Students who have not taken EMIS 8360 or an equivalent course are strongly encouraged to consult the Operations Research Models and Methods website created by Paul A. Jensen and Jonathan F. Bard.  This site provides an excellent introduction to important concepts from 8360 such as OR models, linear, network, and integer programming.

Proficiency (i.e. creating and editing files, running programs, etc.) with UNIX and/or Windows is strongly recommended.

Some of the homework problems, will require the use of ORMS software packages such as AMPL and CPLEX. These packages are available on the School of Engineering (SoE) UNIX systems, which you can access from your  SoE account.

Visit the  AMPL website to download free copies of the student versions of AMPL and CPLEX for Microsoft Windows as well as the first chapter of the AMPL text book.

The optimal decisions for such issues can be found through analysis using computer-based mathematical models. Because of its generality, ORMS has a broad set of applications in all engineering disciplines, computer science, economics, finance, marketing, medicine, transportation, manufacturing and many other fields.

This course focuses on a important class of ORMS models known as network flow problems.  Network flow problems are among the most prevalent optimization models found in practice today, and this course provides a blend of theory and practice used in their solution. We will build and analyze network models for a variety of applications, and develop fundamental solution algorithms for pure, generalized, and constrained network flow problems. Topics covered include the following:

• Review of the Linear Programming Model
• Model Building and Linear Programming (LP) Formulation of Network Flow Problems
• Introduction to Algorithm Design and Analysis
• Shortest Path Problems
• Maximum Flow and Minimum Cut Problems
• Minimum Cost Network Flow Problems
• Generalizations and Extensions of the Minimum Cost Network Flow Model

Consult the syllabus for more detail.