As I reflect on the first year of my Ph.D., I’m amazed at how much I’ve grown, both academically and personally. I embarked on this journey during a global crisis, and as the COVID-19 pandemic made my worries a reality, I quickly had to learn how to adjust. I was expecting to move to Ann Arbor, to attend my courses in a classroom, and to collaborate with my colleagues and advisors in-person. I’d been dreaming of the day I’d start at U of M for years, and not being able to have the “normal” start I was expecting was disappointing, to say the least. Continue Reading »

At CHEPS, our interdisciplinary teams apply engineering tools to solve important problems in healthcare. While we may not always classify it as such, our work often fits within the scope of “health services research” (HSR), a field that considers how healthcare is organized and delivered, and how these systems impact components like healthcare quality, cost, and access. HSR is a key focus of several CHEPS partner organizations in Ann Arbor, including the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI) and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Clinical Management Research. I have found working with these and other collaborators to be meaningful because we have leveraged quantitative skills to change how healthcare is provided, primarily through improving access to care. Continue Reading »

Hello! My name is Emmett Springer and I’m a 4th-year student studying Biomedical Engineering. I started working at CHEPS last January and have had the pleasure of working on several awesome projects, including Specialty Access, Outpatient Surgery (OPS) Revamp, and Pharma Staff Planning. I’m excited to start my Master’s degree in Industrial & Operations Engineering in the fall and continue to do great work with CHEPS!

As I wrap up my undergraduate degree, I’ve been reflecting a lot on what I’ve learned during my time at U of M so far and how I can apply those lessons as I continue in my academic and professional journey. Continue Reading »

Hello! My name is Sebastian and I am a current junior from Colombia/Brazil. I am studying Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) with an intended double minor in Computer Science and International Studies. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what it is that I want to do with my future career but working at CHEPS has definitely opened my eyes to the possibilities associated with healthcare.

I had interned as an Industrial Engineer at Walt Disney World earlier this year and absolutely fell in love with the idea behind optimizing various business processes and facilitating improved operations. To give some context, Industrial Engineers at Disney function very similarly to internal business consultants, helping drive organizational change across various clients and departments. Continue Reading »

Let us start this blog the usual CHEPS kickoff way. Hi, my name is Pushpendra Singh, you can call me Ishu. I am a recent graduate of U of M, with a master’s in Industrial and Operations Engineering along with a graduate certificate in Computational Discovery and Engineering. I come from a small town of Faizabad in India. I have been with CHEPS for a year now. As a child I was ambidextrous. That’s it, that is a standard CHEPS introduction.

Let me take you back to the time when I was still in India and still had not resigned from my full-time job as an SAP consultant. Continue Reading »

Like most others during March of 2020, I felt pretty lost in the destructive path of COVID-19. From the sudden shift of online learning to the looming threats of unemployment, college students during the summer of 2020 were hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Going into this summer, I had secured an internship in the network planning department of United Airlines – a position stacked with travel benefits and unique opportunities coveted by most – and I was busy worrying how I’d have enough weekends to visit all the exotic countries on my bucket list. However, when COVID began spreading rampantly throughout the US in early March, I knew the first industry to get hit hard was the airline industry, and I knew that I was bound to be unemployed soon enough. Continue Reading »

I remember very vividly complaining to my mom about my first few days working at CHEPS. So much paperwork, HIPPA and PEERS certifications, and other mundane tasks that bored me to no end. Similar to any onboarding experience, mine was filled was confusion and boredom. This time though, onboarding occurred over zoom calls and emails, which added more headaches to an already tough process. Then, I was put on my first two teams: PEDS resident scheduling and Trauma doctor scheduling, and even though I was clueless about what that meant, I was told to start working. However, after meeting with my two team leads and my assigned peer mentor, everything started to make sense. Continue Reading »

Hello! My name is Luke and I have been at CHEPS for a little over a year now. I am a recent graduate and I studied Industrial and Operations Engineering with a minor in Computer Science.

So, let us start from the beginning! I first joined CHEPS during May of 2019. I had no idea what to expect at first. On the first day, I just remember reading a lot of HIPAA rules and regulations. Not super exciting, but I do realize the importance of taking the time and effort to do so. I was then placed onto three teams: Surgical Instruments, Shift Scheduling, and the AD ICU team. Continue Reading »

Hello! My name is Renata Terrazzan and I am going into my senior year majoring in Public Health Sciences with a double minor in French and Environmental Studies. My goal is to go into Health Administration and get an MPH in health policy and management.

Being a Public Health major in this pandemic has been quite an experience. In a somewhat positive light, these past couple of months have been the first time in my life that someone has asked me my major and actually known what “Public Health” was. Which is one of the only – if not the only – highlight of this pandemic. Continue Reading »

Hello! My name is Alli VanderStoep and I am a second-year master’s student in the Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) program. Although I am one of the older students, I am new to the CHEPS family. I began working at CHEPS at the beginning of May, so I have spent about two and a half months here and have enjoyed every minute of it!

One of the projects I am working on is the Outpatient Surgery (OPS) Revamp. The OPS Revamp team is quite large, with 10 students working with Amy who is spearheading the project. We are responsible for creating a tool to assist the University Hospital in scheduling the backlogged elective patient surgeries (due to COVID-19) and keeping track of their resource utilization. Continue Reading »