Ball, Michael O.
Co-Director, National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR)
The Institute for Systems Research
Michael Ball is the Senior Associate Dean and Dean's Chair in Management Science and the Orkand Corporation Professor of Management Science in the Robert H. Smith School of Business. He also holds a joint appointment with ISR in the Clark School of Engineering. Dr. Ball received a BES in Engineering Science in 1972 and an MSE in Operations Research in 1972 from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in Operations Research in 1977 from Cornell University. He worked for two years at Bell Laboratories and has had sabbatical appointments at the University of Waterloo and the University of North Carolina. He is former chair of the Decision and Information Technologies Department within the Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chair of ISR's Executive Committee. He is currently Acting Dean for the Smith School.
Dr. Ball currently directs the NSF-funded project, "Supply Chain Infrastructures: Models and Analysis" and is Co-Director of NEXTOR, the National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research. Within NEXTOR, which is funded by the FAA, NASA and members of the airline industry, he directs the Collaborative Decision Making research project. The interdisciplinary nature of his work led to Dr. Ball receiving the Outstanding Systems Engineering Faculty Award from the ISR in 1997. He has over 90 publications in the aforementioned areas and has made over 100 presentations on these topics. He also has extensive consulting experience, which, in certain cases, has led to the development and successful implementation of major software systems.
Dr. Ball is, or has been, area editor for Optimization for Operations Research and associate editor for Networks, IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Operations Research and Operations Research Letters. He is a member of INFORMS, IEEE and the Mathematical Programming Society. He is particularly active in INFORMS where he has chaired two major committees. He was named a Fellow of INFORMS in 2004.
He is a member of the "Independent Experts Operational Goals Group (IEOGG)" of the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection, part of the ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO sets the standards and policies for world-wide civil aviation.
Operations research, transportation science (especially air traffic management), supply chain and revenue management, network and combinatorial optimization, and network reliability analysis
ENES 489P holds Spring 2023 undergraduate systems design competition
The 48 students presented their model-based systems engineering design projects to a panel of industry professionals.Michael Fu receives INFORMS George E. Kimball Medal
The medal is given in recognition of distinguished service to INFORMS and to the profession of operations research and the management sciences.The Modern Battle for Maryland’s Oysters
UMD researchers use AI and robotics to help revive a struggling industry.Alexander Estes joins ISR faculty
The 2018 UMD Ph.D. alum holds a joint appointment with ISR and the Smith School.New Research Showcased at TRB
Transportation safety, impact of telecommuting among topics covered by UMD experts.NEXTOR aviation operations research uses machine learning to model system delay and predict high flight delay days
Worsening thunderstorm activity was the main cause of increased flight delays in the 2010s.'Perfect adherence' to COVID vaccine prioritization hampering distribution says Mike Ball
The operations research expert argues more lives would be saved with a less-rigid strategy.FAA Extends Funding for NEXTOR III Aviation Operations Research Consortium
In its 23 years, NEXTOR has developed decision support tools, operational and system concepts, and policymaking tools that benefit the FAA, the airline industry and the flying public.NEXTOR II to present aviation operations research in symposium
The symposium will be held at FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C.Ghodssi, Beyaz, Waits issued US patent for microgenerator
The versatile microball bearing supported microgenerator improves micro electromechanical devices.Ball gives plenary address at INFORMS Workshop
Professor spoke on model decomposition and integration case studies related to urban transit and airline planning.Hanrahan, Waits, Ghodssi paper selected as JMM 'Highlight of 2014'
Raceways fabrication technique caps 25 years of microball bearing research for Ghodssi research group.MSSE student Xenia Barnes wins National Academies research stipend
Barnes works on aviation operations research through NEXTOR II.Ball talks airline mergers on News Channel 8
Professor appeared on 'NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt.'Anandalingham steps down as Smith School dean; Ball becomes acting dean
'Anand' moves to Imperial College London Business School.Wang, Ball, Lovell win best paper award at ICRAT 2012
Paper discusses a new allocation method in ground delay programs for air traffic flow management.ISR hosts Iraqi higher education delegation
Delegates meet with President Loh, Provost Wylie and other officials.Vlachou, Swaroop win FAA graduate research awards
The two Ph.D. students are associated with the NEXTOR aviation operations research center.FAA approves NEXTOR II aviation operations research contract
