Five Questions with Karthik Srinivasan
In our Five Questions series, faculty of the University of Kansas School of Business share their insights, experiences and advice for students.
Karthik Srinivasan, an assistant professor of business analytics, recently joined the school’s Analytics, Information Systems and Operations academic area from the University of Arizona. His research focuses on addressing novel and important challenges in health care analytics, particularly in the areas of digital health and preventive care.
What got you interested in your field, and what is the most rewarding part of being involved in it?
During my college years, I noticed that I had a natural passion toward statistics, data mining and general problem solving. I was driven to read articles and books as well as solve problems in analytics. I also had great instructors in math, statistics, information systems and machine learning who not only taught well, but also motivated me to think beyond the course syllabi.
The health care domain has challenging problems, a wide impact, and is relatively under-explored compared to other mature problem domains. This drove me towards exploring interesting problems in digital health and preventive care.
What made you want to pivot from being a software developer and data scientist to being a professor?
While I was a software developer, I wanted to get a master’s degree to enhance my career trajectory. But during the master’s program, I was exposed to research done by my professors as well as doctoral students in the university, and the research path kind of amused me. I got back to industry after my masters, only to find my natural inclination towards academic research. Applying for the Ph.D. program was one of the best choices I made in my life.
The career path of a professor in a research university is one of the most challenging as well as most rewarding ones. It is an amazing feeling when you make an impact on society through your research and classroom teaching each day. Every researcher need not be an Einstein to be in this career, but persistence, patience and a positive attitude toward learning from your failures is necessary for achieving sustained success in this career domain.
What excites you about your research?
There is so much excitement in statistical machine learning, deep learning, business analytics and related topics. Industry as well as academia are involved with really impactful research and applications that is changing people’s lives each day. A good researcher has to be up to speed with tools, techniques and methods and must be constantly innovating. Working on important and complex real-life problems and providing sound solutions excites me the most.
If you could require students to read one thing before graduation (outside of your class reading), what would it be and why?
I would like my students to read the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams to appreciate the seriousness of life and that the answer to all problems in life is 42.
What advice would you give your college self?
My general advice to students is to take time to identify the career path that excites them the most, enjoy their work, and not to take life too seriously.
By Meaghan Boyd
