ISE Seminar Series - Pratik Parikh

Title: Towards Transdisciplinary Approaches to Engineering Service Systems

Abstract: Driven by real-world challenges in service systems, my research team has spent the past decade developing approaches that transcend traditional, discipline-specific methodologies. In this talk, I will highlight two initiatives: one in retail design and another in healthcare. Our visibility-based retail design research brought together experts from psychology, computer science, and marketing, while our healthcare work, piloted at a local hospital, involved collaborators from emergency medicine, discharge services, and hospital administration. We will discuss the unique challenges in each area, our proposed solutions, and several success stories. Time permitting, we will also share insights from our experiences collaborating with researchers across disciplines, along with key lessons learned.

Biography: Dr. Pratik Parikh has served as Chair and Duthie Endowed Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Louisville since 2020. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech. Dr. Parikh’s research in supply chains, retail, and healthcare has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the State of Ohio, and industry partners. He is currently serving a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Department Heads (CIEADH) and has served on various boards within the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Dr. Parikh has been recognized with the IISE Fellow Award, the IISE Logistics and Supply Chain Division Teaching Award, the IISE Global Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award, the Dayton Forty Under 40 Award, and several university honors. His students have received multiple Best Track Paper Awards and national scholarships in recognition of their outstanding research accomplishments.