Through a new National Science Foundation grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison industrial and systems engineering researchers will use mathematical modeling to inform local policing schedules and response policies to opioid abuse.
Professor Laura Albert, the project’s principal investigator, and Assistant Professor Gabriel Zayas-Caban will work with Madison-area law enforcement agencies, public safety experts and healthcare professionals, drawing on police and medical data from Dane County.
Albert and Zayas-Caban will create a modeling framework that can help inform strategies for disrupting opioid supply chains, as well as methods for diverting opioid users into treatment programs instead of the criminal justice system.
A two-year, $536,849 grant will support the project.