ISR's Michael Ball and David Lovell lead the University of Maryland NEXTOR II team.Ghodssi invited speaker at Transducers 11
ISR director spoke on microball bearing technology for MEMS devices and integrated microsystems.ISR announces Systems Symposium poster contest winners
Five posters selected for $500 research support prize.Airline mergers are inevitable, Ball says
The Dallas Morning News quotes the ISR professor about the possibility of an American Airlines merger.Ball to speak at airport systems planning and design course
ISR faculty member is co-director of NEXTOR.Alumnus interview: Ingar Grev
He talks with us about applying systems concepts in the business world.Ball quoted on airline mergers in Newark Star-Ledger
December 2006—ISR professor says mergers should produce more efficient carriers.Ball, Lovell awarded NASA grant for air traffic flows
Collaborative research will develop dynamic, stochastic modelsTwo ISR teams awarded NSF DDDAS grants
Ball, Fu, Abed and Subrahmanian are principal investigatorsThree best paper awards for NEXTOR authors
Air traffic management seminar honors Ball, Lovell, othersThree MSSE students graduate
Faber, McNeil, Poorfarhani complete studiesBall's work on airport landing slots profiled in trade magazine
Airline Business Report covers NEXTOR's February simulatin exercise for airline and government officialsBall, named a Fellow of INFORMS
INFORMS is a principal professional societyFAA 'close to signing' contract with NEXTOR, trade magazine reports
July 2004—NEXTOR is co-directed by ISR Professor Michael Ball.Hideo Mizusawa is new ISR visiting scientist
Mizusawa is a research scientist at Toshiba Corporation.Ball hosts Collaborative Decision Making project
CDM is one of the research areas of NEXTORToshiba becomes an ISR Sustaining Partner
Its Corporate Manufacturing Engineering Center collaborates with ISR on manufacturing technology projects.Four ISR faculty to research electronic markets for time-sensitive goods
$2 million NSF award will analyze a variety of e-markets.ISR awarded grant for combined research and curriculum development in systems engineering
Faculty team to develop, widely disseminate, and evaluate an information-centric systems engineering curriculumNASA AMES awards contract to NEXTOR to support air traffic management research
Funding to support collaborative decision making researchInstitute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
- Fellow, 2004
- Method and apparatus for aggregating terminals into clusters to assist in the construction of a distributed data communication network
- Method and computer system for selecting and evaluating data routes and arranging a distributed data communication network
- System for identifying candidate link, determining underutilized link, evaluating addition of candidate link and removing of underutilized link to reduce network cost
- Method for routing data in a near-optimal manner in a distributed data communications network
- Method for efficient distributed data communications network backbone node location
- Method for efficient distributed data communications network access network configuration
- FAA NEXTOR III DO 20: Continued Data Analysis and Simulation of the Impact of Convective Weather on Airfield Efficiency
- FAA NEXTOR III DO 22: Small Aircraft Capacity Modeling Factors - Phase III
- FAA NEXTOR III DO 23: Understanding Dynamic Capacity for Accommodating Advanced Air Mobility Operations from Tower Controllers' Perspective
- FAA NEXTOR III DO 24: Air Traffic Flow Management
- FAA NEXTOR III DO 25: Small Aircraft Runway Length Analysis Tool (SARLAT)
- FAA NEXTOR III DO 26: Analysis of NAS Infrastructure Sustainment as Instructed by Frequency of System and Equipment Outages: Phase III-Correlation of Outages with Facility Condition and Investment Strategy
- NEXTOR III: National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research
- NEXTOR II
- Similar Days and Representative TMIs
- Improving air traffic performance using system-wide coordination of flight speeds
- Balancing airspace demand and capacity
- Improving Air Transportation Performance through Collaborative Decision Making
- Simulation-Based Methods for Control and Optimization
- Comparing Airports Based on Air Traffic Management Performance
- Resource Allocation in Flow-Constrained Areas with Stochastic Termination Times Considering both Optimistic and Pessimistic Reroutes
- Scheduling around Weather-Reduced Capacity
- Optimization model for large-scale air traffic flow management
- Resource Allocation in Flow-Constrained Areas with Stochastic Termination Times Considering both Optimistic and Pessimistic Reroutes
- Determining an Optimal Airport Slot Profile
- Using Ration-by-Distance on Ground Delay Programs
- Application of Optimization-Based Production Loading at Toshiba Corporation
- Advanced Arrival Slot-Trading Mechanisms: Evaluation using Agent-Based Simulation
- NAS Capacity and Performance Models for FAA Strategy Simulator
- Advanced ATP and Its Application
- Optimization Models for Off-Loading Flow Constrained Areas
- NEXTOR: The National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research
- Optimization-Based Available to Promise
- Analysis of Demand Uncertainty Effects in Ground Delay Programs
- Planning for Promise (PFP)