The Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering’s (ISyE) undergraduate program has been ranked the #1 program of its kind in the nation since 1991 according to the U.S. News & World Reports. While many of our students seek out our program because of our top rankings, they are equally attracted to the number of concentrations and academic interests offered. Yet one of the most alluring qualities of this program is the flexibility of career options that our Bachelor of Science (BSIE) degree allows.
Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering
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At ISyE, we work on ways to improve a variety of complex systems by formulating and analyzing abstract models in search of making systems more efficient and optimizing performance. We address how people and the decisions they make contribute to the complexity of systems and how people benefit when those systems are analyzed. We immerse ourselves in the depth and breadth of decision-based technical problem solving by focusing on the disciplines of industrial engineering, operations research, and systems engineering. So, what does that all mean?
Problems Industrial Engineer's Solve
Scheduling
Suppose that a citizens group is planning an Earth Day program consisting of a series of seminars dealing with topics such as recycling, alternative energy sources, and solid waste management. A local university has agreed to allow the use of their classrooms to conduct a total of 14 seminars that can begin at 8:00a.m, but must conclude by 5:00p.m. No seminars are scheduled to run during the lunch hour (12:00- 1:00p.m.), leaving eight one-hour time blocks available. The seminar coordinators have requested specific blocks of time during the day for each of their sessions. These are shown below:
Seminar | Periods | Time |
---|---|---|
A | 2 | 9:00am - 10:00am |
B | 8 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm |
C | 4,5 | 11:00am - 2:00pm |
D | 1,2 | 8:00am - 10:00am |
E | 3,4,5 | 10:00am - 2:00pm |
F | 6 | 2:00pm - 3:00pm |
G | 7,8 | 3:00pm - 5:00pm |
H | 2,3 | 9:00am - 11:00am |
U | 1,2 | 8:00am - 10:00am |
J | 5 | 1:00pm - 2:00pm |
K | 6,7 | 2:00pm - 4:00pm |
L | 3,4 | 10:00am - 12:00am |
M | 8 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm |
N | 2,3,4 | 9:00am - 12:00am |
For example, seminar A has been requested to run during period 2 (i.e. from 9-10:00 a.m) whereas seminar K needs to run for two consecutive periods (from 2:00-4:00p.m., etc.
Now the problem. The university would like to have as few rooms as possible used and they have given you five rooms thus far. Is this enough to schedule all of the seminars in their desired periods? What if only four rooms are allocated?