Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
PITT NAE Professor Speaks on Creativity and Decision Making
The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering recently hosted Thomas Saaty,
who holds the chair of university professor in the Katz School of Business at
the University of Pittsburgh and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional distinctions awarded to an engineer. During
his visit, Saaty met with engineering faculty and students and presented two seminars
to the Auburn community.
The first seminar provided an overview of two software-based decision-making programs designed by Saaty following his experiences with the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency during negotiations with the Soviet Union in the 1980s - Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Analytic Network Process (ANP). These programs provide practical ways of thinking about and solving decision-making problems.
Saaty's second seminar focused on the relationship between creativity and intelligence, and on methods for teaching and stimulating creativity.
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| Thomas Saaty |
Saaty, who served as a professor in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, spent seven years at the State Department as part of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He holds a doctorate in mathematics from Yale University and did postgraduate work at the University of Paris. His main research interests include operations, decision sciences and artificial intelligence.
In addition to the two public seminars, engineering graduate and undergraduate students were treated to a discussion with Saaty on two powerful software programs - Decision Lens and Super Decision - both of which use AHP and ANP to aid in the decision-making process.
- Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
- Auburn University, AL 36849
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- Email: webmaster@eng.auburn.edu
