MOCA LAB

Mathematical Optimization modeling, Computation, and Analytics (MOCA) Lab

Dr. Chou leads the MOCA research group of latented graduate and undergraduate students with diverse backgrounds in industrial engineering, applied mathematics, physics, psychology, bioinformatics, to solve real-life problems in, but not limited to, healthcare and data science areas.  

For prospective  members: 

• • We always look forward to working with highly-motivated PhD and MS students with strong interests and backgrounds in operations research (mathematical optimization) and data analytics to join us. Having programming experiences such as Python, R, or MATLAB is a must for you to enjoy data-driven research. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Chou with your CV and research experiences (e.g., past projects or  journal publications) for further discussions. 

  • Visiting scholars are welcomed to join us for research collaborations in Boston! 

Current Members

PhD Alumni

• • Yilin Yin, PhD at Northeastern (2022)

    • First position: Post-Doctorate Research Fellow in the Changping Laboratory at National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing

  • Ruilin Ouyang, PhD at Northeastern University (2021)

    • Internship: Philips Research (summer 2019) and Amazon (summer 2020)

    • First position: Research Scientist at Amazon

  • Shaodi Qian, PhD at Northeastern University (2021) 

    • Internship: Tencent (summer 2020)

    • First position: Quantitative Researcher at Kafang Technology in Shanghai

  • Miaolin Fan, PhD at Northeastern University (2019)

    • Internship: Biogen (summer 2018)

    • First position: Post-Doctorate Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

  • Sina Khanmohammadi, PhD at Binghamton University (2016)

    • First position: Post-Doctorate Associate at Washington University, St. Louis

    • Current position: Assistant Professor at University of Oklahoma

  • Anas Hourani, PhD at Binghamton University (2015)

    • Current position: Assistant Professor at Fort Hays State University

  • Wen Cao, PhD at Binghamton University (2014) (co-advised with Mohammad T. Khasawneh)

    • Current position: Director, Performance Improvement at TidalHealth

  • Ahmad Y. Obeidat, PhD at Binghamton University (2014) (co-advised with Mohammad T. Khasawneh)

    • Current position: Assistant Director, Quality Analytics at Hospital for Special Surgery

MS Alumni (thesis, master project and research assistant)

• • Tushar Sharma, MS-DAE Research Assistant at Northeastern University (2021)

    • Current position: AWS Data Scientist

  • Jung-En Tsai, MS-DAE with master project at Northeastern University (2022)

    • Topic: Predictive Analytics for Unplanned Transfer in Critical Care

  • Xiaofan Wang, MS-DAE with thesis at Northeastern University (2021)

  • Jing Liu, MS-OR Research Assistant Northeastern University (2020)

    • First position: PhD student at  John Hopkins University 

  • Yuchun Zhou, MS-DAE with thesis at Northeastern University (2020)

    • First position: PhD student at  CUNY Graduate Center 

  • Congwen He, MS-DAE with master project at Northeastern University (2020)

  • Yue Bai, MS-DAE with thesis at Northeastern University (2019)

    • First position: PhD student at  Northeastern

  • Zhiwei Yu, MS-DAE with thesis at Northeastern University (2018)

    • First position: PhD student at RIT

  • Yukun Chen, MS-DAE Research Assistant at Northeastern University (2017) 

    • First position: Amazon Web Services

  • Mai Abdulla, MS with thesis at Binghamton University (2016)

  • Andrew Verardo, MS with thesis at Binghamton University (2016)

  • Clint Chiodo, MS with thesis at Binghamton University (2016)

  • Current position: Enterprise Improvement Advisor, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia 

  • Lu He, MS with thesis at Binghamton University (2015)

    • First position: PhD student at  Binghamton University 

  • Runpei Xu, MS Research Assistant at Binghamton University (2015)

  • Yinan Yang, MS Research Assistant at Binghamton University (2014)

  • Karmel S. Shehadeh, MS with thesis at Binghamton University (2014)

    • First position: PhD student at  University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

    • Current position: Assistant Professor at Lehigh University

Undergraduate Alumni

• • Matt Ferreira, Undergraduate Student (Summer, 2017) at Northeastern University

    • NSF REU-D3 (Data-Driven Discovery) Summer Research Program 

    • Topic: Machine Learning and Network Analysis of Alzheimer's Disease

  • Courage Tsiagbe, BME undergraduate student (Summer, 2015) at Binghamton University

    • LSAMP Summer Research Program

    • First placement: Master student at University of Rochester