Dr. Emily Craparo
Operations Research Department, Naval Postgraduate School
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Emily Craparo, Research Assistant Professor
Emily Craparo came to the Naval Postgraduate School Department of Operations Research as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Associate in 2009, and she joined the faculty in 2010. Dr. Craparo received her S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her graduate research focused on decision and control algorithms for cooperative autonomous systems operating in communication-constrained environments, as well as wireless network optimization. Her current areas of interest are decision-making under uncertainty and the design of efficient algorithms.
Department of Operations Research
Naval Postgraduate School
Glasgow Hall, Room G-226
Monterey, CA 93943
Phone: (831) 656-3890
Fax: (831) 656-2595
E-mail: emcrapar [at] nps [dot] edu
Material contained herein is made available for the purpose of peer review and discussion and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense.
I am broadly interested in developing mathematical models and algorithms to improve decision making. My previous work has focused on creating tools and technologies that enable autonomous and semi-autonomous systems to effectively obtain, analyze, synthesize and utilize information. My current research also involves human decision makers.
Below are some selected areas of interest and contribution, with links and citations for relevant publications and presentations. Numbers refer to the list given in the Publications tab. Hover over a number to view the citation.
| Applied mathematical modeling and optimization |
How can we best leverage existing math programming techniques to solve real-world problems?
Contributions include models and tools to aid decision-making at the US Marine Corps Embassy Security Group, the US Navy's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit 2, and the US Army's Training and Doctrine Command Analysis Center (TRAC).
Collaborators: Prof. Robert Dell (NPS), Prof. W. Matthew Carlyle (NPS), Prof. Dashi Singham (NPS), Ms. Jessica Tabacca (TRAC), Mrs. Kirstin Smead (TRAC), CAPT Maro Enoka (US Marine Corps), CDR Ed DeWinter (US Navy), Mr. Anton Rowe (NPS)
Relevant publications and presentations:
[8],
[11],
[27],
[28]
Theses advised: [Enoka], [DeWinter]
|
| Decision-making in energy systems |
How can we best ensure energy security in military and civil contexts?
Ongoing work. Contributions include a decision-theoretic framework for studying decisions regarding carbon sequestration, and contributions to the NPS energy curriculum.
Collaborators: Prof. Dashi Singham (NPS), Dr. Joshua White (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Prof. Wenbo Cai, (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
Relevant publication: [30]
|
| Emergency decision-making |
How do people make time-critical emergency decisions with uncertain information? How does information propagate over a social network?
Contributions include derivation of optimal evacuation policies for individual decision-makers under a simplified disaster scenario, analysis of aggregate population behavior specified individual rules, and behavioral experiments involving human participants.
Collaborators: Prof. David Alderson (NPS), Prof. Jean Carlson (UCSB), LT J. Crews (USN), LCDR A. Malveo (USN), Dr. Danielle Bassett (UCSB), Dr. Stephen Judd (UPenn)
Relevant presentation:
[6]
Theses advised:
[Crews],
[Malveo]
|
| Graph-theoretic anomaly detection |
Can test statistics based on minimum-weight nonbipartite matchings and other subgraphs efficiently detect distributional changes in indexed multivariate data?
Contributions include numerical experiments on test statistics derived from efficiently-computable subgraphs.
Collaborators: Prof. Robert Koyak (NPS), Prof. R. Kevin Wood (NPS), Prof. Samuel Buttrey (NPS)
Relevant publication and presentation:
[7],
[13]
|
| Wireless communication network design and analysis |
How should wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) be provisioned, deployed, and operated in order to most effectively communicate over long distances or in cluttered environments? Can novel architectures overcome scaling difficulties inherent in wireless network configuration?
Contributions include efficient approximation algorithms for optimizing node placement and network topology in mobile backbone networks and practical analyses of MANETs of interest to the Navy and Marine Corps.
