Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Adopting Critical Power Grid Infrastructure Technologies: An Organizational Cybersecurity Assessment Against Ransomware, Fayez Alsoubaie

Dissertations and Theses

For many years, researchers and practitioners have studied emerging technologies in field of energy production and distribution. Power grid systems carry major weights in the energy branch of the economy. Researchers and scientists have been interested in finding ways to connect the power grid gap and improve protection for its technologies.

The research supports organizational adoption and prioritization of critical cybersecurity technologies for ransomware protection in power grid infrastructure. As utilities increasingly integrate digital technologies, they become more vulnerable to sophisticated cyberattacks that can disrupt services and put public safety at risk. The main focus of the study is to …

Five Pivotal Practices For Leaders To Cultivate Empathy Within Virtual Scrum Teams, Dahm Mongkol Hongchai, Charles M. Weber

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the digital and global economy, business leaders need more than just business and technology competencies; they also require empathy. However, there is a notable scarcity of research on empathy in Scrum for product development. This study aims to uncover critical insights into how leaders can foster empathy within virtual Scrum teams. Accordingly, this paper proposes five pivotal themes leaders can employ: Scrum fundamentals, meditation, self- and other-analysis, healthy interactions, and informal connections. These vital strategies offer actionable methods for leaders seeking to enhance empathy within their virtual Scrum teams.

Organizational Reliability And Resilience As A Dynamic System: Knowledge Modeling With Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, Antonie J. Jetter, Ahmed A. Alibage, Nan Peter Liang

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Safety research in complex environments recommends that high-hazard industries improve reliability and increase their capacity for resilience by enacting principles for high-reliability organizing (HRO). This view has been highly influential in many industries, ranging from aviation to hospitals, and is at the core of many safety culture programs. However, even though HRO principles originated in business practice and were observed in diverse organizations, practitioners frequently struggle to enact them in the contexts of their work. This is likely caused by two limitations of current research: principles are insufficiently specified and the interdependencies between them, such as mutually reinforcing vs. tradeoff …

Power Resilience Planning Under The Threat Of Artificial Intelligence, Chip Corbett, Cuong Nguyen, Dahm M. Hongchai, Prajakta Thorat, Pavithra Prasad, Sarah Von Schimmelmann, Charles M. Weber, Timothy R. Anderson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The earth is an unstable planet. Change is constant and frequently chaotic. It is very important to plan carefully to manage changes that can be anticipated now, and to cover potential issues that might not yet have been discovered. The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) presents a host of new concerns and opportunities. The criteria for evaluation are diverse and complex. Cybersecurity is absolutely essential, yet advances in technology have created an internet of things (IoT) where threat vectors might gain access to critical command and control elements through trillions of connected IoT devices. Whereas elegant zero trust cybersecurity models …

Quantifying Relationships In Fuzzy Cognitive Maps Based On Content Analysis Of Unstructured Research Texts, Ahmed Alibage, Antonie J. Jetter, Elpiniki Papageorgiou

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

FCM projects often rely on knowledge-based approaches, such as expert interviews, which can be challenging to conduct because they require extensive expert participation. We propose a novel alternative to create FCM models based on expert knowledge that is already codified in research texts and other publications. In this approach, thematic network analysis identifies FCM concepts and signed causal connections, while computation of t-coefficient is used to determine the weights of the identified edges. We introduce and evaluate the approach in the context of a real-world system modeling project that is based on 47 carefully selected, peer reviewed research publications on …

Smart Grid Cybersecurity In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Chip Corbett, Charles M. Weber, Timothy R. Anderson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The security of the power grid is essential for the proper function of a democratic society, yet it is constantly under threat. The internet of things (loT) will make a bad situation much worse. Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM) have been identified as serious threats to our democratic institutions, and that same acronym applies to mobile device management (MDM), and these devices have become ubiquitous. People are notoriously bad at doing basic cybersecurity. With trillions of devices and remote access everywhere, what could possibly go wrong? Now add in the engaging opportunity of distributed energy resources (DERs) and life gets …

