Kayse Lee Maass

Assistant Professor,  Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Contact

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Office

  • 321 SN
  • 617.373.3629

Research Focus

Stochastic optimization, network theory, facility location modeling, and supply chain design for applications regarding equity, access, human trafficking, mental health, and humanitarian logistics

About

Dr. Maass’s research focuses on advancing operations research methodology to improve applicability to social justice, access, and equity issues within human trafficking, mental health, housing, and food justice contexts. Her recent research includes determining how to most effectively allocate limited resources to disrupt human trafficking networks, increase access to services for human trafficking survivors, and assess the efficacy of coordination among anti-human trafficking stakeholders. Dr. Maass’s research is supported by multiple federal grants, centers interdisciplinary survivor-informed expertise, and has been used to inform policy and operational decisions at the local, national, and international levels, including being featured in the 2019 United Nations Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery.

In addition to her role as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, she leads the Operations Research and Social Justice lab at Northeastern University and holds a research appointment with the Information and Decision Engineering Program at Mayo Clinic. She is a recipient of multiple awards, including: the INFORMS Judith Liebman Award, Industrial Engineering Professor of the Year at Northeastern University, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award, the INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Dissertation Award, and was named a ‘Rising Star’ among INFORMS’ Powerful, Pragmatic Pioneers. Dr. Maass currently serves on the INFORMS Subdivision Council, as INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Secretary, and as an INFORMS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Ambassador. She is also a member of the H.E.A.L. Trafficking Research Committee and the U.N. University Delta 8.7 Markets Working Group on Human Trafficking.

Education

  • PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Industrial and Operations Engineering, 2017
  • BA, Bethel University, Mathematics, 2012
  • BA, Bethel University, Physics, 2012

Honors & Awards

  • Industrial Engineering Professor of the Year, Northeastern University, 2020
  • Global Conference on Human Trafficking and Trauma Best Research Abstract, 2019
  • “Rising Star” among INFORMS’ Powerful, Pragmatic Pioneers
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  • INFORMS Judith Liebman Award

Professional Affiliations

  • Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS)
  • Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
  • Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE)
  • Health, Education, Advocacy, Linkage (HEAL) Trafficking

Research Overview

Stochastic optimization, network theory, facility location modeling, and supply chain design for applications regarding equity, access, human trafficking, mental health, and humanitarian logistics

Operations Research and Social Justice Lab

The Operations Research Lab focuses on advancing operations research methodology to improve applicability to social justice, access, and equity issues within human trafficking, mental health, housing, and food justice contexts.

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Operations Research & Social Justice Lab

Selected Research Projects

Selected Publications

See Full List of Publications on Google Scholar

Faculty

Feb 05, 2024

Maass and Kaya’s Research on Youth Homelessness Featured in ISE Magazine

MIE Assistant Professor Kayse Lee Maass and Alumna Yaren Bilge Kaya, PhD’23, (currently faculty at Columbia University) were featured in the February 2024 issue of ISE Magazine for their research on improving access to housing and support services for runaway and homeless youth.

Students

Dec 22, 2022

Inaugural AJC Merit Research Scholars

Several engineering students and science students mentored by COE faculty are recipients of the inaugural AJC Merit Research Scholars.

Students

Nov 07, 2022

Outstanding Paper Award at ACM Conference on Equity and Access

MIE PhD Candidate Yaren Bilge Kaya and Assistant Professor Kayse Lee Maass received an Outstanding Paper Award at the 2022 ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization.

Faculty

Feb 04, 2022

Announcing Spring 2022 PEAK Experiences Awardees

Several engineering students and science students mentored by COE faculty are recipients of Northeastern’s Spring 2022 PEAK Experiences Awards.

PhD

Oct 28, 2021

Two Northeastern Presentations Selected as “Committee’s Choice” at INFORMS 2021

The 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting organizing committee has chosen two Northeastern University presentations as “Committee Choice” from more than 5,500 abstracts submitted.

RISE logo

Graduate

Apr 26, 2021

Congratulations RISE: 2021 Winners

Congratulations to our engineering students who won awards at the RISE:2021 Research, Innovation and Scholarship Expo!

Kayse Lee Maass

Faculty

Jan 29, 2021

Modeling Effective Network Disruptions for Human Trafficking

MIE Assistant Professor Kayse Lee Maass is a co-principal investigator on a five-year collaborative $1M NSF grant titled “Modeling Effective Network Disruptions for Human Trafficking.”

Alex Bender

Students

Nov 18, 2020

Alex Bender Finalist for INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research Prize

Industrial engineering student Alex Bender, E’20, was named as a finalist of the 2020 INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research Prize for his paper titled “Estimating Effectiveness of Identifying Human Trafficking Victims: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis on the Nepal–India Border.”

illustration of people in network

Faculty

Nov 02, 2020

Effective Strategies to Disrupt Recruitment of Human Trafficking Victims

MIE Assistant Professor Kayse Lee Maass and CSSH Professor Amy Farrell are co-principal investigators of a $759K National Institute of Justice grant titled “Identification of Effective Strategies to Disrupt Recruitment of Victims in Human Trafficking: Qualitative Data, Systems Modeling, Survivors and Law Enforcement.”

Faculty

Apr 11, 2020

FY21 TIER 1 Award Recipients

Congratulations to the 19 COE faculty and affiliates who were recipients of FY21 TIER 1 Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grants for 13 different projects.

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