IE 466

Course Code & Number

IE 466

Course Title

Humanitarian Logistics

Level

BS

Credit Hours/ ECTS Credits

(3+0+0) 3 TEDU Credits, 5 ECTS Credits

Semester:

Spring

Type of Course:

Elective

Mode of Delivery:

Face-to-face

Language of Instruction:

English

Pre-requisite / Co-requisite::

Catalog Description

Introduction to humanitarian operations. Disaster management cycle. Decision problems faced in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. Modeling and solution methodologies. Location, routing, allocation, inventory models. The activities and challenges in the humanitarian supply chain for the procurement, warehousing and distribution of the aid. Uncertainty and human behavior in disasters. Practical examples, projects, case studies and games.

Course Objectives

The main objective of this course is to introduce humanitarian applications of industrial engineering and operations research with particular emphasis on logistics problems and develop skills to formulate mathematical models and solution approaches for these problems.

Course Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this course, students will be able to:

 1. Gain knowledge regarding disaster management and humanitarian logistics (i),

2. Understand current research trends and the main challenges faced in humanitarian logistics (i),

3. Develop understanding of modeling different location, routing, allocation (distribution) and inventory problems faced in humanitarian logistics (c),

4. Assess the value of solutions generated by different models with respect to the disaster management authority and the people affected by the disaster (h).

Recommended Reading

1. Tomasini R., , Wassenhove L. V. (2009), Humanitarian Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan UK. 2. Kovacs G., Spens K.M. (2012), Relief Supply Chain Management for Disasters: Humanitarian Aid and Emergency Logistics, Business Science Reference. 3. Apte A. (2010), Humanitarian Logistics: A New Field of Research and Action, Now Publishers, 2010.