The second Annual ISE Student Conference is an opportunity for ISE Graduate Students to present their work, collaborate with other students, and network with faculty, as well as our keynote guests.
What to Expect:
- Keynote Speakers:
- Professor Hamsa Balakrishnan – Associate Dean, MIT School of Engineering, and William E. Leonhard (1940) Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Professor Young-Jun Son – James J. Solberg Head and Ransburg Professor of the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University
- Oral and Poster Presentations – Featuring research from ISE students and postdocs across various concentrations
- Networking Opportunities – Connect with peers, faculty, and researchers.
View full conference schedule here.
Keynote Speeches:
Advanced Air Mobility: Will We Still Need Traffic Management?
Abstract: Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)—characterized by electric and hybrid aircraft, and highly-automated operations—has the potential to dramatically transform the way in which we transport people and goods, as well as our ability to sense our world from the sky. The excitement around these vehicles and the services they could enable has led to the investment of billions of dollars in their development. However, the deployment of such new aircraft and fleet operators will increase competition for limited airspace resources. Furthermore, in contrast to conventional air traffic that is managed by centralized Air Navigation Service Providers like the FAA, AAM operations in many parts of the world are expected to be managed by third-party service providers. In this talk, I will make the case for why good traffic management will be essential for the success of AAM and discuss some of our research to tackle the underlying challenges.
Bio: Hamsa Balakrishnan is the Associate Dean of Engineering and the William E. Leonhard (1940) Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She received her PhD from Stanford University and a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Her research is in the design, analysis, and implementation of control and optimization algorithms for cyber-physical infrastructures, with an emphasis on air transportation. Prof. Balakrishnan is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award (2008), the CNA Award for Operational Analysis (2012), the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award (2012), the American Automatic Control Council's Donald P. Eckman Award (2014), the MIT AIAA Undergrad Advising (2014) and Undergraduate Teaching (2019) Awards, the MIT Office of Graduate Education Committed to Caring Honor (2023), and several best paper awards including the Kevin Corker Award for Best Paper at the USA/Europe Air Traffic Management R&D Seminar (2011, 2021 and 2023). She was elected Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2025.
Multi-paradigm, Online, Hierarchical Simulation and Decision Models for Planning and Control of Complex Systems
Abstract: In this talk, multi-paradigm, hierarchical, and online simulations will be introduced and discussed to support planning and control of complex systems. First, an overview of multi-paradigm simulations, such as discrete event simulation (DES), agent-based modeling (ABM), system dynamics (SD), and physics-based simulation will be provided. While the goal of these modeling paradigms is the same (i.e. representing a real system validly and credibly), key characteristics and differences will be explained. Second, an online simulation-based planning and control (SPC) approach is introduced, where a fast-running DES simulation is used as a predictive tool to evaluate decision alternatives at the planning stage, and the same DES model (a twin-simulation running in real-time) is used as a task generator to drive a real system at the control stage. Third, an extension of SPC to a highly complex system is discussed, which involves a dynamic data-driven adaptive multi-scale simulation (DDDAMS) framework. A key module in this framework enhances the computational efficiency of the system-level simulation considering available data, computational resources, and model validity/credibility via dynamic switching of fidelity of component simulations and information gathering during the simulation execution over time. In this talk, a few case studies (i.e. M/M/1 service, smart manufacturing, unmanned aerial/ground vehicles) will be used to illustrate the above-mentioned concepts and facilitate discussions.
Bio: Dr. Young-Jun Son is the James J. Solberg Head and Ransburg Professor of Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. He is a Department Editor of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Transactions, and serve on the editorial board for six other international journals. He is a Fellow of Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), and has received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) 2004 Outstanding Young ME Award, the IIE 2005 Outstanding Young IE Award, the IISE Annual Meeting Best Paper Awards (2005, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2018, 2019), and the Best Paper of the Year Award (2007) in International Journal of Industrial Engineering. His research works have been sponsored by NSF, AFOSR, USDOT, USDA, USDOE, NIST, among others. He can be reached at yjson@purdue.edu.