Brief Bio
Alex Brodsky is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University. His research focuses on Decision Support, Guidance, and Optimization (DSGO) systems and their applications to service networks, energy and power systems, sustainability, manufacturing, epidemiology, and counter UAV systems. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and received five Best Paper Awards and two Best Student Paper Awards. For his contributions to DSGO systems, Dr. Brodsky has received an NSF CAREER Award, NSF Research Initiation Award, and funding from ONR, NASA, NIST, Dominion Energy, AFRL, and the U.S. Department of the Army. As of 2025, he has graduated 21 Ph.D. students and currently advises seven. He has also held numerous leadership roles in the research community and brings significant industry, entrepreneurial, and commercialization experience. He earned his Ph.D. and earlier degrees in Computer Science and/or Mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Abstract
Decision Support Systems (DSS) are widely used to support organizational and personal decision-making. While DSS is broad in scope, Decision Guidance Systems (DGS) are a class of DSS designed to elicit knowledge from domain experts and provide actionable recommendations to human decision-makers, aiming to identify the best possible course of action. In this talk, we overview the Decision Guidance Analytics Language (DGAL) and Management System (DGMS), a powerful and easily extensible platform for rapid development of DG applications, similar to DB application development using DBMS. We then describe how DGMS technology is applied to decision guidance systems in (1) renewable energy investment for cost-effective carbon neutrality at George Mason University; (2) the Market of Virtual Things for on-demand products and services in cloud manufacturing; (3) optimal sensor placement in counter-UAV systems; and (4) non-pharmaceutical pandemic mitigation used by George Mason University to successfully mitigate COVID-19.