Muhammad Noor E Alam
Associate Professor,
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Office
- 209 SN
- 617.373.2275
Research Focus
Applied operations research, healthcare, supply chain, large scale optimization, and big data analytics
About
Muhammad Noor E Alam is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering and a Core AI Faculty Member at the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University. Prior to joining Northeastern, Dr. Alam was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Alam is a recipient of a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award (2021). He served as a board member of the Logistics and Supply Chain Division of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), as the Chair of the Academic and Students Community of Practice Committee for the IISE Society for Health Systems, and as an associate editor of INFORMS Journal on Computing. Currently, Dr. Alam serves as an associate editor of the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics and as a guest editor of the IISE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering.
Education
- PhD (2013), Engineering Management, University of Alberta, Canada
- MS (2006), Industrial & Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology
- BS (2004), Industrial & Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology
Honors & Awards
- 2025 COE Faculty Fellow
- 2021 National Science Foundation CAREER Award
- 1st Place Winners: 2019 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Fall Research Conference, Denver, CO, USA
- Analytics Best Track Paper Award, 2016 IEOM Detroit Conference
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2013-2015
- Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship, 2009-2011
Teaching Interests
- Operations Research
- Large Scale Optimization
- Data Analytics
- Operations & Supply Chain Management
- Total Quality Management
- Project Management
- Financial Management
Professional Affiliations
- Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS).
- Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE).
Research Overview
Applied operations research, healthcare, supply chain, large scale optimization, and big data analytics
Decision Analytics Lab
The Decision Analytics Lab develops matching models and algorithms to make robust causal inference decisions from large-scale observational studies. Ensuring robustness in causal inference alone produces a computationally intensive optimization problem. With the usage of big data, such an optimization problem becomes even more difficult to solve. We design scalable computational approaches that can handle large scale optimization problems emerging in robust causal inference, and help make policy decisions in Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Service industries by leveraging the power of big data.
Selected Research Projects
- Robust Matching Algorithms for Causal Inference in Large Observational Studies
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation, CAREER Award, 2021
Research Centers and Institutes
Selected Publications
- Sahil Shikalgar, Scott Weiner, Gary Young and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Self-Help Groups and Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: An Investigation Using a Machine Learning-Assisted Robust Causal Inference Framework”, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Published Online 24 June 2024, DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2024.105530.
- Md Saiful Islam, Sahil Shikalgar and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “A Two-Stage Feature Selection Approach for Robust Evaluation of Treatment Effects in High-Dimensional Observational Data”, IISE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering,
10.1080/24725579.2024.2447715 - Tianyu Wang, Jiongbai Liu, Tasnim Ibn Faiz, Chrysafis Vogiatzis and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Computational Framework for Target Tracking Information Fusion Problems”, INFORMS Journal on Computing, https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2023.0016.
- Marco Morucci, Md. Noor-E-Alam and Cynthia Rudin, “A Robust Approach to Quantifying Uncertainty in Matching Problems of Causal Inference”, INFORMS Journal on Data Science, 2022 (preprint).
- Md Saiful Islam, M. S. Morshed and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “A Computational Framework for Solving Nonlinear Binary Optimization Problems in Robust Causal Inference”, IINFORMS Journal on Computing, 2022. (preprint)
- M. S. Morshed, Md Saiful Islam and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Sampling Kaczmarz Motzkin Method for Linear Feasibility Problems: Generalization & Acceleration”, Mathematical Programming, 2021. https:doi.org10.1007s10107-021-01649-8
- M. S. Morshed, Md Saiful Islam and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Accelerated Sampling Kaczmarz Motzkin Algorithm for Linear Feasibility Problem”, Journal of Global Optimization, 2019. doi.org10.1007s10898-019-00850-6
- M. S. Morshed and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Generalized Affine Scaling Algorithms for Linear Programming Problems”, Computers & Operations Research, 2019. doi.org10.1016j.cor.2019.104807
- Md Mahmudul Hasan, Tasnim Ibn Faiz, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Gary Young, Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Optimizing Return and Secure Disposal of Prescription Opioids to Reduce the Diversion to Secondary Users and Black Market”, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 2022. (“preprint”).
- Md Mahmudul Hasan, Md. Noor-E-Alam, Jiesheng Shi, Leonard Young, Gary J. Young, “Long-term Patient Outcomes from Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: A Retrospective Analysis for a Commercially Insured Population”, The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2022.
- Razan A. H. Al-Lawati, Jose L. Crespo-Vazquez, Tasnim Ibn Faiz, Xin Fang and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “A Two-Stage Stochastic Optimization Approach to Aid in Decision Making Under Uncertainty for a Variable Resource Generator Participating in a Sequential Energy Market”, Applied Energy, Applied Energy, Vol. 252, 15 June 2021, 116882.
