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The Supernetwork SentinelThe Newsletter of the Virtual Center for SupernetworksFall 2003Welcome to the inaugural edition of TheSupernetwork Sentinel, the newsletter of theVirtual Center for Supernetworks at the IsenbergSchool of Management, UMass-Amherst. TheSupernetwork Sentinel will be published inFall, Winter, and Summer editions. Its purposeis to keep you informed of events, activities, andsuccessesoftheVirtualCenterforSupernetworks. In this newsletter we includenews items, noteworthy recognitions, essays,and timely stories.Anna NagurneyJohn F. Smith Memorial ProfessorDirector – Virtual Center for SupernetworksNew Book!Innovations in Financial and EconomicNetworks, the latest book edited by ProfessorAnna Nagurney, will be published by EdwardElgar Publishers in October 2003. The bookcontains contributions by international expertsfrom the World Bank, Princeton University, MIT,U. of Texas, Austin, Imperial College, U. ofFlorida, UMass-Amherst, U. of Toronto, theUniversity of Amsterdam, Iowa State, amongothers. The book presents entirely new results:the conceptualization of the stock market as agraph, the evolution of financial systems asnetworks, the inclusion of electronic transactionsin international finance (from a networkperspective), new formalisms for the study ofsupply chains (as fluid models and in a networkeconomic framework), and new applications ofagent-based computational trade networks. Formore info Center WebsiteDuring the Summer of 2003, a search engineand new features were added to the center’swebsite: http://supernet.som.umass.eduNew Laboratory forComputation and VisualizationThrough the tireless efforts of Associate DeanJane Miller, space reallocation within theIsenberg School of Management building allowedthe Virtual Center for Supernetworks to beassigned Room G28 to serve as the newSupernetworks Laboratory for Computation andVisualization.This past summer, thanks to the efforts ofUndergraduate Dean Dennis Hanno and Mr. MelRodriguez, undergraduate students from theTalent Advancement Program (TAP) repaintedand cleaned the new lab. The director andassociates would like to thank Ms. Susan Milne,ISOM’s System Manager, for her 24/7 assistanceand expertise in helping to set up the lab.The lab contains high performance computers,networked printers, video transfer equipment,and a WiFi network. The conference area of thelab includes a projector and screen. Journals andbooks are also housed in the lab for researchpurposes.The Grand Opening of the SupernetworksLaboratory will occur in October at a date to beannounced.InsideBig Blackout CommentaryNetnomics Co-Editors NamedMKIDS NewsKudos and CongratulationsCenter Associate NewsUpcoming Events and PublicationsCopyright 2003 University of Massachusettsat Amherst.1

CommentaryThe New Era of Supernetworks –The Big Blackoutand Why Human Behavior and Decision-Making Count!Anna NagurneyWe are now in a new era of Supernetworks asthe Biggest Blackout in United States history onAugust 14, 2003 has fundamentally anddramatically illustrated. We as human , and/or government officials can nolonger study and manage individual networksystems such as energy, transportation, , it is insufficient to simply address thephysical infrastructure in the form of nodes andlinks in terms of network design since it isultimately the behavior of the individuals andthe decision-makers on these systems thataffect the flows, the congestion, the associatedcosts, the throughput, and their survivability.Indeed, the biggest blackout in US historyinvolved not only the severance of physical linksin the form of transmission lines but through thecoupling of human involvementinthemanagement of the power grids resulted intremendous losses for some whereas others inneighboring regions and communities wererelatively unaffected and, in some instance,even gained, due to the availability of power,fuel, and other products. The loss of poweraffected not only telecommunication networks inthe form of cell phones and even email serversbut propagated through transportation networksresulting in the shutdown of airlines, rail lines,and tremendous road congestion in the form ofboth vehicular as well as pedestrian in New YorkCity. Mail service was affected nationally andwater distribution collapsed in Cleveland.Financial networks in the form of ATMs stoppedfunctioning.The topic of networks and network managementis not new and dates to ancient times with suchclassical examples including the publiclyprovided Roman road network and the time ofday chariot policy, whereby chariots werebanned from the ancient city of Rome duringparticular times of the day.NapoleonBonaparteinprovidingtheinfrastructure support for his army, publishedwhat is probably the first paper on thetransportation network model in 1781.What is new about the network systems today isthat they are interconnected in the form ofSupernetworks. Decision-making on networkscan take on many forms; it can be centralized ordecentralized; it can be cooperative orcompetitive. Moreover, supernetworks are ofmassivedimensions,areincreasinglycharacterized by congestion, and have effectsfar afield.The complexity, however, may be captured andharnessed through novel management tools.Indeed, today, it is possible, through advancesin scientific models, theories, and computationaltools