Home > News > News > Content

News

Shuaian (Hans) Wang: Prescriptive analytics for transport system management: state-of-the-art development

Publish Date: 2020/11/25 09:01:03    Hits:

On 24 November 2020, Professor Shuaian (Hans) Wang gave a lecture on the topic of “Prescriptive analytics for transport system management: state-of-the-art development” via a video conference. Professor Tian-Liang Liu held the conference andabout 50 teachers and students of the SEM participated in the video conference and discussed the study with the speaker.

Professor Wang explained in detail how to solve traffic optimization problems with machine learning. If the objective function is nonlinear in the unknown parameter, then even if we have infinitely many data and can thus know the mean value (which is the best estimate in a machine learning model that minimizes the sum of squared errors) of the unknown parameter, feeding the mean value into the optimization model is likely to produce sub-optimal solutions. In reality, we have limited data, and hence the deficiency of predict-then-optimize paradigm may be even more significant. Bertsimas and Kallus (2020) proposed a better predict-then-optimize paradigm that to a large extent addresses the nonlinearity. On the other hand, due to finite data, the traffic prediction has errors, which adversely affects the decision obtained in the optimization model. To overcome these shortcomings, some researchers put forward SPO, i.e., Smart “predict, then optimize” and Semi-SPO.

ProfessorWang’s logical and simple explanation bringsaudiences new research enlightenment. The teachers and students had an in-depth discussion and exchange with ProfessorWang on the research topic.

Dr. Shuaian (Hans) WANG is currently an Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Prior to joining PolyU, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Maritime and Supply Chain Management at Old Dominion University, USA, and a Lecturer of Operations Research at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Dr. Wang’s research interests include shipping network design, urban transport network modeling, sustainable transportation, and supply chain management. Dr. Wang has published 30 papers in Transportation Research Part B and Transportation Science. Dr. Wang is an associate editor of Transportation Research Part E, Transportmetrica A, and Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, an editorial board member of Transportation Research Part B, Transportation Letters, and Transportation Research Record. Dr. Wang dedicates to rethinking and proposing innovative solutions to improve the efficiency of maritime and urban transportation systems, to promote environmental friendly and sustainable practices, and to transform business and engineering education.