The use of optimization models in public sector decision-making

Operations research methods have been used to improve access to education for decades.  The talk will focus specifically on connections between evolving issues in public education and advances in optimization, computing and geographic information systems.  The talk will present examples of how operations research has impacted access to education, looking at both the school district design problem and the school bus routing problem.  To illustrate the impact of such work, we present a case study from a research-practice partnership focused on district redesign to address access to education.  We also present ongoing work to develop a series of benchmark instances to be used broadly in the realm of models and solution methods for school operations.  The talk will also reflect on challenges related to the use of optimization models in public sector decision-making.

The talk will conclude with a discussion of emerging topics in Transportation Science based on my experience as the journal editor.  This part of the talk will include an open discussion of recent changes to the journal and new plans for the future.

About Karen Smilowitz

Dr. Karen Smilowitz is the James N. and Margie M. Krebs Professor in Industrial Engineering and Management Science at Northwestern University, with a joint appointment in the Operations group at the Kellogg School of Management.  Dr. Smilowitz is an expert in modeling and solution approaches for logistics and transportation systems in both commercial and nonprofit applications.  She has been instrumental in promoting the use of operations research within the humanitarian and nonprofit sectors through the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Engineering, as well as various media outlets.  Dr. Smilowitz is the Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Science and a Fellow of the INFORMS society.

This seminar will take place in person in room T09-67. Alternatively, click here to join the seminar online.

Meeting ID: 310 747 186 279

Passcode: tL6jq6Mr