Training Practitioners For Real-Time Product Development Using Generative Artificial Intelligence, Antoine J. Jetter, Ameeta Agrawal, Dahm Mongkol Hongchai, Charles Weber, Yufei Tao

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

A workshop to train practitioners in real-time new product development (NPD) using generative artificial intelligence (AI) was conducted. Three teams of graduate students in Engineering and Technology Management (many with work experience as managers and engineers) were given minimalist instructions to develop a product concept and a preliminary marketing plan for a product of their choosing within six hours using ChatGPT, search engines, and other Internet-based tools. The product was to be novel, and the plan was to include customer identification, market analysis, generating personas, and a 15-minute presentation at the end of the workshop. The goal was to 'inspire …

Automation Of Productive Machinery. Bases For An Innovative Business Model, Carlos Guillermo Hernández-Cenzano, Angel Contreras-Cruz, Eduardo Humada-Tello

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nowadays, some laboratories perform elastic properties tests for concrete or rock cores using equipment manufactured 50 years ago. The original data collection procedure uses analog and manual recordings, which can cause inaccuracies in the measurements taken during these trials The process is tedious and updated since each trial's measurement data is recorded manually. In this context, this study systematizes the process and proposes an automated data acquisition and recording system for this type of equipment, followed by a case study presenting a rock compression test.

Evaluation Of Metaverse Integration Of Freight Fluidity Measurement Alternatives Using Fuzzy Dombi Edas Model, Muhammet Deveci, Ilgin Gokasar, Oscar Castillo, Tugrul Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Developments in transportation systems, changes in consumerism trends, and conditions such as COVID-19 have increased both the demand and the load on freight transportation. Since various companies are transporting goods all over the world to evaluate the sustainability, speed, and resiliency of freight transportation systems, data and freight fluidity measurement systems are needed. In this study, an integrated decision-making model is proposed to advantage prioritize the freight fluidity measurement alternatives. The proposed model is composed of two main stages. In the first stage, the Dombi norms based Logarithmic Methodology of Additive Weights (LMAW) is used to find the weights of …

Technology Roadmap For Standards Of Healthcare Data Cyber Security: Influence Of Public Policy On Consumer Healthcare Cyber Security Protections, Alison Nalven, Courtney Wright, Jennifer Lynn Zeitouni, Nolan Thompson, Sara Ferdousi, Saumya Saxena

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

From the dot com boom to now the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning era, the evolving digital world that people live in has brought new challenges for protecting personal data and information. IoT devices, smart phones, numerous apps, and more, constantly collect personal health data with many positive intentions. However, the recent overturning of Roe vs. Wade by the United States Supreme Court has generated concerns in particular on who and how personal health data can be used by both governments and private companies with unintended consequences for users. Cyber security and regulations for protecting personal health data …

Financial Analysis Of Meta Platforms Inc, Anurag Yaddanapudi, Kaushik Chaudhary, Saumya Saxena

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Web3.0 is the latest generation of internet, which is about decentralization and democratization, built on blockchain technology, high computer power and high-speed network. Metaverse overlaps with Web3.0 in terms of decentralization and is built on the same base technologies but talks about virtual realities and brings immersive experiences.

This study explores how the web has evolved over the years and analyzes the current market trends of Web3.0. The purpose of the study is to examine the investments made by Meta Platforms Inc. which is one of the market leaders of the Internet industry and provide an in-depth financial analysis by …

Temporary Housing Alternatives: Economic Analysis, Matt Gillispie, Swapna Kandula, Girija Patil, Juan Vasconez, Jennifer Lynn Zeitouni

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

In this report, we are aiming to find the best construction alternative to provide housing to the homeless community of Multnomah County in Oregon. The goal is to identify the most beneficial construction process through an economic analysis. In conjunction with existing projects such as “Safe Rest Villages” that are working on offering services and solutions, the plan is to reduce the county’s houseless population by 50% over a time period of 10 years. The analysis includes gathering data about the community, but also calculating the costs and benefits of three alternatives - 3D Printed houses, tiny homes, and prefabricated …

