【Time】 2:00PM-3:00PM👩‍❤️‍👨，May 20, 2010 (Thursday) 

【Place】 Room 510, Shunde Building 

【Speaker】 Jacob Tsao, Ph.D., Professor and Graduate Advisor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, San Jose State University

【Host】 Dr. Lefei Li 

【Title】 Integration of technology, innovative operational procedures and OR as an important activity of research of operations (RO) 

【Abstract】 

Industrial engineering can be viewed in a simplified manner as efficiency and quality engineering. Efficiency is measured in quantitative terms and is often optimized with operations research (OR) techniques.  Although the potential of OR can sometimes be dwarfed by technological advancement, e.g., the savings achievable via application of OR for expanding the capacity of large telecommunication networks vs. the invention of fiber optics, an overzealous “technology push” without detailed study of operations may lead to disastrous project failures, e.g., the premature demise suffered by the National Automated Highway Consortium (of the United States)  in the late 1990’s. Many examples have demonstrated that proper and timely integration of technology, innovative operational procedures and OR as an important activity of research of operations (RO) can lead to significant and even drastic efficiency improvement.  I will explain this with my own experience in telecommunication and transportation research and with recent literature on application of OR to transportation.  I will also use some Silicon Valley success stories to illustrate an observation that innovation can be achieved with much less difficulty than what is commonly believed.  A goal of this talk is to encourage development of innovative ways for efficiency improvement as a critical component of industrial engineering.

【Brief Introduction of the Speaker】Dr. H.-S. Jacob Tsao holds a Ph.D. in operations research.  After receiving his Ph.D. in 1984 from UC Berkeley, he worked in the semiconductor and telecommunication industries for eight years before returning to Berkeley in 1992 to conduct transportation research.  He joined the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering of San Jose State University in 1999 and is now Professor and Graduate Advisor of the department.

Looking forward to your participation.