Curriculum Vitae - Rajesh Ganesan
4400 University Drive, Phone: 703-993-1693
ENGR Room 2217, MSN 4A6 Fax: 703-993-1521
Fairfax VA, 22030
http://sunrise.ite.gmu.edu http://mason.gmu.edu/~rganesan
Academic Degrees
· Ph.D. Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, University of South Florida, 2005
· M.A. Mathematics, University of South Florida, 2005
· M.S. Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, University of South Florida, 2002
· B.S. Mechanical Engineering (Honors), National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India, 1996
Academic Position______
· 2011 – Present, Associate Professor without term (Tenured), Department of Systems Engineering & Operations Research, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
· 2005 – 2011, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) , Department of Systems Engineering & Operations Research, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
Summary of my current activities in different areas with the most important highlights
CURRENT RESEARCH
A) Research in Complex Adaptive Systems
1) BigData Analytics: Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics
a. Modeling and computational research in health care: (NIH funded 2010-13, co-PI) Combining Geographical Information Systems and Simulation-based-Optimization for Organ Allocation (Liver Transplants in particular). BigData from UNOS.
b. Modeling and computational research in transportation: Dynamic Airspace Configuration and Airport Taxi-time reduction and Departure Optimization. BigData from FAA and BTS.
2) Stochastic Optimization using Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP)
a. Capital Budgeting for the Missile Defense Agency
b. A game theoretic approach to the Vehicle Routing problem for detection of Improvised Explosive Devices.
3) Optimal Control: Engineering Process Control using Diffusion Wavelets and ADP
a. Applications in Nano-manufacturing
B) Research in Optimization and Simulation Methodology
1) Optimized Simulation Optimization: (NSF Funded 2012-2014, co-PI) Methods to improve simulation efficiency within a given computational budget and solution quality of optimization in a combined setting.
2) Mitigating Curse of Dimensionality in Approximate Dynamic Programming using Diffusion Wavelets to achieve scalability to large-state and high-dimensional optimization problems.
C) Research in Quality and Statistics (Descriptive Analytics)
1) Quality and Statistics: Feature detection and function approximation in high-dimensional data
a. Wavelet applications in statistical process monitoring and control.
b. Function approximation using Diffusion Wavelets in high-dimensional data.
2) Anomaly Detection using Diffusion Wavelet Analysis of Acoustic Emission Data in nano-manufacturing
CURRENT TEACHING
A) Student Evaluation
Performance Metric (Max 5.0) F2005 - S2012 / UG / Grad / OverallMean / 4.87 / 4.60 / 4.75
Std. dev. / 0.11 / 0.33 / 0.26
B) Curriculum Development (6 new graduate courses introduced) 2005-present, at George Mason University, Instructor for:
Operations Research
1) Metaheuristics (Graduate) [New course]*
2) Deterministic Operations Research (Graduate)
3) Analytics and Decision Analysis (Graduate) [New course for Fall 2013]
4) Dynamic programming (Graduate) [New course]*
5) Advanced Dynamic programming (Graduate Ph.D. level) [New course]*
Systems Engineering
6) Decision and Risk Analysis (Undergraduate)*
7) Discrete Dynamical Modeling (Undergraduate)*
8) Quality Control and Process Management, Contract Course for Micron Technologies, Manassas, VA Graduate) [New course]
9) Manufacturing Systems Analysis, Contract Course for Micron Technologies, Manassas, VA (Graduate) [New course]
* Courses taught regularly (every year or every alternate year)
C) Program Development
1) Minor in Systems Engineering and Operations Research (completed 2008)
2) MS in Analytics and a Certificate in Data Analytics (new for Fall 2013)
CURRENT LEADERSHIP ROLES IN THE DEPARTMENT
1) Chair of the Systems Engineering Undergraduate Program Committee (2 years as Chair, UG committee member since 2005)
Main Tasks: Advising, transfer student approvals, curriculum review: modifications and additions, dept. liaison for updating university catalog changes, course substitution and waiver approvals, freshman and transfer student orientations, coordinate dept. presence at the open house recruitment events at the university, meeting parents of students, preparing advising guides, document UG changes for ABET, bring up changes for a vote at the monthly faculty meeting, and resolving UG academic issues.
2) Department Lead for the introduction of the new MS in Analytics for Fall 13 (new role since Fall 2012).
Main Tasks: Attend school level meetings, design a new course from the dept. for the core set of courses, and create departmental tracks that are individually rich in descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics. Create a Certificate in Data Analytics, submit both new curriculum and program development forms along with the syllabus this Fall 2012.
3) Co-Chair for the System Engineering ABET Committee (2 years as Co-Chair, committee member since 2005)
Main Tasks: Review course, outcome and objective notebooks, sign-off each outcome notebook with a summary of my review, which states the extent of compliance and the recommendation summary by each faculty, follow-up with the individual course instructor to implement the recommendations in the following semesters, and raise issues related to ABET compliance at the UG meeting.