Cost Analysis For Renewable Energy At Residential Houses In Ca, Karthik Manjunath, Sara Ferdousi, Ahmed Mahdi, Navdeep Singh, Yousra Abusharekh

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Solar energy has been demonstrated to be the most productive and compelling among sustainable power hotspots for home and business use. California has made a concerted effort to boost the integration of renewables into the grid. In 2020, a "solar mandate" went into effect, and in 2022, the California Energy Commission released the draft language for the 2022 building standards. The use of photovoltaic (PV) systems supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – particularly SDG 13 in direct impact – through preserving the environment, reducing the levels of greenhouse gasses (GHGs), and accordingly reducing global warming. Therefore, the …

Additive Manufacturing Design For Affordable Housing Development, Courtney Wright, Lani Nguyen, Jordan Wearing

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Recently, there has been an increasing lack of affordable homes. Since rent, prices, gas, and other utilities continue to rise, wages (especially for low-income individuals) have stayed constant throughout the country. This has caused numerous citizens to not be able to afford a home or even pay rent. This situation has caused a large surge in the homeless community, and it is estimated that approximately 37,500 individuals per day are in need of housing throughout the Pacific Northwest as of January 2020. [1] In response to this issue, our team has provided a goal to provide trendy and affordable homes …

Healthcare Information Security Maturity Model Grande Ronde Hospital, Pallavi Agrawal, Riad Alharithi, Karthik Manjunath, Kamal Thapa, Eric Ingersoll, Sujitha Rajagopal

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Technology offers significant advantages in improving the delivery of healthcare to patients. The technology creates electronic data associated with each patient. The data journey starts from the collection point, through the data warehouses that store the data, the application that processes the data, and the medium that transfers the data throughout the patient's life. Data collection starts with patients filling out web forms on a provider's website. This information is stored for the Healthcare organization in remote servers managed by developers and is shared with healthcare specialists, hospitals, labs, pharmacists, insurance providers, and billing software among many other healthcare workers. …

Model Optimization For Resource Allocation In A Consulting Firm, Riad Alharithi, Karthik Manjunath, Sara Ferdousi, Vladislav Ruchin, Jennifer Lynn Zeitouni

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Assigning employees with multiple skill sets to projects at the right time has long been a challenge in professional settings. Whether it is assigning a salesperson to a product, an employee to a task, or a company to a project, many variables affect such decisions and make them taxing for managers and owners. In this project, an optimization issue observed in a team member’s workplace is being addressed.. The aim is to efficiently allocate employees to different concurrent projects. The firm's organizational structure is similar to a Project Management Office (PMO) that has an employee pool with varying skill sets …

Autonomous Farming With Uavs, Pallavi Agrawal, Karthik Manjunath, Cherokee Rawls, Sujitha Raj Rajagopal, Riad Alharithi, Kamal Thapa

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

As the global need for food grows, agriculture is adapting autonomous farming techniques to scale in response. One of the most useful tools are UAVs (Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles), which are providing invaluable information and assistance to farmers. In some countries, UAVs are being rapidly embraced, while in others this progress is much slower. For a number of reasons, the United States has not broadly adopted this technology in assisting agricultural practices. In this article, we focus on the challenges companies and farmers are facing in making use of UAVs and what might be done to push this technology into widespread …

Tourism Route Optimization For Portland, Oregon, Duane Murray, Mohammed Thawab, Adnan Binmahfood, Mohammed Zaid, Colin Owens

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

The city of Portland, Oregon has experienced an unprecedented reduction in tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This reduction in tourism has had a negative impact on all businesses in the area. This paper provides a methodology and tool that can be used to help local businesses potentially gain patrons, and at the same time help visitors in maximizing their time while minimizing costs. when visiting the city after the pandemic abates. To accomplish this, first, an itinerary of selected attractions are filtered by the visitor. Next, a linear programming method using a travelling salesman problem (TSP) algorithm is implemented …

