Very happy and honored that the paper my former PhD student Ying Liao and I wrote was selected as the best paper of the 2023 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering (QR2MSE).  The title of the paper is “Bayesian Mixed-Effect Highter-Order Hidden Markov Models with Applications to Predictive Heathcare Using Electronic Health Records.”  Ying is honored at this year’s QR2MSE conference.

 

The paper entitled “Reinforcement Learning in Reliability and Maintenance Optimization: A Tutorial” by Qin Zhang, Yu Liu, Yisha Xiang, and Tangfan Xiahou has been accepted for publication in the Reliability Engineering & Systems Safety. Congratulations!

The second INFORMS Conference on Quality, Statistics, and Reliability (ICQSR) is held in Raleigh, North Carolina on July 1-4, 2024. I c0-chaired a session with Prof. Jian Zhou from Nanjing Institute of Science and Technology, China.  The following presentation was given there.

• Statistical Inference of Sample-Averaged Q-Learning by Saunak Panda and Yisha Xiang

In the picture (left to right): Prof. Yiliu Liu (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Prof. Yisha Xiang (UH), Prof. Jian Zhou (Nanjing University of Science and Technology)

The paper entitled “Dynamic Resource Matching in Manufacturing Using Deep Reinforcement Learning” by Saunak Panda, Yisha Xiang, and Ruiqi Liu has been accepted for publication in the European Journal of Operational Research. This is Saunak’s first journal paper. Congratulations!

Very excited that my proposal titled “Integrated Framework for Cooperative 3D Printing: Uncertainty Quantification, Decision Models, and Algorithms ” is funded by NSF. This project will focus on advancing data analytics and decision-making methods for the efficiency of the novel cooperative 3D printing (C3DP) technology. We hope our proposed models and algorithms will potentially transform AM into a new, ultra-efficient era of automated 3D printing. Also, there is nothing more rewarding than collaborating with the best researchers who have also become long-time friends, Harsha Gangammanavar of Southern Methodist University and Wenchao Zhou of the University of Arkansas, and working alongside talented young PhD students at the forefront of our fields. More details can be found here. Here is the link to the media coverage about this project: news!

The paper entitled “Bayesian Mixed-Effect Higher-Order Hidden Markov Models with Applications to Predictive Healthcare” by Ying Liao, Yisha Xiang, Zhigen Zhao, and Di Ai has been accepted for publication in the IISE Transactions. Congratulations

We had a great holiday lunch at Ninfa’s Restaurant, celebrating the holidays and looking forward to the new exciting research in the coming new year!

The 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting was held in Phoenix, AZ. I had the privilege to serve as the Quality, Statistics, and Reliability Cluster Chair. It has been my great pleasure to work with many colleagues and organize a successful QSR cluster. We had a total of 67 sessions, including 15 joint sessions with other societies, 2 successful competition sessions, 3  excellent panel sessions, and 2 well-received journal-sponsored sessions.   My research group has made the following presentations. (more…)

Dr. Xiang’s group had a wonderful group lunch at the Aladdin Mediterranean Cuisine restaurant in Montrose. It was great to gather together to celebrate group members’ progresses and to welcome new members!

Dr. Xiang’s research lab welcomes Hunter Huang to join the group.

The paper “Bayesian Prognosis Analysis of Human Papillomavirus-Associated Head and Neck Cancer using Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Mixture Models”  by Ying Liao, Ning Dong, and Yisha Xiang is accepted for publication in the IISE Transactions. Congratulations!

I gave an in-person seminar in the IE department, Tsinghua University. It is an honor to present at this most prestigious university in China. Thank you, Prof. Kaibo Wang, for your invitation and hospitality during my visit.

The first INFORMS Conference on Quality, Statistics, and Reliability (ICQSR) is held in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 06 – 08, 2023. I served as the judge for the Best Poster Competition and organized a session.  The following presentation was given there.

• Distributional Robust Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes Optimization with Distance-based Uncertainties by Tong Li and Yisha Xiang

Saunak Panda and Tong Li received prestigious NSF travel scholarships to attend the  39th Quality and Productivity Research Conference (QPRC). They did the following poster presentations at the QPRC.

• Dynamic resource matching in manufacturing using deep reinforcement learning by Saunak Panda, Yisha Xiang, and Ruiqi Liu.
• Distributionally Robust Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes with Distance-Based Ambiguity Sets by Tong Li and Yisha Xiang.

