TARANEH SOWLATI: Industrial Engineer
Dr. Taraneh Sowlati, Industrial Engineer and Associate Professor, has completed a collaborative research with a biomass fueled power plant optimizing their supply chain.
Dr. Sowlati, an associate professor in the department of Wood Science, is an Industrial Engineer by training and received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Information Systems from the University of Toronto in 2001. She is a professional engineer and a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists in British Columbia (APEGBC). Taraneh is the editorial board member of “International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies” and “International Journal of Applied Management Science”. She is Chair of Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Membership Committee and President of CORS Vancouver Chapter. Her research interests cover a wide range including mathematical programming, operations research, supply chain modeling and optimization, efficiency and productivity assessment, life cycle analysis, forestry, biomass and bioenergy. Over the past few years, she has been focusing on forest biomass supply chain management and most of her projects are related to utilizing forest biomass in different applications and optimizing their supply chains.
In one of her research projects funded by NSERC, she is looking at uncertainties in forest biomass supply chain optimization. She has been closely working with a biomass fueled power plant during the past year to assist them with optimizing their profit. Nazanin Shabani, one of her Ph.D. students working on this project, has developed mathematical models to optimize the plant’s profit considering its fiber supply, fiber storage, production process, and electricity demand. Changes in the amount of available fiber, cost of fiber, price of electricity and investments in the production process on the generated profit were also analyzed. The important feature of this study for the power plant was its ability to integrate supply, storage, production, and demand in the modeling and consider the effects of all the relevant factors simultaneously on the company’s profitability. The project helps the power plant managers in making better decisions regarding the purchase and storage of fiber, and investments in the plant.
For more information contact Dr. Taraneh Sowlati at taraneh.sowlati@ubc.ca or visit the Industrial Engineering Research Group website.
Date Posted: 2/7/2012
Number of Views: 127
Return