to predict optimal routes on networks fromdifferent origins to destinations both from asystem-optimized perspective, in which there isa central controller of the network flows, as wellas from a user-optimized one, in which users ofthe network select their optimal routes in whatmay be viewed as a selfish manner. We knownow that in both urban transportation networksas well as in the case of the Internet theaddition of a new link may actually makeeveryone worse off! So careful management isessential.It is imperative that knowledge surroundingnetworks and decision-making on them getsdisseminated in a timely manner. There is notime for reinventing the wheel.For more information on this commentary aswell as Letters to the Editor and OpEd pieces e topic of networks as a subject of scientificinquiry originates in the paper by Euler in 1736,which is credited with being the earliest paperon graph theory, where a graph in this on of a system by its depiction interms of vertices (nodes) and edges (or y, not long thereafter, Quesnay in1758, in his book, Tableau Economique,conceptualized the circular flow of an economyas a network. Monge, who had worked under2

Netnomics Coeditors ChosenProfessor Anna Nagurney and Professor HansAmman of the Technical University of Eindhovenin the Netherlands have been appointed CoEditors of the journal, Netnomics: EconomicResearch and Electronic Networks, byKluwer Academic Publishers. Topics addressedby the journal include: pricing schemes forelectronic services, electronic trading systems,data mining and high frequency data, ions, supply chains and e-commerce,supernetworks, as well as innovative relatedtopics. For more information see:http://www.wkap.nl/prod/j/1385-9587MKIDS NewsWith the receipt of the National ScienceFoundation grant under the Management ofKnowledge Intensive Dynamic Systems (MKIDS)initiative, the Supernetworks team will be busythis year researching how best to supportdecision-making in the new networked era ofrisk and uncertainty.The Virtual Center will be hosting a MiniWorkshop on September 10, 2003 withpresentations by the director and associates.Copies of the presentations are available athttp://supernet.som.umass.edu/visuals.htmlThe following week, Professors Anna Nagurneyand June Dong will be presenting two talks atthe MKIDS Workshop sponsored by NSF andDoDinBaltimore,Maryland,entitled,Supernetworks: Decision-Making for a New Eraand Management of Knowledge IntensiveSystems as Supernetworks: Modeling, Analysis,Computations, and Applications. The latter paperis available at:http://supernet.som.umass.edu/dart.htmlKudos and CongratulationsCongratulations to Professor June Dong forbeing promoted to the rank of Full Professor inthe Department of Management and Marketingin the School of Business at SUNY - Oswego!Professor Ding Zhang of SUNY – Oswego, whoserves as a Center Associate, will be spendinghis sabbatical during the Fall term in Hong Kong.Congratulations to Doctoral Associate Jose Cruzfor being selected to participate in the INFORMS2003 Doctoral Consortium to be held in Atlanta,Georgia, October 10, 2003.Doctoral Associate Dmytro Matsypura traveledto Sweden in June 2003 to participate in aworkshop hosted by Professor Lars-GoranMattsson at the Royal Institute of Technology inStockholm, Sweden. While in Sweden, Mr.Matsypura also presented the paper, "Dynamicsof Global Supply Chain Supernetworks," coauthored with Professor Nagurney and Jose Cruzat the NECTAR Conference at the University ofUmea. The paper is available at:http://supernet.som.umass.edu/dart.htmlCenter Associate NewsWelcome to Ms. Tina Wakolbinger, who hailsfrom Austria and has enrolled in the doctoralprogram at the Isenberg School of Managementat UMass-Amherst with a concentration inManagement Science. Ms. Wakolbinger was astudent in Professor Nagurney's three courses atthe University of Innsbruck in the Spring of2002, while Professor Nagurney held aDistinguished Chaired Fulbright. She hasindustrial experience in Austria and is workingas a Center Associate with support from the NSFMKIDS program. Welcome, Tina!The Center welcomes its first undergraduatestudent associate of the 2003-2004 academicyear, Steven Davis, who is an OperationsManagement major at the Isenberg School ofManagement. Mr. Davis completed ProfessorNagurney's Management Science course lastsemester and is presently enrolled in herTransportation & Logistics course.Jeff Spiro (Summer Undergraduate Associate2003) has returned to Alfred University toresume his studies in Management InformationSystems.Last year's undergraduate center associates arebusy with their new careers.Christopher Bardi ‘03 is working at UnitedTechnologies Research Center in East Hartford,Connecticut on Information Technology andSupply Chains.Christina Calvaneso ’03, one of eleven UMASSLeaders of the 21st Century, is working forGeneral Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania, where shehad interned previously.David Soffer ‘03 is now in Taiwan teachingEnglish and emailed us that the recent typhoonthere was spectacular.Upcoming EventsTwo sessions at the INFORMS Annual Meetingin Atlanta, GA, October 19-22, 2003 have beenorganized by Professor Nagurney.Session I: Recycling Network ModelsElectronic Waste Management and Recycling: AMutitiered Network Equilibrium Framework,Anna Nagurney and Fuminori Toyasaki, UMass Amherst3