Amazon Robotic Service (Ars), Patil Girija, John Mareena, Jin Fenny, Kandula Swapna, Ketsaraporn Kaewkhiaolueang

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Warehouse robots are the most effective replacement to minimize the pressure and availability of manual labor. The warehouse robots are mainly used for heavy lifting, picking up packages, transporting, and other tasks in the facility. The growing market of Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning in the warehouse industry is forecasted to grow in the robots market in the near future. In order to build the final product i.e technology roadmap our team did market research, analysed competitors for the company, identified target customers, analyzed market, product and pricing strategy and at the end came up with the …

Toilet Alarms: A Novel Application Of Latrine Sensors And Machine Learning For Optimizing Sanitation Services In Informal Settlements, Phillip Nicholas Turman-Bryant, Taylor Sharpe, Corey L. Nagel, Lauren Stover, Evan A. Thomas

Systems Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The cost-effectiveness and reliability of waste collection services in informal settlements can be difficult to optimize given the geospatial and temporal variability of latrine use. Daily servicing to avoid overflow events is inefficient, but dynamic scheduling of latrine servicing could reduce costs by providing just-in-time servicing for latrines. This study used cellular-connected motion sensors and machine learning to dynamically predict when daily latrine servicing could be skipped with a low risk of overflow. Sensors monitored daily latrine activity, and enumerators collected solid and liquid waste weight data. Given the complex relationship between latrine use and the need for servicing, an …

Project Management Assignment Tool Using R And Shiny, Ben Stewart, Hoseok Jung, Moses Rawar

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Linear programs such as the R markdown language play an important role in helping to find an optimized solution in various fields of society. This area extends from the optimal distribution channels of coffee shops, which are closely related to our lives, to very important areas such as the deployment of military forces. Through this paper, we will try to find ways to maximize the efficiency and performance of a company by properly allocating project managers suitable for the projects performed by each company according to their capabilities and the requirements of the projects.

Optimization Model For Project Manager Assignments, Neeti Verma, Poonam Ganoskar, Pallavi Gusain, Thanvi Vemulapally, Sai Kalyan, Bala Krishnamoorthy, Sai Kalyan Krishna Gali

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

The main objective of every project in an organization is to maximize its profit. This maximization of profit can be achieved through proper allocation of project managers to projects in an organization. But assigning a project to a project manager is still considered a difficult issue and is not yet fully addressed in the literature. However, in high-tech industries various project assignment methodologies are used to assign project managers to multiple projects and reassignment during new-product development projects. The aim of the optimization model created in this project is to develop a framework for project assignments to project managers including …

Paints-R-Us Term Project, Tyler Campbell, Skye Gilbreth, Michael Oluwole, Elijah Raffo, Brad Unruh

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

This project will consider a linear product mix optimization problem for a fictional paint company, Paints-R-Us. Paints-R-Us is a wholesale paint manufacturer located in the Pacific Northwest. The Global Production Manager, Steve Brush, has been tasked with maximizing Paints-R-Us’s profit in the upcoming quarter. Steve Brush oversees the global production plan, and in collaboration with the production planners will develop a production plan which optimizes the profits that Paints-R-Us can create in the quarter accounting for the following criteria:

• Demand in the given quarter for each of the 5 paint types that Paints-R-Us produces • The warehousing storage capacity …

Managing Healthcare Data Assets As A Complex Adaptive System, Katie Clifton

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

A major project is underway to develop a shared platform for data and analytics in a highly federated healthcare delivery organization. In the status quo data environment, analysts have integrated information from various domains — medical records, claims, membership — to produce a multitude of reports and analysis. Duplicative, mis-aligned, and siloed datasets were created as an unintended consequence.

