Manuel Moran-Pelaez

Manuel Moran-Pelaez

PhD Candidate in Operations Research at MIT

Experience

Teaching Experience

Instructor

  • MIT Sloan, Introduction to Python Tutorial for EMBA students (Spring 2024)
    • Created and led a new Python programming tutorial, including developing all instructional materials.

  • MIT Sloan, Introduction to Excel Tutorial for EMBA students (Spring 2024)

  • MIT Sloan, Introduction to Excel Tutorial for EMBA students (Spring 2023)

Teaching Assistant

  • MIT Sloan, 15.730 Data, Models, and Decisions, Head Teaching Assistant (Spring 2024)
    • Executive MBA core course; 120+ students in two sections; Overall rating: 6.84/7.0
  • MIT Sloan, 15.774/780 Analytics of Operations Management, Head Teaching Assistant (Fall 2023)
    • Undergraduate, MBA, and Sloan Fellows course; 120+ students in two sections; Overall rating: 6.8/7.0
  • MIT Sloan, 15.730 Data, Models, and Decisions, Teaching Assistant (Spring 2023)
    • Executive MBA core course; 120+ students in two sections; Overall rating: 6.74/7.0

Mentor and Tutor

  • Research Mentor to Visiting Students at MIT Sloan (2023-2024)
    • Research mentor to one computer science master’s student at ETH-Zurich and one last-year computer science and mathematics undergraduate student at Universidad Complutense de Madrid doing research in our group.
  • Research Mentor to MIT Sloan Master of Business Analytics Research Assistants (2021-2024)
    • Research mentor to three Master of Business Analytics students at MIT Sloan doing research in our group.
  • MIT Sloan, 15.089 Analytics Capstone, Research Advisor (Spring/Summer 2022)
    • Master of Business Analytics Capstone Project in collaboration with Wayfair. Project title: The Value of a Dollar: Optimizing Bidding Strategies for Suppliers.
  • Conento Decision Science, Internship Tutor and Master’s Thesis Advisor (Spring 2018)
    • Internship tutor and company advisor of Santos Nuñez Jareño’s master’s thesis for the M.Sc. in Data Science and Big Data at Afi Escuela de Finanzas, Madrid.
    • Thesis: Design and implementation of a system for house price estimation.
    • Current status: Research Associate in Machine Learning and AI at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

Professional Experience

  • InstaDeep (currently part of BioNTech) (Summer 2021)
    Research Science Intern, Cambridge, MA
    • Explored traditional and state-of-the-art techniques for the 3D bin-packing problem (logistics) to find research opportunities at the intersection of Deep Reinforcement Learning and Optimization.
    • Developed tractable solutions for the 3D bin-packing problem in logistics that can adapt to new structural constraints.
  • Capchase (New York-based fintech startup) (2020 – 2021)
    Lead Data Scientist, Madrid, Spain
    • Set up and managed Capchase data team (5 direct reports), and coordinated with other tech team leads.
    • Defined, prioritized, and managed the data roadmap of the company.
    • Led the automation of business insights extraction to drive decision-making, reducing risk assessment time from 3-5 days to 4-5 hours.
  • Geoblink (Spanish location intelligence startup) (2018 – 2020)
    Senior Data Scientist, Madrid, Spain
    • Led the technical definition and implementation of the Sales Forecast and Sales Analysis products, optimizing retail network performance.
    • Researched state-of-the-art approaches on model interpretability and implemented a model-agnostic explainer in production.
    • Led the Tech Brand Awareness Committee at the company.
  • Conento Decision Science (currently part of Deloitte) (2017 – 2018)
    Senior Data Analyst, Madrid, Spain
    • Principal analyst in Marketing Mix Modeling projects for companies across various industries, including MediaMarkt, Banc Sabadell, Once, and AXA.
    • Redesigned and re-implemented the core Media Mix Optimization tool, improving speed and accuracy.

Leadership, Service, and Outreach

  • Coordinator of the ORC IAP Seminar, MIT ORC (Winter 2023)
    • Topic: Health Security
  • INFORMS Officer of INFORMS student chapter, MIT (2021-2022)
    • Organized bi-weekly social events and activities for graduate students at MIT, including activities during the Open House for incoming students and the annual retreat.
  • Founder and Leader of the Tech Brand Awareness Committee, Geoblink-Madrid (2018-2020)
    • Assembled a team from diverse technical backgrounds to increase Geoblink’s visibility as a strong technical company in Spain and attract talent.
    • Organized and participated in technical events representing Geoblink’s Tech Team.
  • Founder and Mentor of the Machine Learning Club, Conento-Madrid (2017-2018)
    • Established the Machine Learning Club, providing a forum for exchanging technical knowledge in Machine Learning and Optimization across different proficiency levels.
    • Secured dedicated weekly work hours for the club’s meetings after presenting the project to the company’s executive management.