Collaborators: Prof. Eytan Modiano (MIT), Prof. Jonathan How (MIT), Prof. David Alderson (NPS), LT W. Jacob Fry (USN)
Relevant publications and presentations:
[3],
[4],
[5],
[14],
[16],
[20],
[21],
[22],
[25],
[26],
[29]
Theses advised: [Fry] |
| Distributed sensing and the value of information |
Given a set of spatially distributed agents with differing estimates of the state of the world, what information should be communicated between these agents in order to best improve their collective estimate?
Contributions include efficient approximation algorithms and heuristics for maximizing information gain subject to communication throughput constraints.
Collaborators: Prof. Jonathan How (MIT), Prof. Nicholas Roy (MIT)
Relevant publications and presentations:
[2],
[16],
[19]
|
| Wireless communication network design and analysis |
Can technologies such as natural language processing improve information transfer between humans and machines?
Contributions include the first known attempt at formalizing air traffic control phraseology for use in unmanned systems and a prototype language processor capable of controlling aircraft in a simulated near-airport environment.
Collaborators: Prof. Eric Feron (Georgia Tech), Prof. Robert Berwick (MIT), Dr. Felix S-H Chang, Dr. Jae W. Lee
Relevant publications:
[15],
[18],
[24] |
Journal/Magazine/Book Publications | Refereed Conference Publications
Other Publications | Presentations
Note: names of NPS student coauthors are highlighted.
Working Papers (current draft available upon request) |
- E. M. Craparo, D. I. Singham, J. A. White, and W. S. Cai, "A Capital Planning Study of a Carbon
Sequestration Network."
- E. M. Craparo, D. L. Alderson, and W. J. Fry,"When More is Less: Assessing the Impact of Additional Radios in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network."
- J. M. Carlson, D. L. Alderson, S. Stromburg, D. S. Bassett, E. M. Craparo, F. Gutierrez-Villareal and T. Otani, "A Behavioral Experiment to Measure Collective Decision Dynamics in Evacuation."
|
| Journal and Magazine Publications and Book Chapters |
- M. D. Enoka and E. M. Craparo, "Optimizing Marine Security Guard Assignments," submitted.
- E. M. Craparo, "Location-Constrained Placement and Assignment in Mobile Backbone
Networks," in Sensors: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications, P.M. Pardalos, V. Boginski, C. Commander, Y.Ye (eds.), pp. 20-39, Springer, November 2011.
- E. M. Craparo, J. P. How and E. Modiano, "Throughput Optimization in Mobile Backbone Networks," IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 560-572, April 2011.
- E. M. Craparo, F. S.-H. Chang, J. W. Lee, R. Berwick and E. Feron, "Natural Language Interfaces
in Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," in Theory and Algorithms for Cooperative Systems, edited by D. Grundel, R. Murphey and P. M. Pardalos, World Scientific, 2003.
- W. Gawronski and E. M. Craparo, "Antenna Scanning Techniques for Estimation of Spacecraft Position," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 6, pp. 38-45, Dec 2002.
|
| Refereed Conference Publications |
- E. M. Craparo, "Constrained Node Placement in Mobile Backbone Networks," Proc. of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2010.
- E. M. Craparo, J. P. How and E. Modiano, "Optimization of Mobile Backbone Networks: Improved Algorithms and Approximation," 2008 American Control Conference.
Best in Session.
- E. M. Craparo, J. P. How and E. Modiano, "Simultaneous Placement and Assignment for Exploration in Mobile Backbone Networks," 2008 Conference on Decision and Control.
- E. M. Craparo, J. P. How, N. Roy and D. Pucci de Farias, "Decentralized Estimation under Communication Constraints," 2007 AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference.
- E. M. Craparo and E. Feron, "Natural Language Processing in the Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," 2004 AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference.
- B. Ingram and E. M. Craparo, "A Micro-Sized Ornithopter Wing Design," 41st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, Nevada 2003.
|
| Other Publications |
- B. R. Shiro, D. W. Kwon, E. M. Craparo, S. I. Infield, J. L. Heldmann, and F. S. Thompson, "Mars Geophysical Lander Mission: A Mission Concept from the 2003 NASA
Planetary Science Summer School," submitted to the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 2013.
- E. M. Craparo, J. Tabacca, and K. