Christopher Thomas Ryan

Christopher Thomas Ryan Contact information
Mailing Address:   Christopher Thomas Ryan
         	   University of British Columbia
         	   Sauder School of Business
         	   Office 463, Henry Angus Building
 	           2053 Main Mall
         	   Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2

Phone:             (604) 822-8435
Email:             chris.ryan[AT]sauder[DOT]ubc[DOT]ca


I'm a professor in the Operations and Logistics division in the UBC Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. I obtained my PhD in Management Science at the UBC Sauder School of Business, advised by Maurice Queyranne. Before joining UBC Sauder I was an associate professor of operations management at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

My current areas of interest are: operations of education, small business operations, the history and philosophy of the science of management, and pedagogy for business education, including K-12. Previously, I did research in optimization theory, game theory, theoretical economics, and video game design. I still do a project here and there on those subjects. I also enjoy writing books and cases for teaching.

Read some writings on the history and philosophy of operations research here.
C.V: [pdf]

Google Scholar page: [link].
Research Papers

Video game design
V8. Managing the release of consumable digital goods in freemium games, (with Chungsang Tom Lam, Michelle X. Wu), working paper.

V7. Optimal world design in video games, (with Yifu Li and Lifei Sheng, and Benny Wong), working paper.

V6. Skimming the first-penny gap: Marketing endowments in virtual worlds, (with Julian Runge), working paper.

V5. Algorithms for loot box design, (with Jiangze Han and Xin T. Tong), minor revision at Operations Research.

V4. Optimizing for strategy diversity in the design of video games , (with Oussama Hanguir, Will Ma, and Jiangze Han), to appear in Mathematical Programming (a preliminary version appeared in IPCO 2023).

V3. Selling bonus actions in video games, (with Lifei Sheng and Xuying Zhao), Management Science. Volume 71(3), 2025, 2544-2564. [link]

V2. Optimal sequencing in single-player games, (with Yifu Li and Lifei Sheng), Management Science. Volume 69, Issue 10, Pages 5695-6415 [link]

V1. Incentivized actions in freemium games (with Lifei Sheng, Mahesh Nagarajan, Y. Cheng, and C. Tong), Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. Volume 24(1), 2022, Pages 275-284 [link]


Operations management
OM9. On the interplay between pricing and information policies under social learning, (with Zi Ling and Mengzhenyu Zhang), working paper.

OM8. Operational transparency: Showing we are different, (with Simai He, Meng Zheng, and Danli Yao), working paper.

OM7. Attribute-based pricing: A novel formulation and convergent algorithms, (with Mengzhenyu Zhang, Wei Sun, Shivaram Subramanian, and Markus Ettl), submitted.

OM6. Contextual group design in online services, (with Jiangze Han and Xin T. Tong), major revision at Manufacturing & Service Operations Management..

OM5. Valuing influence with social learning, (with Hyun-soo Ahn, Joline Uichanco, and Mengzhenyu Zhang), minor revision at Manufacturing & Service Operations Management..

OM4. Assortment optimization with $\alpha$-similar substitutes: Insight from customer browsing patterns, (with Renjie Chen, Bo Jiang, and Nanxi Zhang), accepted at Management Science.

OM3. Certainty-equivalent pricing with dependent demand and limited price-changing opportunities, (with Hyun-soo Ahn, Joline Uichanco, and Mengzhenyu Zhang), to appear in Mathematics of Operations Research. [link]

OM2. Robust learning of consumer preferences, (with Yifan Feng and Rene Caldentey), Operations Research, Volume 70(2), 2022, Pages 918-962 [link]

OM1. Incentive design for operations-marketing multitasking, (with Tinglong Dai and Rongzhu Ke), Management Science. Volume 67(4), 2021, Pages 2211-2230. [link]


Game theory, contract theory, and welfare economics
G7. Information-trigger contracts in principal-agent models with bonus caps, (with Rongzhu Ke and Nanxi Zhang).

