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Barry L. Nelson
Walter P. Murphy Professor and Chair
Department of Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Northwestern University
2145 Sheridan Road, Room C216
Evanston, IL 60208-3119
nelsonb@northwestern.edu

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Page Map

1. Education
2. Research and Teaching Interests
3. Book web site: Foundations and Methods of Stochastic Simulation
4. Projects
5. Important Links
6. Publications, Working Papers and Books
7. Software
8. Courses
9. Video of Nelson teaching queueing
10. Video of Nelson giving 2011 Omega Rho Lecture (YouTube)
11. Detailed Vitae (pdf)
12. Family Pictures

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Education

• BA, Mathematics and Computer Science, DePauw University
• MS, PhD, Industrial Engineering, Purdue University

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Research and Teaching Interests

• computer simulation of stochastic systems
• stochastic processes
• statistics

Professor Nelson is interested in the design and analysis of computer simulation experiments, particularly issues of statistical efficiency (such as variance-reduction techniques), multivariate output analysis (such as multiple-comparison procedures and optimization via simulation), input uncertainty, multivariate input modeling (such as modeling and generation of nonstationary arrival processes) and metamodeling. He also works on approximation techniques for networks of nonstationary queues. His application areas include financial engineering, computer performance modeling, quality control, manufacturing and transportation systems. He is a Fellow of INFORMS and IIE.

Professor Nelson teaches courses on stochastic modeling and computer simulation. He was named McCormick teacher of the year in 1998 and 2007, was elected to the 2002, 2003 and 2007 ASG Faculty Honor Rolls, received the 2003 Northwestern Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award, was given the 2004 IIE Operations Research Division Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Operations Research, and was a Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence.

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Projects

• Co-PI with Dennis Pegden on NSF GOALI Grant "Quantifying Input Uncertainty in Stochastic Simulation."

• Co-PI with Bruce Ankenman and Jeremy Staum on NSF Grant "Stochastic Kriging: Modeling and Controlling Uncertainty in Simulation."

• Co-PI with Wally Hopp on General Motors R&D Grant "Strategic Decision Making Support Over the Manufacturing Life Cycle."

• Co-PI with Jeremy Staum on National Science Foundation Grant "Simulating Coherent Risk Measures."

• Co-PI with Mike Taaffe on National Science Foundation Grant "QNATS - The Queueing Network Approximator for Time-Dependent Systems."

• Co-PI with Bruce Ankenman, John Fowler and Gerald Mackulak on Semiconductor Research Corporation Grant "Multi-product Cycle Time and Throughput Evaluation via Simulation on Demand."

• Co-PI with Sigrun Andradottir on the National Science Foundation Grant A Framework for Effective Optimization via Simulation.

• Co-PI with Bruce Ankenman on General Motors R&D Grant "A Simulation Design and Analysis Environment for GM." (completed)

• Co-PI with Bruce Ankenman, John Fowler and Gerald Mackulak on National Science Foundation Grant Procedures for Efficient Cycle Time-Throughput Curve Generation. (completed)

• Co-PI with Joseph Schofer on TCRP Grant B-23 "Resource Requirements for Demand-Responsive Transportation Services." (completed)

• PI on General Motors Grant "A Simulation Framework for Vehicle Distribution Systems." (completed)

• Co-PI with David Goldsman on the National Science Foundation Grant Comparisons via Stochastic Simulation, with Applications to Manufacturing and Services. (completed)

• Co-PI with James R. Wilson on the National Science Foundation Grant A Comprehensive Framework and Software for Simulation Input Modeling. (completed)

• PI on Scenario Generation and Evaluation in Discrete-Event Simulation sponsored by JGC Corporation. (completed)

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Important Links

• The Winter Simulation Conference web site.
• The INFORMS Simulation Society.

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Publications and Books

Ranking & Selection, Multiple Comparisons
Variance Reduction
Input Modeling
Optimization via Simulation
Output Analysis
Queueing
Other Topics
Working Papers
Books

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Software

Click here to download Stochastic Kriging software (Matlab) for simulation metamodeling.

Click here to download Industrial Strength Compass software for optimization via simulation.

Click here to download ARTAFACTS and ARTAGEN software for time series input modeling.

Click here to download VARTA software for multivariate time series input modeling.

Click here to download Maple procedures to analyze Ph(t)/Ph(t)/Infinity queues.

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Example Course Syllabi
(current syllabi on NU's Blackboard System)

• 738-317 Discrete-Event Systems Simulation
• 738-415 (MEM Course) Computer Simulation for Risk and Operations Analysis
• 738-435 Introduction to Stochastic Simulation

Short Courses

Prof. Nelson teaches short courses on the following topics:

• Design and analysis of discrete-event simulation experiments, emphasizing input modeling, experimental design and output analysis.

• Spreadsheet simulation, emphasizing how to select probablity distributions based on little or no data.

• Use of basic queueing models.

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last update 9/10/2012