ORIE Seminar

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