Jiayu Kamessi Zhao
Ph.D. in Operations Research at MIT, 2020-2025
B.S. in Operations Research at Columbia University, 2016-2020
kamessi@stanford.edu [✉️]
My Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Google scholar
About Me
I am an Assistant Professor of Operations, Information, and Technology at Stanford GSB.
My research studies how two-sided service platforms, via algorithm and market designs, can incentivize agents' flexibility to enhance operational efficiency.
I completed my PhD in Operations Research at MIT and my undergraduate studies at Columbia University. In 2025-2026, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Waymo's marketplace and supply optimization team.
Publications and Preprints
-
The Value of a Little Flexibility in Stable Matching
with Daniel Freund and Sébastien Martin. 2026.- Earlier version accepted at the Twenty-Seventh ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (EC'26), 2026.
-
Two-sided Flexibility in Platforms
with Daniel Freund and Sébastien Martin.
Major Revision at Operations Research, 2026.- Winner of MIT Operations Research Center (ORC) Best Student Paper Award, 2024
-
On the Power of Delayed Flexibility: Balls, Bins, and a Few Opaque Promotions
with Daniel Freund and Chamsi Hssaine.
Major Revision at Operations Research, 2026. -
On the Supply of Autonomous Vehicles in Platforms
with Daniel Freund and Ilan Lobel.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2025.- Earlier version accepted at the Twenty-Fifth ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (EC'24), 2024.
- Accepted for presentation at 2024 INFORMS MSOM Supply Chain Management SIG Conference
-
Overbooking with Bounded Loss
with Daniel Freund.
Mathematics of Operations Research, 2022.- Earlier version accepted at the Twenty-Second ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (EC'21), 2021.
Work in Progress
-
Stay, Reposition, or Recharge: Battery-Aware Operation of Robotaxi Fleets
with Philipp Afèche and Saif Benjaafar.
PhD Dissertation
Flexibility in Platform Operations
- Winner of the Dan and Eva Roos Thesis Prize, 2025
Teaching
- Introduction To Operations Management, MIT 15.761 | Teaching Assistant
- Common Experience in Operations Research, MIT 15.S25 | Teaching Assistant
- Graduate (PhDs), Summer 2022. (20 students)
- Ordinary Differential Equations, Columbia University Math 2030 | Teaching Assistant
- Undergraduate, Fall 2018. (40 students)
- Probability for Engineers, Columbia University IEOR E3658 | Teaching Assistant
- Undergraduate, Fall 2018. (80 students)
Recent Talks
- The Value of a Little Flexibility in Stable Matchings
- INFORMS APS Conference, Jul 2025, Atlanta
- On the Power of Delayed Flexibility: Balls, Bins, and a Few Opaque Promotions
- Marketplace Innovation Workshop, May 2024, Virtual
- Two-sided Flexibility in Platforms
- UC Berkeley eMERGE Seminar Series, Mar 2026, Berkeley
- INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct 2025, Atlanta
- INFORMS APS Conference, Jul 2025, Atlanta
- University of British Columbia, Imperial College, London Business School, University College London, National University of Singapore, New York University, University of Toronto, Duke University, Stanford University, Columbia University
- INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct 2024, Seattle
- Inaugural OM Rookiepalooza at Kellogg, Oct 2024, Evanston
- MIT ORC Fall Seminar Series, Nov 2024, Cambridge
- MSOM Conference, Jul 2024, Minneapolis
- Marketplace Innovation Workshop, May 2024, Virtual
- MIT LIDS Student Conference, Feb 2024, Cambridge
- Xi'an Jiaotong University, Jan 2024, Xi'an
- Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Dec 2023, Shanghai
- On the Supply of Autonomous Vehicles in Platforms
- Guest lecture for INDENG 150: Production Systems and INDENG 250: Production and Logistics Models, Nov 2025, Berkeley
- MIT Operations Management Seminar, Oct 2024, Cambridge
- MSOM Conference Supply Chain Management SIG, Jun 2024, Minneapolis
- INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct 2023, Phoenix
- Cornell Young Researchers Workshop, Oct 2023, Ithaca
- MSOM Conference, Jun 2023, Montreal
- INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct 2022, Indianapolis
- Marketplace Innovation Workshop, May 2023, Virtual
- Overbooking with Bounded Loss
- EC'21, Jul 2021, Virtual
- INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct 2021, Virtual
- ORC Student Seminar, Apr 2022, Cambridge
Professional Services
- Reviewer for Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2025 - Present
- Reviewer for ACM EC Conference, MSOM Conference, ACM STOC Conference, 2025-Present
- MIT ORC Seminar Series student coordinator, Fall 2023
- MIT Operations Management Seminar student co-organizer, 2021-2023
Awards and Honors
- The Dan and Eva Roos Thesis Prize, 2025
- MIT Operations Research Center (ORC) Best Student Paper Award, 2024
- The Sebastian B. Littauer Award in IEOR, Columbia University, 2020
- Tau Beta Pi Honor Society, Columbia University (NY alpha Chapter), 2020
- The Dean’s List, Columbia University, 2016-2020
- C.P. Davis Scholar, Columbia University, 2016