I am Associate Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), with courtesy professorships in Mathematical Sciences and Data Science. I hold a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. My objective is to use science and technology to assist real human need by improving systems that serve vulnerable peoples, such as refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of human trafficking, and children in the foster care system.
I believe that the convergence of novel analytical technologies and open-source software can create solutions that improve quality of life, increase fairness, restore dignity, and generate significant societal impact. My research focuses on using prescriptive (integer optimization) and predictive (machine learning) analytics, together with algorithms, to effectively allocate scarce resources.
Under my mentorship, my team employs mathematical modeling and develops methods and tools to benefit vulnerable and marginalized individuals, groups, and populations. My scholarly work deeply influences students to get involved in these research projects that provides an opportunity to contribute in expanding the current boundaries of knowledge.
My research is supported by the National Science Foundation (Operations Engineering) grants CMMI-1825348, CMMI-1841893, CMMI-1935602, the Ragnar Söderberg Foundation, and other organizations.
You can find my work published in research journals and conferences that include:
- Operations Research
- Production and Operations Management
- European Journal of Operational Research
- INFORMS Journal on Computing
- IISE Transactions
- IJCAI
- Decision Support Systems
- Discrete Optimization
- Socio-Economic Planning Sciences
- Journal of Cleaner Production
- Journal of Combinatorial Optimization
- Health Systems
- Bioinformatics
Learn more about Professor Trapp's teaching, current students, and how to join his team on his personal website.
Visit Digital WPI to view student projects and research advised by Professor Trapp.
Sustainable Development Goals
Research Interests
Scholarly Work
Featured works:
N. Ahani, T. Andersson, A. Martinello, A. Teytelboym, A. C. Trapp, "Placement Optimization in Refugee Resettlement," Operations Research, 69(5), pp. 1349‐1650, 2021.
N. Ahani, P. Gölz, A. Procaccia, A. Teytelboym, A. C. Trapp, "Dynamic Placement in Refugee Resettlement," 2021 ACM conference on Economics and Computation, Budapest, Hungary (virtual), July 2021.
S. Azizi, C. Bozkir, A. C. Trapp, E. Kundakcioglu, A. K. Kurbanzade, "Aid Allocation for Camp‐Based and Urban Refugees with Uncertain Demand and Replenishments," Production and Operations Management, 30(12), pp. 4455‐4474, 2021.
R. A. Konrad, A. C. Trapp, T. Palmbach, J. S. Blom, "Overcoming Human Trafficking via Operations Research and Analytics: Opportunities for Methods, Models, and Applications," European Journal of Operational Research, 259 (2), pp. 733‐745, 2017.
T. Petit, A. C. Trapp, "Enriching Solutions to Combinatorial Problems via Solution Engineering," INFORMS Journal on Computing, 31(3), pp. 429‐444, 2019.
Professional Affiliations
Professional Highlights & Honors
News
Media Coverage
MassNonprofit News covered new, National Science Foundation-funded research being conducted by Andrew Trapp, Yunus Telliel, and Sarah Stanlick to create a digital tool to help nonprofits find and exchange resources, and ultimately build a collaborative community of organizations.
NPR Hartford reported on Andrew Trapp, associate professor of operations and industrial engineering, developing analytical tools to estimate capacities for holding sites, judges, and other resources needed to humanely process migrant asylum cases at the U.S. southern border.