Meet Our New Faculty: James Minas

James Minas | Lecturer of Operations, Technology, and Information Management | Johnson School

Meet James Minas, one of the newest faculty members from across the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Minas earned his PhD in operations research and statistics from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2013. He has ten years of experience as a business school faculty member; most recently, he was an assistant teaching professor at the Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University. Minas joins the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management as lecturer of operations, technology, and information management. Learn more about his area of expertise, his research focus, courses he will be teaching, and other interests in this Q&A.

What are your research and teaching areas of focus?

My primary teaching interests are in business analytics and operations management. In my research, I focus on the use of analytics methods to gain insights into complex business problems. Application areas I have worked on include disaster response, supply chain resilience, and contract design.

What class(es) will you be teaching this year?

This year I’ll be teaching Managerial Spreadsheet Modeling (NBA 6430) and Introduction to Python for Business (NBA 6215).

What attracted you to the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management?

I was attracted by the opportunity to join one of the world’s leading business schools and to live and work in the beautiful Finger Lakes region.

What are you most looking forward to during your first year at the Johnson School?

I look forward to working with a cohort of talented and motivated students from diverse backgrounds and helping them to develop their skills in modeling and analysis.

What’s the best book you’ve read this year?

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thompson. It’s a satirical but incisive look inside the political process that was written over 50 years ago but is surprisingly relevant today.

What do you do to recharge?

I like spending time outdoors with my family, swimming, hiking, and skiing. I train in Brazilian jiujitsu and I’m an active competitor on the masters circuit. I also enjoy watching sports, especially the Australian Cricket Team and the New York Mets.