Muhammad Noor E Alam
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Office
- 209 SN
- 617.373.2275
Related Links
Research Focus
Applied operations research, healthcare, supply chain, large scale optimization, and big data analytics
About
Muhammad Noor E Alam is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering and director of Decision Analytics Lab at Northeastern University. Dr. Alam also holds a faculty associate position at Centre for Health Policy and Healthcare Research and an affiliated faculty position both at Global Resilience Institute, and School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Prior joining to Northeastern, Dr. Alam was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has completed his PhD in Engineering Management in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta (UofA), and received a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Industrial and Production Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET). Before coming to UoA, Dr. Alam served as a faculty member in the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at BUET. Most recently, he served as a board of director for Logistics and Supply Chain division of Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) in the year 2018 to 2020.
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
- 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
Selected Publications
- Hasan, Md Mahmudul, Jiang, Dizuo, Ullah, A.M.M. Sharif, Noor-E-Alam, Md. (2020). Resilient supplier selection in logistics 4.0 with heterogeneous information. Expert Systems with Applications, 139,112799. 10.1016/J.ESWA.2019.07.016
- Hasan, Md. Mahmudul, Noor-E-Alam, Md., Wang, Xiaoyi, Zepeda, E. David, J. Young, Gary (2020). Hospital Readmissions to Nonindex Hospitals: Patterns and Determinants Following the Medicare Readmission Reduction Penalty Program. Journal of Healthcare Quality, 42(1),e10-e17. 10.1097/JHQ.0000000000000199
- Jiang, Dizuo, Hasan, Md. Mahmudul, Faiz, Tasnim Ibn, Noor‐E‐Alam, Md. (2020). A possibility distribution‐based multicriteria decision algorithm for resilient supplier selection problems. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 27(3-4),203-223. 10.1002/MCDA.1696
- Morshed, Md Sarowar, Noor-E-Alam, Md. (2020). Generalized affine scaling algorithms for linear programming problems. Computers and Operations Research, 114,104807. 10.1016/J.COR.2019.104807
- Morshed, Md Sarowar, Islam, Md Saiful, Noor-E-Alam, Md. (2020). Accelerated sampling Kaczmarz Motzkin algorithm for the linear feasibility problem. Journal of Global Optimization, 77(2),361-382. 10.1007/S10898-019-00850-6
- Ouyang, Ruilin, Faiz, Tasnim Ibn, Noor E Alam, Md. (2020). Location-allocation models for healthcare facilities with long-term demand. International Journal of Operational Research, 38(3),295. 10.1504/IJOR.2020.10028558
- Ouyang, Ruilin, Faiz, Tasnim Ibn, Alam, Md. Noor E (2020). Location-allocation models for healthcare facilities with long-term demand. International Journal of Operational Research, 38(3),295. 10.1504/IJOR.2020.107531
- Paulsen, Richard, Modestino, Alicia Sasser, Hasan, Md Mahmudul, Noor-E-Alam, Md., Young, Leonard D., Young, Gary J. (2020). Patterns of buprenorphine/naloxone prescribing: an analysis of claims data from Massachusetts. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 46(2),216-223. 10.1080/00952990.2019.1674863
- M.S. Morshed, Md. Noor-E-Alam, Accelerated Affine Scaling Algorithms for Linear Pro- Gramming Problems, Computers & Operations Research, 114, 2020, 104807
- M.S. Morshed, Md. Saiful Islam, Md. Noor-E-Alam Accelerated Sampling Kacz-marz Motzkin Algorithm for Linear Feasibility Problem, Journal of Global Optimization, 77, 2020, 361-382
- 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.org/10.1007/s10898-019-00850-6
- S. Morshed and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Generalized Affine Scaling Algorithms for Linear Programming Problems”, Computers & Operations Research, 2019. doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2019.104807
- Md Saiful Islam, M. S. Morshed, Gary Young and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Robust policy evaluation from large-scale observational studies”, PLoS ONE 14(10), 2019: e0223360. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223360
- Richard Paulsen, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Md Mahmudul Hasan, Md. Noor-E-Alam, Leonard Young and Gary Young, “Patterns of Buprenorphine/Naloxone Prescribing: An Analysis of Claims Data from”, The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, forthcoming, 2019.
- Dizuo Jiang, Tasnim Ibn Faiz, Md Mahmudul Hasan and Md. Noor-E-Alam,“A Possibility Distribution Based Multi-Criteria Decision Algorithm for Resilient Supplier Selection Problems”, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 2019. DOI:10.1002/mcda.1696
- Md Mahmudul Hasan, Dizuo Jiang, AMM Sharif Ullah and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “Resilient Supplier Selection in Logistics 4.0 with Heterogeneous Information”, Expert Systems with Applications, 2019. org/10.1016/j.eswa.2019.07.016
- Md Mahmudul Hasan, Md. Noor-E-Alam, Xiaoyi Wang, David Zepeda and Gary Young,“Hospital Readmissions to Non-Index Hospitals: Patterns and Determinants Following the Adoption of the Medicare Readmission Reduction Penalty Program”, Journal for Healthcare Quality, 2019. doi: 10.1097/JHQ.0000000000000199
- Tasnim Ibn Faiz, Chrysafis Vogiatzis and Md. Noor-E-Alam,“A Column Generation Algorithm for Vehicle Scheduling and Routing Problems”, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 130, pp. 222-236, 2019.
- Hayley D. Germack, Md. Noor-E-Alam, Xiaoyi Wang and Nancy Hanrahan, “Association Between Comorbid Serious Mental Illness Diagnosis and 30-day Medical and Surgical Read-missions ”, JAMA Psychiatry, 2018. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.3091
- 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.
- Tasnim Ibn Faiz and Md. Noor-E-Alam,“Data Center Supply Chain Configuration Design: A Two-Stage Decision Approach”, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, org/10.1016/j.seps.2018.07.008, 2018.
- Md Saiful Islam, Md Mahmudul Hasan, Xiaoyi Wang, Hayley D. Germack, and Md. Noor-E-Alam,“A Systematic Review on Healthcare Analytics: Application and Theoretical Perspective of Data Mining”, Healthcare, Vol. 6, pp. 1-42, 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.
- Mengkai Xu, Xiaoning Jin, Sagar Kamarthi and Md. Noor-E-Alam, “A Failure-Dependency Modeling and State Discretization Approach for Condition-Based Maintenance Optimization of Multi-Component Systems”, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 47, pp. 141-152, 2018.
- AMM Sharif Ullah and Md. Noor-E-Alam,“Big Data Driven Graphical Information Based Multi Criteria Decision Making”, Applied Soft Computing, Vol. 63, pp. 23-38, 2018.