G6. Monte Carlo fictitious play for finding a Nash equilibrium of an identical interest game, (with Seksan Kiatsupaibul, Giulia Pedrielli, Robert L. Smith, and Zelda B. Zabinsky), INFORMS Journal on Optimization, vol. 6(3-4), Pages 155-172. [link]

G5. "Near" weighted utilitarian characterizations of Pareto optima, (with Yeon-Koo Che, Jinwoo Kim, and Fuhito Kojima), Econometrica, 2024, Volume 92, Issue 1, p. 141-165. [link]

G4. A general solution method for moral hazard problems, (with Rongzhu Ke), Theoretical Economics, 2018. Volume 13(3), Pages 1425-1481. [link]

G3. Monotonicity of optimal contracts without the first-order approach, (with Rongzhu Ke), Operations Research. Volume 66(4), 2018, Pages 1101-1118. [link]

G2. Rational generating functions and integer programming games, (with Matthias Koeppe and Maurice Queyranne), Operations Research, vol. 59(1), 2011, Pages 1445-1460.[link]

G1. Computing pure strategy Nash equilibria in compact symmetric games, (with Albert Xin Jiang and Kevin Leyton-Brown), Proceedings of ACM Electronic Commerce (EC), 2010.[link]

Optimization theory
O14. Minimum spanning trees in infinite graphs: Theory and algorithms, (with Robert L Smith and Marina Epelman), SIAM Journal on Optimization, Volume 34(1), Pages 3112-3135.

O13. Online learning to transport with the minimal selection principle, (with Wenxuan Guo, YoonHaeng Hur, and Tengyuan Liang), Proceedings of Machine Learning Research (COLT 2022), Volume 178, 2022, Pages 1-24. [link]

O12. A greedy algorithm for finding maximum spanning trees in infinite graphs, (with Robert L. Smith), Operations Research Letters, Volume 50, Issue 6, 2022, Pages 655-659. [link]

O11. A simplex method for countably-infinite linear programs, (with Archis Ghate and Robert L. Smith), SIAM Journal on Optimization. Volume 31(4), 2021, Pages 3157-3183. [link]

O10. Dual-based methods for solving infinite-horizon nonstationary deterministic dynamic programs, (with Robert L Smith), Mathematical Programming. Volume 187(1), 2021, Pages 253-285. [link]

O9. The discrete moment problem with nonconvex shape constraints, (with Xi Chen, Simai He, Bo Jiang, and Teng Zhang), Operations Research. Volume 69(1), 2021 Pages 279-296 [link]

O8. Mixed-integer bilevel representability, (with Amitabh Basu and Sriram Sankaranarayanan), Mathematical Programming. Volume 185(1), 2021, 163-197. [link]

O7. Mixed-integer linear representability, disjunctions, and Chvatal functions---modeling implications, (with Amitabh Basu, Kipp Martin, and Guanyi Wang), Mathematics of Operations Research. Volume 44(4), 2019, Pages 1264-1285. (preliminary version appeared in IPCO 2017). [link]

O6. A simplex method for uncapacitated pure-supply infinite network flow problems, (with Robert L. Smith and Marina A. Epelman), SIAM Journal on Optimization. Volume 161(1), 2018, Pages 2022--2048. [link]

O5. Strong duality and sensitivity analysis in semi-infinite linear programming, (with Amitabh Basu and Kipp Martin), Mathematical Programming. Volume 161(1), 2017, Pages 451--485. [link]

O4. The Slater conundrum: Duality and pricing in infinite-dimensional optimization, (with Kipp Martin and Matt Stern), SIAM Journal on Optimization. Volume 26(1), 2016, Pages 111-138. [link]

O3. Projection: A unified approach to semi-infinite linear programs and duality in convex programming, (with Amitabh Basu and Kipp Martin), Mathematics of Operations Research, vol. 40(1), 2015, Pages 146-170.[link]

O2. On the sufficiency of finite support duals in semi-infinite linear programming, (with Amitabh Basu and Kipp Martin), Operations Research Letters, vol. 42(1), 2014, Pages 16-20.[link]

O1. Parametric integer programming algorithm for bilevel mixed integer programs, (with Matthias Koeppe and Maurice Queyranne), Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, vol. 146(1), 2010, Pages 137-150.[link]


Miscellaneous
M1. A non-asymptotic approach to analyzing kidney exchange graphs, (with Yichuan Ding, Dongdong Ge, and Simai He), Operations Research. Volume 66(4), 2018, Pages 918-935. [link]. (preliminary version appeared in ACM-EC 2015 [link])

Case and teaching materials

ReUp Education: Can AI Help Learners Return to College? (with Kris Ferreira and Sarah Mehta). Harvard Business School Case 624-007, October 2023.

VOCEL (A): Democratizing brain science in early childhood education (with Elisabeth Paulson and Nanxi Zhang). Harvard Business School Case 625-082, January 2025.

VOCEL (B): Powered by VOCEL (with Elisabeth Paulson and Nanxi Zhang). Harvard Business School Case 625-081, January 2025.

