Collaborative Research: Engineering Efficient and Equitable Food Distribution Under Uncertainty

该赠款为决策模型的开发提供资金，以支持在资源有限的食品分配环境中有效和公平的管理和分配供应。 虽然大多数人道主义供应链（HSC）相关研究都集中在救济物资的分配和储存或供应中心的位置，但与此形成鲜明对比的是，围绕捐赠管理的问题（即，构成向HSC投入的捐赠货物、资金和服务的征集、协调、分配和管理）及其对下游救济接受者的影响尚未得到探讨，特别是在食品分配方面。本研究的重点是发展预测模型，以（1）描述捐助者的行为，（2）量化供应的可用性和（3）确定有限供应的公平分配。 这些模式将考虑到与捐助管理有关的复杂性，例如供求不确定，需求往往超过供应;及时向救济受援者提供物资至关重要;自然灾害和人为灾害造成需求突然激增;这项研究为社会提供了实质性的好处，在改善供应分配和捐赠管理方面，非营利救援机构。有能力描述捐助者的行为，并将公平分配供应品的目标纳入其中，使救济机构能够作出知情的库存和供应品分配决定，并有战略性地有针对性地募捐。它还有可能使人道主义救济组织能够通过更有效地分配现有资源来满足更大的需求，从而影响到人的生活。该研究通过将捐赠管理和粮食分配与供应链管理（库存政策）联系起来，解决了人道主义救济和工程的关键交叉点，并建立了必要的关系，以解决当今世界面临的公平满足需求，成本和人类成果方面的人道主义救济中的重大问题。

This grant provides funding for the development of decision models to support the efficient and equitable management and distribution of supply in the resource constrained environment of food distribution. While most Humanitarian Supply Chain (HSC) related research has focused on the distribution and stocking of relief supplies or location of supply centers, in sharp contrast, issues surrounding donations management (i.e., the solicitation, coordination, distribution and management of donated goods, money and services that form inputs into the HSC) and its impact on the downstream relief recipient have been unexplored, particularly for food distribution. This research focuses on the development of predictive models to (1) characterize donor behavior, (2) quantify supply availability and (3) determine the equitable allocation of constrained supply. The models will account for the complexities associated with donations management such as uncertainty in both supply and demand, with demand often exceeding supply; the criticality of delivering goods to relief recipients at the right time; the appearance of sudden demand surges due to natural and manmade disasters; and perishability of donated items.This research offers substantial benefits to society in terms of improved supply allocation and donations management for non-profit relief agencies. The ability to characterize donor behavior and incorporate the objective of equitably distributing supply enables relief agencies to make informed inventory and supply allocation decisions and strategically target donation solicitations. It also has the potential to enable humanitarian relief organizations to satisfy greater demand by more efficiently allocating available resources, thus impacting human life. The research addresses the critical intersection of humanitarian relief and engineering by linking donations management and food distribution to supply chain management (inventory policy) and forges a relationship necessary to address the significant issues in humanitarian relief in terms of equitable satisfaction of need, cost and human outcomes faced worldwide today.