New online center focuses on 'supernetworks'

By Lou Wigdor, special to the Chronicle

s technology forges ever tighter links in the areas transportation, telecommunication and finance, the scope and power of networks are continuing to expand and strengthen into so-called "supernetworks" that exceed all previously known systems.

     Now, with funding from several sources, the Isenberg School of Management has created a Virtual Center for Supernetworks to study applications in transportation and logistical networks, telecommunications networks, and economics and financial networks and their interactions. Specific topics of research will include supply chains, telecommuting versus commuting, decision making, electronic commerce, and financial networks with financial intermediaries.

     According to the center's director, John F. Smith Memorial Professor Anna Nagurney, a faculty member in the Department of Finance and Operations Management, supernetworks are "above and beyond" existing networks, because they have a large scale and scope in such areas as transportation, logistics, finance, economics, and social interactions. The new interdisciplinary center will expand the knowledge base of network research, and bring together faculty, students, and participants from industry and government for education and collaboration in disseminating information about networks and their management in the Information Age and the Network Economy.

     The virtual center was established with funding from several grants from the National Science Foundation as well as the John F. Smith Memorial Fund. The center supports, in part, four doctoral students and five undergraduates in the Operations Management major. It also has participants from universities and corporations in the U.S. and abroad.

     "We live in extraordinary times in which the importance of networks, from transportation to telecommunications networks, to business, the economy, and social interactions, has never been more essential,"says Nagurney. "This virtual center and its products will be accessible to everyone interested in the exchange and pursuit of knowledge about supernetworks."

     The virtual center, which can be accessed online
(http://supernet.som.umass.edu), offers publications, bibliographies, a tutorial, book and book series information, visual presentations, and links to journals and centers. Future additions to the center will include demonstrations and software.

     The idea for the center emanated from a Distinguished Faculty Lecture Nagurney gave last April and a related invited article, "Navigating the Network Economy," published in the June 2000 issue of OR/MS Today.

     Nagurney's book, "Supernetworks: Decision-Making for the Information Age," co-authored with June Dong, is now in press and should be available in February.