Andrew Mason

Biography

Andrew has a PhD from Cambridge University, UK, and a Bachelor of Engineering (in Engineering Science) from The University of Auckland.

Andrew is the President of the Operations Research Society of NZ, and a founder of The Optima Corporation, a University spin-off company specialising in Emergency Services Logistics. Along with Shane Henderson, Andrew developed the first versions of the Optima ambulance simulation software, and is actively involved in research in ambulance logistics. He has created and maintains OpenSolver (www.opensolver.org), an open-source Excel add-in for solving large spreadsheet optimisation models. He has for many years been developing solutions for staff scheduling problems that use advanced column generation approaches.

Qualifications

PhD in Operations Research, University of Cambridge
BE in Engineering Science, The University of Auckland
 

Research interests

• Staff rostering
• Personnel scheduling
• Emergency services
• Sailing
   

Research groups

• Operations Research Group
• Yacht Research Unit
   

Teaching

• ENGSCI 111 - Mathematical Modelling 1
• ENGSCI 255 - Modelling in Operations Research
• ENGSCI 760 - Algorithms for Optimisation
• ENGSCI 762 - Advanced Topics in Operations Research

Selected publications

Mason, A.J., and Dunning, I., OpenSolver -- Open Source Optimisation for Excel, Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference of the Operations Research Society of New Zealand, Editors: Matthias Ehrgott and Andrew Mason, Auckland, p181-190, 2010

Mason, A.J., Dohn, Anders, Ryan, D.M., Customised Column Generation for Rostering Problems: Using Compile-time Customisation to create a Flexible C++ Engine for Staff Rostering, in Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Operational Research Society of New Zealand, 3-4 December 2009, Christchurch, New Zealand, p172-179, 2009

Lei Zhang, Andrew Mason, Andy Philpott, Optimization of a Single Ambulance Move up, in Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Operational Research Society of New Zealand, 3-4 December 2009, Christchurch, New Zealand, p225-226

Administration

• Chair, Faculty of Engineering Academic Programs Committee
• Engineering Representative, Academic Programs Committee
• Engineering Representative, IT Faculty Forum
   

Professional affiliations

• President, Operations Research Society of New Zealand