$Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Mark Lewis\Documents\Mark\Web Page\index_files\image003.jpg$ Mark E. Lewis, Professor
Cornell University
School of Operations Research and Information Engineering

226 Rhodes Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
phone 607.255.0757
fax 607.255.9129
email mark.lewis 'at' cornell 'dot' edu

I am a faculty member in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University. My undergraduate degrees are in Mathematics and Political Science from Eckerd College . I earned a Master's Degree in Theoretical Statistics from the Florida State University and a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology . After completing my Ph.D, I spent a year at the University of British Columbia as a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre for Operations Excellence with Martin Puterman. I spent six years in the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan before arriving at Cornell University in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering. I am an avid sports fan and I love to watch football (did I mention I went to Florida State?) and play basketball.

Link To My Curriculum Vitae

Current Research
My research interests are in Stochastic Processes with an emphasis on queueing theory. My thesis work was in this area with Professor Hayriye Ayhan and Professor Robert (Bob) D. Foley. We used Markov Decision Processes to uncover some new ideas in trunk reservation and bias optimality. I also spent time at the University of British Columbia in the Centre for Operations Excellence as a postdoctoral fellow working with Martin L. Puterman. We explained implicit discounting in bias optimality and again related it to controlled queueing systems. Most recently, I have gotten interested in parallel processing and how resources are allocated dynamically in such systems. There is also some work on fundamental advances in average cost Markov decision processes with Eugene Feinberg. Some of this work is detailed in the papers below.

Publications

1. Gabriel Zayas-Cabán, Mark E. Lewis, Matthew Olson and Samuel Schmitz, “Emergency Medical Service Allocation in Response to Large Scale Events” 2011. Preprint. [Abstract or full paper: EMS-Response.pdf (Coming mid-January, pending company review)].

2. Ravi Kumar, Mark E. Lewis and Huseyin Topaloglu, “Dynamic Service Rate Control for a Single Server Queue with Markov Modulated Arrivals”, 2011. Under review. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. CMMI-0900460 and CMMI-0826255. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: Markov-modulated.pdf (210 Kbytes)].

3. Hyun-soo Ahn and Mark E. Lewis, “Flexible Server Allocation and Customer Routing Policies for Two Parallel Queues when Service Rates are not Additive”, 2011. Under review. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. CMMI-0900460 and CMMI-0826255. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: alloc-route-final.pdf (210 Kbytes)].

4. Douglas G. Down, Ger Koole and Mark E. Lewis, "Dynamic Control of a Single Server System with Abandonments", Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Vol. 67(1), January 2011. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. CMMI-0900460 and CMMI-0826255. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: abandon-final.pdf (210 Kbytes)].

5. Luz A. Caudillo-Fuentes, David L. Kaufman and Mark E. Lewis, "A Simple Heuristic for Load Balancing in Parallel Processing Networks with Highly Variable Service Time Distributions”, Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Vol. 64(2), 145-165, February 2010. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. CMMI-0540808 and CMMI-0826255. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: heavy-tail-questa-final.pdf (244 Kbytes)].

6. Douglas G. Down and Mark E. Lewis, "The N-Network Model with Upgrades", Probability and the Engineering and Informational Sciences, Vol. 24(2), 171-200, 2010. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. CMMI-0540808 and CMMI-0826255. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: N-network-up.pdf (238 Kbytes)].

7. Cheng-Hung Wu, Douglas G. Down and Mark E. Lewis, "Heuristics for Allocation of Reconfigurable Resources in a Serial Line with Reliability Considerations", IIE Transactions, Vol. 40(6), 595-611, June 2008. (also featured in IE Magazine, June 2008, p. 54-5). [ie-magazine-feature.pdf] This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-0540808. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: heuristic-wu.pdf (321 Kbytes)].

8. David Kaufman and Mark E. Lewis, "Machine Maintenance with Workload Considerations", Naval Research Logistics, Vol. 54(7), 750-766, 2007. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-0540808. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: reliability.pdf (249 Kbytes)].

