#catfishing?

Distinguished Speaker Series: Scott Kominers - 07/22/14

This past Tuesday we had the pleasure of hearing from Scott Kominers, Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows, as well as former Head Tutor for PRIMO.  Scott has had quite an experience at Harvard, having first received his AB in Mathematics in 2009 (his thesis adviser was Noam Elkies, with whom he later collaborated on a paper), as well as a Ph.D. in Business Economics in 2011.  Yup, you read that right - he received his Ph.D. in just two years!  After hearing this, we all knew we were in for a special treat, and we were certainly not disappointed.

Scott talked to us about his research in designing markets, which seeks to apply principles in mathematics and economics (especially game theory) to real-world scenarios.  His lecture revolved around these four core remarks:

Market design turns theory into practice

Economics is a tool for engineering

Success/failure depends on conditions

Market design <-> entrepreneurship

In the process, he drew from examples ranging from the marriage problem to federal law clerk applications, to the National Resident Matching Program (much to all the pre-med students' chagrin), and even guided us step by step in designing our own market in the form of a dating website.

Overall, Scott's vast knowledge of the subject, combined with his wit and enthusiasm, kept us all entertained, and it certainly made for an insightful, albeit unorthodox, perspective on how we can all apply the theory we learn in the classroom to the real world through research.