The Departmental Seminar Series is open to all. U-M Industrial and Operations Engineering graduate students and faculty are especially encouraged to attend.

Title:
Informing Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts with Operations Research Models

Abstract:
Human trafficking is a prevalent and malicious global human rights issue, with an estimated 24 million victims currently being exploited worldwide. A major challenge to its disruption is the fact that human trafficking is a complex system interwoven with other illegal and legal networks, both cyber and physical. Efforts to disrupt human trafficking must understand these complexities and the ways in which a disruption to one portion of the network affects other network components. As such, operations research models are uniquely positioned to address the challenges facing anti-human trafficking efforts. This presentation will discuss ongoing interdisciplinary anti-human trafficking efforts focusing on prevention, network disruption, and survivor empowerment. Specifically, we will discuss 1) the adaptions to current network interdiction models that are necessary for adequately representing human trafficking contexts and 2) a budget-constrained optimization model that maximizes the societal value of locating additional shelters for human trafficking survivors.

Bio:
Dr. Kayse Lee Maass is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and leads the Operations Research and Social Justice Lab at Northeastern University. Her research focuses on the application of operations research methodology to social justice, access, and equity issues within human trafficking, mental health, housing, and supply chain contexts. This includes determining how to most effectively allocate limited resources to disrupt human trafficking networks, increase access to services for survivors, and assess the efficacy of coordination among anti-human trafficking stakeholders. Dr. Maass’s research is supported by multiple federal grants, centers interdisciplinary survivor-informed expertise, and has informed local, national, and international policy and operational decisions.
Dr. Maass earned a PhD in Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) from the University of Michigan and completed her postdoctoral studies in the Department of Health Sciences Research at the Mayo Clinic. She is a recipient of multiple awards, including: the INFORMS Judith Liebman Award, Industrial Engineering Professor of the Year at Northeastern University, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award, and the INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Dissertation Award-Runner Up. She was also named a ‘Rising Star’ among INFORMS’ Powerful, Pragmatic Pioneers. Dr. Maass currently serves on the INFORMS Subdivision Council, as INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Secretary, and is part of the U.N. University Delta 8.7 Markets Working Group.
Bass is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and a senior member of the IEEE and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Bass is the incoming Secretary-Treasurer Elect of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. She is a member of the editorial board for three journals: Human Factors, IIE Transaction on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors and the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making. She was the inaugural editor of the IEEE Trans. on Human-Machine Systems. She is a peer reviewer for several international research programs.