Congratulations to Dr. Ying (Leticia) Liao who successfully defended her PhD on May 30th. The title of her dissertation was “Statistical Machine Learning on Time Series with Applications to Manufacturing and Healthcare”. Dr. Liao has received multiple offers from top universities in China and will be joining the Business School at Wuhan University (a Top 10 University in China) in Fall 2023. We are very proud of your accomplishments, Dr. Liao!

 

The IISE (IISE Annual Conference and Exposition) was held in New Orleans, LA. I served as the co-track chair for the 2023 IISE Annual Conference QCRE track and chaired two sessions:  QCRE Best Track Paper Competition and NSF Proposal Writing Workshop. We made the following presentation.

• A Statistical Online Inference Method for Batch-adaptive Q-Learning Algorithm by Saunak Panda and Yisha Xiang

The paper “DeepMiceTL: a deep transfer learning based prediction of mice cardiac conduction diseases using early electrocardiograms”  by Ying Liao, Yisha Xiang, Mingjie Zheng, and Jun Wang is accepted for publication in Briefings in Bioinformatics, a leading bioinformatics journal with an impact factor of 9.5.  In this study, we collaborated with Wang’s lab at UT Health Center at Houston and use state-of-the-art deep transfer learning to identify ECG patterns during the early course of cardiac conduction disease in mice. We hope our approach could benefit cardiac conduction disease research in mice and can be translated to help cardiac diseases in humans in the future.

My proposal, “Statistical Machine Learning Methods for Analysis and Control of the HTS Manufacturing Process,” was funded for $34,971 by the Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI). The goal is to develop novel machine learning methods to control the manufacturing process of high-temperature superconductors (HTS). Thank you, AMI, for your support.

The paper “Data-Driven Remanufacturing Planning with Parameter Uncertainty” by Zhicheng Zhu, Yisha Xiang,  Yue Shi, and Ming Zhao is accepted for publication in the European Journal of Operational Research. We proposed a novel data-driven modeling framework for remanufacturing planning with parameter uncertainties. We model the remanufacturing planning problem as a robust Markov decision process and construct ambiguity sets that contain the true transition probabilities with high confidence. We further establish structural properties of optimal robust policies and provide insights for remanufacturing planning. Check it out!

Zhicheng Zhu currently works as an optimization engineer at Plume Design, Inc, and Yue Shi is an assistant professor in the School of Economics and Management at Wuhan University, a top university in China. This is one example of their great work during their PhD times.

This month, I presented an invited online seminar at the School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and at the School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Univ. of Aero. & Astro. I enjoyed both virtual visits and exchanges with the faculty and students there. Hope to have the opportunity to visit in person in the future.

The 2022 INFORMS  was held in Indianapolis, IN. I organized and chaired the INFORMS QSR Best Paper Competition. I also served as a judge for the INFORMS QSR Best Poster Competition. My research group has made the following presentations. (more…)

I am honored and humbled to serve as the INFORMS QSR Chair-Elect. QSR  provides a collegial forum for the timely exchange of cutting-edge ideas and for building professional collaborations and friendships. I have actively organized and participated in a number of QSR activities in the past. These responsibilities have allowed me to work with many dedicated QSR members and outstanding QSR officers. Through these efforts and interactions, I have grown much in this organization and gained a strong understanding of QSR’s strengths, and it is a privilege to serve in the Chair-Elect role to help it continue to thrive.

I presented an invited on-line seminar in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Miami. Hope to visit the campus in-person in the future.

 

 

Dr. Xiang’s research lab welcomes two new PhD students this fall.

The project titled “A Dual-Mode Millimeter-Wave Sensor Network for Structural Monitoring in Wind Farms” was recently funded by NSF. I’m excited to work on this project with outstanding researchers at Texas Tech, Drs. Changzhi Li (PI) and Beibei Ren (co-PI).  Existing structural monitoring techniques, such as contact-based sensors and LIDAR systems suffer from different limitations. For example, LIDAR systems are susceptible to weather conditions and are often installed at fixed locations. In this project, we aim to develop a dual-mode millimeter-wave sensor network driven by a unified decision-making framework that optimizes structural inspection in wind farms. The radio frequency signals are robust against ambient light and weather conditions, providing robust continuous monitoring; moreover, a formation of swarm-UAV-based sensor network can synthesize a large observation aperture for high-resolution imaging when an initial problem is identified by continuous-monitoring sensors, or during scheduled maintenance. This project has an interdisciplinary nature involving millimeter-wave sensing, adaptive UAV formation, swarm flight control, and unified decision-making framework for system-level inspection schedule optimization. More details about this project can be found here.

