IEOR Students Bring Industry Projects to the Senior Design Expo
On May 7, 2026, undergraduate students from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research will participate in the annual Senior Design Expo, which showcases student-led innovation, research, and applied problem-solving.
The Senior Design Expo is the culmination of capstone projects in which Engineering students form teams to identify real-world challenges and develop data-driven, implementable solutions. From initial problem framing to final deployment, students engage in the full lifecycle of engineering design—researching, modeling, building, testing, and ultimately presenting their work to faculty, industry partners, and peers.
This year, IEOR students have worked on projects spanning a wide range of applications, including urban analytics, healthcare systems, artificial intelligence, energy systems, and economic theory. Highlighted below are a selection of these projects.
Closing the Gap in Women’s Cancer and Preventive Screening Access Through Discrete-Event Simulation Modeling
Alexandra Paiz, Luciana Salvatierra, Jakub Williams, Sophia Tu
Advisor: Yaren Bilge Kaya
In partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, this team developed a simulation model of cancer screening processes for women in New York City. Their work evaluates system inefficiencies and estimates the potential impact of targeted improvements on access to care.
The project has been accepted for presentation at the IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics on June 1.
Predict-Then-Optimize for AC Optimal Power Flow with Elastic Data Center Demand
Andrew Blelloch, Anthony Ginzburg
Advisor: Adam Elmachtoub
Blelloch and Ginzburg apply predict-then-optimize frameworks to AC optimal power flow (AC-OPF) problems under conditions of elastic data center demand. The work contributes to more adaptive and efficient energy grid management in the presence of variable, high-intensity loads.
What Traditional Maps Don’t Tell You About Buenos Aires
Talia Cario, Sriya Gupta, Peder Dingsor
Advisor: Yaren Bilge Kaya
Working alongside city officials in Buenos Aires, this team developed an interactive dashboard to support access to urban services. Working with government agencies, they developed a Daily Needs Proximity Index for the city.
Using nine categories– transport, administration, culture, exercise, fresh air, education, health, groceries, and entertainment– their work highlights the disparities in accessibility and access in urban life. The dashboard is publicly available.
Time Series Foundation Models for Industrial Classification
Haoyuan Xia, Haonan Dong, Zander Rhodes, Lucas Zheng
Advisor: Yaren Bilge Kaya
In collaboration with Siemens AI Lab, this team investigated whether time series foundation models represent the future of industrial time series classification. Their project evaluates model performance, scalability, and applicability in real-world manufacturing environments.
Advisor Assistant: An AI-Enabled Email Advising System
Lara Jones, Emre Baser, Mayyada Shair, Yasemin Yuksel
Advisor: Yaren Bilge Kaya
This team developed an AI-powered email advising system designed to support academic advising workflows. The system leverages natural language processing to generate responses and streamline communication between advisors and students. This project’s confidence-based routing mechanism efficiently handles routine inquiries while ensuring that complex or sensitive cases remain in the hands of advisors.
Their project was developed with the Columbia Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department, and will be piloted with the IEOR Academic Affairs team in the next few months.
Additionally, IEOR Faculty Members Rachel Cummings and Adam Elmachtoub are advising several student groups outside the IEOR Department. Cummings advised Computer Science students Begum Cicekdag and Ying Whintney Wang. Elmachtoub advised Computer Science students Cathy Zhang and Taimur Shaikh.