Event Category: Operations Research Seminar Series
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AI-Enabled Scientific Discovery in Image Collections
5/15/25 | 4:15pm | E51-376 Sara Beery Homer A. Burnell Assistant ProfessorMIT Abstract: Natural world images collected by communities of enthusiast volunteers provide a vast and largely uncurated source of data. For instance, iNaturalist has over 200 million images tagged with species labels, already contributing immensely to research such as biodiversity monitoring and having been…
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Competitive Equilibrium for Chores: from Dual Eisenberg-Gale to a Fast, Greedy, LP-based Algorithm
9/12/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Christian Kroer Associate ProfessorColumbia University Abstract: We will discuss the problem of how to fairly allocate m chores (or bads) among n agents. We take the approach of competitive equilibrium from equal incomes (CEEI), which is known to lead to strong fairness and optimality properties. CEEI is famously computable in…
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Fast-Food Stores with a Drive-Through Recovered Post-Pandemic; Stores Without Did Not
9/19/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Sunil Chopra IBM Professor of Operations Management and Information SystemsNorthwestern University, Kellogg School of Management Abstract: Problem definition. We document a permanent change in the US fast-food consumer demand after the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, after a big pandemic slump, visits to drive-through stores almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but…
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Causal Message Passing: A Method for Experiments with Unknown and General Network Interference
9/26/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Mohsen Bayati The Carl and Marilynn Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at Graduate School of BusinessStanford University Abstract: Randomized experiments are a powerful methodology for data-driven evaluation of decisions or interventions. Yet, their validity may be undermined by network interference. This occurs when the treatment of one unit…
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Convex Mixed-Integer Optimization for Causal Discovery
10/3/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Simge Küçükyavuz Chair, Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences; David A. and Karen Richards Sachs ProfessorNorthwestern University Abstract: Bayesian Networks (BNs) represent conditional probability relations among a set of random variables (nodes) in the form of a directed acyclic graph (DAG), and have found diverse applications in casual discovery. We study the…
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Improving the Security of United States Elections with Robust Optimization
10/10/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Brad Sturt Assistant Professor of Business AnalyticsUniversity of Illinois Chicago Abstract: For more than a century, election officials across the United States have inspected voting machines before elections using a procedure called Logic and Accuracy Testing (LAT). This procedure consists of election officials casting a test deck of ballots into…
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Optimizing the Path Towards Plastic-Free Oceans
10/17/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Jean Pauphilet Assistant Professor, Management Science and OperationsLondon Business School Abstract: Millions of tons of plastic are poured in the seas every year, damaging entire ecosystems from the coastlines up to the open waters. We partner with a non-profit organization and use optimization to help clean up oceans from plastic…
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Newsvendor Model for Capacity Planning at Amazon
10/24/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Liron Yedidsion Principal Research ScientistAmazon Abstract: Capacity planning deals with planning, hiring and training Amazon associates to match demand for a given horizon. While the plan is finalized weeks in advance, the volume is realized hours before operation day. We extend the Newsvendor (NV) model to calculate the target volume…
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GPU-Accelerated First-Order Methods for Mathematical Programming
10/31/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Sean Lu Assistant Professor in Operations Research and StatisticsMIT Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss the recent development of GPU-accelerated first-order methods for mathematical programming, particularly, linear programming, (convex) quadratic programming, and nonlinear programming. The talk will focus on algorithmic design, computational results, and theoretical understandings. Bio: Haihao Lu…
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Two-Sided Flexibility in Platforms
11/7/24 | 4:15pm | E51-149 Jiayu (Kamessi) Zhao Winner of 2024 ORC Best Student Paper CompetitionMIT Abstract: Flexibility is a cornerstone of operations management, crucial to hedge stochasticity in product demands, service requirements, and resource allocation. In two-sided platforms, flexibility is also two-sided and can be viewed as the compatibility of agents on one side…