{"529581":{"#nid":"529581","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Student Spotlight: Jan Vlachy and the Impact of Receiving ISyE\u2019s Robert Goodell Brown Fellowship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOne of the annual fellowships given out by Georgia Tech\u2019s Stewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering (ISyE) is the Robert Goodell Brown Fellowship. This fellowship, created by Kimberly and J. King Harrison (whose son graduated from Georgia Tech), honors Robert Goodell Brown, who had a distinguished career in operations research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Harrison family, King in particular, had a close working and personal relationship with Brown over the 20 years prior to Brown\u2019s death. In fact, King Harrison inherited Brown\u2019s books and research materials after Brown died.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe reason for the endowment, according to Harrison, is because many graduate students in ISyE study supply chain management, and among the pioneers of the field, Brown certainly stands out as a person who should be known and taught. \u201cHe laid the groundwork for those of us out in the field who must try to build, teach, and support forecasting systems,\u201d says Harrison.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJan Vlachy, an ISyE Ph.D. student (OR 2017) advised by ISyE Professor Turgay Ayer (George Family Foundation Assistant Professor), is one of the two 2015-16 recipients. Vlachy says, \u003Cstrong\u003E\u201c\u003C\/strong\u003EIt is inspiring to be awarded a fellowship named after someone so famous, and I hope I will live up to the expectations.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVlachy came to ISyE on the advice of his master\u2019s degree advisor and because \u201cISyE is large and diverse, with a wide range of both methodologies and applications.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis research is focused on using mathematical models to improve health care delivery: policy modeling for new health care delivery models and technology, but also more clinically relevant work. For instance, Vlachy, Ayer, and an undergraduate researcher, Lianyan Gu, are working with Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado, specifically the emergency department, with doctors and nurses, to evaluate treatment of asthmatic children.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe explains, \u201cFor asthma, one study found that only about 24 percent of all doctors and nurses read, let alone follow, treatment guidelines. The rest of them rely on their gut or on what their teachers told them. But we have massive data from electronic health records, and what we\u2019re looking for is whether it\u2019s possible to extract the work flow from those records, and see what\u2019s best for the children.\u201d This will help health care professionals determine whether and when to give an asthmatic child a drug or how long an affected child can wait.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVlachy continues, \u201cThere has been literature on discovering such work flows, but in general, what works in manufacturing, or banking, or the service industry does not work in health care. Health care processes are much more complicated. Each patient is so individual, and we don\u2019t know what works for each patient. So that\u2019s all part of the challenge: Was the different work flow appropriate for the patient, or was it a fluke?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEventually, Vlachy will work with health care professionals to see if the work flow algorithms he comes up with can help guide their clinical practice. Ultimately, the results of this research has application appeal to other emergency departments as well.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s very validating to get some outside feedback on the work we are doing,\u201d said Vlachy. \u201cOften when we are submitting something or write up something, it takes time to see what impact it really has. We submit articles to journals and go through cycles and cycles of revisions. And any validation such as the Robert Goodell Brown fellowship says that we are doing something right.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe notes, \u201c[In ISyE] we are taught to think big.\u201d Fittingly, Vlachy has big dreams for the future. He will spend this summer at the University of Chicago, thanks to a Data Science for Social Good Summer Fellowship. After graduating, he might like to work on significant social problems, perhaps as a data scientist for a mission-driven organization.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe world is full of uncertainty, but the future is bright,\u201d Vlachy adds.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOne of the annual fellowships given out by ISyE is the Robert Goodell Brown Fellowship.This year, one of the recipients is Ph.D. student Jan Vlachy.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"One of the annual fellowships given out by ISyE is the Robert Goodell Brown Fellowship.This year, one of the recipients is Ph.D. student Jan Vlachy."}],"uid":"28766","created_gmt":"2016-04-26 12:00:01","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:28","author":"Shelley Wunder-Smith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"529561":{"id":"529561","type":"image","title":"ISyE Ph.D. student Jan Vlachy is a recipient of the Robert Goodell Brown Fellowship.","body":null,"created":"1461895200","gmt_created":"2016-04-29 02:00:00","changed":"1475895307","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:07","alt":"ISyE Ph.D. student Jan Vlachy is a recipient of the Robert Goodell Brown Fellowship.","file":{"fid":"206217","name":"jan-vlachy-web-image.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jan-vlachy-web-image.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jan-vlachy-web-image.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":146831,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/jan-vlachy-web-image.jpg?itok=PuKkFeFc"}}},"media_ids":["529561"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"366","name":"Graduate"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"170180","name":"Jan Vlachy"},{"id":"170181","name":"Robert Goodell Brown Fellowship"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404.385.4745\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["shelley.wunder-smith@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}