The Purdue School of Industrial Engineering is proud to present the IE Distinguished Seminar series. The goal of the series is to bring prominent researchers in industrial engineering to Purdue to share their latest ideas and innovations.

Dr. David Morton from the University of Texas at Austin will deliver the inaugural lecture in the seminar series on Tuesday, January 10th. David Morton is Engineering Foundation Professor in the Graduate Program in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering and the Mechanical Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin.

Bio:

David Morton is Engineering Foundation Professor in the Graduate Program in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering and the Mechanical Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Morton specializes in stochastic and large-scale optimization. His research interests include developing and analyzing algorithms designed to solve mathematical optimization models that explicitly incorporate uncertainty

Dr. Morton received a Fulbright Research Scholar Award to study at Charles University in Prague, the National Science Foundation Presidential Early Career Award in Science & Engineering, the Rist Paper Prize, the George E. Nicholson Paper Prize, and was a Finalist for the EURO Excellence in Practice Paper Prize for his nuclear smuggling work. He has a BS in Mathematics and Physics from Stetson University, an MS and PhD in Operations Research from Stanford University and was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Abstract:

We describe a class of stochastic network interdiction models. These combinatorial optimization models suggest locations for radiation detectors at international border crossings to thwart illicit trafficking in nuclear and radiological materials.  We characterize the computational complexity of a family of models, and we provide an overview of analyses of interest to decision makers. Nestedness of solutions is desirable as infrastructure is typically hardened, and re-hardened, incrementally over time. We study when nestedness arises naturally.

Reception following Seminar in Grissom 210