Hello! I’m an associate professor in the Integrated Systems Engineering department at the Ohio State University; I am also a core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute as well as Co-PI of the EmPOWERment NRT program. I have additional affiliations with the Translational Data Analytics Institute, the Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering, and the STEAM Factory. I work in mathematical optimization: in simple terms, leveraging computers and mathematics to help make better decisions.
Education
BASc in Industrial (Systems) Engineering in 2010 from the University of Toronto; PhD in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research in 2015 from the University of California, Berkeley; and postdoctoral research scientist in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research department at Columbia University from 2015 to 2017.
Research
My research focuses on the design and implementation of optimization models and algorithms (MIP/MINLP/global optimization), including hardware acceleration via parallel computing or quantum computing. I’ve worked on a variety of applications: scheduling, facility location, financial portfolio optimization, and various problems arising in power systems operations, policy, and planning. I also work on developing and applying new methods for machine learning problems, including tensor completion, neural networks, and optimal classification trees; global methods can enable things like compactness, interpretability, verification, explicit constraints, and data efficiency.
Active Funding and Recent Awards
PhD student Connor Johnston at University of Florida was a runner-up at the MIP Workshop 2026 Best Poster Competition for our work on The Many Facets of Simple Disjunctions; joint with Aleksandr Kazachkov and Diego Moran Ramirez
1-year grant $75k with Taejoon Park (PI), Ali Nassiri, and Farhang Pourboghrat from the NSF IUCRC Center for Industrial Metal Forming for Sensor-Embedded Smart Tooling for Internal Stress Identification in Cold Forming.
1-year grant ~$1.1M with Prof. Martina Leveni (PI), Prof. Antonio Conejo, and Prof. Abdollah Shafieezadeh from the Department of Energy for Geothermal To Power PJM grid region (news link)
1-year grant $30k with Prof. Sarah Wolff (PI) and Prof. Alan Luo from the Sustainability Institute for From Scrap to Sustainability: AI for Circular Metals.
PhD student Yongzheng Dai was a finalist at the MIP Workshop 2025 Computational Competition (news link)
Currently Advised Students
Yunjing Guo, PhD Candidate
(joint advising with Ramteen Sioshansi)
Alexander While, PhD Candidate
Pavan Etha, PhD student
Dengfeng Gao, PhD student
Swapnil Engla, PhD student
Minhui Yu, PhD student
Richard Gilchrist, Honors Undergraduate Research
Past Advisees
Yongzheng Dai, PhD 2025: Parallel Computation in Optimization Problems: Simplex Projection and Mixed Integer Programming
Position: Postdoc @ Georgia Tech ISyE
Hyeongjun Kim, PhD 2024: Energy Storage Operational Modeling to Maximize Arbitrage Value and Improve Reliability
(joint advising with Ramteen Sioshansi)
Position: Congestion Analyst Associate @ AEP
Milad Dehghani Filabadi, PhD 2024: Exponential Conic Programming Techniques for Gas and Power Systems
Position: Operations Research and Data Scientist @ Bayer Crop Science
Abhishek Tiwari, Master’s 2024
Xinliang (Frederick) Zhang, Undergraduate 2021
Position: PhD @ University of Michigan, CSE
Wenqi Kou, Undergraduate 2020
Position: M.Eng. @ University of California, Berkeley, IEOR
Past Funding and Awards
PhD student Yongzheng Dai and I won the MIP Workshop 2024 Computational Competition (news link)
3-year $312k grant as PI from the Office of Naval Research for Distributed Projections for Mixed-Integer Programming (news link)
PhD student Alexander While received an EmPOWERment fellowship (news link)
1-year $100k grant with Prof. Martina Leveni (PI) and Prof. Abdollah Shafieezadeh from the College of Engineering for Next-Generation Energy Systems Planning for a Resilient and Sustainable Grid (news link)
1-year $30k grant as PI with Prof. Cathy Xia and Prof. Bhavik Bakshi from the Sustainability Institute for Toward Net-Zero, Nature-Positive Electric Power Systems with Stochastic Models of Techno-Ecological Networks (news link)
1-year $46k grant as PI with Prof. Theodore Allen from Goodwill for Optimal Scheduling Software System for Staffing Houses (news link)
1-year $10k seed grant as PI from the Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering for Quantum Computing for Discrete Optimization (news link)
Contact
Address
Chen Chen, Associate Professor
Department of Integrated Systems Engineering
The Ohio State University
244 Baker Systems Engineering Building
1971 Neil Ave
Columbus, OH 43210
Phone
614-247-8475
chen.8018@osu.edu
