Seminar Series

Seminar Series - Fall 2016

Title: Network Design Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: Curbing biodiversity loss is one of the key goals in achieving sustainable development. However, most conservation investments are done with limited budget, and in the face complex spatial variations in economic costs and ecological benefits. I address several hard spatial optimization problems that arise in the context of conservation planning, and show how network design and mixed-integer optimization can be leveraged for finding solutions and supporting effective and cost-efficient decision making. Studying conservation optimization gives rise to a broadly applicable class of problems, where one needs to optimally choose the network structure (add/delete nodes/edges) in order to facilitate or impede a stochastic process or a so-called cascade that will affect the designed network. View Full Abstract & Bio »

Title: Optimizing the Profitability and Quality of Service in Carshare Systems

Abstract: We apply stochastic integer programming to optimizing allocation of a carshare fleet to service zones under the uncertainty of one-way and round-trip rental demand. We minimize the cost of purchasing parking lots/parking permits, in reservation-/free-float-based systems, in addition to the cost of allocating vehicles. We employ the Sample Average Approximation (SAA) method, where we construct a spatial-temporal network for each sample to capture the total profit, vehicle relocation cost, and penalties from unsatisfied demand. We minimize the expected cost minus profit, and also consider a risk-averse model variant that penalizes the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) of unsatisfied demand. For each model, we develop a branch-and-cut algorithm with mixed-integer rounding-enhanced Benders cuts. We test instances generated from Zipcar data in Boston to demonstrate the insights of stochastic carshare system management. We will discuss several extensions of our models in various applications, including vehicle-to-grid integration and building shared service networks for underserved communities. View Full Abstract & Bio »

Title: Is the curb 80% full or 20% empty? Assessing the impacts of San Francisco’s parking pricing experiment

Abstract: The city of San Francisco is undertaking a large-scale controlled parking pricing experiment. San Francisco has adopted a performance goal of 60–80% occupancy for its metered parking. The goal represents a heuristic performance measure intended to reduce double parking and cruising for parking, and improve the driver experience; it follows a wave of academic and policy literature that calls for adjusting on-street parking prices to achieve similar occupancy targets. In this paper, we evaluate the relationship between occupancy rules and metrics of direct policy interest, such as the probability of finding a parking space and the amount of cruising. We show how cruising and arrival rates can be simulated or estimated from hourly occupancy data. Further, we evaluate the impacts of the first two years of the San Francisco program, and conclude that rate changes have helped achieve the city’s occupancy goal and reduced cruising by 50%. View Full Abstract & Bio »

Title: Thoughtful Purposeful Leadership

Abstract: Management and leadership are two very different terms with different objectives that call upon a different set of skills and methods. While there are varying definitions of each term, management is typically focused on managing resources and/or people. This might entail supervision, scheduling, planning, reporting, and more. Leadership requires moving (or leading) an individual, group, or organization in a common direction through activities/tasks that underpin a vision, goals and/or set of objectives. Many agree that being a ‘good’ leader is more challenging than managing. While many best practices have been researched, taught, and practiced, the main premise of this talk is that the first, and perhaps most important element to success in leadership, indeed in life in general, is to be aware of and appreciate what motivates oneself and others. This requires reflection and seeking the answers to several questions. Where is your (their) passion? What makes you/others happy? Why choose to do this rather than that? Why should I collaborate with you versus choosing to do something else? Why should I/we embrace and work on activities in my/our organization?  Second, and related to the first element ... it is not only okay, but essential that each leader give themselves permission to own their style and methods of leadership. There is no one-size-fits-all!  After providing the introduction and motivation for thoughtful purposeful leadership, specific methods and tools that the speaker has found very effective (and fun) will be shared. The importance of context and collaboration will be described, along with specific examples with industry and community partners. The talk will conclude by offering attendees the opportunity to share how we might, as a community of scholars, foster thoughtful purposeful leadership in our own personal journey and within our organizations. View Full Abstract & Bio »