4) Dept. Representative at the Engineering School-level UG Committee (since 2007)
Main Tasks: Take dept changes for a vote at the school level. Review and vote on changes at the school level and pay particular attention to those changes that affect the department, and coordinate between the dept UG and School UG committee.
CURRENT ENGINEERING EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH IN K-12:
1) Infusing cutting edge STEM (Science, technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) topics into low-performing elementary schools to improve teacher content knowledge and student learning outcomes. (NSF funded project 2007-2013, PI).
2) VISTA: Virginia Initiative for Science teaching and Achievement, funded by the US Dept. of Education 2011-2016, Role: STEM Co-Principal Investigator and Engineering Lead on the Project. Conduct summer camp lessons for teachers in Engineering.
Honors, Awards, and Professional Recognitions______
Awards
· Teacher of Distinction Award 2012, Center for teaching Excellence, GMU.
· INFORMS Aviation Application Section- 1st Prize Best Dissertation Award 2010 for Dr. Ganesan’s Ph.D. student – Poornima Balakrishna
· Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program’s Graduate Research Award 2010 in Public-Sector Aviation Issues for Dr. Ganesan’s M.S. student – Sameer Kulkarni
· Outstanding Teaching Award 2009- Volgenau School of IT&E, GMU.
· Best Paper Award 2008 (Air Transportation Track and Session), 27th IEEE-Digital Avionics Systems Conference, Estimating Taxi-Out Times with a Reinforcement Learning Algorithm, Poornima Balakrishna, Rajesh Ganesan, Lance Sherry, SEOR, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, and Benjamin S. Levy, Sensis Corporation, East Syracuse, NY.
· New Partner in Education Award: Alexandria City Public Schools, 2008.
· Outstanding Dissertation Award, University of South Florida, 2006.
· Institute of Industrial Engineers- IIE Graduate Research Award (for Masters Thesis), 1st Prize, 2004.
· Outstanding Masters Thesis Award, University of South Florida, 2003.
· University First Rank in B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1996.
· Academic Excellence Award, Mechanical Engineering Association, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India, 1995.
· College Merit Scholarship, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India 1993.
· National Merit Scholarship, Govt. of India, 1992.
Elected Positions at Professional Societies
· Council Member of Quality, Statistics and Reliability (QSR) subdivision, Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS), 2010-2012.
· Secretary and Treasurer for INFORMS QSR division, 2008-2010.
Honors/Recognitions
· Inducted into the National Academy of Inventors (Univ. of South Florida Chapter), 2010.
· Promoted as Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, MICO-Bosch, 1999.
· Listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, Who’s who in Engineering Education 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2012.
· 2000 Outstanding Scientists 2008/2009, International Biographical Centre, Great Britain.
Professional Service, Boards, Committees, and Public Service______
External to GMU
· Dissertation Award Committee Chair – INFORMS Aviation Application Subdivision 2012
· Committee Chair of QSR best student paper competition, INFORMS, 2012
· Served on the Proposal Review Panel, Service Enterprise System, Dr. Russel Barton, 2012
· Reviewer of journal/conference papers for IEEE Transactions on Automation science, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, SME- Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Annals of OR, Journal of Aircraft, American Control Conference, and Engineering, AMSE- Journal of Mfg science and Engineering, IIE-IERC conference, International Journal of Control, Journal of Control Science and Engineering, EJOR, Decision Support Systems, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Computers & Industrial Engineering, Quality and Reliability Engineering International, Journal of Advanced Transportation, and Naval Research Logistics.
· Reviewed research proposals for the US Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), Arlington, VA, 2010.
· Serving as Council Member of INFORMS QSR division 2010-2012 (elected position)
· Served as Secretary/Treasurer of INFORMS-QSR division 2008-10 (elected position).
· Served on NSF GK-12 Proposal Review panel, Dr. Sonia Ortega, 2008.
· Served on NSF GK-12 Planning committee for 2009 annual meeting.
· Served as Judge for the QSR best student paper competition, INFORMS 2006.
· Served on NSF Proposal Review panel Manufacturing Enterprise Systems, Dr. Abhijit Deshmukh, May 2007.
· Served on the committee for designing “Education Evaluation Plan” at the NSF GK-12 Planning Workshop. NSF/ABT Associates, March 2007.
· Local Arrangements Chair, (Program Committee): IEEE-CASE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering 2008.
· Presented on Dynamic Programming at the INFORMS Public Awareness Committee’s High School Math Teachers workshop, INFORMS 2008.
· Sponsored Session Chair, Program Committee- INFORMS International conference, Puerto Rico, July 2007.
· Session Chair at conferences: INFORMS QSR subdivision 2006, 2008, 2009, INFORMS AAS subdivision 2009, 2011, 2012 IIE-IERC-2006, ICRAT 2008.
· Session Chair: International collaboration session at the NSF GK-12 Annual meeting, Washington, DC.
· Project Manager, STARS (Students, Teachers, and Resources in the Sciences) NSF Funded GK-12 Project, University of South Florida-USF, 2002- 2005.
· Member of the student advisory board, Dept. of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, USF, 2002- 2005.
· Participated in establishing INFORMS student chapter at USF, 2004-2005.