9. Eugene A. Feinberg and Mark E. Lewis, "Optimality Inequalities for Average Cost Markov Decision Processes and the Stochastic Cash Balance Problem", Mathematics of Operations Research, Vol. 32(4), 769-783, 2007. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-0540808. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: mdp-cash-balance.pdf(248 Kbytes)]

10. Cheng-Hung Wu, Mark E. Lewis and Michael Veatch, "Dynamic Allocation of Reconfigurable Resources in a Two-Stage Tandem Queueing System with Reliability Considerations", IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 51(2), 309-314, 2006. This research was supported in part by the NSF grant DMI-0132811 and by the NSF Engineering Research Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems part of the Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation under NSF Award Number EEC 95-29125. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation. [Abstract or full paper: reconfig.pdf (215 Kbytes)]

11. Douglas G. Down and Mark E. Lewis, "Dynamic Load Balancing in Parallel Queueing Systems: Stability and Optimal Control", The European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 168(2), 509-519, 2006. The original publication is available online at www.sciencedirect.com. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-0132811. [Abstract or full paper: load.pdf (111 Kbytes)]

12. David L. Kaufman, Hyun-soo Ahn, and Mark E. Lewis, "On the Introduction of an Agile, Temporary Workforce into a Tandem Queueing System", Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Vol. 51(1-2), 135-171, 2005. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-0132811. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: flex-temp.pdf (215 Kbytes)]

13. Seongmoon Kim, Mark E. Lewis, and Chelsea C. White III, "State Space Reduction for Non-stationary Stochastic Shortest Path Problems with Real-Time Traffic Information", IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 6(3), 273-284, 2005. [Abstract or full paper: reduction.pdf (425 Kbytes)]

14. Seongmoon Kim, Mark E. Lewis, and Chelsea C. White III, "Optimal Vehicle Routing with Real-Time Traffic Information", IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 6(2), 178-188, 2005. [Abstract or full paper: real-time.pdf (436 Kbytes)]

15. Eugene A. Feinberg and Mark E. Lewis, "Optimality of Four-Threshold Policies in Inventory Systems with Customer Returns and Borrowing/Storage Options", Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences, Vol. 19(1) 45-71, 2005. [Abstract or full paper: borrow.pdf (133 Kbytes)]

16. Seunghwan Yoon and Mark E. Lewis, "Optimal Pricing and Admission Control in a Queueing System with Periodically Varying Parameters", Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Vol. 47(3), 177-199, 2004. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-9908321. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: congestion_control.pdf (251 Kbytes)]

17. Jason H. Goto, Mark E. Lewis, and Martin L. Puterman, "Coffee, Tea, or ...?: A Markov Decision Process Model for Airline Meal Provisioning". Transportation Science, Vol. 38 (1), 107-118, 2004. [Abstract or full paper: canadian_air.pdf (1.5 Mbytes)]

18. William L. Cooper, Shane G. Henderson, and Mark E. Lewis, "Convergence of Simulation-Based Policy Iteration", Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences, Vol. 17(2), 213-234, 2003. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-9908321. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: csbpi.pdf (198 Kbytes)]

19. Hyun-soo Ahn, Izak Duenyas, and Mark E. Lewis, "The Optimal Control of a Two-Stage Tandem Queueing System with Flexible Servers", Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences, Vol. 16(4), 453-469, 2002. [Abstract or full paper: flex.pdf (270 Kbytes)]

20. Mark E. Lewis, Hayriye Ayhan, and Robert D. Foley, "Bias Optimal Admission Policies for a Nonstationary Multiclass Queueing System", Journal of Applied Probability, Vol. 39(1), 20-37, 2002. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-9908321. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: nonstat.pdf (154 Kbytes)]

21. Mark E. Lewis and Martin L. Puterman, "Bias Optimality". In The Handbook of Markov Decision Processes: Methods and Applications. Edited by Eugene Feinberg and Adam Shwartz. Kluwer, 89-111. 2001. [Abstract or whole chapter: chapter.pdf (363 Kbytes)]

22. Mark E. Lewis, "Average Optimal Policies in a Controlled Queueing System with Dual Admission Control", Journal of Applied Probability , Vol. 38(2), 369-385, 2001. [Abstract or full paper: dual_ad.pdf (266 Kbytes)]

23. W.S. Vincent Wong, Mark E. Lewis, and Victor C.M. Leung, "Stochastic Control of Path Optimization for Inter-Switch Handoffs in Wireless ATM Networks", IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 9(3), 336-350, 2001. [Abstract or full paper: handoffs.pdf (135 Kbytes)]

24. Mark E. Lewis and Martin L. Puterman, "A Probabilistic Analysis of Bias Optimality in Unichain Markov Decision Processes", IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 46(1), 96-100, 2001. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-9908321. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract or full paper: bias2.pdf (247 Kbytes)]

25. Mark E. Lewis and Martin L. Puterman, "A Note on Bias Optimality in Controlled Queueing Systems". The Journal of Applied Probability , Vol. 37(1), 300-305, 2000. [Abstract or full paper: biasnote.pdf (155 Kbytes)]

26. Mark E. Lewis, Hayriye Ayhan, and Robert D. Foley "Bias Optimality in a Queue with Admission Control". Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences , Vol. 13(3), 309-327, 1999. [abstract or full paper: bias1.pdf (253 Kbytes)