 

 

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as an Associate Professor in the IE department at the University of Houston. (New IE Hire Xiang Pursuing Optimized Remanufacturing At Cullen ) I have greatly enjoyed and appreciated working in the IMSE department at Texas Tech University in the last four years. I will miss my colleagues and friends in West Texas. I’m excited to join UH where I already have several excellent collaborators and look forward to building new, stronger connections in the future.

• The 90th Military Operations Research Society Symposium was held in Quantico, VA. I was invited to present at the AI and Autonomous Systems Working Group.

QCRE Division provides excellent opportunities to foster, recognize and share innovations at the forefront of quality control, reliability engineering, and beyond. Look forward to serving the QCRE Division in the capacity of President-Elect.

 

I  had the great pleasure of co-chairing the 2022 IISE QCRE/ProcessMiner Data Challenge Competition with Dr. Chitta Ranjan at Processminer CFP Link In this data challenge, a research problem to advance the field of deep learning is posed to participants. We have received excellent papers that address emerging challenges faced by our industry sponsors. A great partnership between academics and industry.

Very happy and honored that the paper my former PhD student Zhicheng Zhu and I wrote on condition-based maintenance for multi-component systems was selected as the best paper by IISE Transactions.  Here’s the link to IISE Transactions Spotlight on 2022 Best Papers.   Multi-component maintenance planning joins a combinatorial optimization problem with multiple stochastic failure processes, is challenging in both modeling and solution algorithms, and has remained as an open question in the literature. In the meantime time, we have been asked by many of our industrial collaborators about how to effectively plan maintenance for complex multi-component systems. In this paper, we investigate the structural properties of maintenance policies for these systems and provide efficient algorithms to find high-quality solutions. It is our sincere hope that by receiving this recognition and being spotlighted, our paper can reach a much broader audience, receive constructive feedback, and generate more impacts, especially practical impacts!

 

 

The IISE (IISE Annual Conference and Exposition) was held in Seattle, WA. I served as the co-track chair for the 2022 IISE Annual Conference QCRE track and chaired the QCRE Best Track Paper Competition. We made the following presentations. (more…)

Dr. Archis Ghate of the University of Washington visited my research group and gave a seminar titled “Robust Markov decision processes with data-driven, distance-based ambiguity sets”. We truly enjoyed Dr. Ghate’s visit and hope to have the pleasure to host him again in the future.

The paper titled “A Constraint Programming Model for Ice Cream Processing” by Ezra Wari, Weihang Zhu & Yisha Xiang receives the 2017 IISE Best Track Paper. Congratulations! 

Congratulations to Dr. Yue Shi who successfully defended her PhD on April 27th. The title of her dissertation was “Data-Driven Sequential Decision Making with Learning under Ambiguity”. Dr. Shi has received multiple offers from top universities in China and will be joining the Business School at Wuhan University (a Top 10 University in China) in Fall 2022. May you maximize your potential!

                         

The RAMS 2022 was held in Tucson, AZ. We made the following presentation: Two-stage Stochastic Programming for Maintenance Optimization of Multi-component Systems, by Zhicheng, Zhu, Yisha Xiang, and Ying Liao.

I was appointed as Associated Editor for IISE Transactions. Look forward to serving the flagship journal of the IISE.

I served as a technical committee member at the 3rd International Conference on System Reliability and Safety Engineering (SRSE 2021, virtual conference). I also gave a virtual talk as an invited speaker.

I presented an invited on-line seminar in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Mass at Dartmouth. Hope to visit the campus in-person in the future.

Our article titled “Optimal Burn-in Policies for Multiple Dependent Degradation Processes” (coauthored by Yue Shi, Ying Liao, Zhicheng Zhu, Yili Hong) was featured in the October 2021 issue of the ISE Magazine. Pages from ISE October21_Research

I presented as an invited speaker at the 10th International Symposium on Quality Science and Reliability Technology & 2021 Tsinghua University Annual meeting of the Institute for Quality and Reliability. The title of the virtual talk is “Data-Driven Markov Decision Processes with Parameter Uncertainty: Application to Remanufacturing Planning”.

The INFORMS 2021 was held in Anaheim, California. I served as a panelist for 2021 INFORMS QSR Student Introduction and Interaction Session. We made the following presentations. (more…)

Congratulations to Dr. Zhicheng Zhu who successfully defended his PhD on September 30. The title of his dissertation was “Data-driven maintenance and remanufacturing optimization of complex systems”. Dr. Zhu will continue his research as a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Florida. We wish you all the best, Dr. Zhu!

      

   

Welcome Tong Li Join Dr. Xiang’s Group.

