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  • May
    8

    IEMS Seminar: Inpatient Overflow: An Approximate Dynamic Programming Approach

    Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences

    11:00 AM M228, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    Jim Dai, Ph.D.
    Cornell University

    Abstract: Hospital inpatient beds are usually grouped into several wards, with each dedicated to a "primary" medical specialty. When a patient waits too long to get a primary bed, a hospital manager may assign her to a non-primary bed, which is often undesirable. Deciding when to use such "overflow" practice in real time decision making can be challenging. We develop an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm to aid the decision making. A key step is to choose appropriate basis functions. We use a novel combination of fluid control and single-pool approximation to devise such functions. We demonstrate, via extensive numerical experiments in realistic hospital settings, that our ADP algorithm is effective in finding good overflow policies. This is a joint work Pengyi Shi at Purdue University.

    Biography: Jim Dai is the Leon C. Welch Professor of Engineering in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering (ORIE) at Cornell University. Prior joining Cornell in 2012, he held the Chandler Family Chair of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was a faculty member from 1990 to 2012. Dai studies applied probability models for efficient resource allocations in processing networks that model service systems such as customer contact centers, data centers, hospital patient flow management, airline yield management, and ridesharing networks. Dai received his BA and MA from Nanjing University and his PhD from Stanford. He is an elected fellow of Institute of Mathematical Statistics and an elected fellow of Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). He has been the editor-in-chief of Mathematics of Operations Research since 2013.

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    TIME Tuesday, May 8, 2018 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    LOCATION M228, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Agnes Kaminski    a-kaminski@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences

  • Jun
    3

    Applied Analytics and Modeling to Inform Malaria Policy

    Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IEMS)

    10:45 AM A230, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM

    LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Kendall Minta    kendall.minta@gmail.com EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IEMS)

  • Jun
    15

    2024-2025 Commencement Ceremony

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILSmore info

    TIME Sunday, June 15, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Jun
    16

    Northwestern Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Degree Recognition Ceremony

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    9:00 AM 2705 Ashland Ave

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, June 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    LOCATION 2705 Ashland Ave   

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    CONTACT Northwestern Engineering Events    northwestern-engineering-events@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Jun
    16

    Northwestern Engineering Undergraduate Convocation

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    2:00 PM 2705 Ashland Ave

    EVENT DETAILSmore info

    TIME Monday, June 16, 2025 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

    LOCATION 2705 Ashland Ave   

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    CONTACT Northwestern Engineering Events    northwestern-engineering-events@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Jun
    23

    Summer classes begin

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, June 23, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Sep
    16

    Fall 2025 Classes Begin

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Tuesday, September 16, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar