Papers

Professor Cohn develops models and algorithms for solving applied combinatorial optimization problems. Her primary work is in healthcare and passenger aviation applications. She is also currently working on projects in network reliability and in satellite communications. [Underlined co-authors indicate students; asterisks indicate undergraduates. For more information about a paper or to receive a copy, please send an email request to [email protected].]


Full Articles in Refereed Publications

Schumacher, K., R. L. Chen, and A. Cohn. “Algorithm for the N-2 Security Constrained Unit Commitment Problem with Transmission Switching.” To appear in INFORMS Journal on Computing.

Schumacher, K., R. L. Chen, and A. Cohn. “Transmission Expansion with Smart Switching under Demand Uncertainty and Line Failures.” To appear in Energy Systems.

Reich, D., Y. Shi, E. Klampf, M. Epelman, and A. Cohn. “An Analytical Approach to Prototype Vehicle Testing.” To appear in Omega.

Grenda, T., T. Ballard, A. Obi, W. Pozehl, F. Seagull, R. Chen, A. Cohn, M. Daskin, and R. Reddy. “Computer Modeling to Evaluate the Impact of Technology Changes on Resident Procedural Volume.” To appear in Journal of Graduate Medical Education

Castaing, J., A. Cohn, and B. Denton. “A Stochastic Programming Approach to Reduce Patient Wait Times and Overtime in an Outpatient Infusion Center.” To appear in IIE Transactions on Healthcare.

Reich, D., Y. Shi, M. Epelman, A.Cohn, E. Barnes, K. Arthurs, and E. Klampfl. “Scheduling Crash Tests at Ford Motor Company.” Interfaces 46 (5): 409 – 423, 2016.

Schumacher, K., R. L. Chen, A. Cohn, and J. Castaing. “Algorithm to Solve a Chance-Constrained Network Capacity Design Problem with Stochastic Demands with Finite Support.” To appear in Naval Research Logistics.

J. Castaing, I. Mukherjee*, A. Cohn, L. Hurwitz, A. Nguyen, and J. Muller. “Reducing Airport Gate Blockage in Passenger Aviation: Models and Analysis.” Computers and Operations Research 65: pp. 189 – 199, 2016

Obi, A., J. Chung, R. Chen*, W. Lin, S. Sun, W. Pozehl*, A. Cohn, M. Daskin, F. Seagull, and R. Reddy. “Achieving Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education duty hours compliance within advanced surgical training: a simulation-based feasibility assessment.” The American Journal of Surgery 210 (5): 947 – 950 2015.

Thomas, T., R. Reddy, T. Ballard, W. Pozehl, A. Cohn, and P. Ehrlich. “ACGME Case Requirements for General Surgeons in Pediatric Surgery: Evaluation of Current Operative Volume on Resident Completion of Index Cases.” Journal of the American College of Surgeons 221 (4): S48, 2015.

S. Spangelo, J. Cutler, K. Gilson, and A. Cohn. “Optimization-Based Scheduling for the Single-Satellite, Multi-Ground Station Communication Problem.” Computers and Operations Research 57 (5): pp. 1 – 16, 2015.

Ballard, T., T. Grenda, A. Cohn, M. Daskin, F. Seagull, and R. Reddy. “Innovative Scheduling Solutions for Graduate Medical Education.” Journal of Graduate Medical Education 7 (2): pp. 169 – 170, 2015.

Perelstein, E., A. Rose*, Y. Hong, A. Cohn, and M. Long. “Automation Improves Schedule and Increases Scheduling Efficiency for Residents.” Journal of Graduate Medical Education 8 (1): 45 – 49, 2015.

J. Chung, A. Obi, R. Chen*, W. Lin, S. Sun*, Z. Chen*, Z. Chen*, A. Gulati, X. Xu*, W. Pozehl, F. Seagull, A. Cohn, M. Daskin, and R. Reddy. “Estimating Minimum Program Volume Needed to Train Surgeons: When 4×15 Really Equals 90.” Journal of Surgical Education 72 (1): pp. 61 – 67, 2015.

R. Chen, A. Cohn, F. Nan, and A. Pinar. “Contingency-Risk Informed Power System Design.” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 29 (5): pp. 2087 – 2096, 2014.

A. Heiney, S. Potiris, B. Denton, A. Cohn, and C. Friese. “Computer simulation and stochastic programming to reduce patient wait times in an outpatient infusion center.” Journal of Clinical Oncology 31: PP 181, 2013.

J. East, A. Cator, E. Burns*, T. O’Gara*, J. Card*, A. Cohn, and M. Macy. “Rounding Frequency and Hospital Length of Stay for Children with Respiratory Illnesses: A Simulation Study.” Journal of Hospital Medicine 8 (12): pp. 678-683, 2013.

