Name:  John M. Mulvey

Title:  Professor

Department: Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE)

Education:

• Ph.D. in Management, University of California, Los Angeles
• MS in Management Science, University of California, Los Angeles
• MS in Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana
• BS in General Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana

Number of Years at Princeton: 30+

Currently Teaching: ORF 534 - Investment Science

Research: Professor Mulvey’s research focuses on "robust" decision-making in the face of a wide variety of uncertainties, with applications in finance and optimization. He has worked with many large financial institutions and government agencies over the past forty years such as American Express, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Defense Department and the Treasury Department. He and his doctoral students in ORFE take a practical engineering approach: discovering the best combination of quantitative methods, sound intuition, and computational simplicity.

Unfortunately, even current powerful computers are unable to find solutions to these complex problems; there are simply too many branches to explore. To compensate, Dr. Mulvey and his doctoral students apply sound policy rules to guide the decision process. A critical issue is to remain flexible and protect total wealth—regardless of the cause of any capital drawdown. They build quantitative financial planning models to enable investors to achieve their goals and meet future obligations. For instance, pension plans require careful risk management to pay retirees over long time periods. But these pension plans have a number of advantages that can be exploited. The planning systems have been largely successful at protecting the investor’s wealth-—even during the 2008 market crash.

Princeton Community Involvement: He is a faculty fellow for the men’s and women’s golf teams, a frequent Alumni Association "asset"—moderating Alumni-Faculty Forum panels during Reunions and traveling to regional associations for the Speakers Bureau program.

Hobbies: Golfing, sailing and taking kite-surfing lessons on the strong ocean breezes at his family’s getaway in Jupiter, Florida.

Web site: http://www.princeton.edu/~mulvey/index.htm