Sheldon
Howard Jacobson, Ph.D.
University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Career Summary
Sheldon H. Jacobson is a Founder
Professor of Computer Science, Director of the Simulation and Optimization
Laboratory, and Founding Director of the Bed Time
Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds appointments in Industrial and
Enterprise Systems Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Mathematics, Statistics, and the College of Medicine. He has a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mathematics from
McGill University and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell
University. He has served on the
faculties at Case Western Reserve University (Weatherhead
School of Management, 1988-1993), Virginia Tech (Industrial & Systems
Engineering, 1993-1999), and the University of Illinois (1999-present).
He has published 209
peer-reviewed articles, 12 book chapters, 50 conference proceedings, over 490
professional and editorial publications, and delivered over 520 presentation,
seminars and posters at conferences, universities, and research laboratories
around the world. He has directed 28
Ph.D. dissertations and been awarded over $5M of research support from the National Science Foundation
and the Air
Force Office of Scientific Research.
As Director of the Bed Time
Research Institute, he spearheaded the creation of two research
videos (“A Healthy Collaboration: Pediatric Immunization and
Operations Research”, “Aviation
Security: Researching the Risk.”) and launched four websites, all
designed to communicate the value of basic research through Broader Impact
activities, and promulgate STEM activities for enhancing and growing a
technically literate citizenry. (http://bracketodds.cs.illinois.edu,
http://electionanalytics.cs.illinois.edu,
http://drivingobesity.cs.illinois.edu,
http://redistricting.cs.illinois.edu).
He has made several seminal research contributions, all focusing on
applying operations research and optimization-based artificial intelligence to
address societal problems of national interest.
He launched the research field, aviation security analytics,
demonstrating how probabilistic models, optimization, and artificial
intelligence can be used to improve the performance of aviation security
systems. His research on multi-level
aviation security passenger screening at airports was the precursor to risk-based
security, providing the foundational concepts that informed the design and
implementation of TSA Precheck© (see the presentation he
delivered on 3 October 2003 to the TSA outlining the benefits and foundations
for differential passenger screening; see also the video). His contributions have been recognized with
numerous awards, including a 2003 Guggenheim
Fellowship and the 2018 INFORMS Impact Prize, given biennially
to recognize widespread impact of operations research. His research on the design of pediatric
vaccine formularies introduced the use of operations research in the pediatric
immunization domain. His research on
bridging obesity, transportation, and fuel consumption established the impact
of transportation on obesity, providing the foundation for non-medical obesity
interventions based on modes of transportation. His research on computational redistricting
demonstrates how optimization-based AI can be used to combat gerrymandering by
creating a transparent environment for designing and evaluating district maps.
His research has been widely
reported and communicated in the national press, including the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los
Angeles Times, editorialized in the New
York Times, and discussed in Business
Week, Forbes, and Kiplinger. He has appeared on The Street Signs (CNBC), The
Closing Bell (CNBC), Weekends with
Alex Witt (MSNBC), CNN Business, Washington
Post Radio, CBS This Morning, ABC
Good Morning America, Marketplace
Tech (NPR), CBC Canada News
(television and radio), and BBC World News (television and
radio). His views have been published as
opinion essays and letters in the Washington
Post, New York Daily News, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis Star,
Quartz, CNN Opinion, Inside Higher Ed, Wall
Street Journal, The Hill, and many others.
He has been recognized with
numerous awards, including a Guggenheim
Fellowship (2003), the INFORMS George
E. Kimball Medal (2020), the INFORMS Saul Gass Expository Writing Award
(2020), the INFORMS Impact Prize
(2018), the INFORMS President’s Award
(2023), the IISE David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award (2017), IISE Award for Technical Innovation in
Industrial Engineering (2010, 2013), the Aviation Security Research Award (Aviation Security International)
(2002), the Clayton J. Thomas Award from the Military Operations
Research Society (2023), the J. Steinhardt Prize from the INFORMS
Military and Security Society (2024), the IIE
Outstanding Publication Award (2009), the Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Operations Research (IISE
Operations Research Division) (2011), and runner-up for the Christopher Columbus Homeland Security Award
(Transportation and Border Security) (2010).
He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2020), the Institute for Operations
Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS, 2013) and the Institute
of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE, 2011). His research has also been recognized with
several best paper and poster awards, including the 2019 INFORMS Best
Service Science paper for his research on computational redistricting.
His leadership and expertise have been used by both government and
professional societies. He briefed
personnel within the Office of Science
and Technology Policy (in the executive Office of President George W. Bush)
(August 2002, Washington, DC) on issues related to aviation security and
assessing the cost and benefit of checked baggage screening strategies. He briefed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) on a web-site he co-developed for designing optimal pediatric
vaccine formularies (October 2001, Atlanta, Georgia.) He served on committees for the National
Academies, including the National Research Council Committee on Airport Passenger
Screening: Backscatter X-Ray Machines (2013-2015), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Standing Committee
for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Strategic
National Stockpile (2015-2017), and
A Workshop on Medical-Product Shortages: Effects on Patient Health and
Opportunities to Predict, Prevent, and Respond to Them (2018). He led the NSF-Funded workshop (May 2016,
Arlington, VA), Setting a Broader Impacts
Innovation Roadmap, in creating new pathways for enhancing Broader Impacts
in the Engineering Directorate at the NSF. He served as the (elected) Treasurer
for the Institute for Operations
Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
(2015-2016) and as a Program Director in the Division of Civil,
Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation at the National Science Foundation
(2012-2014). He was an invited panelist
at the 2019 INFORMS Government and
Analytics Summit.