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 research to address complex challenges in public health, contributing to healthcare decision-making, policy, and management. From a methodological standpoint, he leveraged management and data science […]

May 27, 2021
Alam Receives NSF CAREER Award for Causal Inference in Large-Scale Studies
MIE Assistant Professor Md. Noor E Alam received a $500K NSF CAREER Award for developing “Robust Matching Algorithms for Causal Inference in Large Observational Studies.”

May 11, 2021
Just What the Doctor Ordered
Human beings are some of the most complex systems in the world, and responses to illness, disease, and impairments manifest in countless different ways. When it comes to making sure that your system stays up and running, healthcare professionals typically have their own deep well of knowledge—but the addition of artificial intelligence tools offers unprecedented […]

Nov 12, 2019
Noor-E-Alam’s Collaborative Work Won 1st Place at APPAM
MIE Assistant Professor Md. Noor-E-Alam’s collaborative work “A Community Health Center Buyback Program to Reduce the Supply of Opioids to Secondary Users” with CSSH Associate Professor Alicia Modestino and D’Amore-McKim Professor Gary Young won 1st place for poster presentation at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Fall Research Conference.

Jun 10, 2019
Stopping Opioid Addiction Before It Starts
MIE Assistant Professor Muhammad Noor E. Alam is working with DMSB/Bouve Professor Gary Young, Bouve Clinical Assistant Professor Alyssa Peckham, and CSSH Associate Professor Alicia Modestino to determine methods of reducing the number of opioid addictions in the country before they even start.
May 21, 2018
2018 GRI Seed Grant Awardees
Congratulations to the four COE teams out of eight total receiving 2018 Seed Grant funding from the Global Resilience Institute (GRI). The resilience project topics range from coastal flooding prediction to combating opioid addiction. This year’s pool of proposals was particularly robust, with submissions demonstrating both strengths in their interdisciplinary approaches and in their promise […]
Mar 23, 2017
FY18 TIER 1 Award Recipients
21 COE faculty and affiliates were recipients of FY18 TIER 1 Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grants for 12 different projects representing $600K dollars of investment in research.

Oct 04, 2016
MIE Faculty & Student win IEOM Awards
MIE Assistant Teaching Professor Mohammad Dehghani was awarded the IEOM Outstanding Track Chair Award and was awarded 2nd place for the IEOM Doctoral Dissertation Competition Award at the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) in Detroit, Michigan, September 23-25, 2016. PhD student Tasnim Ibn Faiz received 2nd place for the IEOM Graduate Student […]
Jul 27, 2016
2016 IEOM Detroit Conference Best Track Paper Award
MSIE student Mehul Patel and MIE Assistant Professor MD Noor E Alam won the Best Track Paper Award at the 2016 IEOM Detroit Conference for their paper on "Data Analytics and Visualization in Analyzing Mortality Records".

Sep 04, 2015
New Faculty Spotlight: Md Noor E Alam
Md Noor E Alam joins the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering department in Fall 2015 as an Assistant Professor.