PSEXIT: Acronym for "Psaraftis exit" (retirement)
Below are some FAQs related to Psexit, in random order:
Which has been your favorite research project?
At MIT, a project developing graphics software for mathematical programming courses, in the context of project Athena. It died a natural death after I left MIT.
At NTUA, the 3 EU projects that I coordinated:
Concerted action on short sea shipping
At DTU, project MBM SUSHI.
Which has been your favorite paper?
Psaraftis, H.N., “On the Practical Importance of Asymptotic Optimality in Certain Heuristic Algorithms,” Networks 14, No.4 587-596, 1984.
This paper did not get a lot of citations, but it has been my favorite. It was not funded by any project.
Which has been the best moment in your career?
Receiving tenure at MIT, one of the top universities in the world. That happened in 1985, six years after I started as Assistant Professor. Four years afterwards, I quit MIT to return to Greece.
Which has been the worst moment in your career?
Some cases in the port of Piraeus (1996-2002), in which I felt like been run over by a truck full of stones. Still, I managed to survive, and do something positive there.
What has been the most gratifying moment?
Not sure. There have been many, at MIT, at NTUA, and at DTU. Also the Piraeus stint was gratifying in retrospect, even though I would never want to do it again.
What was the biggest surprise of your academic career?
That in 10.5 years at DTU I would publish more papers than in all my previous (around 35) years at MIT and NTUA combined. Also I published 2 books. It was not planned.
What will you mostly miss upon retirement?
Not sure, remains to be seen.
What will you not miss?
The hectic pace of academic life including lots of business travel and particularly the pressing need to write research proposals.
Anything else we should know?
I am a big rail fan (since I was a child). Maybe I went into the wrong profession.
Any more questions not covered in the FAQ set?
Send me an email at hnpsar@gmail.com and I will try to answer.