One objective of the project is to produce outcomes (reports, analysis) that are more standardized and efficient than the status quo without sacrificing adaptability. Standards and practices are being intentionally developed as a mechanism for this emerging system to achieve more …

Iot And Digitization Will Reconnect System Engineering And Science, John Blyler

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

The fully connected world is quickly becoming a reality. Architects and developers of this new world must understand both the hardware and software basics of IoT and IIoT systems as well as the proven way to deal with the complexities of the integration of sensors, processors, wireless connectivity, edge to cloud networks, data partitioning and processing, AI, machine language, digital threads and twins, and much more. Such complexity can only be handled with a systems-of-systems (SoS) engineering approach.

But while systems engineering may hold many of the solutions to IoT challenges, systems engineering must evolve from its traditional role. Some …

Technological Cooperation Network In Biotechnology Analysis Of Patents With Brazil As The Priority Country, Cristiano Goncalves Pereira, Rodrigo Ribeiro Da Silva, Joao Ricardo Lavoie, Geciane Silveira Porto

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose – The establishment of partnerships between companies, government and universities aims to enhance innovation and the technological development of institutions. The biotechnology sector has grown in recent years mainly driven by its cooperative business model. Compared to other countries, this sector is slowly advancing in Brazil, with delays in science, technology and innovation, especially in the private sector. This paper aims to examine, through social network analysis, the collaborative networks between institutions that filed patents in biotechnology – medicinal preparations from plants – whose inventions had Brazil as the priority country. Design/methodology/approach – The study of technological cooperation using …

A Preliminary Strategic Framework For Enhancing The Sustainability Of International Technology Transfer: The Case Of Libya, Rafaa Ibrahim Khalifa, Maoloud Dabab, Husam Barham

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

International Technology Transfer (ITT) has played a crucial role not only in the industrial growth of developing countries but also in enhancing the competitiveness of their enterprises in the global market. Libya is a North African country that is currently shifting from a strictly petroleum/mineral based economy to a broad-based economy competing with distinct advantages through selecting, planning, and adopting the right technology for the domestic market. This significant transition requires strategic access to global technology transfer. In this paper, a preliminary strategic framework is designed to enhance the sustainability of the ITT process from international donators to the Country …

Teen Driver System Modeling: A Tool For Policy Analysis, Celestin Missikpode, Corrine Peek-Asa, Daniel V. Mcgehee, James Torner, Wayne Wakeland, Robert Wallace

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of teen deaths in spite of preventive efforts. Prevention strategies could be advanced through new analytic approaches that allow us to better conceptualize the complex processes underlying teen crash risk. This may help policymakers design appropriate interventions and evaluate their impacts.

Methods: System Dynamics methodology was used as a new way of representing factors involved in the underlying process of teen crash risk. Systems dynamics modeling is relatively new to public health analytics and is a promising tool to examine relative influence of multiple interacting factors in predicting a health …

Exploring Adoption Of Augmented Reality Smart Glasses: Applications In The Medical Industry, Nuri A. Basoglu, Muge Goken, Marina Dabic, Dilek Ozdemir Gungor, Tugrul U. Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study explores the use of augmented reality smart glasses (ARSGs) by physicians and their adoption of these products in the Turkish medical industry. Google Glass was used as a demonstrative example for the introduction of ARSGs. We proposed an exploratory model based on the technology acceptance model by Davis. Exogenous factors in the model were defined by performing semi-structured in-depth interviews, along with the use of an expert panel in addition to the technology adoption literature. The framework was tested by means of a field study, data was collected via an Internet survey, and path analysis was used. The …

Minimizing Commute Distance For Small Groups: A Linear Programming Approach, Kevin Payne, Kritika Kumari, Levi Huddleston, Rabi Hassan

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

This paper aims to minimize total drive time between members and their respective group leader. Given a limit on group size and days available, how can a formulation of a group occur such that the sum of the total drive time is minimized. To accomplish this task a Linear Program (LP) is implemented that includes three sets of binary decisions variables summing to 4100 variables and a variety of constraints summing between 4200 and 4341 depending on the constraints enforced. For 200 members and 15 leaders the minimized average commuting time was found to be between 4.99 and 5.36 minutes …