Research and Development Center

ANDY PULKSTENIS
‘Modeling and Analytics Graduate Network (MAGNet)’

Hometown:
Merrimack, NH

Alma Mater:
Messiah College (B.A. Mathematics w/ Statistics Minor)
The Pennsylvania State University (M.S. Statistics)

Nicknames:
In high school, my affinity for physical play in basketball and soccer earned me the label of “Steamroller”. I’m also still called “Coach” by many of the guys I coached in high school soccer back in the late 90’s.

Most vivid college memory:
Probably meeting my wife. We both arrived at a convenience store counter with the same unique items – Dr. Pepper and Frito’s “wild & mild ranch” (sadly out of production now for many years). The rest, as they say, is history.

Favorite class in college:
My favorite quant class in college was called “Math Modeling.” It was a unique upper-level math course built around solving real-life business problems with math, statistics, guesswork, and anything else you could come up with. Very similar to what we do every day on the job.
My favorite non-quant class was Ancient Art (my undergrad had some art/music elective requirements for all students). It was a study of all the really old stuff (Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, etc.).

Least favorite class in college:
Probably a required biology/science course – way too much memorization of all the little parts and whoozits of creatures and things in the world.

College activities/jobs:
Add the liberal arts requirements and extra stat work to the mathematics requirements for my major, and there wasn’t time for a lot of additional activities in undergrad. I spent much of my free time in various sports or just hanging with my friends. At Penn State, I taught sessions for statistics during the semesters and independently taught my own full stats classes during the summers. I enjoyed the summer teaching quite a bit.

Advice I’d like to give to college students:
Make good choices, both in and out of class. What you do in those college years will have multiple impacts on your life to come – both good and bad depending on the decisions you make. Take advantage of the opportunities you have outside of class to interact with people with different backgrounds than your own and learn a little about what else is out there beyond the world you grew up in.

Hobbies:
I’m blessed with a wife who loves sports as much as I do, and we spend a disproportionate amount of time on NFL games, fantasy football, and Boston Bruins hockey. Our two small children at home occupy much of our attention, so many of our hobbies have been put on the back burner for now. We really enjoy helping them experience the world and showing them new things. I like to dabble in my home theater stuff like speakers, subs, amps, and the like. I also enjoy when I occasionally get time to fire up the old Playstation 2. (yes, I’m still a version behind!)

Favorite Restaurant in C-U:
I’ve only been here since September, so I don’t have a favorite yet. Buffalo Wild Wings is a favorite with our kids, but being a chain restaurant it’s not uniquely C-U or anything.

Favorite Music:
I like a little bit from a bunch of different styles. Some of my favorites, however, are Mary Chapin Carpenter, 80’s metal hair bands, Brad Paisley, Sarah McLachlan, Phantom of the Opera, and Huey Lewis (told you it was a mix!)

Favorite Movies:
Too many! Star Wars (original 3, not the new ones), Lord of the Rings Trilogy, most of the geeky stuff if it’s well done. Also, A Simple Plan and Glory are two great films. The Outsiders has about a dozen famous faces before they were stars. I could add 100 more…

Favorite TV Shows:
We don’t watch much network TV regularly, but we always DVR The Big Bang Theory, CSI Miami, and NCIS.

Favorite Quotes:
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood..."
-Daniel H. Burnham
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful."
-George Box

Hero/Role Model:
I’ve always looked up to my Grandmother (98 years old as of December ‘09). Her life is a story of overcoming incredible obstacles, from escaping communist occupation with her toddler daughter, to refugee camps in Europe, to coming to America as an immigrant and making a new life where she didn’t know the language or have any money. It’s pretty inspirational.

Career:
After grad school, I spent 8 years in Kalamazoo, Michigan working for a statistical consulting company in a variety of industries. I moved on to Virginia with Capital One in 2003. I spent 6 years there leading and developing analytic teams and helping business units improve their strategies through statistical techniques, partnering to teach them the skills needed to ensure the firm retained analytics as a competitive advantage. Much of the technical work centered around predictive modeling, experimental design, and data analysis. I also did quite a bit of statistical recruiting, mentoring, and internal statistical course development.

I joined State Farm’s Strategic Resources group in August 2009. When the MAGNet position opened up, it seemed like a natural fit with my prior experience in development and mentoring.

What I like most about my work at the Research and Development Center:
I’ve always enjoyed mentoring and teaching people, so I obviously enjoy that aspect of my job. I also enjoy the excitement and different perspectives that the students bring to the business problem. I’ve been impressed with the quality of students in the program and the complexity and business potential of the problems they work on.

My future vision for the Research and Development Center:
I’d like to see MAGNet expand beyond U of I. We’ll always have the majority of our program connected directly to the U of I Stat department due to our great relationship and successful partnership, but I would love to see our summer internship program mentioned at other schools as one of the most desirable Statistics internships around and see a future expansion of the summer program to other quality university students. This would give State Farm a touch point with strong candidates from other programs and give those strong candidates some exposure to U of I and State Farm.

Outside of work, I think I’m really good at:
Um, nothing that anyone will pay me for?
I’ve had a natural ability for coaching and organizing soccer teams for some reason - maybe an extension of my similar work-related people activities or the embarrassing amount of time I’ve invested in studying sports. Thanks to a karate stint in my younger days, I can still play with a couple of martial arts weapons without hurting myself. And my kids can testify to the fact that I’m good at giving pony rides, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, and can do a great Pooh impression when I have a cold.