Current Research Areas

Optimization of design and operations of manufacturing systems, predictive engineering, and innovation.

Performance modeling,  monitoring, diagnostics, and prognostics of wind farms.

Performance optimization,  monitoring, and diagnostics of heating, ventilation, and air condititoing systems.

Optimization of energy consumption and energy production in wastewater processing plants.

Development of novel algorithms for knowledge discovery in energy and engineering applications. Diagnostic and predictive systems are researched.

Development of novel algorithms for autonomous decision making in medical applications. One of the projects is concerned with diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules, lung abnormalities that may be cancerous. 

Novel algorithms for knowledge discovery and decision making. Collaborative projects in pharmacogenomics, prediction of drug adverse effects, and selection of drug dosage have been initiated.

br Algorithms for applications of evolutionary computation in engineering design, manufacturing, process modeling, and healthcare.

Novel concepts are researched for diverse medical applications. This research is conducted in collaboration with numerous faculty from the University of  Iowa College of Medicine, in particular the Department of Surgery, Department of Internal Medicine, and Department of Radiology, and VA Hospital.

This research seeks to identify the key characteristics in a supplier/customer relationship and exploit these characteristics in a system that fosters strong supply chain    alliances. To accommodate all commodity teams, the system must be flexible in its approach to supplier evaluation. Maintaining such flexibility is essential for broad-based acceptance of the proposed system and is, thus, emphasized in the objective of the research. This work is being done in cooperation with Rockwell International.

This research seeks to develop an intelligent systems for risk assessment in concurrent engineering environments. The proposed strategy is based on the premise that a  holistic model of the design process can be used to completely define the design of any product in the domain of the firm. Therefore, the product can be defined in the context of the activities that must be performed to result in a successful design, rather than traditional methods of modeling based on the design object. Once the model has been developed, it can be used repeatedly to evaluate the design of different products. Customer requirements provide an initial summary of the activities that must be performed; however, the entire design scenario(i.e., path through the design process)may seldom, if ever, be realized. Therefore, the research problem is that of determining the remaining activities in a project plan that result in a successful design. The proposed research will make the determination of a final design scenario based on a variety of risk factors. As a result, the overall risk, considering the perspectives of many different functional areas, will be minimized.

This research explores methods for modeling and designing a variety of warehouse systems. In general, the research seeks to decrease the cost of warehouse operations by maximizing floor space utilization and minimizing material handling costs. Modeling methods for accomplishing this objectives in practice range from linear programming models to simulation. Alternative storage policies (i.e., randomized storage, dedicated storage) are also a focus of the research effort.

Initiated Research