{"64834":{"#nid":"64834","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Doing Good with OR: Applying Operations Research for Societal Impact","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInterested\nin highlighting the tremendous potential for operations research (OR) in\nnon-profit\/humanitarian domains, Georgia\nTech Professor Ozlem Ergun and Northwestern University Professor Karen Smilowitz co-organized a symposium that was held\nat the recent annual meeting of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.aaas.org\/\u0022\u003EAmerican\nAssociation for the Advancement of Science\u003C\/a\u003E (AAAS) held in Washington D.C. from February\n16 through February 22, 2011.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETitled \u0022Doing Good\nwith Good OR: Applying Operations Research for Societal Impact, \u0022 the\nsymposium introduced several rich problems that arise in non-profit\/humanitarian\napplications, including disaster relief distribution and community health care\ndelivery. It also showed that techniques developed in the commercial sector are\noften not applicable in non-profit\/humanitarian domains, necessitating that new\napproaches be developed to incorporate crucial issues such as equity and\nefficacy.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EUnique\nto the symposium was the presentation of joint work of academics and\npractitioners to address these challenges with novel operations research\ntechniques.\u0026nbsp; The broad range of speakers\nand topics discussed demonstrate the extent to which operations research has\ngone beyond traditional borders in terms of both research disciplines and\napplication domains.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESpeakers included Yann LeTallec of the Clinton Health\nAccess Initiative, who discussed the use of Operations Research to address\nglobal health issues in resource-limited setting; \u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EJeremie Gallien of the London Business School,\nwho discussed public distribution of essential drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa; and\nDavid Sarley of John Snow International, who discussed improving the equity and\naccess to essential health through optimization modeling. The symposium also\nincluded two discussants \u2013 Nathaniel Hubert of the Department of Public Health, Weill Medical College,\nCornell University, and Paul Detjen of\nthe Mobile CARE Foundation.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThough OR applications in\nnon-profit\/humanitarian domains are challenging from a research perspective\nbecause of the unique characteristics, the organizers agree that methodologies\nand insights derived from this research also can have substantial impact in\nsociety.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth\norganizers are involved in humanitarian logistics centers at their respective\nuniversities. Ergun, associate professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of\nIndustrial and Systems Engineering, is co-director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/research\/humanitarian\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Health and\nHumanitarian Logistics \u003C\/a\u003Eat Georgia Tech, and Smilowitz, associate professor of industrial engineering and management\nsciences and the William A. Patterson Junior Professor in Transportation at\nNorthwestern\u2019s\u0026nbsp; McCormick School of\nEngineering and Applied Science, launched a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hl.mccormick.northwestern.edu\/\u0022\u003EHumanitarian Logistics initiative\u003C\/a\u003E at Northwestern. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EErgun\nand Smilowitz\u0026nbsp; broke new ground with their symposium,\ncreating a greater OR presence at the annual meeting. AAAS is an international non-profit organization dedicated to\nadvancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader,\nspokesperson, and professional association.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInterested\nin highlighting the tremendous potential for operations research in\nnon-profit\/humanitarian domains, Georgia\nTech Professor Ozlem Ergun and Northwestern University Professor Karen Smilowitz co-organized a symposium that was held\nat the recent annual meeting of the American\nAssociation for the Advancement of Science held in Washington D.C. from February\n16 through February 22, 2011.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Doing Good with OR: Applying Operations Research for Societal Impact"}],"uid":"27328","created_gmt":"2011-03-08 16:34:04","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:22","author":"Edie Cohen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-03-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-03-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"59922":{"id":"59922","type":"image","title":"Ozlem Ergun","body":null,"created":"1449176239","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:57:19","changed":"1475894520","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:00","alt":"Ozlem Ergun","file":{"fid":"191032","name":"Ergun_Ozlem_-_Bust.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Ergun_Ozlem_-_Bust_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Ergun_Ozlem_-_Bust_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2089258,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Ergun_Ozlem_-_Bust_1.jpg?itok=WCbf63yu"}}},"media_ids":["59922"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1629","name":"AAAS"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"1238","name":"Ozlem Ergun"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara \nChristopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}