Pokutta was selected because of his research on combinatorial optimization and polyhedral combinatorics, and in particular cutting-plane methods, extended formulations, and applications of optimization methods in supply chain management, production planning, mechanical engineering, and finance. His research is motivated by exploring these limits of computation and by applications in various disciplines requiring the solution of non-standard, highly complex optimization problems. Examples of Pokutta's applied work include stowage optimization problems for inland vessels, oil production problems, clearing of electricity markets, portfolio optimization problems, and optimal liquidity management strategies.

Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 2012, Pokutta worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the MIT Operations Research Center where the topic of his research was combinatorial optimization and cutting plane procedures. Upon completion of his postdoctoral fellowship at MIT, Pokutta was appointed as an optimization specialist at ILOG where he worked on production planning and supply chain optimization within the steel industry, automotive industry, and energy industry. In 2008, he joined KDB Krall Demmel Baumgarten in order to set up a quantitative, state-of-the art risk management practice and develop risk management methodologies at top tier banks. He then returned to academia and held the position of a research scientist at the Technische Universität Darmstadt and was a visiting lecturer at MIT. He received both his master's degree in and his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany in 2003 and 2005, respectively.