>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Indian Institute of Technology Madras alumni to :Category:IIT Madras alumni per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2021 April 22#Category:Indian Institute of Technology Madras alumni

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Moving Category:Indian Institute of Technology Madras alumni to Category:IIT Madras alumni per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2021 April 22#Category:Indian Institute of Technology Madras alumni

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{{Infobox person
| name = Ramchandran Jaikumar
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = December 17, 1944
| birth_place = [[Chennai|Madras]], India
| death_date = February 10, 1998
| death_place = [[Quito]], Ecuador
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| known_for =
| education = [[Indian Institute of Technology Madras]]<br/>[[Oklahoma State University]]<br/>[[Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania]]
| employer = [[Harvard Business School]]
| occupation = Academic
| party =
| spouse = Mrinalini Mani
| children = 2 sons
| parents =
| relatives =
}}
'''Ramchandran Jaikumar''', also known as '''Jai Jaikumar''', (December 17, 1944 – February 10, 1998) was an Indian-born, US-based [[decision theory|decision scientist]]. He was the [[Daewoo]] Professor of Business Administration at the [[Harvard Business School]]. He was an expert in [[computer-aided manufacturing]], [[robot]]s and [[operating system]]s. He won several awards for his research.

==Early life==
Ramchandran Jaikumar was born on December 17, 1944 in Madras, now known as [[Chennai]], India.<ref name="informsobit">{{cite web|title=Ramchandran Jaikumar|url=https://www.informs.org/About-INFORMS/History-and-Traditions/Biographical-Profiles/Jaikumar-Ramchandran|website=Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences|accessdate=March 19, 2017}}</ref>

Jaikumar graduated from the [[Indian Institute of Technology Madras]], where he earned a bachelor's degree.<ref name="informsobit"/><ref name="nytimesobit">{{cite news|last1=Hansell|first1=Saul|title=Ramchandran Jaikumar, 53, Business Professor at Harvard|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/02/business/ramchandran-jaikumar-53-business-professor-at-harvard.html|accessdate=March 19, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=March 2, 1998}}</ref><ref name="alumnistoriesremembered">{{cite web|title=PROFESSOR RAMCHANDRAN JAIKUMAR REMEMBERED|url=https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=5579|website=Alumni Stories|publisher=Harvard Business School|accessdate=March 19, 2017|date=April 1, 1998}}</ref> While he was in college, he took up rock climbing.<ref name="broughton115">{{cite book|last1=Broughton|first1=Philip Delves|title=[[Ahead of the Curve|What They Teach You At Harvard Business School: My Two Years Inside the Cauldron of Capitalism]]|date=2009|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London, U.K.|isbn=9780141046488|oclc=559782256|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780141046488/page/115 115]}}</ref> He subsequently earned a master's degree in industrial engineering from [[Oklahoma State University]] and a PhD in decision sciences from the [[Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania]],<ref name="informsobit"/><ref name="nytimesobit"/> where his thesis supervisor was Professor [[Marshall L. Fisher]].<ref name="harvarcrimsonobit">{{cite news|title=Jaikumar Dies While Climbing|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/2/18/jaikumar-dies-while-climbing-pafter-an/|accessdate=March 19, 2017|work=The Harvard Crimson|date=February 18, 1998}}</ref>

==Career==
Jaikumar began his career at the Harvard Business School in 1980, where he taught MBA students.<ref name="informsobit"/><ref name="alumnistoriesremembered"/> He subsequently became the Daewoo Professor of Business Administration.<ref name="nytimesobit"/><ref name="harvarcrimsonobit"/><ref name="alumnistoriesremembered"/> He was an expert in computer-aided manufacturing.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> In a 1984 article, he compared robots made in the United States and Japan, and he concluded that Japanese robots were far superior.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> By the 1990s, he published research about operating systems, and he argued for a minimalist approach.<ref name="nytimesobit"/>

Jaikumar worked with his thesis advisor Fisher on a consulting project between the University of Pennsylvania and [[Air Products & Chemicals]], which won the 1983 [[Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences]].<ref name="informsobit"/> He won the same award in 1998.<ref name="informsobit"/> He also won the E. Grosvener Best Paper Award from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals in 1984.<ref name="informsobit"/> Additionally, he won the Frederick Winslow Taylor Medal from the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]] and the Grosvenor Plowman Prize from the National Council for Physical Distribution Management.<ref name="alumnistoriesremembered"/>

Jaikumar served on committees of the [[National Research Council (United States)|National Research Council]].<ref name="informsobit"/><ref name="alumnistoriesremembered"/> He was an advisor to the [[Office of Technology Assessment]] and the [[United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation|United States Senate Committee on Commerce and Science]].<ref name="informsobit"/><ref name="alumnistoriesremembered"/>

Jaikumar encouraged his students to enjoy their lives outside the classroom.<ref name="broughton115"/> He also taught that success was ultimately a matter of luck, which meant successful professionals were duty-bound to give back and help the less fortunate.<ref name="broughton115"/>

==Personal life and death==
Jaikumar was married to Mrinalini Mani, and they had two sons, Nikhil and Arjun.<ref name="nytimesobit"/><ref name="alumnistoriesremembered"/> They resided in [[West Newton, Massachusetts]].<ref name="nytimesobit"/> Jaikumar climbed the [[Himalayas]].<ref name="nytimesobit"/> On another trip to [[Greenland]], he climbed [[List of mountains in Greenland|a previously nameless mountain]] and called it "Minarjnik."<ref name="nytimesobit"/>

As an adult, Jaikumar built a school and paid for the teaching staff of a Himalayan village where he had been rescued from a fall by an Indian shepherdess during a climbing expedition when he was a college student.<ref name="broughton115"/>

Jaikumar died of a heart attack while he was rock-climbing in Quito, Ecuador on February 10, 1998.<ref name="nytimesobit"/><ref name="broughton115"/> He was 53.<ref name="nytimesobit"/> A memorial service was held at the [[Memorial Church of Harvard University]].<ref name="alumnistoriesremembered"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaikumar, Ramchandran}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Chennai]]
[[Category:People from Newton, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:IIT Madras alumni]]
[[Category:Oklahoma State University alumni]]
[[Category:Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Business School faculty]]

Ramchandran Jaikumar - Revision history

>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Indian Institute of Technology Madras alumni to :Category:IIT Madras alumni per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2021 April 22#Category:Indian Institute of Technology Madras alumni