TRC's Chief Research Officer, Rajan Sambandam, will contribute to the Yale CCI Blog, consult on academic-practitioner issues and generally help spread the word about the good work being done by YCCI Fellows.
My primary job is to oversee research activities at TRC. Ergo, I’m usually involved in the design and statistical analysis of pretty much every project that goes through the shop. I can honestly claim to have spent many years grappling with data searching for insight. In my time here I have worked with more companies than I can recall, many of which are household names.
I consider knowledge development to be an important dimension of my work. One part of that is publishing articles based on my research. Another part is the organization of conferences, lectures and presentations to further the development and exchange of knowledge. Collaborating with academic researchers is a particular interest of mine and those relationships span several universities such as MIT, Yale, Columbia, Wharton and Rice University. I have found that interacting with smart minds in academia helps find ways to apply theory to practice and, equally important, practice to theory.
As a personal interest that conveniently overlaps work, I am a frequent contributor to the TRC.Blog. It provides an outlet for thoughts that form in my head when reading subjects that are of interest to me. The topics I write about tend to be about research or analytic approaches to problems in various subject areas, approached in a user-friendly manner.
Reading is perhaps the most enduring passion of my life. Behavioral economics, sustainable living, sports analytics and popular physics – these are a few of my favorite things to read. I also think Seinfeld and Star Trek are particularly entertaining ways of losing track of time.
Education: Ph.D. - Marketing, SUNY Buffalo
B.E. - Electronics and Communications Engineering, Anna University, India
