ORIE Seminar - University of Texas Austin

Emerging Topics in ORIE Seminar

The UT ORIE department holds a weekly seminar series, hosting researchers from UT and other universities, industry specialists, and ORIE students. These seminars explore the latest research and applications in the areas of operations research and industrial engineering. From 2 to 3pm CT every Friday, the seminar gives the students a fun, informative break from the daily grind-along with cookies and coffee!

COVID-19 Update: The ORIE Seminar has gone virtual. Contact Prof. Erhan Kutanoglu (erhank@austin.utexas.edu) for Zoom information if you wish to join the seminar!

Spring 2023 Seminars

January 13	Speaker: Dr. Alexander Zolan, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Title: Optimizing Design and Dispatch of a Renewable Energy System with Combined Heat and Power
January 20	Speaker: Dr. Hao Zhu, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Physics-aware and Risk-aware Machine Learning for Power System Operations
January 27	Speaker: Dr. Marvin May, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Title: Applying Explainable Reinforcement Learning to Improve Production Control
February 3	Speaker: Dr. Max Brozynski, FTI Consulting Title: Applying Operations Research and Other Quantitative Methodologies in the Consulting Industry
February 10	Speaker: Dr. Yongpei Guan, University of Florida Title: Integrated Stochastic Optimal Self-Scheduling for Two-Settlement Electricity Markets
February 17	Speaker: Dr. Andrew Liu, Purdue University Title: Multi-agent Multi-armed Bandit Games and their Applications in Decentralized Control and Trading of Grid-Edge Resources
February 24	Speaker: Dr. Sarah Ryan, Iowa State University Title: Input Validation for Repeated Stochastic Programs
March 3	Speaker: Dr. Arkajyoti Roy, The University of Texas at San Antonio Title: Adaptive Robust Radiotherapy Planning to Manage Radioresistance
March 10	Speaker: Dr. Maria De-Arteaga, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Characterizing Algorithmic Unfairness: From Compounding Injustices to Social Norm Bias
March 24	Speaker: Ashutosh Shukla, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Scenario-based Optimization Models for Power Grid Resilience to Extreme Flooding Events
March 31	Speaker: Dr. Erin Mayfield, Dartmouth College Title: Designing Net-Zero Emissions Energy Systems to Address Environmental and Societal Objectives
April 7	Speaker: Dr. Mustafa Kilinc, ExxonMobil Title: Optimizing ExxonMobil's LNG Shipping Operations
April 14	Speaker: Dr. Beste Basciftci, University of Iowa Title: Predictive Maintenance and Operations Scheduling Approaches for Power Systems with Failure Uncertainties, Risk-Averseness, and Renewable Energy
April 21	Speaker: Dr. Lina Sela, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Modeling in a Crisis?

Fall 2022 Seminars

September 2	Speaker: Prof. Mehmet Ayvaci, The University of Texas at Dallas Title: When Will Machines Take Over? Algorithms for Human-Machine Collaborative Decision Making in Healthcare
September 9	Speaker: Feiyang Zhao, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Policy Robustness: A New Approach to Robust Stability of Multiclass Queueing Networks
September 16	Speaker: Dr. Young-Jun Son, Purdue University Title: Multi-paradigm Simulation and Decision Models for Planning and Control of Complex Systems
September 23	Speaker: Dr. Elif Akçalı, University of Florida Title: Are we asking the wrong question? We are asking what engineers can get out of creativity skills training, rather than what creativity skills training can get out of engineers.
September 30	Speaker: Dr. Igor Linkov, US Army Corps of Engineers Title: Assessing and Communicating Resilience/Efficiency Tradeoffs in Complex Systems
October 7	Speaker: Dr. Robert Hammond, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Determining the Accuracy of the Triangular and PERT Distributions
October 14	Speaker: Connor Coloumbe, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Carbon Capture Infrastructure Development and Tax-credit Uncertainty
October 21	Speaker: Dr. Luiz Brandao, IAG Business School at PUC Title: Hedging renewable energy investments with Bitcoin mining
October 28	Speaker: Colin Small, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Choosing Among Utility Functions
November 3	Speaker: Dr. James S. Dyer, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Innovations in the Science and Practice of Decision Analysis: The Role of Management Science
November 11	Speaker: Dr. Shivakumar Raman, The University of Oklahoma Title: Automating the Search and Discovery of Manufacturing Service Providers to Enable a Digital Supply Chain Network
November 18	Speaker: Dr. Maxwell B. Stinchcombe, The University of Texas at Austin Title: The von Neumann / Morgenstern Approach to Ambiguity
December 2	Speaker: Dr. Sunderesh S. Heragu, Oklahoma State University Title: Deterministic and Stochastic Models for Manufacturing, Warehousing, and Healthcare Systems