- Jose L. Crespo-Vazquez, C. Carrillo, E. Diaz-Dorado, Jose A. Martinez Lorenzo and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “A Machine Learning Based Stochastic Optimization Framework for a Wind and Storage Power Plant Participating in Energy Pool Market”, Applied Energy, Vol. 232, pp. 341-357, 2018.
- Jose L. Crespo-Vazquez, C. Carrillo, E. Lorenzo Diaz-Dorado, Jose A. Martinez and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Evaluation of a Data Driven Stochastic Approach to Optimize the Participation of a Wind and Storage Power Plant in Day-Ahead and Reserve Markets”, Energy, Vol. 156, pp. 278-291, 2018.
- Md Mahmudul Hasan, Gary J. Young, Jiesheng Shi, Prathamesh Mohite, Leonard Young, Scott G. Weiner, Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Predicting Patients Discontinuation from Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: A Two-Stage Clinical Decision Support System Using Machine Learning”, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 2021.
- Md Mahmudul Hasan, Gary Young, Mehul R. Patel, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Leon Sanchez, Md. Noor-E-Alam, “A Machine Learning Framework to Predict the Risk of Opioid Use Disorder”, Machine Learning with Applications, 2021.
- Md Mahmudul Hasan, Md. Noor-E-Alam, Prathamesh Mohite, Md Saiful Islam, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Alyssa Peckham, Leonard D. Young, and Gary J. Young, “Patterns of Patient Discontinuation from Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: A Study of a Commercially Insured Population in Massachusetts”, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Vol. 131, December 2021, 108416.
- Richard Paulsen, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Md Mahmudul Hasan, Md. Noor-E-Alam, Leonard Young and Gary Young, “Patterns of BuprenorphineNaloxone Prescribing: An Analysis of Claims Data from Massachusetts”, The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2019. doi.org10.1080/00952990.2019.1674863
Oct 16, 2025
Center for STEM Education’s Young Scholars Present Research on Opioid Use at 2025 IEEE MIT URTC
High school students Gabriella Jewitt and Daniel Golmohammadi, mentored by Tianyu Yang, PhD’26, industrial engineering, conducted research under the supervision of MIE Associate Professor Muhammad Noor E. Alam as part of the Center for STEM Education’s Young Scholar Program.
Jan 30, 2025
Faculty and Staff Awards 2025
Faculty and staff were recognized at the 27th Annual College of Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards for their exceptional service and dedication in support of students, the COE community, and the university during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Jan 29, 2025
Medication Plus Support Groups Increases Effectiveness of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
MIE Associate Professor Muhammad Noor E Alam’s research, published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics, found that people in treatment for opioid addiction are 25% more likely to complete medication if they also attend a support group.
Jan 09, 2025
Making the Case To Modernize the U.S. Domestic Steel Industry
After blocking Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel, the U.S. government must modernize domestic steel production to become more competitive, says MIE Associate Professor Muhammad Noor E Alam.
Jan 03, 2025
Alam Gives Industrial Engineering/Operations Research Conference Keynote Speech
MIE Associate Professor Muhammad Noor E Alam delivered a keynote speech, “How Industrial Engineers Can Solve Critical Healthcare Problems: A Case Study Addressing the Opioid Epidemic Crisis,” at the 7th IEOM Bangladesh International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management.
Sep 09, 2024
Machine Learning Models Applied to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Research
A recent paper, “Self-Help Groups and Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: An Investigation Using a Machine Learning-Assisted Robust Causal Inference Framework,” by MIE Associate Professor Muhammad Noor E Alam and his research team was published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics and featured in the The ASAM Weekly, a newsletter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
Jan 24, 2024
Using AI/OR Collaboration To Tackle Opioid Epidemic
MIE Associate Professor Muhammad Noor E Alam’s Challenge Problem “AI/OR to Address Opioid Epidemic Crisis”, has been selected for inclusion in the 3rd Computing Community Consortium AI/OR workshop.
Oct 12, 2023
PhD Spotlight: Razan Al Lawati, PhD’23, Industrial Engineering
Razan Al Lawati, PhD’23, industrial engineering, conducted research focusing on using stochastic optimization in various ways to develop decision-making tools for systems that deal with uncertainty. She developed a novel framework and her entrepreneurial drive led her to found a solar consulting firm in Oman. Her research contributions were published in the Journal of Applied Energy.
Aug 07, 2023
Young Scholars Program for Local High School Students Finishes Strong
High school seniors engage in diverse engineering research during Northeastern’s Young Scholars Program, mentored by COE faculty and students.
Oct 14, 2022
PhD Spotlight: Md Mahmudul Hasan, PhD’22 – Industrial Engineering
As a PhD student of the Decision Analytics Lab advised by Md Noor E Alam, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, Md Mahmudul Hasan, PhD’22 industrial engineering, conducted data-driven […]