Equitable Routing Decisions in Humanitarian Relief
Date: Jan. 30, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Place: 3210 Shelby Center
Burcu Balick
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences,
Northwestern University
Balcik earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering from
Middle East Technical University in Turkey. She received her doctoral degree in
industrial engineering from the University of Washington. Her research interests
include developing mathematical models and solution methods to improve the performance
of nonprofit supply chain and the transportation and logistics applications in
disaster relief and food bank operations.
Abstract
Equitable Routing Decisions in Humanitarian Relief
A majority of operations research applications and models focus on performance
metrics and objectives based on effectiveness and efficiency. Equity is a key
goal of nonprofit and public sector operations that has been studied less than
effectiveness and efficiency, particularly in the area of humanitarian relief.
In her talk, Balcik will introduce the "last mile distribution problem," which
addresses making equitable vehicle routing and delivery scheduling decisions for
relief supplies. She will present a mathematical model and a simulated annealing-based
heuristic, as well as an overview of incorporating equity in operations research
models and routing applications that consider equity.