Ying Liao received the NSF travel award to attend the 2021 International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine (ICIBM 2021), which will be held virtually in August. Congratulations! She will be presenting the following presentation: (more…)

The project titled “Energy Baselining, Optimization and Security Augmentation of an Oil Refinery” was funded by DOE through the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII). I am the co-PI on this project and look forward to working with the project’s industrial partner and helping them identify energy-saving opportunities.

Our paper titled “Joint Optimization of Resource Allocation and Imperfect Maintenance Planning for a Multi-facility Infrastructure System”  received the QCRE Best Track Paper award at the 2021 IISE Annual Conference. Congratulations!

The IISE (IISE Annual Conference and Exposition) was held virtually again. We made the following presentations. (more…)

I am honored to receive the Whitacre Engineering Research Award!

The RAMS 2021 was delayed from January 2021 to May 2021 but in an in-person format. We made the following three presentations. (more…)

I presented an invited online seminar in the Industrial and Systems Eng. Dept. at Wayne State University. The title of the seminar was ‘Data-Driven Markov Decision Processes with Parameter Uncertainty: Application to Remanufacturing Planning’.

Laticia (Ying) Liao, Dr. Yisha Xiang, and Dr. Elias Keedy received the Doug Ogden Best Paper Award from the Society of Reliability Engineers for the paper “Age-based Maintenance Scheduling for Flowmeters With Multiple Failure Modes and Covariates ”. This prestigious award is named in the memory of SRE Fellow Douglas J. The award consists of a certificate of recognition and a $5,000 cash award. Congratulations!

The INFORMS 2020 was fully online (was to be held in D.C.). I served as a panelist at INFORMS New Faculty Colloquium. Our research group made the following three presentations.

(more…)

The paper ” Optimal Burn-in Policies for Multiple Dependent Degradation Processes” by Yue Shi, Yisha Xiang, Ying Liao, Zhicheng Zhu and Yili Hong has been accepted for publication in IISE transactions.

Dr. Xiang’s group welcomes two new members, Saunak Panda and Ning Dong.

The IEEE 16th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering was held virtually (was to be held in Hong Kong). We made the following presentation: Automatic classification of heartbeats using ECG signals via higher order hidden Markov model, by Ying Liao, and Yisha Xiang.

The paper ” Health Assessment and Prognostics Based on Higher Order Hidden Semi-Markov Models” by Ying Liao, Yisha Xiang, and Min Wang has been accepted for publication in Naval Research Logistics.

The paper ” Multi-component Maintenance Optimization: A Stochastic Programming Approach” by Zhicheng Zhu, Yisha Xiang, and Bo Zeng has been accepted for publication in INFORMS Journal of Computing.

We have two papers accepted for Publications this month, one by the European Journal of Operational Research, and one by Reliability Engineering & System Safety. Here are the papers: (more…)

I’m honored to receive the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development ( CAREER ) grant.  Here’s the news story: Industrial Engineering Professor Honored With CAREER Award.

Dr. Yisha Xiang was featured in today’s research spotlight on Texas Tech Women Faculty. [News!]

The paper “Condition-based Maintenance for Multi-component Systems: Modeling, Structural Properties, and Algorithms” by Zhicheng Zhu, and Yisha Xiang has been accepted for publication in the  IISE transactions.

The paper “Optimal design of a linear sliding window system with consideration of performance sharing” by Hui Xiao, Yiyun Zhuang, Rui Peng, and Yisha Xiang has been accepted for publication in Reliability Engineering and System Safety.

The RAMS 2019 was held in Palm Springs, CA. We made the following three presentations. (more…)

I was appointed as the Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, a leading journal in the automation science field.

 

The paper titled “Reliability modeling of correlated competitions and dependent components with random failure propagation time” by Liudong Xing, Guilin Zhao, Yujie Wang, and Yisha Xiang has been accepted for publication in Quality and Reliability Engineering International.

The INFORMS 2019 was held in Seattle, WA. We made the following three presentations. (more…)

Welcome Will Wascom joining Dr. Xiang’s group! Will works as a mechanical engineer at NASA’s Ames Research Center.

I visited the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and gave the following seminar: Maintenance Optimization for Multi-component Systems.  This is also my first visit to the city of Chengdu. I enjoyed the cultural sightseeings and the food there. Prof. Liu Yu hosted my visit. Thank you, Prof. Liu!

       

The 2019 Southwestern Petroleum Short Course (SWPSC) Conference was held in Lubbock, TX. Laticia (Ying) Liao presented the following presentation:  A Data-Driven Prognostic Method for Crude-Oil Pipeline Systems by Laticia (Ying) Liao, Yisha Xiang, Mario Beruvides & Lloyd Heinze

Dr. Xiang presented at the “Catch the Engineering Bug” event organized by the Society of Woman Engineers at TTU which brings over 300 middle school girls to the Tech campus with the goal of fostering their interest in math and science fields.

I gave a guest lecture for undergraduate students in the PI-squared program. The purpose of this program is to introduce undergraduates to the basics and expectations of doing inquiry and investigative work.

Prof. David Coit from Rutgers University visited the IMSE department at TTU and gave the following presentation: Economic and Resilience Value of Adding Battery Capacity to Photovoltaic Array Generation. Dave, thanks for visiting us. we truly enjoyed your visit.

The RAMS 2019 was held in Orlando, FL. Yvette (Yue) Shi presented the following presentation: Structured Maintenance Policies for Deteriorating Transportation Infrastructures by Yvette(Yue) Shi, Yisha Xiang & Tongdan Jin

Yvette (Yue) Shi, Dr. Yisha Xiang, and Dr. Tongdan Jin received the Doug Ogden Best Paper Award from the Society of Reliability Engineers for the paper “Structured Maintenance Policies for Deteriorating Transportation Infrastructures”. This prestigious award is named in the memory of SRE Fellow Douglas J. The award consists of a certificate of recognition and a $5,000 cash award. Congratulations!

Dr. Xiang’s research group visited Covestro at Baytown, TX.

The INFORMS 2018 was held in Phoenix, AZ. We made the following two presentations.

(more…)

The paper titled “Optimal Maintenance Policies for Multi-Level Preventive Maintenance with Complex Effects” by Yue Shi, Yisha Xiang, and Mingyang Li has been accepted for publication in IISE transactions.

Welcome, Leticia Liao and Eric Bediako, joining Dr. Xiang’s group!

The ASME 2018 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC) was held in College Station, TX.  Zhicheng Zhu received an NSF Student Travel Grant for attending the MSEC 2018 and presented the following presentation: Redundancy Allocation for Serial-parallel System Considering Heterogeneity of Components by Zhicheng Zhu, Yisha Xiang & David Coit. Congratulations!

The IISE (IISE Annual Conference and Exposition) was held in Orlando, FL. We made the following two presentations: (more…)

The paper titled “A Data Heterogeneity Modeling and Qualification Approach for Field Pre-assessment of Chloride-Induced Corrosion in Aging Infrastructures” by Suiyao Chen, Lu Lu, Yisha Xiang, Alberto A. Sagues, and Mingyang Li has been accepted for publication in Reliability Engineering & System Safety.

The INFORMS 2017 was held in Houston, TX. We made the following two presentations. (more…)

I gave a talk at Schlumberger Reliability & Maintenance Workshop on their Cameron campus on September 21st.

The paper titled “Preventive Maintenance subject to Equipment Unavailability” by Zhicheng Zhu, Yisha Xiang, Mingyang Li, Tongdan Jin, and Kellie Schneider has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Reliability.

The project “Maintenance Planning for Complex Systems in Dynamic Environments” is funded by National Science Foundation (NSF). Congratulations.

The IISE (IISE Annual Conference and Exposition) will be held in Pittsburgh, PA. We made the following three presentations. (more…)

Zhicheng Zhu will present at the Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium 2017 in Orlando, FL. The title of the paper is “A Sequential Inspection and Replacement Policy for Degradation-based Systems”.

The paper titled “A Sequential Inspection and Replacement Policy for Degradation-based Systems” by Zhicheng Zhu, Yisha Xiang, Suzan Alaswad & C. Richard Cassady received the “Society of Reliability Engineering Oftshun Best Paper Award”. Congratulations!

The INFORMS 2016 was held in Nashville, TN – November 2016. I was the co-author of the following presentations:

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The paper titled “A Multi-Objective Joint Burn-in and Imperfect CBM Model for Degradation-based Heterogeneous Populations” by Yisha Xiang, David W. Coit & Zhicheng Zhu has been accepted for publication in Quality and Reliability Engineering International.

The paper titled “A review on condition-based maintenance optimization models for stochastically deteriorating system” by Suzan Alaswad, Yisha Xiang has been accepted by Reliability Engineering & System Safety.

I gave a talk at Schlumberger Engineering Colloquium on their Rosharon campus on May 31st. The title of my talk is “Introduction to Preventive Maintenance”.

The ISERC (IIE Annual Conference and Exposition) was held in Anaheim, CA. We made the following two presentations: (more…)

I presented a seminar in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Houston on March 11.

The INFORMS 2015 was held in Philadelphia, PA. I was co-author of the following two presentations (more…)