Sheldon Howard Jacobson, Ph.D.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dissertation, Theses, and Projects Directed

Ph.D. Dissertations Directed (28 Students Graduated, 3 In Progress)

• M.A. Fleischer, "Assessing the Performance of the Simulated Annealing Algorithm Using Information Theory," January 1994, Patent Investigator, United State Patent, Office, Washington, DC.
• A.W. Johnson, "Generalized Hill Climbing Algorithms for Discrete Optimization Problems," October 1996, Associate Professor of Logistics Management, Department of Operational Sciences, Air Force Institute of Technology, Dayton, Ohio (1997 INFORMS George E. Nicholson Student Paper Competition, Honorable Mention).
• K.A. Sullivan, "A Convergence Analysis of Generalized Hill Climbing Algorithms," May 1999, Independent Consultant, Chicago, Illinois (1996 INFORMS College on Simulation Women and Minority Award; 1996 AFOSR Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship Award).
• D.E. Vaughan, “Simultaneous Generalized Hill Climbing Algorithms for Addressing Sets of Discrete Optimization Problems,” August 2000, Research Scientist, Los Alamos Research Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (2001 Paul E. Torgersen Graduate Student Research Excellence Award (Second Place), 2001 AAUW Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship (Runner-up), 2002 IIE Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award Competition (Third Place)).
• D. Henderson, “Assessing the Finite-Time Performance of Local Search Algorithms,” April 2001, Independent Consultant, Lexington, KY.
• T. Aytemiz, “A Probabilistic Study of 3-SATISFIABILITY,” July  2001, Professor, School of Business and Political Science, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey.
• D.E. Armstrong, “A Local Search Algorithm Approach to Analyzing the Complexity of Discrete Optimization Problems,” May 2002, Research Scientist, Los Alamos Research Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico.
• L.A. McLay, “Designing Aviation Security Systems: Theory and Practice,” May 2006, Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (2002-2003 Ph.D. Thesis Initiation Fellowship, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS); 2003-2004 M&IE Alumni Teaching Fellow; 2005 M&IE Harper Safety Award; 2006 INFORMS Computing Society Student Paper Competition (Runner-Up)).
• H. Kaul, “Topics in Stochastic Combinatorial Optimization and Extremal Graph Theory,” August 2006 (co-advised with D. West), Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
• S.N. Hall, “The Design and Analysis of Pediatric Vaccine Formularies: Theory and Practice” August 2006, Analysts, The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia (2006 M&IE Harper Safety Award).

• A.G. Nikolaev, “Stochastic Sequential Resource Allocation and Passenger Assignment in Aviation Security Systems” August 2008, Assistant Professor, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.
• R.A. Proano, “Strengthening the Sustainability of Pediatric Vaccine Supply by using Operations Research Methods” August 2008, Assistant Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York.
• G.K. Kao, “Two Combinatorial Optimization Problems at the Interface of Computer Science and Operations Research” August 2008, Staff Researcher, Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• A.J. Lee, “Optimality, Uncertainty, and Performance of Passenger Screening in Aviation Security Systems” May 2009, Director, CITERI, Springfield, IL (2008-2009 Federal Aviation Administration / U.S. Department of Transportation Graduate Research Award Program on Public-Sector Aviation Issues; 2009 INFORMS Transportation Science & Logistics Dissertation Prize (Honorable Mention)).
• M.J. Robbins, “Exploring Pediatric Immunization Markets Using Operations Research and Game Theory,” June 2010, Assistant Professor, Department of Operational Sciences, Air Force Institute of Technology, Dayton, Ohio (2011 IIE Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award Competition (First Place)).
• D.M. King, “Graph Theory Models and Algorithms for Political Districting: An Approach to Informs Public Policy, “ May 2012, Visiting Lecturer, Department of IESE, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL (2009 College of Engineering Mavis Memorial Fund Scholarship, Univ. of Illinois, 2010 College of Engineering Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship, Univ. of Illinois, 2012 Finalist, Best Paper Award, INFORMS Section on Public Policy, Services and Needs, 2012 Semi-Finalist, Advances in Analytics Award, INFORMS Analytics Society, 2013 IIE Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award Competition, Second Place.)
• G. Baharian. “Limiting Behavior of the Target-Dependent Stochastic Sequential Assignment Problem”, August 2014, Post-Doc, University of Montreal.
• B. Behzad, “Analysis of the United States Pediatric Immunization Market: A Game Theoretic Approach,” May 2014, Assistant Professor, California State University Long Beach (2013 Gilbreth Memorial Fellowship by the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE)).
• D.J. Morrison, “New Methods for Branch-and-Bound Algorithms,” May 2014, Independent Consultant, Sacramento, CA
• J.J. Sauppe, “Balance Optimization Subset Selection: A Framework for Causal Inference with Observational Data,” August 2015, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse.
• A. Khatibi, “Generalized Sequential Stochastic Assignment Problems,” August 2017 (2018 IIE Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award Competition, Second Place), Financial Analysts, Barclay Bank, New York, NY.
• G. Yu, “Dynamic Online Resource Allocation Problems,” May 2018, Amazon, Boston, MA.
• H.-Y., Kwon, “New Developments in Causal Inference Using Balance Optimization Subset Selection”, May 2018 (2017 College of Engineering Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship).
• W. Zhang, “Cyclic Best First Search in Branch-and-Bound Algorithms,” June 2020.
• J. Pavlik, “Two Graph Problems: Bidirectional Heuristic Search and the Airplane Seating Assignment Problems,” July 2021.
• I.G. Ludden, “Graph Partitioning: Redistricting Games and the Spherical Zoning Problem,” August 2023.
• R. Swamy, “Optimization Approaches for Political Districting and Graph Partitioning,” August 2023.
• K. Dobbs, “Optimization Methods for Political Redistricting,” August 2023.

M.S. Theses / Projects Directed (12 Students Graduated)

• A.E. Simms, "A Stochastic Approach to Modeling Aviation Security Problems Using the Knapsack Problem," June 1997 (co-advised with J.E. Kobza) (1998 Institute of Industrial Engineers Graduate Research (Master's Thesis) Award Competition, First Place).
• J.R. Swisher, "Evaluation of the Design of a Family Practice Healthcare Clinic using Discrete-Event Simulation," May 1999.
• J.B. Jun, "A Visual Simulation Life-cycle of the Queston Physician Network," May 1999.
• J.E. Orosz, "Finite-Time Performance Results for Static and Cyclical Simulated Annealing Algorithms," May 2001.
• J.M. Bowman, "Evaluating and Analyzing the Performance of Aviation Baggage Screening Security Systems," August 2001.
• J.L. Virta, "Three Essays on the Modeling and Analysis of Aviation Baggage Screening Security Systems," August, 2001.
• V. Venkat, “Post-optimality Analysis for Multi-objective Optimization Problems,” October 2002 (co-advised with J.A. Stori).
• T. Karnani, "Engineering the Design and Analyzing the Economics of Pediatric Vaccine Formularies," May 2003 (2004 Institute of Industrial Engineers Graduate Research (Master's Thesis) Award Competition, Second Place).
• I. Shyryayev, “A Sensitivity Analysis of Matching Coin Game Strategies,” December 2004.
• S. Dutta, “Applications of Balance Optimization Subset Selection,” August 2016.
• Z. She, “Essays on the Relationship Between Public Transit usage and Obesity,” December 2017 (co-advised with D.M. King).

· K. Li, “Modeling and analyzing the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament,” December 2017.

· M. Kelley, “Variations of Online Bipartite Matching,” May 2021.

Last Updated: 1 September 2024