V. Chase, A. Cohn, M. Lavieri, and T. Peterson. “Predicting Emergency Department Volume Using Forecasting Methods to Create a ‘Surge Response’ for Non-Crisis Events,” Academic Emergency Medicine 19 (5): pp. 569 – 576, May 2012.

A. Barlett, A. Cohn, O. Gusikhin, Y. Fradkin, R. Davidson, and J. Batey. “Ford Motor Company Implements Integrated Planning and Scheduling in a Complex Automotive Stamping Environment,” Interfaces 42 (5): 478 – 491, September/October 2012. Finalist for the 2011 Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice.

M. Lapp and A. Cohn. “Modifying Lines-of-Flight in the Planning Process for Improved Maintenance Robustness,” Computers and Operations Research 39 (9): pp.2051 – 2062, September 2012.

S. Kurnaz, A. Cohn, Y. Guan*, and Y. Jiang*. “Trading Off Between Makespan and Customer Responsiveness in Flow Shop Sequencing,” International Journal of Production Research 48 (22): pp. 6777 – 6797, November 2010.

S. AhmadBeygi, A. Cohn, and M. Lapp. “Decreasing Airline Delay Propagation by Re-Allocating Scheduled Slack,” IIE Transactions 42 (7): pp. 478 – 489, July 2010. Highlighted in Industrial Engineer Magazine.

A. Barlatt, A. Cohn, and O. Gusikhin. “A Hybridization of Mathematical Programming and Dominance-Driven Enumeration for Solving Shift-Selection and Task-Sequencing Problems” Computers and Operations Research 37 (7): pp. 1298 – 1307, July 2010.

R. Chen, S. AhmadBeygi, D. Beil, A. Cohn, and A. Sinha. “Solving Truckload Procurement Auctions over an Exponential Number of Bundles,” Transportation Science 43 (4): pp. 493 – 510, November 2009. Honorable Mention in Katta Murty Prize for Best Research Paper on Optimization by an IOE Student.

A. Cohn, M. Magazine, and G. Polak. “Rank-Cluster-and-Prune: An Algorithm for Generating Clusters in Complex Set Partitioning Problems,” Naval Research Logistics 56 (3): pp. 215–225, April 2009.

A. Barlatt, A. Cohn, Y.Fradkin, O. Gusikhin, and C. Morford. “Using Composite Variable Modeling to Achieve Realism and Tractability in Production Planning: An Example from Automotive Stamping,” IIE Transactions 41 (5): pp. 421–436, May 2009. Winner of Best Applied Paper Prize in Scheduling and Logistics. Highlighted in Industrial Engineer Magazine.

S. Root and A. Cohn. “A Novel Modeling Approach for Express Package Carrier Planning,” Naval Research Logistics 55 (7): pp. 670–683, October 2008.

S. AhmadBeygi, A. Cohn, Y. Guan*, and P. Belobaba. “Analysis of the Potential for Delay Propagation in Passenger Airline Networks,” Journal of Air Transport Management 14 (5): pp. 221 – 236, September 2008.

S. AhmadBeygi, A. Cohn, and M. Weir*. “An Integer Programming Approach to Generating Airline Crew Pairings,” Computers and Operations Research 36 (4): pp. 1284–1298, April 2009.

A. Cohn, S. Root, C. Kymissis, J. Esses, and N. Westmoreland. “Scheduling Medical Residents at Boston University School of Medicine,” Interfaces 39 (3): pp. 186 – 195, May-June 2009.

A. Cohn, M. Davey, L. Schkade, A. Siegel*, and C. Wong*. “Network Design and Flow Problems with Cross-Arc Costs,” European Journal of Operational Research 189 (3): pp. 890 – 901, September 2008.

S. Root, A. Cohn, A. Wang*, and D. Mohr. “Integration of the Load Matching and Routing Problem with Equipment Balancing for Small Package Carriers,” Transportation Science 41 (2): pp. 238 – 252, May 2007.

A. Cohn and C. Barnhart. “Composite-Variable Modeling for Service Parts Logistics,” Annals of Operations Research 144 (1): pp. 17 – 32, April 2006.

C. Barnhart and A. Cohn. “Airline Schedule Planning: Accomplishments and Opportunities,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management 6 (1): pp. 3 – 22, Winter 2004.

A. Cohn and C. Barnhart. “Improving Crew Scheduling By Incorporating Key Maintenance Routing Decisions,” Operations Research 51 (3): pp. 387 – 396, May – June 2003.


