Modeling and Decision Making
Objectives:
The course aims to introduce the students to advanced topics in mathematical modeling and decision making through case studies and selected papers from the current literature. We will examine problems (and their solutions) from a series of scientific fields such as bioinformatics, image processing, social networks, auctions, tax policy optimization and others.
Skills:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will have gained experience in transitioning from a “verbal” to a mathematical description of a decision problem, so that appropriate optimization/solution techniques may be applied.
Prerequisites:
Any undergraduate operations research course which includes nonlinear programming.
Content:
Topics will vary each year, drawing on articles from the current literature. Examples include:
• Online add auctions (Decision Support Systems)
• Trust and electronic word-of-mouth modeling (DSS)
• Structure and function of complex networks (SIAM Review)
• Mathematics of Infectious Diseases (SIAM Review)
• Modeling Growth in Biological Materials (SIAM Review)
• Modeling Basketball Free Throws (SIAM Review)
Textbooks:
1. Evans, R.J. (2012). Statistics, Data Analysis, and Decision Modeling (5th Edition), Pearson, ISBN-13: 978-0132744287
2. Hillier and Lieberman (2001). Introduction to Operations Research (7th ed.), McGraw-Hill.
3. Decision Support Systems (Elsevier) http://www.journals.elsevier.com/decision-support-systems/
4. SIAM Review (SIAM), http://epubs.siam.org/journal/siread
Assessment:
Written Final examination 50%
2 Homework Assignments 50%
