Nick Bambos: A strong vision helps position MS&E as a global leader

Chair of Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering (MS&E) from January 2016 to August 2020, Nicholas Bambos is Richard W. Weiland Professor in the School of Engineering, Professor of MS&E, and Professor of Electrical Engineering.

His research has focused on high performance engineering of computer systems and networks, the Internet and wireless networks. His current research interests are in artificial intelligence and multi-agent machine learning, as well as power-efficient computing and health analytics. He has graduated over 40 PhD students, who are now in leadership positions in academia and industry.

What drew you to the job of chair of MS&E?

By late 2015, the department had already achieved a lot and was in very good standing. Both previous chairs had put it on a really solid trajectory. But I felt we were at an inflection point and needed a new vision that was strong and convincing and aligned with the emerging priorities of the School of Engineering and Silicon Valley, as the world around us was rapidly changing.

Computer science and electrical engineering had driven the computer revolution for a few decades. By 2015, the internet and cloud computing were well-established for individual users and organizations and had already changed the way we all lived. But a careful observer could already see another revolution rising, that of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). I felt the AI revolution would affect everything in the future and, indeed, MS&E had a tremendous opportunity to play a big role in that.

Therefore, the chance to drive and implement an exciting new vision was something I found very interesting. It was not a time for a caretaker. Instead, we needed a change and a turn towards the future.

How did you develop MS&E's new vision?

Starting in early 2016, I worked closely with faculty colleagues and my associate chair, Margaret Brandeau, the Coleman F. Fung Professor of Engineering in MS&E. She deserves a lot of credit for what has been accomplished. One of the first things we did was to set up a vision committee of faculty. Eventually, a vision document was developed with the title "MS&E 2030."

If I were to use two words to describe the vision in a nutshell, those would be "people & algorithms," meaning people and organizations interacting with the emerging computing technologies of AI and robotics. A more playful way to describe this would be "people & machines dancing together into the future."

MS&E could uniquely contribute to this interface. We needed to harvest the good aspects of such technologies but also be careful about their possible misuse. With the advent and spread of AI some of this 2016 vision has already materialized. In the next 10-15 years, this vision could stay strong, but it also needs to expand as the world around us is again changing rapidly.

With this vision, how did MS&E change during your tenure?

A compelling vision creates a positive climate in every organization, especially in an academic organization, and positions it to capture the opportunities that the future will bring. This affects many aspects of academic life, from new faculty hiring to new course development, and from doctoral student thesis topics to the evolution of faculty research agendas.

Creating an environment where undergraduate and graduate students prepare to lead in addressing the challenges of the future and capturing the corresponding opportunities has always been important for MS&E.

What was MS&E's relationship with Silicon Valley and industry like?

The Stanford School of Engineering in general, and MS&E in particular, have had a very strong relationship with Silicon Valley for decades. Many MS&E graduates find top jobs in Silicon Valley companies and many faculty work on important research that is of interest also to Silicon Valley, which shares a similar vision. Stanford overall is a generator of powerful ideas, as is Silicon Valley, so a strong relationship is natural.

What was your favorite part of leading MS&E?

It is always interesting and satisfying to serve your colleagues and students from the position of the chair of MS&E, a vibrant and forward-looking Stanford department in the School of Engineering. It is a lot of day-to-day work of course but, beyond that, you have the excitement of serving and moving the department forward.

Thinking back, I would say that the sense of serving and the drive to position the department for the future were most satisfying to me indeed. Every chair builds on the successes of the previous ones and moves the department forward into the future to pass it on to the next one in top condition.

What other opportunities does MS&E have?

MS&E is going strong today and it is an exciting place to study and do research. It clearly has a bright future ahead of it. I believe we are on the right side of history, so to speak, given the unfolding revolution of AI and robotics. MS&E can contribute a lot in these developments, providing the perspective of the interface between people/organizations and machines/technology.

New opportunities can be captured, some in collaboration with other departments or research centers and institutes at Stanford, as many interesting research problems arise on the boundaries between traditional disciplines. For example, such are the vibrant research areas of sustainable energy-efficient computing, digital technologies for health care, and many others.

In the final analysis, MS&E is all about the students—undergraduates, master's students, and PhDs. We need to attract the best and the brightest and help them work on modern and forward-looking problems in order to nurture the leaders of tomorrow, who will make a difference and positively change the world in the future.