Sigurdur Olafsson

Associate Professor

Office: 3018 Black
Email: olafssoniastate.edu

Tel:  515.294.8908
Fax: 515.294.3524

Research Description

The primary focus of Siggi Olafsson’s research is discrete optimization. On the methodological side, much of his work has focused on developing a new metaheuristic optimization approach called the nested partitions method for solving large-scale combinatorial optimization problems. He is also interested in numerous application areas where discrete optimization is useful, including simulation-based optimization, planning and scheduling, and most recently data mining. He is particularly interested in an emerging area of research that combines operations research and data mining.

Recent Publications

S. Olafsson, X. Li and S. Wu (2006). “Operations Research and Data Mining,” European Journal on Operational Research, in print (invited survey).
S. Olafsson (2006).  “Metaheuristics,” in Nelson and Henderson (eds.). Handbook on Simulation, Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science VII, Elsevier, in print (invited survey).
S. Vuthipadadon and S. Olafsson (2006). “An Integer Programming Approach for Scheduling Inbound Calls in Call Centers,” International Journal on Operational Research, in print.
S. Olafsson (2006). “Introduction to Operations Research and Data Mining,” Computers and Operations Research, 33(11), 3067-3069 (editorial).
J-Y Lee and S. Ólafsson (2006).  “Multiattribute Decision Trees and Decision Rules,” in Triantaphyllou and Felici (eds.) Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Approaches Based on Rule Induction Techniques, in print.
J. Yang and S. Olafsson (2006). “Optimization-Based Feature Selection with Adaptive Instance Sampling,” Computers and Operations Research, 33(11), 3088-3106.
X. Li and S. Olafsson (2005).  “Discovering Dispatching Rules using Data Mining,” Journal of Scheduling, 8(6), 515-527.
J. Won and S. Olafsson (2005).  “Joint Order Batching and Order Picking in Warehouse Operations,” International Journal of Production Research, 43, 1427-1442.
S. Olafsson and J. Yang (2005).  “Intelligent Partitioning for Feature Selection,” INFORMS Journal on Computing, 17(3), 339-355. 
S. Ryan, J. Jackman, F. Peters, S. Olafsson, M. Huba. (2004). “The Engineering Learning Portal for Problem Solving:  Experience in a Large Engineering Economy Class,” The Engineering Economist, 49, 1-20. 
S. Olafsson (2004). “Two-Stage Nested Partitions Method for Stochastic Optimization,” Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, 6, 5-27.