Chun-An (Joe) Chou 周俊安

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

96 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA

Email: joechou (at) rci (.) Rutgers (.) edu  

 

Summary

He is currently looking for a faculty position or quantitative researcher.

Education

·         Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rutgers University, 2011

-       Dissertation topic: Mathematical Optimization Methods for Clustering and Classification in Biological and Medical Applications

-       Advisor: Dr. Wanpracha Art Chaovalitwongse

·         M.S. in Operations Research,  Columbia University, 2007

·         M.S. in Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, 2002 

-       Advisor: Dr. Ching-Pin Tung

·         B.S., National Taiwan University, 2000

 Research Interests

Optimization modeling and computational algorithms for large-scale problems with massive data.

·         Linear programming and Mixed-integer programming

·         Combinatorial optimization

·         Robust optimization

·         Meta-heuristics

·         Data mining (Logical Analysis of Data, Classification, Clustering, Feature selection)

Applications:

·         Biomedical informatics

·         Computational biology

·         fMRI in neuroimaging

·         Financial portfolio management and risk analysis

·         Environmental management system

Honors and Awards

·         Selected Finalist of the Data Mining INFORMS Best Student Paper Award, 2011

·         The 2010 INFORMS Future Academician Colloquium, Austin, TX, 2010

·         Graduate Research Assistantship, ISE, Rutgers University, 2007~2010

·         Honorable Mention, Annual New Jersey INFORMS Student Operations Research Contest, 2009

·         Kuhl Memorial Engineering Fellowship, School of Engineering, Rutgers University, 2008

Professional Experiences

·         Instructor and Teaching Assistant, Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Rutgers University, 2010~2011

-       ISE 540:213: Industrial Engineering Lab (Instructed in Visual Basic).

-       ISE 540:311: Deterministic Models in Operations Research.

-       ISE 540:399: Design of Engineering Systems.

·         Research Assistant, Complex Systems Modeling & Optimization (COSMO) Lab, Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Rutgers University, 2007~present

-       Developing novel optimization models and computational algorithms for decision pattern and feature selection in classification problems (e.g., early detection and diagnosis of medical diseases).

-       Investigating robust optimization approaches to risk-aversion models for classification and clustering problems with uncertainty.

-       Collaborated with a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research group on the project“Computational Methods for Kinship Reconstruction” funded by NSF.

-       Proposed novel mathematical programming models and exact/heuristic solution approaches to solve the biology clustering problem.

·         Research Fellow, Sustainable Development Lab, Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, 2004~2005

-       Developed optimization models solved by heuristic techniques for identifying parameters of the groundwater system in water resource management.

Publications

Referred Journal papers

[J1]          Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse et al., Capacitated Clustering Problem in Computational Biology: Combinatorial and Statistical Approach for Sibling Reconstruction, Computer & Operations Research, Vol. 39, 609-619, 2012 (accepted in 2011)

[J2]          W. Art Chaovalitwongse, Chun-An Chou et al., New Optimization Model and Algorithm for Sibling Reconstruction from Genetic Markers, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Vol. 22(2), 180-194, 2010

[J3]          Saad I. Sheikh, Tanya Y. Berger-Wolf, Ashfaq A. Khokar, Isabelle C. Caballero, Mary V. Ashley, W. Art Chaovalitwongse, Chun-An Chou, and Bhaskar DasGupta. Combinatorial Reconstruction of Half-Sibling Groups: Models and Algorithms. Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Vol. 8(2), 337-356, 2010

[J4]          Ching-Pin Tung, Chun-An Chou, Pattern Classification using Tabu Search to Identify the Spatial Distribution of Groundwater Pumping, Hydrogeology Journal, Vol. 12(5), 488-496, 2004

[J5]          Ching-Pin Tung, Chun-An Chou, Application of Tabu Search to Groundwater Parameter Zonation, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, Vol. 38(4), 1115-1126, 2002

Book chapters Referred Journal papers

[B1]        Gainluca Gazzola, Chun-An Chou, Myong K. Jeong, W. Art  Chaovalitwongse, “An Introduction to the Analysis of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data”, in Optimization and Data Analysis in Biomedical Informatics, Fields Institute Communications, 2012 (in press)

Papers in progress

[S1]         Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse et al., Column Generation Framework of Nonlinear similarity Model for Reconstructing Sibling Groups, revision submitted to INFORMS Journal on Computing

[S2]         Chun-An Chou, W. Art  Chaovalitwongse, Tiberius O. Bonates, Chungmok Lee, Improved Pattern Generation Approach in Logical Analysis of Medical Data, submitted to INFORMS Journal on Computing

[S3]         Chun-An Chou, Shouyi, W. Art Chaovalitwongse, Myong K. Jeong, A new combinatorial Approach Using Mutual Information for Feature Selection (in preparation)

[S4]         Chun-An Chou, Chungmok Lee, W. Art Chaovalitwongse, New Decomposed Feature Support Machine for Logical Feature Selection (in preparation)

[S5]         Chun-An Chou, Chungmok Lee, W. Art Chaovalitwongse, Analysis of Novel Risk-Aversion Classification Models with uncertainties (in preparation)

Presentations

Conferences

[P1]        Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse. Integration of Similarity Measure into a QMIP Model for Biological Clustering. INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2010, Austin, TX.

[P2]        Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse, et al. A Branch-and-price Approach for Optimal Sibling Reconstruction. INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2010, Austin, TX.

[P3]        Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse, et al. Improved Efficient Optimization Approaches for Pattern Generation in Logical Analysis of Data. INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2010, Austin, TX.

[P4]        Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse et al., "Enhanced GRASP for Clustering Problem of Reconstructing Sibling Relationships using Genetic Data”, INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2009, San Diego, CA.

[P5]        Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse et al., "Branch-and-Price in Column Generation with Nonlinear Subproblem for Sibling Reconstruction", INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2009, San Diego, CA.

[P6]        Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse et al., "Optimal Clustering Approach via Quadratic Programming with Biological Application", INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2008, Washington, DC.

[P7]        Chun-An Chou, W. Art Chaovalitwongse et al., "Greedy Randomized Algorithm for Large-Scale Set Covering Problem for Sibling Reconstruction", INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2008, Washington, DC.

Competition

[P8]        Chun-An Chou , W. Art Chaovalitwongse , Zhe Liang, “Using Mathematical Programming Techniques to Reconstruct Sibling Relationship in Wild Populations” , NJ INFORMS Student Operations Research Contest, 2009

Professional Activities

·         Reviewer for European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, and Optimization Letters

·         Chair for sessions of "Computational Bio/ICS: Optimization in Bioinformatics" and "Logical Analysis of Data in Data mining" in the INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2010, Austin, TX

·         Student member of Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)

-       Optimization Society

-       Computing Society

-       Data Mining Society

·         Student member of Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)

·         Student member of The International Association of Financial Engineers (IAFE)

 

Feel free to contact me if you are interested in my research work.

 

Updated by 09/01/2011