Ezza Nails: Scaling the nail salon (with Kim Marsh and Lindsey Joseph). Ivey Publishing Case W44753, August 2025.

Faubourg: Maintaining art de vivre despire employee turnover. Ivey Publishing Case W44751, August 2025.

Jan & Jul: Outgrowing Amazon? (with Toni Moreno and Tom Quinn) Harvard Business School Case 625-010, 626-010.

Kumwe Harvest: Evolving agricultural supply chains in Rwanda. Draft available.

The Kimanya-Ngeyo Foundation: Growing an educational organization in Uganda. Work in progress.

Darius Loghmanee at Advocate Children’s Sleep Network. Work in progress.

Book projects

Writing books has become more and more of a focus of mine in recent years. I have listed some projects here as a kind of commitment mechanism. I hope I will be able to complete many of these books without too much delay. Fingers crossed.

Paths to research: A companion to research as a career (with Runshan Fu and illustrations by Mengzhenyu Zhang)

This book tackles the challenge of navigating a career in academic research. It is the culmination of many discussions with students over 7+ years of offering a workshop called "The Art of Research'' to groups of students in Canada, the United States, and China. The intended audience is undergraduate students considering a career in academic research, current PhD students, and young faculty. The book can be studied individually and in groups. The authors (Runshan and Chris) hope to offer workshops based on the book in a variety of settings to help aspiring researchers on their journey towards success as academics.


Inverse phoenix: A collection of poems

This is a collection of around sixty poems I wrote over several years, roughly from 2021 to 2025. The story of a phoenix is a mythical bird of fire that rises from the ashes. "Inverse pheonix'' follows the opposite descent into ashes. But maybe ash is a good place to be. Poems in this collection touch on themes of childhood, loss, technology, mathematics, hope, hubris, and transcendence.


Operations management: Balancing design and devotion (with Nanxi Zhang)

A textbook project for MBA teaching of operations management that embraces the "human" side of managing operations. It is based on 15 years of teaching "core" operations management and service operations to MBAs at the University of Chicago and the University of British Columbia. It will capture the main lessons I have taken away from what resonates with MBA students on fundamental subjects connected to operations management. The title of the book is inspired by the 1992 classic paper of Barley and Kunda, "Design and devotion: Surges of rational and normative ideologies of control in managerial discourse" that provides a common rhetorical and historical framework for organization theory, operations management, management science, and organizational behavior. The embrace of "human factors" is reminiscent of pioneering textbooks in operations management, including ``Modern production management: managing the operations function'' (1st ed.) by Elwood Buffa originally released in 1961.

The book is currently a series of essays with a plan to incorporate them into a coherent text. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact me.


The reluctant teacher: A companion for researchers who also must teach

This book aims to take on the challenge of teaching by those hired primarily to excel in research, a common situation for many faculty at research-focused universities. The book tackles challenges such as balancing research and teaching, leverage research in teaching (and vice versa), and minimizing effort and stress associated with teaching. It also takes a fresh approach to traditional teaching subjects such as motivating students, preparing lectures, facilitating class discussions, etc. The book is based on teaching a course on business school teaching for PhD students at the Sauder School of Business and 15 years of teaching experiences at universities.

The book is currently a series of essays with a plan to incorporate them into a coherent text. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact me.


Mathismo: My love-fear relationship with mathematics

This book is a mix of philosophy, confessional, biography, and book of advice about my turbelent relationship with mathematics from childhood to the present day. I hope the book will be of benefit to those with an uneasy connection to mathematics, who lack confidence in their mathematical skills, have felt judged for their lack of mathematical creativity, or are seeking to help students dealing with such challenges.

The book is currently a series of essays with a plan to incorporate them into a coherent text. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact me.


Questions first: Reflections on years of awkward conversation

This book chronicles my experiences and reflections on facilitating conversations over the last 20+ years. There are two main sources of experiences for the book. The first is hosting conversations at "English Corner", a conversation English class I have volunteered to host for over 20 years. The second is facilitating discussions in MBA classrooms, which I have done for 8+ years. I hope the book will be of benefit to aspiring group facilitators, discussion leaders, managers, and instructors interested in introducing more discussion in their classrooms.

The book is currently a series of essays with a plan to incorporate them into a coherent text. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact me.

Other interests

Check out my dad's music , my friend Vaughn Oliver's music, and my son's compsositions.

I volunteer with the Colibri Learning Foundation as a curriculum developer and trainer of other volunteers.