Below are details of two seminars organised by CORMSIS (Centre for
Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems),
University of Southampton.  Anyone is welcome.

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"EXAMINE: A Practical Algorithm for the Examination Timetabling Problem"
Michael Carter (University of Toronto)

17.00 on Monday 15 July, Room 10C, Faculty of Mathematical Studies
(Building 54), University of Southampton


University examination timetabling is a difficult combinatorial problem.
Carter and Laporte have developed a heuristic algorithm based on a
limited backtracking scheme.  The method has been implemented at the
University of Toronto (Engineering), Carleton University (Ottawa), Ecole
des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (Montreal), the London School of
Economics, the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario), the
University of Limerick (Ireland) and the University of Otego (New
Zealand).  Despite the fact that all of these schools have quite
different requirements, they are all using the same program with a user
interface that allows the scheduler to tailor the procedure to their
specific issues.

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"Operations Research Applications in the Health Care Industry: Why don't
more O.R. professionals work in Health Care"
Michael Carter (University of Toronto)

17.00 on Wednesday 17 July, Room 3043, School of Management (Building
2), University of Southampton


Health Care is the number one industry in Canada; bigger than
automotive, telecommunications or steel.  Total spending in 2000-01 was
over $97.6 billion up 7.6% from the previous year, ($3,174 per person)
[Health Canada: August 2001] or close to 10% of the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).  In the U.S., spending is over one trillion dollars US,
over 14% of the GDP.  The US spends far more than any other country (as
a percent of GDP).  The U.K.  spent 6.7% of GDP in 1999, but it has been
growing.  Health care systems all over the world are in the midst of a
serious financial crisis, and the situation will likely get worse in the
next few years.  Demand is going up as the population ages, and costs
are increasing as the drugs and technologies continue to get more
complex and expensive.

Of course, it would help if there were more money available.  However, I
also strongly believe that the health care industry could be run a lot
more efficiently.  Operations Management is planning, coordinating,
controlling and evaluating the use and allocation of health care
resources.  The goals are quality improvement, cost containment, greater
effectiveness and increased efficiency.  In this talk, I will describe a
variety of practical examples of projects that I have been involved in,
and I will discuss some of the opportunities for research.


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Biosketch:

Michael Carter is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and
Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto.  He received his
PhD in Mathematics (Combinatorics and Optimization) from the University
of Waterloo in 1980.  He has been active in scheduling and optimization
since 1972.  His algorithms for examination timetabling are being used
at Waterloo, Montreal (H.E.C.), Carleton, London School of Economics,
the University of Western Ontario, Limerick University in Ireland and
the University of Otago in New Zealand.  He has won the Practice Prize
for the outstanding application of Operations Research from the CORS
three times (1988, 1992 and 1996) and he won the CORS Award of Merit in
2000.  Beginning around 1989, his major research focus has been in the
area of Healthcare productivity with a variety of projects at hospitals,
home care and mental health institutions.