{"388701":{"#nid":"388701","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Hunger Heroes","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s enough food in the world\u0026nbsp;to feed everyone\u2014all 7-plus billion of us. So why are so many people going hungry?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u201cThe core problem is food distribution, not supply,\u201d says Ozlem Ergun, Georgia Tech professor of industrial and systems engineering. \u201cIt\u2019s quite expensive and challenging to deliver food that is abundant in one region of the world to another.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003EAs co-founder and co-director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems, Ergun and her team of faculty, staff and students work with groups such as the United Nations\u2019 World Food Programme to create more efficient food distribution systems. When thinking about who can solve the world\u2019s hunger crisis, industrial and systems engineers may not exactly be the heroes that jump to mind. But Ergun says the engineers who make these sorts of logistical and supply chain improvements not only save time, effort and money, but also human lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003EMallory Soldner, PhD IE 14, is one of these unsung hero engineers. As a graduate student, Soldner spent more than a year in Rome helping the World Food Programme create a supply chain dashboard designed to help humanitarian workers track problem areas using key performance indicators. For example, one aspect the dashboard measures is the reliability of food commodity orders placed by a country office. The dashboard uses graphs to show what percentage of orders have arrived on time, in good quality and in the right amount to their destination. If orders are arriving early or late, the dashboard will help pinpoint what\u2019s causing the problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u201cIt promotes a better dialogue around what\u2019s happening, why it\u2019s happening and what you have to do to tweak things to get where you want,\u201d Soldner says. \u201cIt\u2019s a really digestable way to focus on the most important pieces.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003ESoldner, who now works at UPS\u2019 corporate headquarters in the advanced analytics group, says engineers indeed have an important role to play in the humanitarian arena. \u201cEngineers help translate solutions to areas where tradeoffs are difficult,\u201d she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003EThe Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems was what initially attracted Soldner to Georgia Tech. She attended the Center\u2019s annual logistics conference before she decided to pursue her doctorate at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe center was established in 2007 as a way for students and faculty to share their skills to improve logistics in the public sector. And that\u2019s important because resources in the nonprofit world are often limited.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cEvery dollar that can be saved in operational costs can be used to help another person,\u201d Ergun says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EBut humanitarian organizations present some very unique challenges. Unlike at a typical private-sector company, it\u2019s very difficult to predict what demand will be like from one day to the next. A typical corporation can predict demand for its products in the future based on sales from past years. But predicting a tsunami or political revolution isn\u2019t quite as straightforward.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EHumanitarian organizations often struggle with consistent funding as well.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cEven if you can estimate demand, without a confirmed donation you cannot start your supply chain action,\u201d Ergun says. \u201cThe money starts to trickle in when there\u2019s an emergency. But when there\u2019s an emergency or humanitarian event\u2014such as a storm that wipes out food supplies\u2014it\u2019s already too late to start buying.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ESimply put, Ergun says one of the goals of the center and its partnerships with humanitarian organizations is to help ensure that they get the right amount of food, at the right price, to the right place at the right time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThat really fits into our expertise at Tech,\u201d Ergun says. \u201cWe have one of the best departments in the world in this area and we have a lot of experience.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EIn fact, Ergun believes the Institute deserves some credit for the growing prominence of engineering in the humanitarian sector. \u201cWe were one of the pioneer groups, but it has become quite a big field for academia,\u201d Ergun says. \u201cAnd I think part of it is due to our leadership.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThis article first appared in the \u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Tech Alumni Magazine\u0026nbsp;Vol. 91, No. 1 2015.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFaculty, staff and students use logistics to help save lives across the globe through Tech\u2019s Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Faculty, staff and students use logistics to help save lives across the globe through Tech\u2019s Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems."}],"uid":"27868","created_gmt":"2015-03-19 07:12:16","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:54","author":"Lizzie Millman","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"388711":{"id":"388711","type":"image","title":"Faculty, staff and students use logistics to help save lives across the globe through Tech\u2019s Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems","body":null,"created":"1449246288","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:24:48","changed":"1475894349","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:09","alt":"Faculty, staff and students use logistics to help save lives across the globe through Tech\u2019s Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems","file":{"fid":"75486","name":"hunger_heros.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hunger_heros.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hunger_heros.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":63567,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/hunger_heros.jpg?itok=e5bPeCYq"}}},"media_ids":["388711"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"72881","name":"Dr. ozlem ergun"},{"id":"121801","name":"health systems. center for health and humanitarian systems"},{"id":"1238","name":"Ozlem Ergun"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}