About the Masterclass
During the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid testing was critical to slowing the rapid spread of the disease. However, testing capacity fell far short of the need in the United States and around the world. This talk describes a simulation modeling project that helped managers to scale up testing capacity in one U.S.-based laboratory. Specifically, discrete event simulation models were developed to represent the testing process. Virtual experiments identified key bottlenecks and demonstrated how to expand capacity with limited financial cost. The results spurred managers to switch to a new sample collection medium which enabled safe discarding of collection swabs, thus removing a key bottleneck, the “deswabbing” step, from the testing process and nearly doubling the laboratory’s testing capacity. The results also examine the ability of the laboratory to meet surges and variability in testing demand. This talk will show how a managerial problem was captured in a technical model, and how the results were shared with key managerial decision-makers to impact the laboratory’s critical operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exclusive benefits for attendees include:
1. Scholarships worth $1,24,500 for various Master's programs at the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences through the $1.9M+ SEED Scholarships Fund.
2. Attendees secure an Application Fee Waiver to apply to various Master's programs at the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
1. Scholarships worth $1,24,500 for various Master's programs at the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences through the $1.9M+ SEED Scholarships Fund.
2. Attendees secure an Application Fee Waiver to apply to various Master's programs at the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
About the speaker
Prof. Erica L. Gralla
Associate Professor
Engineering Management & Systems Engineering
Erica L. Gralla, Associate Professor, Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. Professor Erica Gralla studies operations and supply chain management in disaster response and other urgent or uncertain environments. Her research seeks to combine the strengths of human intuition and mathematical models to create better decision-making approaches. Current projects include transportation planning models for aid delivery, innovative ways to collect and analyze data to support emergency response decision-making, strategies to support better decision-making in design and product development, and human intuition for managing uncertainty.
Erin Vogt
Senior Associate Director
Graduate Recruitment & Admission
Erin Vogt, Senior Associate Director, Graduate Recruitment & Admission. Erin manages graduate recruitment and admissions operations for the School of Engineering and Applied Science. With 10+ years of experience in higher and international education, Erin is passionate about helping students find the best-fit university for their personal and professional goals. Erin has a B.A. in Intercultural Communication from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A. in International Affairs from Florida State University.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our team at
+91 85916 24998