Refereed Conference or Symposium Proceedings

T. Thomas, R. Reddy, T. Ballard, A. Cohn, W. Pozehl, K. Gow, and P. Ehrlich. “Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Pediatric Surgery Requirements for the General Surgery Resident in the Era of Technological Advancement and Fellowship Programs.”  American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, Washington DC 2015

T. Thomas, R. Reddy, T. Ballard, A. Cohn, W. Pozehl, and P. Ehrlich.  “Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Case Requirements for General Surgeons in Pediatric Surgery: Evaluation of Current Operative Volume on Resident Completion of Index Cases.” American College of Surgeons 2015 Clinical Congress, Chicago IL 2015.

O. Gusikhin (presenter), F. Peng, and A. Cohn. “Incorporating Heterogeneous Fleets in the Vehicle Routing Problem: Algorithms and Implications.” VEHITS (International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems), Lisbon Portugal 2015.

T. Grenda (presenter), T. Ballard, A. Obi, W. Pozehl, R. Chen*, M. Daskin, F. Seagull, A. Cohn, R. and Reddy. “A Novel Case Simulator to Help Evaluate Residency Program Volume in an Era of Changing Technology.” Society of Thoracic Surgeons Annual Meeting, San Diego CA 2015.

J. Castaing, A. Cohn, and J. Cutler. “Scheduling Downloads for Multi-Satellite, Multi-Ground Station Missions.” 28th Annual AIAA/USA Conference on Small Satellites, 2014. Honorable mention in student competition.

R. L. Chen, A. Cohn, N, Fan, and A. Pinar. “N-k-epsilon Survivable Power System Design.” Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems 2012.

V. Chase*, A. Cohn, T. Peterson, and M. Lavieri. “Modeling Care Utilization Ratios to Guide Surge Responses for Non-Crisis Events.” Society of Medical Decision Making Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, October 2011. Finalist, Lee Lusted Award.

R. Chen, A. Cohn, and A. Pinar. “An Implicit Optimization Approach for Survivable Network Design,” Proceedings of the IEEE Network Science Workshop, West Point, NY, June 2011 (to appear).

O. Gusikhin, P. MacNeille, and A. Cohn. “Vehicle Routing to Minimize Mixed-Fleet Fuel Consumption and Environmental Impact,” Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics, Funchal, Madeira -Portugal, 15 – 18 June, 2010, Volume 1, pp. 285 – 291.

K. Kontoyiannakis, E. Serrano, K. Tse, M. Lapp, and A. Cohn. “A Simulation Framework to Evaluate Airport Gate Allocation Policies Under Extreme Delay Conditions,” Winter Simulation Conference 2009, December 2009, Austin, TX.

M. Lapp, S. AhmadBeygi, A. Cohn, and O. Tsimhoni. “A Recursion-Based Approach to Simulating Airline Schedule Robustness,” Winter Simulation Conference 2008, December 2008, Miami, FL.

A. Cohn. “Constructing Pareto-Optimal Residency Call Schedules,” 2nd International Symposium on Bio- and Medical Informatics and Cybernetics: BMIC 2008, pp. 156 – 161, June 2008, Orlando, FL.

A. Barlatt, A. Cohn, and O. Gusikhin. “A Hybrid Approach for Solving Shift-Selection and Task-Sequencing Problems,” Lecture Notes in Computer Science: AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming for Combinatorial Optimization Problems, pp. 288 – 292, Springer Berlin/Heidelberg 2008.

A. Barlatt, A. Cohn, Y. Fradkin, O. Gusikhin, and C. Morford. “A Hybridization of Mathematical Programming and Search Techniques for Integrated Operation and Workforce Planning,” Proceedings from the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, pp. 632 – 637, 2007.

S. Kurnaz, A. Cohn, and Y. Koran. “A Framework for Evaluating Production Policies to Improve Customer Responsiveness,” CIRP Annals – Manufacturing Technology 54 (1): pp. 401 – 406, 2005.

A. Cohn and C. Barnhart. “The Stochastic Knapsack Problem with Random Weights: A Heuristic Approach to Robust Transportation Planning,” TRISTAN III, June 1998, San Juan, Puerto Rico.


Publications Under Review

East, J., L. An, A. Cohn, M. Daskin, and T. Shanley. “Using Integer Programming and Simulation to Assess the Impact of Coordination Across Clinical Trials when Recruiting Volunteers from a Clinical Registry.” Under revision for IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering.

Schumacher, K., R. L. Chen, and A. Cohn. “Algorithm to Solve the N-k Secure Unit Commitment Problem with Transmission Switching.” Under second revision for INFORMS Journal on Computing.

