Student Seminar by Dr. Wenbo Sun on Aug 20, 2025 3PM

Title: Truck-and-Drone Routing Problem for Disaster Response: From Deterministic to Dynamic

Speaker: Dr. Wenbo Sun (Department of Data and Systems Engineering)

Date: Aug 20, 2025 (Wednesday)

Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Venue: Room 828, 8/F, Haking Wong Building, The University of Hong Kong

Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/r/vfTz50GGuz

Food and drinks will be provided for successfully registered participants.

About the talk: To enhance rescue efficiency in disaster response, this study develops a flexible truck-and-drone collaborative system that combines the advantages of trucks and drones to provide multi-type rescue services after disasters. Unlike truck-and-drone systems for parcel deliveries, the objective of this study is to achieve a timely and equitable rescue service by minimizing the priority cost, defined as the weighted sum of each task’s service start time. Specifically, this study starts with route optimization for the proposed system under deterministic travel time and rescue demand, which can be formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model. A branch-and-bound algorithm and a simulated annealing algorithm are developed to solve the proposed problem efficiently. Then, this study develops a robust route optimization method to address the potential travel time uncertainties after disasters. Furthermore, considering dynamic rescue demands in the rescue process, this study models a dynamic truck-and-drone routing problem as a Markov decision process and solves it using a multi-agent reinforcement learning method. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithms can efficiently solve these complex problems and that flexible truck-and-drone collaboration can significantly enhance rescue efficiency in disaster response.

About the speaker: Dr. Wenbo Sun received his Ph.D. degree in July, 2025 from the Department of Data and Systems Engineering, the University of Hong Kong. He received his Master’s and Bachelor’s degree from Beihang University in 2017 and 2020, respectively. In 2020-2021, he worked as a research assistant at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Minnesota--Twin Cities. His current research integrates operational research and control engineering to intelligent transportation systems, with special focus on vehicle routing problems with drones and trajectory optimization for connected and autonomous vehicles. He has received several honors and awards, including HKSTS-ATRS Best Paper Award (ATRS 2025), BPS Innovation Scholarships (2025) and Best Presenter Award (ISMT 2024). Dr. Sun has published papers on IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems and Transportation Research Part C, and he has presented his research in the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, International Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies (HKSTS), Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) Conference, etc.

21 Jul 2025 (Mon) 11:00-12:00 | Seminar by Sonia Pratt

Academic Publishing: Ethics and Challenge of AI

Speaker:

Sonia Pratt, Publisher

Geography and Transport, Elsevier

Date:    Jul 21, 2025 (Monday)

Time:   11:00 am – 12:00 nn

Venue:  Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two, HKU

Abstract

This talk addresses safeguarding research integrity and publishing ethics amid growing challenges such as paper mills, citation manipulation, and generative AI use. It outlines publisher’s strategy and policy updates to detect and prevent unethical practices before and after publication. Key topics include common ethical pitfalls faced by researchers (e.g., missing ethical consent, authorship issues, plagiarism, image and data manipulation), the responsible use of generative AI, and measures against predatory journals and paper mills.

17 Jul 2025 (Thu) 17:00-18:00 | Seminar by Prof. Sadan Kulturel‐Konak

Enhancing Fairness in Food Assistance: A Data-Driven Framework for Equitable Resource Distribution

Speaker:

Prof. Sadan Kulturel‐Konak

The Pennsylvania State University

Date:    Jul 17, 2025 (Thursday)

Time:   5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Venue:  Room 8-28, 8/F Haking Wong Building, The University of Hong Kong

Abstract

This study proposes a data-driven framework to improve fairness in food assistance programs in the United States, focusing on addressing geographic and accessibility inequities. The framework integrates spatial analysis, optimization techniques, and stakeholder engagement to ensure equitable allocation of food resources, especially for communities with limited transportation access. It utilizes granular, location-specific data to identify inefficiencies in current distribution systems and to support more informed decision-making. To promote usability across a broad range of stakeholders, including food banks, community organizations, volunteers, and beneficiaries, the framework includes tailored visualizations and tools that account for varying levels of technical expertise. Designed to operate at a highly localized scale, the framework prioritizes underserved communities and incorporates feedback mechanisms to support continuous improvement. This adaptable and collaborative approach aims to transform food distribution systems into more equitable and resilient networks, ultimately contributing to long-term food security.

Bio

Sadan Kulturel‐Konak is a Professor of Management Information Systems and the Director of the Flemming Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development (CEED) Center at Penn State Berks. Dr. Kulturel also has a courtesy appointment at Penn State Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Auburn University. Dr. Kulturel’s research focuses on modeling and optimizing complex systems using hybrid approaches combining heuristic methods and exact techniques from probability and operations research. The primary application areas of her research include designing and redesigning facilities to provide significant economic benefits for US firms. Dr. Kulturel is also interested in pedagogical research related to entrepreneurship and STEM fields, including professional skill development, innovative thinking skills, and gender differences in learning styles. She served as the elected president of INFORMS-Women in OR/MS (WORMS), the elected chair of INFORMS- Facility Logistics Special Interest Group, and the chair of the ASEE Middle Atlantic Section. She is currently an academic member of the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE). She is an Associate Editor of the Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence (Elsevier). She has served as a principal investigator on several sponsored projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and VentureWell. She is a member of INFORMS, IEEE, and ASEE.