GMU- University Level
· Served on GMU’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Committee for SACS reaccreditation 2008-2009.
· Faculty advisor on Mason’s “Dream Catchers Program” for High school students, 2005-present.
· Reviewer for Critical Thinking Assessment Project, Office of Institutional Assessment, GMU, 2006-2008, 2010.
· Reviewed student work for GMU’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Assessment, 2010 - present
GMU- School Level
· Serving on the MS in Analytics Committee Oct 2012 - present
· Serving on the Volgenau School’s Undergraduate Committee as SEOR representative, 2007-present.
· Participated in Admission Open Houses as SEOR representative, 2005-present.
· Attended University Scholars Program Luncheon to support and encourage new comers, June 2006.
GMU- Department Level
· Serving as Chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, GMU, 2011--present.
· Serving on the ABET Committee, Review and Preparation for SEOR ABET Audit, GMU, 2005-present.
· Serving on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, GMU, 2005-present.
· Undergraduate Advising, SEOR, GMU 2005-present.
· Served on Faculty Search Committee, 2005-2006, 2009-2010.
· Served as the Chair of Colloquium Committee, GMU, 2005-2007.
Dissertation and Masters Thesis at the University of South Florida______
· 2005 Dissertation: Process monitoring and feedback control using multiresolution analysis and machine learning. Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tapas K. Das.
· 2002 Masters Thesis: Wavelet based multiresolution monitoring of a nanomachining process in semiconductor manufacturing. Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tapas K. Das.
Summary of Research Grants and Contract Awards______
Award and Position / Co-PIs / Year / Amount / RoleOptimized Simulation optimization, funded by the National Science Foundation, Role: co-Principal Investigator / PI: Dr. C.H. Chen, Co-PI: Dr. Jie Xu / 2012-2015 / $260,000 / 33%
VISTA: Virginia Initiative for Science teaching and Achievement, funded by the US Dept. of Education, Role: STEM Co-Principal Investigator and Engineering Lead for the State of Virginia / PI: Dr. Donna Sterling (CEHD), 3 co-PIs, 6 STEM co-PIs, support and evaluation team / 2011-2016 / $28,455,346
/ 10%
Using GIS and Simulation for Analyzing Optimal Geographical Boundaries and Organ Allocation Mechanism for Liver Transplant, funded by National Institutes of Health, Role: co-Principal Investigator / PI: Dr. Naoru Koizumi, co-PIs: Dr. C.H. Chen, and Dr. Nigel Waters. The NIH award is in process of being transferred from Dr. C.H. Chen in SEOR to Dr. Ganesan / 2010-2012 / $397,639 / 33%
GK-12 Project, SUNRISE: Schools, University ‘N’ (and) Resources In the Sciences and Engineering-A NSF/GMU GK-12 Fellows Project, funded by National Science Foundation, Role: Principal Investigator / Co-PI: Dr. Donna Sterling (CEHD). / 2007-2012 / $3,000,000 / 90%
Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program’s Graduate Research Award in Public-Sector Aviation Issues- funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, Role: Principal Investigator / None / 2010-2011 / $10,000 / 100%
Bioengineering seed grant- Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering, George Mason University, Role: co-Principal Investigator / PI: Nathalia Peixoto, co-PI: Larry Tsang / 2009 -2010 / $9,000 / 33%
Graduate Research Assistant Award, Volgenau School of IT&E, GMU, Role: Principal Investigator / None / 2009 - 2010 / Tuition waiver + stipend for 1 grad student / 100%
Junior faculty summer research award, Vice President for Research Office, GMU, Role: Principal Investigator / None / 2008 -2009 / $4,900 / 100%
Graduate Research Assistant Award, Volgenau School of IT&E, GMU, Role: Principal Investigator / None / 2007 - 2008 / Tuition waiver + stipend for 1 grad student / 100%
Junior faculty summer research award, Vice President for Research Office, GMU, Role: Principal Investigator / None / 2006 - 2007 / $6,000 / 100%
US Patents______
· Ganesan, R., Balakrishna, P., and Sherry, L. System and Method for Predicting Taxi-Out Times at Airports using Approximate Dynamic Programming, U.S. Patent # 12/688,131, filed on 1/15/2010 by GMU.
· Ganesan, R., Das, T.K., and Ramachandran R., System for multiresolution analysis assisted reinforcement learning approach to run-by-run control, U.S. Patent # 7,672,739, 2010.
· Ganesan, R., Das, T.K., Sikder, A., and Kumar, A., System and method for the identification of chemical mechanical planarization defects U.S. Patent # 7,377,170, 2008.
· Das, T.K., Ganesan, R., Sikder, A., and Kumar, A., System and method for online end point detection for use in chemical mechanical planarization. U.S. Patent # 7,406,396, 2008.
Publications, Papers in Review, and Reports______
Published Journal Papers
· Stimpson, D. Ganesan, R., A reinforcement learning approach to convoy scheduling on a contested transportation network, Operations Research Letters, In print, 2015 http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s11590-015-0875-6