Research profile: Alexander Engau
Dr. Alexander Engau is an expert in business analytics with over 15 years research and work experience in an area sometimes called the Science of Better. Linking statistics, mathematical modeling and operations research, Dr. Engau leverages data analysis with optimization to support policies or decisions that maximize efficiencies or minimize risks, costs, times or wastes. His particular interests include the handling and analysis of tradeoffs under uncertainty, which has been recognized in work with many former students or external partners in Canada, the U.S., Germany, the U.K., China and Senegal.
For example, Dr. Engau recently collaborated on a transportation asset management and protection program pilot for one of the largest U.S. state departments of transportation. For this pilot, he was tasked to prioritize among a large number of infrastructure development projects with a predicted cost of nearly $1 billion, to select optimal project portfolios that stay within budget but are equally responsive to a diverse set of governmental goals: safety, health and air quality; sustainability, livability and economy; system performance and efficiency; and general organizational stewardship and excellence.
Other highlights of Dr. Engau’s prior work include leading recommendations on newly staggered bell times and improved routes to reduce buses, costs and the times students spend travelling to over 200 public schools in a U.S. metropolitan school district; supporting truck loads and hauling at a top-producing oil and natural gas field in North America; and assisting debris tracking, risk estimation and manoeuvre planning to predict and prevent satellite collisions in space.
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