At the ASME’s 2018 IDETC, Design Automation Conference, Lin Guo’s paper was recognized as a Paper of Distinction. This paper is one of 20 invited papers to appear in a special issue of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design. Thomas Neeson and Hamed Zamanisabzi from the School of Geography, also contributed to this paper.

Lin Guo studies Industrial and Systems Engineering and is a Ph.D. candidate, starting her third year. The title of her paper is “Managing Conflicting Water Resource Goals and Uncertainties in a Dam Network by Exploring the Solution Space.” ASME Design Automation Conference, Quebec City, Canada.  Paper Number:  DETC2018-86018, L. Guo, H. Zamanisabzi, T. Neeson, J. Allen and F. Mistree , 2018.

Guo began with research of dams and reservoirs and asked the question “do they meet our expectations?”. After further research learning of the damage, death, and costly hazards faulty dam and reservoir networks can cause, she worked towards a solution of how to improve the conditions.

The most difficult part of her research was using industrial-engineering knowledge to improve a social-ecological system. This required expertise in both industrial engineering and geography so that she could give added-value in both domains. Guo had to create value to multiple groups in a way that everyone understands. She said that this challenge was also her favorite part of the process. With her coauthors from the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, she was provided valuable knowledge to keep her work on track. She wants to thank OU for giving her tons of opportunities searching for collaborations and the chance to find a multi-disciplinary project.

Guo is a member of SRL at OU and has used her opportunities and advisors to further her knowledge through laboratory work, academic research, and writing. She enjoys the multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural working environment, having the chance to collaborate with scholars and experts in design, manufacturing, data science in universities or industry in different countries.

If you are interested in learning more about Lin Guo’s research, here is the abstract:

“In a multi-reservoir system, ensuring adequate water availability across reservoirs while managing conflicting goals is critical to making the social-ecological system sustainable in the presence of considerable uncertainty. The priorities of multiple user-groups and availability of the water resource may vary with time, weather and other factors. Uncertainties such as variations in precipitation bring more complexity, which intensifies the discrepancies between water supply and water demand for each user-group. To reduce such discrepancies, we seek to satisfice conflicting goals, considering typical uncertainties.
We observe that models are incomplete and inaccurate, which calls into question using a single point solution and suggests the need for solutions which are robust to uncertainties. So, we explore satisficing solutions that are relatively insensitive to uncertainties, by incorporating different design preferences, identifying sensitive segments and improving the design accordingly. In this article we present an example of the exploration of the solution space to enhance sustainability in multi-disciplinary systems, when goals conflict, preferences are evolving, and uncertainties add complexity.”