Spring 2022 Seminars

January 28	Speaker: Dr. Brian J. Pierre, Sandia National Laboratories Title: Optimizing Electric Grid Resilience while Considering Critical Nodes and Cascading Outages
February 11	Speaker: Dr. Balasubramanian Sambasivam, The University of Texas at Austin Title: A Model-based Approach for Demand Response Implementation in a Transitioning Electricity System
February 25	Speaker: Dr. Andrea Staid, Sandia National Laboratories Title: Modeling the Impact of Severe Weather on Critical Infrastructure Assets and Operation
March 25	Speaker: Prof. Javad Mohammadi, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Connecting distributed pockets of energy flexibility through distributed optimization
April 1	Speaker: Prof. Daniel Bienstock, Columbia University Title: Solving security-constrained ACOPF problems
April 8	Speaker: Mr. Ashutosh Shukla, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Budget Allocation for Power Grid Resilience: Hardening, Pre-Event Preparation, or Load Loss? Speaker: Mr. Brent Austgen, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Comparison of Linear Power Flow Approximations in the Context of Winter Storm Planning
April 13	Speaker: Prof. Pascal Van Hentenryck, Georgia Tech Title: AI for Engineering
April 22	Speaker: Prof. Saurabh Amin, MIT Title: Solving Network Security Problems using Game Theory and Large-Scale Optimization

Spring 2021 Seminars

January 22	Speaker: None Title: Welcome to ORIE and Introductions
January 29	Speaker: Prof. Xuan (Sharon) Di, Columbia University in the City of New York Title: Harnessing Mean-Field Games for Modeling Mixed Traffic Comprised of Autonomous Vehicles and Human-Driven Vehicles
February 5	Speaker: Prof. Halit Uster, Southern Methodist University (SMU) Title: Capacitated Relay Network Design with Link Imbalance Constraints in Truckload Transportation
February 12	Speaker: Prof. Indranil Bardhan, The University of Texas at Austin Title: Quality-efficiency Tradeoffs and Relative Performance of Accountable Care Organizations
February 19 (cancelled)	Speaker: Prof. Adel Alaeddini, The University of Texas at San Antonio Title: Active Learning and Optimization of Expensive to Evaluate Black-Box Functions
February 26	Speaker: Prof. Osman Ozaltin, North Carolina State University Title: Optimal Influenza Vaccine Distribution with Equity
March 5	Speaker: Prof. Feng Ju, Arizona State University Title: Real-time Monitoring and Optimal Control for Large Scale Additive Manufacturing
March 26	Speaker: Prof. Dionne Aleman, University of Toronto Title: How effective was Newfoundland & Labrador's travel ban to prevent the spread of COVID-19? An agent-based analysis.
April 2	Speaker: Dr. Xiao-Hui Wu, ExxonMobil Title: Decision Support under Subsurface Uncertainty.
April 9	Speaker: Prof. Xiuli Chao, University of Michigan Title: Context-Based Dynamic Pricing with Online Clustering
April 16	Speaker: Prof. Adel Alaeddini, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Title: Active Learning and Optimization of Expensive to Evaluate Black-Box Functions
April 23	Speaker: Prof. Andreas Wächter, Northwestern University Title: The ARPA-E Grid Optimization Competition
April 30	Speaker: Dr. Hocine Bouarab, GE Digital Title: Partial Column Generation for Slightly Heterogeneous Multicommodity Network Flows

