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Laura Albert

Laura Albert

Professor
gscholar website
lab website

Laura Albert, Ph.D., is a Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a recognized thought leader in operations research and analytics. She served as the David H. Gustafson Department Chair from 2021-24 and the President of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in 2023. Dr. Albert’s research focuses on mitigating risks in the public sector through optimization and operations research methodologies, with applications in critical infrastructure protection, public safety, and emergency response. She is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). Her work has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the INFORMS Impact Prize, a National Science Foundation CAREER award, and a Fulbright Award. An advocate for public engagement, Dr. Albert has penned several op-eds for national news outlets, and she authors the engineering blogs “Punk Rock Operations Research” and “Badger Bracketology.”

Department

Industrial & Systems Engineering

Contact

Mechanical Engineering Bldg
1513 University Ave
Madison, WI
p: (608) 262-3002

  • PhD 2006, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • MS 2001, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • BS 2000, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • 2023 University of Michigan, Wilbert Steffy Distinguished Lecture
  • 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting, Omega Rho Lecture
  • 2020 Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Fellow
  • 2020 Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE), Fellow
  • 2020 Fulbright, Fulbright Award
  • 2019 INFORMS, Advancement of Women in Operations Research/Management Science Award
  • 2019 College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ragnar E. Onstad Service to Society Award
  • 2018 College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvey D. Spangler Faculty Scholar
  • 2018 Big Ten Academic Alliance-Academic Leadership Program (BTAA-ALP), Fellow
  • 2018 INFORMS, INFORMS Impact Prize
  • 2017 College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Faculty recognition award, Leaders in Engineering Excellence and Diversity
  • 2017 College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvey Spangler Award for Technology Enhanced Instruction
  • 2015 College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Faculty recognition award, Leaders in Engineering Excellence and Diversity
  • 2014 IIE, Best Paper Award from IIE Transactions Focused Issue on Scheduling and Logistics
  • 2014 INFORMS, INFORMS Moving Spirit Award for service to INFORMS fora
  • 2012 Society of Risk Analysis, Best paper award from Risk Analysis
  • 2012 College of Humanities and Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, Excellence in Scholarship Award
  • 2011 National Science Foundation, NSF CAREER Award
  • 2010 National Association of Counties, Achievement Award Winner for Next-Generation Emergency Medical Response Through Data Analysis & Planning
  • 2010 Department of the Army-Materiel Command, Army Research Office, Young Investigator Award
  • 2009 2009 Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Operations Research track, Best paper award
  • 2009 National Science Foundation, Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers Fellows Program, Fellow
  • 2009 IIE, Outstanding IIE Publication Award
  • 2006 Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Computing Society Student Paper Competition, Runner-up
  • 2006 First Symposium on Operations Research and the Criminal Justice System, US National Institute of Justice, Operations Research Challenge Competition Winner
  • 2005 Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL., George W. Harper Award for outstanding work in safety engineering
  • 2004 Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. , Alumni Teaching Fellowship
  • 2002 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Arms, Control, Disarmament and International Security (ACDIS) Thesis Initiation Fellowship

  • Albert, L., Amideo, A. E., Bennell, J., Brailsford, S., Carroll, P., Kaufman, R., Kent, K., Kotiadis, K., Kunc, M., Nagurney, A., & others, (2024). Commentary on Carroll & Esposito Amideo “Gender Equality: Opportunities and challenges for the OR community”. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 75(6), 1030--1042.
  • Schmidt, A. P., Buell, D., & Albert, L. (2024). Optimal Consolidation of Polling Locations. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 26(3), 1028--1042.
  • Schmidt, A., & Albert, L. (2024). The drop box location problem. IISE Transactions, 56(4), 424--436.
  • Albert, L. (2023). A cybersecurity planning framework for evaluating, selecting, and deploying security controls. In Proceedings of the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers Annual Meeting.
  • Albert, L. (2023). A mixed-integer programming model for identifying intuitive ambulance dispatching policies. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 74(11), 2300--2311.
  • White, V. M., & Albert, L. (2023). Evaluating diversion and treatment policies for opioid use disorder. arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.05076.
  • Albert, L., Nikolaev, A., & Jacobson, S. H. (2023). Homeland security research opportunities. IISE Transactions, 55(1), 22--31.
  • DuBois, E., Peper, A., & Albert, L. (2023). Interdicting Attack Plans with Boundedly Rational Players and Multiple Attackers: An Adversarial Risk Analysis Approach. Decision Analysis, 20(3), 202--219.
  • Nyland, J. E., Zhang, A., Balles, J. A., Nguyen, T. H., White, V., Albert, L., Henningfield, M. F., & Zgierska, A. (2023). Law Enforcement-Led, Pre-Arrest Diversion-to-Treatment May Reduce Crime Recidivism, Incarceration, and Overdose Deaths: Program Evaluation Outcomes. Pre-Arrest Diversion-to-Treatment May Reduce Crime Recidivism, Incarceration, and Overdose Deaths: Program Evaluation Outcomes.
  • Stratman, E. G., Boutilier, J. J., & Albert, L. (2023). Uncertainty in facility location models for emergency medical services. Uncertainty in Facility Location Problems, 213--250.

  • I SY E 603 - Special Topics in Engineering Analytics and Operations Research (Spring 2025)
  • I SY E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2025)
  • I SY E 990 - Research and Thesis (Spring 2025)
  • I SY E 313 - Engineering Economic Analysis (Fall 2024)
  • I SY E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2024)
  • I SY E 990 - Research and Thesis (Fall 2024)
  • I SY E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Summer 2024)
  • I SY E 990 - Research and Thesis (Summer 2024)
  • I SY E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2024)
  • I SY E 961 - Graduate Seminar in Industrial Engineering (Spring 2024)
  • I SY E 990 - Research and Thesis (Spring 2024)
  • I SY E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2023)
  • I SY E 990 - Research and Thesis (Fall 2023)
  • I SY E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Summer 2023)
  • I SY E 990 - Research and Thesis (Summer 2023)