Zhiyuan Wei, Ph.D.

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Office: 192-231

Welcome to the Social Optimization and Data Analytics Lab!

I am an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. I completed my PhD in Industrial Engineering (Operations Research) at the University at Buffalo in May 2024.

My research focuses on advancing data-driven decision making to address societal challenges and inform public policy, by integrating data analytics, optimization, and computational modeling. My work aims to enhance efficiency, resilience, sustainability, and equity of public systems and services. These data-driven analytical frameworks are applied to domains such as urban planning, healthcare service design, emergency response, and disaster management.

My research has been recognized by several best paper awards from the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE).

Education

Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (Operations Research), University at Buffalo, May 2024
M.S. in Industrial Engineering (Operations Research), University at Buffalo, June 2019
M.A. in Economics, University of International Business and Economics, June 2016
B.S. in Computer Science, Ludong University, June 2014

Opportunities

To Cal Poly students: I am actively looking for undergraduate and graduate students to work with. Several active projects are available related to big data analytics and optimization modeling in the areas of emergency management and urban service operation. If you're passionate about data-driven decision making and want to gain hands-on research experience, feel free to reach out to me by email!

Publications

Journals (students mentored; *: corresponding author)

Wei, Z.*, and Zhuang, J. (2026). "Optimizing defensive resource allocation in layered systems under the coexistence of strategic and non-strategic risks''. IISE Transactions. https://doi.org/10.1080/24725854.2025.2518207
Wei, Z., and Mukherjee, S. (2024) "An integrated approach to analyze equitable access to food stores under disasters from human mobility patterns'', Risk Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.16873
Leitch, S., and Wei, Z.* (2024). "Improving spatial access to healthcare facilities: an integrated approach with spatial analysis and optimization modeling". Annals of Operations Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-024-06028-y.
Wei, Z., and Zhuang, J. (2024). "Modeling defensive resource allocation in multi-layered systems under probabilistic and strategic risks". Risk Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.15070.
Wei, Z., and Mukherjee, S. (2024). "Analyzing and Forecasting Service Demands Using Human Mobility Data: A Two-stage Predictive Framework with Decomposition and Multivariate Analysis''. Expert Systems With Applications. 238, 121698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2023.121698.
Wei, Z., and Mukherjee, S. (2023). "Examining Income Segregation within Activity Spaces Under Natural Disaster Using Dynamic Mobility Network''. Sustainable Cities and Society, 91, 104408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104408.
Wei, Z., and Zhuang, J. (2023). "On the Adoption of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions during the Pandemic: An Evolutionary Game Model". Risk Analysis. 43(11), 2298-2311. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.14093.
Wei, Z., Narin, A. B., and Mukherjee, S. (2022). ''Multidimensional Population Health Modeling: A Data-driven Multivariate Statistical Learning Approach''. IEEE Access, 10, 22737-22755. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2022.3153482.
Mukherjee, S., Rintamaki, L., Shucard, J. L., Wei, Z., Carlasare, L. E., and Sinsky, C. A. (2022). "A Statistical Learning Approach to Evaluate Factors Associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Physicians: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic'', IEEE Access, 10, 114434-114454. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2022.3217770.
Mukherjee, S., and Wei, Z. (2021). "Suicide disparities across metropolitan areas in the US: A comparative assessment of socio-environmental factors using a data-driven predictive approach". PLOS ONE, 16(11), e0258824. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258824.
Wei, Z., and Mukherjee, S. (2021). "Health-behaviors associated with the growing risk of adolescent suicide attempts: A data-driven cross-sectional study". American journal of health promotion, 35(5), 688-693. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117120977378.
Ni, Y., Shi, Q., and Wei, Z. (2017). "Optimizing influence diffusion in a social network with fuzzy costs for targeting nodes", Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 8(5), 819-826. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-017-0552-y.

Conferences (students mentored)

Wei, Z., Mukherjee, S., and Chen, J. (2023). "Forecasting spatiotemporal variations in emergency shelter demand leveraging human mobility data: A data-centric multivariate framework'', 2023 IISE Conference Proceedings.
- Selected as the Runner-up Best Student Paper and the Runner-up Best Track Paper by the Work Systems Division of IISE.
Wei, Z., and Mukherjee, S. (2022). "Mapping human mobility variation and identifying critical services during a disaster using dynamic mobility network'', 2022 IISE Conference Proceedings.
- Selected as the Best Student Paper Finalist by the Data Analytics & Information Systems (DAIS) Track of IISE.
Wei, Z., and Zhuang, J. (2022). "Mask or no mask during the COVID-19 pandemic: A game-theoretic approach'', 2022 IISE Conference Proceedings.

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