teaching Manufacturing with a Game", with R. Wright, presented in IFORS International Meeting, New Riga, Latvia, 1996; INFORMS National Meeting, Washington DC, 1996; INFORMS National Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 1996; INFORMS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 1995.

 

"We Played The OPM Games and Won", with R. Wright, presentation phase of DSI instructional innovation competition, San Diego, CA, 1997.

 


Organizer and Chair of Session on Fuzzy Logic in Decision Support, INFORMS National Meeting, Washington DC, 1996 -- Presentation: "Estimating the Impact of State Development Dollars on State Tax Revenue Using Fuzzy Logic Rule Based System", with R. Wright.

 

"Effective Teaching" Doctoral Colloquium, INFORMS National Meeting, New Orleans, La, 1995.

 

"Application of Fuzzy Logic and Pattern Recognition in Evaluation of Client Satisfaction", with R. Wright, INFORMS National Meeting, Los Angeles, California, 1995.

 

"A Rule-Based System Approach to Job Scheduling", with R. Wright, INFORMS National Meeting, Los Angeles, California, 1995.

 

"Game tree search with inexact costs," ORSA/TIMS Joint National Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, 1989.

 

"A fuzzy set theoretic approach to dynamic decision making," ORSA/TIMS Joint National Meeting, Miami, Florida, 1986.

 

"Technology replacement planning: an artificial intelligence approach", with A. Majthay,

American Institute of Decision Sciences, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1985.

 

"Artificial intelligence approach to decision making under conflict", with A. Majthay, ORSA/TIMS Joint National Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, 1985.