Collette René Coullard is an American mathematician,
industrial engineer
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information a ...
,
operations research
Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...
er, and
matroid
In combinatorics, a branch of mathematics, a matroid is a structure that abstracts and generalizes the notion of linear independence in vector spaces. There are many equivalent ways to define a matroid axiomatically, the most significant being ...
theorist known for her research on
combinatorial optimization
Combinatorial optimization is a subfield of mathematical optimization that consists of finding an optimal object from a finite set of objects, where the set of feasible solutions is discrete or can be reduced to a discrete set. Typical combi ...
problems that combine
facility location Facility location is a name given to several different problems in computer science and in game theory:
* Facility location problem, the optimal placement of facilities as a function of transportation costs and other factors
* Facility location (co ...
and
stock management
Field inventory management commonly known as inventory management is the function of understanding the stock mix of a company and the different demands on that stock. The demands are influenced by both external and internal factors and are balan ...
. Formerly a professor at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, the
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...
,
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
, and
Lake Superior State University
Lake Superior State University (colloquially Lake State, Lake Superior State, Soo Tech, and LSSU) is a public college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It is enrolls approximately 2,000 students. Due to its proximity to the Canadian border, and the ...
, she has retired to become a
professor emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
.
Education and career
Coullard graduated in 1980 from
Lake Superior State University
Lake Superior State University (colloquially Lake State, Lake Superior State, Soo Tech, and LSSU) is a public college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It is enrolls approximately 2,000 students. Due to its proximity to the Canadian border, and the ...
, and earned her Ph.D. in 1985 from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
. Her dissertation, ''Minors of 3-Connected Matroids and Adjoints of Binary Matroids'', concerned
matroid theory
In combinatorics, a branch of mathematics, a matroid is a structure that abstracts and generalizes the notion of linear independence in vector spaces. There are many equivalent ways to define a matroid axiomatically, the most significant being in ...
and was supervised by
Robert E. Bixby
Robert L. Bixby is the Executive Director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan grassroots organization that educates the public about fiscal responsibility. The Coalition was founded in 1992, and Bixby was named the Executive Director in 19 ...
.
She taught at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
and the
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...
before returning to Northwestern as a faculty member in 1990, and retired as a mathematics professor from Lake Superior State University in 2018. She has also visited the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
as a
Humboldt Fellow
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the German government, government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Foreign Office (Germany), Federal Foreign Office, ...
.
Recognition
Coullard was a Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University from 1996 to 1999. In 2003, the Lake Superior State University Alumni Association gave her their annual Kenneth J. Shouldice Achievement Award.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coullard, Collette
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
20th-century American women mathematicians
Operations researchers
Northwestern University alumni
Purdue University alumni
Northwestern University faculty
Lake Superior State University faculty
21st-century American women mathematicians