McCarty, L. and A. Cohn. “Preemptive Rerouting of Airline Passenger under Uncertain Delays.” Under revision for Computers and OR.

Lemay, B., J. Castaing, R. Zidek, A. Cohn, and J. Cutler. “An Optimization-Based Approach for Small Satellite Download Scheduling, with Real-World Applications.” To be submitted.

Lapp, M., A. Cohn, and S. Shebalov. “Methods for Improving Aircraft Maintenance Recovery.” Under review with Computers and OR.

Hong, Y. and A. Cohn. “A Time-Constrained Vehicle Routing Problem with a Heterogeneous Fleet: Algorithms and Analysis.” Under 2nd review with Transportation Research Part B.


Chapters in Books

Fleet Fuel Consumption,” in SMARTGREENS/VEHITS 2015 – Selected and Revised Papers, Springer International Publishing, Communications in Computer and Information Science, Volume 579, 2015. 

A. Cohn and M. Lapp. “Airline Resource Scheduling,” in Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., James Cochran, editor, 2011.

C. Barnhart, A. Cohn, E. Johnson, D. Klabjan, G. Nemhauser, and P. Vance. “Airline Crew Scheduling,” in Handbook of Transportation Science, second edition, Kluwer’s International Series, Randolph Hall, editor, 2003.


Government, University, or Industrial Reports

S. Sun*, W. Lin, A. Cohn, M. Daskin, A. Obi, J.Chung, and R. Reddy. “Analyzing Conflicts between Random Arrivals and Fixed-Pattern Call Schedules for Training Heart and Lung Transplant Surgeons.” INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research Prize Competition submission, 2012.

A. Cohn, N. Yampikulsakul, G. Belcher, L. Chen, R. Chen, Z. Chen, M. Friedman, B. Harris, C. Lu, K. Lu, A. Schlesinger, and D. Weinblatt. “Final Report to Southwest Airlines on Block Time and Robustness Analysis.” March, 2011.

A. Cohn, L. Lahbabi, C. Leocha, B. Maloney, S. Podberesky, and B. Synyder. “The New Rules for Consumer Affairs: Have Things Improved?” Proceedings of the American Bar Association Forum on Air and Space Law Update Conference, February 2011.

A. Schlesinger*, B. Harris*, K. Gilson*, S. Tan*, M. Lapp, and A. Cohn. “Analysis of Tarmac Delays under Decreased Airport Capacity,” FAA Student Competition, April 2010.

A. Cohn. “Tarmac Delay Rule May Punish Passengers as Well as Airlines,” MIT Global Airline Industry Program White Paper, April 2010.

K. Kontoyiannakis*, E. Serrano*, K. Tse*, M. Lapp, and A. Cohn. “A Simulation Framework to Evaluate Airport Gate Allocation Policies Under Extreme Delay Conditions,” FAA Student Competition, April 2009.

D. Beil, A. Cohn, A. Sinha, S. AhmadBeygi, and R. Chen. “Using Implicit Bidding to Solve Truckload Procurement Auctions,” NSF CMMI Grantees Conference January 2008, Knoxville TN.

S. AhmadBeygi, A. Cohn, and M. Lapp. “Decreasing Airline Delay Propagation by Re-Allocating Scheduled Slack,” Sloan Industry Studies Working Paper Series, April 2008.

S. AhmadBeygi, A. Cohn, Y. Guan*, and P. Belobaba. “Analysis of the Potential for Delay Propagation in Passenger Airline Networks,” Sloan Industry Studies Working Paper Series, May 2007.


General (Lay) Press

A. Cohn. “You Paid $400 for Your Flight. The Person Next to You Paid $250. Here’s Why That Makes Sense – and Benefits Everybody,” The New Republic November 2014.

A. Cohn. “Why Did Your Airline Cancel Your Flight Today? They Had a Very Good Reason,” The New Republic August 2014.

A. Cohn. “A Year Later, Tarmac-Delay Rule Needs Some Maintenance,” Business Travel News August 22, 2011.

A. Cohn. “Passenger Rights and Cancelled Flights,” The New York Times December 29, 2010: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/12/29/can-air-travel-be-easier-in-bad-weather.

A. Cohn. “Fines for Delays are Not Fixes,” Aviation Week & Space Technology, 172 (20): p. 66, May 24, 2010.

A.Cohn and P. Belobaba. “Still Stuck on the Tarmac: Why the ‘Passenger Bill of Rights’ is Wrong,” Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/12/passenger-bill-of-rights-congress-travel-delay-opinions-contributors-aviation.html, posted August 13, 2009.