Zheng Zhang (张政) , Ph.D.

Research Fellow

Dept. of Industrial and Operations Engineering

University of Michigan

2761 IOE Building, 1205 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

zhazheng@umich.edu google scholar

https://ioe.engin.umich.edu/

I am currently a research fellow working with Prof. Brian Denton at The University of Michigan. My primary research interests lie at the intersection of operations research and healthcare. I am particularly interested in stochastic programming, dynamic programming, and data-driven optimization. The overarching goal of my research agenda is to develop the computational methods needed to help organize healthcare operations and improve precision medicine.

I am also greatly honored to work with Prof. Xiaolan Xie on health care scheduling during my Ph.D studies. To find out more about my research interests, please go to the "Research" section below.

I will join the Operations Management group at the School of Management, Zhejiang University as a ZJU 100-Young professor (tenure-tracking assistant professor) starting from fall 2019.

EDUCATION

    • Ph.D., March 2017, Department of Industrial Engineering and Managment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
        • Thesis: “Surgery Scheduling Optimization with Consideration of Time Utilization of the Surgical Team”
        • Advisor: Prof. Xiaolan Xie
    • Visiting Ph.D. Student, 2014.8 - 2016.8, Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
        • I participated several projects on surgery scheduling, appointment scheduling, and nurse staffing
        • Advisor: Prof. Brian Denton
    • B.Eng., July 2010, Department of Industrial Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China

HONORS & AWARDS

    • INFORMS Service Science Best Student Paper Finalist Award, INFORMS (2016)
    • National Scholarship, Ministry of Education of China (2015)
    • CSC Scholarship for Overseas Study, Chinese Scholarship Council (2014 - 2016)
    • Desay SV Scholarship, SJTU (2013)
    • Excellent Ph.D. Freshman Scholarship, SJTU (2013)
    • Showa Denko Scholarship, First Place, SJTU (2012)
    • Merit Student Award, SJTU (2012)
    • Travel Grants, SJTU (2012, 2013, 2016)

RESEARCH

    • Theory: stochastic programming, dynamic programming, data-driven robust optimization
    • Application: healthcare operations, medical decision-making
  • Published/accepted papers
    1. Zhang Z., B.T. Denton and X. Xie, "Branch and Price for Chance Constrained Bin Packing," Accepted for publication in INFORMS Journal on Computing, 2019.
    2. Zhang Z., B. Berg, B.T. Denton and X. Xie, "Appointment Scheduling Problem When the Server Responds to Congestion," Accepted for publication in IISE Transactions, 2019 [Online version].
      • INFORMS Service Science Best Student Paper Finalist Award
    3. Geng N., X. Xie and Z. Zhang, "Addressing Healthcare Operational Deficiencies Using Stochastic and Dynamic Programming", International Journal of Production Research, 2017, Preprint. [Link]
    4. Zhang Z. and X. Xie, "Simulation-based Optimization for Surgery Appointment Scheduling of Multiple Operating Rooms", IIE Transactions, 2015, 47(9), pp. 998-1012. [Link]
    5. Zhang Z., X. Xie and N. Geng. "Dynamic Surgery Assignment of Multiple Operating Rooms with Planned Surgeon Arrival Times", IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 2014, 11(3), pp. 680-691. [Link]
    6. Zhang Z., X. Xie and N. Geng. "Multi-objective Operating Room Allocation", Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Science), 2012, 46(12), pp. 1983-1988, In Chinese.
      • Third Place, Best Paper Award of Tsinghua IE Postgraduate Forum 2011
  • Submitted/finished papers
    1. Zhang Z., P. Modi, V. Shahinian and B.T. Denton, Active Surveillance vs. Immediate Treatment: Which Has Greater Financial Incentive for Urologists? Under review, 2018.
    2. Bam M., Z. Zhang, B. Denton, M. Van Oyen and M. Duck, "Planning Models for Skills-Sensitive Surgical Nurse Staffing", Under review, 2018.
    3. Zhang Z. and B. Denton "Improving Active Surveillance Strategies of Prostate Cancer Using Stochastic Programming", Finished [paper available upon request].
  • Selected on-going work
    1. Data-driven Optimization of Single-Stage Diagnostic Testing Protocols, with B. Denton and R. Jiang
    2. Mixed-integer Optimization via Simulation with Application to Appointment and Sequencing Scheduling, with X. Xie
    3. An Approximation POMDP Approach for Optimizing Active Surveillance Strategies of Prostate Cancer, with W. Yang and B. Denton
  • Conference proceedings
    1. Zhang Z., X. Xie and N. Geng. Simulation-based Surgery Appointment Sequencing and Scheduling of Multiple Operating Rooms, Proceedings of 10th IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, August 18-22, 2014, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 399-404.
    2. Zhang Z., X. Xie and N. Geng. Promise Surgery Start Times and Implementation Strategies, Proceedings of 8th IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, August 20-24, 2012, Seoul, Korea, pp. 184-190.

PRESENTATION

  • Invited talk
    1. “Optimization of the Active Surveillance of the Latent Prostate Cancer”, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2017 [Link].
    2. "A Stochastic Programming Approach for Optimization of Latent Disease Detection", Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France, 2017.
  • Conference presentation
    1. Improving Active Surveillance Strategies of Prostate Cancer Using Stochastic Programming
      • INFORMS Computing Society Conference 2019, Knoxville, Tennessee.
      • INFORMS Annual Meeting 2018, Phoenix, Arizona.
      • International Symposium on Mathematical Programming 2018, Bordeaux, France.
      • INFORMS Annual Meeting 2017, Houston, Texas.
    2. Appointment Scheduling and the Effects of Customer Congestion on Service
      • INFORMS Annual Meeting 2016, Nashville, Tennessee.
      • INFORMS Annual Meeting 2015, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    3. Chance Constrained Operating Room Scheduling
      • INFORMS Annual Meeting 2015, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
      • International Symposium on Mathematical Programming 2015, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
      • INFORMS Annual Meeting 2014 [Poster], San Francisco, California.
    4. Surgery Appointment Scheduling of Multiple Operating Rooms
      • Tsinghua IE Postgraduate Forum 2013, Xibaipo, China.
      • European Working Group on Operational Research Applied to Health Services Annual Meeting 2013, Istanbul, Turkey.
    5. Dynamic Assignment of Surgeries to Multiple Operating Rooms with Planned Surgeon Arrival Times
      • IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering Annual Meeting 2012, Seoul, Korea.
      • INFORMS International Meeting 2012, Beijing, China.
    6. Multi-objective Operating Room Allocation
      • Tsinghua IE Postgraduate Forum 2011, Beijing, China.

TEACHING & MENTORING

  • Student mentoring
    • 3 master students and 4 senior undergrads at UM (2017-2018)
    • 3 senior undergrads at SJTU (2013)
  • IOE 543 - Scheduling, University of Michigan Graduate Course, Winter 2016
    • Role: Guest Lecture
    • Responsibility: Giving a 90-minute lecture on "Introduction to Deterministic and Stochastic Scheduling"
  • IOE 512 - Dynamic Programming, University of Michigan Graduate Course, Fall 2017
    • Role: Guest Lecture
    • Responsibility: Giving a 90-minute lecture on "Introduction to Partially Observable Markovian Decision Process"
  • Certificated for Completion of the Winter 2018 Postdoctoral Short Course on College Teaching in Science and Engineering [Link]