I received an A.B. in Mathematics from Harvard in 1983, and worked at IBM Research in New York for three years before doing a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Berkeley. On completing my PhD in 1991, I did a one-year post-doc with Mark Jerrum in Edinburgh, returning to IBM Research in 1992 and remaining there until coming to LSE in 2010.

My research interests include a range of problems in discrete mathematics, and are focused on discrete random systems (a subject at an interface between combinatorics, probability, and statistical physics), optimisation, and optimisation in random settings. At IBM I did theoretical work in these areas, and applied work including key contributions to the best-selling IBM Anti-Virus software product, manufacturing optimisation for multi-layer ceramic modules, and various scheduling problems for IBM and its clients.

At LSE I have continued the same research stream, and taught courses ranging from a required quantitative methods course for Management students to a specialist course in algorithmic approaches to NP-complete problems.