{"54737":{"#nid":"54737","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Center Prepares for Second Global Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Center for Health and\nHumanitarian Logistics, established in 2007 under the umbrella of the Supply\nChain \u0026amp; Logistics Institute (SCL) in the H. Milton Stewart School of\nIndustrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE), is prepping for its second\ninternational conference in as many years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe 2010 Conference on Health and\nHumanitarian Logistics will build on the success of last year\u2019s inaugural\neffort, offering panel presentations and discussions, workshops and poster\nsessions, with speakers and registrants from non-governmental organizations\n(NGOs), industry, government, military, foundations, and academia. The main\nsessions of the conference will spread over one-and-a-half days with three\nparallel focused workshops in the afternoon of the second day, compared to a one-day\nprogram and two workshops last year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe have two panels similar to last\nyear, one on \u2018Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Post-Disaster Operations\u2019\nand the other on \u2018Long-Term Development and Sustainability,\u2019\u201d said center\nco-director and ISyE Associate Professor Pinar Keskinocak. \u201cDisasters are a\nvery important part of humanitarian operations, so we decided it is important\nto include that topic again, especially given the recent events in Haiti.\nHowever, the other panels are different. In particular, \u2018health\u2019 was not a\nlarge focus area at the conference last year, but it has more presence this\nyear.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAttendees of the 2009 conference\nincluded representatives from government, industry and academia. \u201cWe received\nvery positive feedback both verbally and through conference evaluation forms,\u201d\nsaid ISyE Associate Professor Julie Swann. \u201cAlmost everyone said they would\ncome back to another conference, both from the academic and organization side.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u2019s conference will be held\nMarch 4 and 5 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. Scheduled\nkeynote speakers include Rear Admiral Scott Deitchman, associate director for\nTerrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response with the National Center for\nEnvironmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry,\nand Armond Mascelli, vice president for Disaster Services, Operations, with the\nAmerican Red Cross. Other speakers include representatives from the Department\nof Homeland Security, Doctors Without Borders, CARE, the Clinton Foundation,\nYale University, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the United Nations World\nFood Programme.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPanel discussions will feature\nrepresentatives from various organizations and cover topics that are timely and\ncritical within this sector. Descriptions of posters to be placed on view\nduring the conference are available on the conference Web site.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EISyE Associate Professors Ozlem\nErgun, Keskinocak and Swann co-founded the center to improve logistics for\nhumanitarian efforts around manmade or natural disasters. By working with\nnon-governmental organizations, governments and private industry, the center\nstrives to improve communications between these groups, as well as present them\nwith the research and practical applications to improve logistics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy building on expertise and\nactivities around its key pillars\u2014education, outreach, and research and\napplications\u2014the center focuses on both research and hands-on projects with\nvarious organizations; works to create an environment for networking and\ncommunications among these organizations; and advances the science and\ntechnology behind health and humanitarian logistics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur main interest is in improving\nthe human condition through the applications of analytics,\u201d Keskinocak said.\n\u201cQuantitative tools, such as simulation, optimization and statistics, as well\nas methods in logistics and supply chain management within the domain expertise\nof ISyE, can inform and support decisions in various areas such as resource\nallocation, disaster relief or long-term development.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe center\u2019s genesis was in a\ngraduate course offered in Spring 2007 where teams of students engaged\ngovernments, NGOs, and private industry with projects on disaster preparedness\nand response and health applications such as infection control and vaccine\nscheduling. \u201cSome of these organizations had never worked with a university or\nwith ISyE before,\u201d Keskinocak said. \u201cWe also found out that the collaboration\namong these organizations has been very limited when it comes to relief\nefforts.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the center\u2019s outset, the three\nco-directors contacted and explored areas for collaboration with several\norganizations and companies active in humanitarian response. Ergun, Keskinocak\nand Swann acknowledge the support of several other ISyE faculty members, such\nas Professor Dave Goldsman and Professor John H. Vande Vate, in helping them\nmake connections with some of these organizations, such as CARE and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the past two years, the center\nworked with the World Food Programme (WFP) and provided assistance in modeling\nand improving the largest humanitarian organization\u2019s entire global network.\n\u201cWe help model [the WFP\u2019s supply chain] to see what we can do to improve it, in\nthe interest of cost and efficiency, for the people they serve,\u201d Ergun said.\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had some successes in that several of our recommendations have been\ntaken.\u201d From both the educational and research perspective, Ergun said that 15\nstudents are currently working or had worked with the WFP over the last two\nyears.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to forming the center,\nthe three co-directors had worked together and separately on several related\nefforts. Keskinocak and Swann have created the subgroup \u201cPublic Programs,\nService and Needs\u201d for the professional organization INFORMS (Institute for\nOperations Research and the Management Sciences) focusing on societal impact\nissues. Ergun was the co-chair of a committee that established a student paper\ncompetition focused on promoting research with societal impact, \u201cDoing Good\nwith Good OR\u201d within INFORMS.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESponsors for the 2010 Health and Humanitarian\nLogistics Conference\u0026nbsp; include the Coca-Cola Co., United Parcel Service,\nKuehne + Nagel, and various units at Georgia Tech including SCL, Health\nSystems Institute, ISyE, College of Engineering, Distance Learning and\nProfessional Education (DLPE), the College of Computing and Georgia Tech\nResearch Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBoth the conference and the center,\nSwann says, are serving to present the Institute\u2019s expertise to solve problems\nand to educate students. \u201cBoth students and these organizations became aware of\nwhat Tech can offer,\u201d she said. \u201cGeorgia Tech is a practice-oriented\ninstitution. We\u2019re solving real-world problems.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics is prepping for its second international conference in as many years.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27191","created_gmt":"2010-03-03 10:38:05","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:05:38","author":"Robert Nesmith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-03-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-03-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"54738":{"id":"54738","type":"image","title":"Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics co-directors","body":null,"created":"1449175474","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:44:34","changed":"1475894481","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:21","alt":"Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics co-directors","file":{"fid":"190183","name":"HealthHumanLog.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HealthHumanLog.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HealthHumanLog.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1842042,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/HealthHumanLog.jpg?itok=A-Bswooz"}},"54739":{"id":"54739","type":"image","title":"2010 Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics","body":null,"created":"1449175474","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:44:34","changed":"1475894481","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:21","alt":"2010 Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics","file":{"fid":"190184","name":"Logo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Logo.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Logo.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":21759,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Logo.jpg?itok=xaa2fkdp"}}},"media_ids":["54738","54739"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/humlog2010\/","title":"2010 Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/research\/humanitarian\/","title":"The Center for Humanitarian Logistics at Georgia Tech"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/profile.php?entry=oe5","title":"ISyE Associate Professor Ozlem Ergun"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/profile.php?entry=pk50","title":"Pinar Keskinocak"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/profile.php?entry=js228","title":"Julie Swann"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"8884","name":"Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E, Director of Communications, Industrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-385-3102\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}