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Keynote Lectures

Available Soon
Daria Battini, University of Padua, Italy

Decision Guidance Systems and Their Applications to Service Networks, Energy and Power Systems, Sustainability, Manufacturing, Epidemiology, and Counter UAV Systems
Alexander Brodsky, George Mason University, United States

Why Interacting Layers Matter for Operational Decisions
Maria Vlasiou, University of Twente, Netherlands

Available Soon

Daria Battini
University of Padua, Italy

Short Bio
Available Soon

Abstract
Available Soon

Decision Guidance Systems and Their Applications to Service Networks, Energy and Power Systems, Sustainability, Manufacturing, Epidemiology, and Counter UAV Systems

Alexander Brodsky
George Mason University, United States
https://cs.gmu.edu/profiles/brodsky

Short 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.

Why Interacting Layers Matter for Operational Decisions

Maria Vlasiou
University of Twente, Netherlands
https://people.utwente.nl/m.vlasiou

Short Bio
Maria Vlasiou is the Hypatia Professor of Stochastic Processing Interacting Networks at the University of Twente, a Research Fellow of the European research institute EURANDOM, and the Director of the Dutch Network on the Mathematics of Operations Research (LNMB). Her research centres on the performance of stochastic processing interacting networks. She develops mathematical tools in performance evaluation, optimisation, control, and decision-making and designs algorithms that can be deployed in data centres, the electricity grid, communication systems, and high-tech manufacturing, as well as in the analysis of biological networks. She has supervised 11 PhD theses on these topics. Prof. Vlasiou’s research to date has attracted over €60 million in funding through grants from more than 15 science foundations, universities, societies, and other organisations. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for IISE Transactions, Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, OR Spectrum, and INFOR. She has also held numerous leadership roles, including representing the Netherlands on the Committee for Women in Mathematics of the International Mathematical Union and in the European Women in Mathematics association.

Abstract
Operational systems often contain several interacting layers. A charging station serves vehicles while drawing on a constrained electricity network. A transport disruption shifts demand between routes or modes. Such interactions can determine whether an intervention relieves congestion or moves the problem elsewhere. For operations research practitioners, recognising these dependencies is an important part of building models that support useful decisions. Drawing on research motivated by service and infrastructure systems, this talk explores how interactions between layers shape performance under uncertainty. Through selected applications, I will discuss how stochastic models and approximations help explain behaviour that is difficult to anticipate by examining each component separately. The emphasis will be on what these insights mean for decisions about resource allocation and system design, and for understanding the consequences of disruptions. A recurring question will be how much of the surrounding system a model needs to capture. The aim is to show why attention to interacting layers can change our understanding of an operational problem and of the solutions we consider.