Fall 2020 Seminars

August 28	Speaker: None Title: Welcome to ORIE and Introductions
September 4	Speaker: Prof. Shane Henderson, Cornell University Title: Smartphone-Enabled Volunteer Programs in Emergency Medical Services.
September 11	Speaker: Prof. Eric Bickel / Mr. Colin Small, UT Austin Title: Analyzing the Accuracy of COVID-19 Forecasts
September 18	Speaker: Prof. Steve Boyles, UT Austin Title: Post-disaster recovery sequencing for road networks
September 25	Speaker: Mr. Remy Pasco, UT Austin Title: Timing social distancing to avert unmanageable COVID19 hospital surges
October 2	Speaker: Prof. Ben Leibowicz, UT Austin Title: Optimal Technology Adoption Subsidies with Consumer Switching Costs and Strategic Firms
October 9	Speaker: Dr. Lonnie Chrisman, Lumina Decision Systems Title: Quantitative Decision Modeling
October 16	Speaker: Prof. Omar Ghattas Title: Large-scale stochastic PDE-constrained optimization
October 23	Speaker: Prof. Andrew Schaefer, Rice University Title: Optimal Lung Transplantation Patient Selection from a Transplant Program’s Perspective.
October 30	Speaker: Prof. Carlos Carvalho, UT Austin Title: Estimating heterogeneous effects of continuous exposures using Bayesian tree ensembles: revisiting the impact of abortion rates on crime
November 13	Speaker: Prof. Yu Ding, Texas A&M Title: Data Science for Wind Energy: Power Curve Modeling and Production Performance Analysis
November 20	Speaker: Dr. Lauren Castro, Los Alamos National Labs Title: Forecasting COVID19 Confirmed Cases and Deaths Across Geographic Scales
December 4	Speaker: Prof. Ben Hobbs, Johns Hopkins University Title: Modeling Electricity Markets with Complementarity: Why It’s Important (and Fun), with an Application to Emissions Leakage from Local CO2 Regulation

Fall 2021 Seminars

August 27	Speaker: None Title: Welcome to ORIE and Introductions
September 3	Speaker: Prof. David Morton, Northwestern University Title: Design of Covid-19 Staged Alert Systems to Ensure Healthcare Capacity with Minimal Closures
September 10	Speaker: Prof. Angelos Georghiou, University of Cyprus Title: Robust Optimization with Adjustable Uncertainty Sets
September 17	Speaker: Prof. Raghu Pasupathy, Purdue University Title: Confidence Interval Procedures for Statistical Functionals Constructed from Stationary Time Series
September 24	Speaker: Prof. Chaoyue Zhao, University of Washington Title: Optimistic Distributionally Robust Policy Optimization with Wasserstein Metric
October 1	Speaker: Prof. John R. Birge, University of Chicago Title: Optimization and Estimation in High Dimensions
October 8	Speaker: Mr. Matt Dean, University of Texas at Austin Title: Synergies between Repositioning & Charging Strategies for SAEV Fleets
October 15	Speaker: Prof. Siqian Shen, University of Michigan Title: Sequential Competitive Facility Location: Exact and Approximate Algorithms
October 22	Speaker: Prof. Xin Chen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Title: Asymptotic Optimality of Semi-Open-Loop Policies in Markov Decision Processes with Large Lead Times
October 29	Speaker: Prof. Oktay Gunluk, Cornell University Title: An Integer Programming Approach for Fair and Interpretable Binary Classification
November 5	Speaker: Prof. Garud Iyengar, Columbia University Title: Online Allocation of Reusable Resources
November 19	Speaker: Prof. Bradley Sturt, University of Illinois at Chicago Title: A Nonparametric Algorithm for Optimal Stopping Based on Robust Optimization