Education

2015 - 2020    Yale Scool of Management, Operations Research, Ph.D.

2015 - 2018    Yale University, Operations Research, Mphil

2015 - 2017    Yale University, Statistics and Data Science, MA

2013 - 2015    University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Industrial and Operations Engineering, BSE

2011 - 2015     Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Electrical and Computer Engineering, BSE

Honors and Awards

2024   INFORMS Workshop on Data Science Best Paper Award, Finalist

2024   INFORMS Conference on Quality, Statistics, and Reliability, Finalist

2023   POMS International Conference in China Best Paper Award, First Place

2023   ISCOM National Conference on Supply Chain and Operations Management Best Paper, Second Place

2023   INFORMS Service Science Best Cluster Paper Award, Finalist

2022   INFORMS Conference on Service Science Best Paper, Finalist

2022   POMS International Conference in China Best Paper Award, Honorable Mention

2020   INFORMS Conference on Service Science Best Paper, Winner

2018   INFORMS Data Driven Paper Competition, Finalist

2014   INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research Prize, Finalist

2014   IIE Paper Competition, First Place

Teaching Awards

2024   SJTU Teaching and Education Award, Third Prize

2024   "Jiahe" Outstanding Early-Career Faculty at SJTU

2024   SJTU Outstanding Thesis Advisor (Top 1%)

2023   Most Favored Instructor Among Undergraduate Students

2023   Nominee for the "Kaiyuan" Top Ten Teacher at SJTU

2023   Outstanding Innovation and Entrepreneruship Mentor at SJTU

2022   SJTU Outstanding Thesis Advisor (Top 1%)

Research Interests

Methodology: Data-Driven Optimization, Stochastic Processes, Aritificial Intelligence, Approximation Algorithms

Applications: Healthcare Operations, Service Operations, Sequential Experiments

Publications

1. Li Z, Zhao C, Wang H, Ding Y, Chen Y, Schwaller P, Yang K, Hua C*, He Y*. (2024) "Interpreting Chemisorption Strength with AutoML-based Feature Deletion Experiments". PNAS, 121 (12), e2320232121
   

2. Hua C, Swersey AJ. (2022) "Cross-Trained Fire-Medics Respond to Medical Calls and Fire Incidents: A Fast Algorithm for a Three-State Spatial Queuing Problem". Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 24(6), 3177-3192.

3. Chen J, Huang X, Hua C, He Y, Schwaller P. (2025) "A Multi-Modal Transformer for Predicting Global Minimum Adsorption Energy." Nature Communations, (2025)16:3232
   

4. Liu H, Hua C, Lei C. (2021) "Dynamic Volunteer Firefighter Planning Under Stochastic Service Disruptions".  Transportation Research Part E, 154 (2021) 102459

5. Zhang H, Shi C, Qin C, Hua C.  (2017) "Stochastic Regret Minimization for Revenue Management Problems with Nonstationary Demands" Naval Research Logistics. Vol. 63 (6), 433-448.

   - Finalist, INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research Prize

   - First Prize, IIE Best Student Paper Competition

6. Chen J, Huang X, Hua C, He Y, Schwaller P. (2023) "AdsGT: Graph Transformer for Predicting Global Minimum Adsorption Energy" NeurIPS 2023 AI for Science Workshop

7. Wang B#, Jing J#, Huang X#, Hua C#, Qin Q, Jia Y, Jiang L, Gao B, Wu L, Zeng X, Wang F, Liu S, Mao C. (2022) "Establishment of a Knowledge-and-Data-Driven Artificial Intelligence System with Robustness and Interpretability in Laboratory Medicine". Advanced Intelligent Systems, 4 (5), 2100204

8. Hua C, Zaman T.  (2020) "Optimal Dispatch in Emergency Service System via Reinforcement Learning".  INFORMS International Conference on Service Science, 75-87

(# indicates equal contribution) 

Working Paper

1. Xing W#, Hua C#. "Multi-Priority Patient Transfer under Ambulance Offload Delay" (Major Revision at Production and Operations Management)

   - Second Prize, INFORMS Conference on Service Science Best Student Paper

2. Hua C, Luo J, Swersey AJ, Wen Y. "A Novel Birth and Death Chain Formulation and Solution to a Spatial Queuing Problem". (Under Review)

3. Hua C, Swersey AJ, Chiyoshi F, Innanoni AP, Morabito R. "Improving Productivity: An Emergency Service System in which Cross-Trained Fire-Medics Respond to Medical Calls and Fire Incidents". (Under Review)

4. He J#, Hua C#, Zhou C, Zheng Z. "Scalable Reinforcement Learning Algorithms with Dynamic Financial Data Embedding". (Major Revision at Management Science)

   - Third Prize, INFORMS Section on Finance Best Student Paper
   

5. Hua C, Wang T, Zhang J, Zhou Z. "Asymptotically Optimal Policies for Dynamic Ambulance Dispatch" (Under Review)

   - First Prize, POM International Conference in China Best Paper

   - Finalist, INFORMS Service Science Best Cluster Paper Award

   - Second Prize, ISCOM Supply Chain and Operations Management Best Paper Award

6. Hua C, Swersey AJ, Xing W. "A Bayesian Optimization Model for Locating Emergency Service Units" (Under Review)

   - Finalist, INFORMS Conference on Service Science Best Paper

   - Honorable Mention, POMS International Conference Best Paper Award

7. He J#, Hua C#, Zheng Z, Wang Y. "Collaborative Intelligence in Sequential Decision Making: A Human-in-the-Loop Framework for Drug Discovery" (Major Revision at Information Systems Research)

   - Finalist, INFORMS Workshop on Data Science Best Paper Awawrd
   

8. Hua C, Zaman T. "Optimal Dispatch in Emergency Service System". (In progress)

   - First Prize, INFORMS Conference on Service Science Best Paper
   

9. Hua C. "Approximating the Performance of Three-State Emergency Service Systems". (In Progress)

AM217 Regression Analysis

BU366 Reinforcement Learning

Supervised Students: 

Wenqian Xing, Master's student, First Position: Stanford University, MS&E, PhD

Jinghai He, Undergraduate student, First Postition, UC Berkeley, IEOR, PhD

Xu Huang, Undergraduate student, First Position: UC Berkeley, Material Science and Engineering, PhD

Zihao Wu, Master's student, First Position: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Operations Management, PhD

Yu Wang, , Undergraduate student, First Position: South Florida University, Industrial Engineering, PhD

Yimin Yin, Undergraduate student, First Position: University of Hong Kong, Operations Management, PhD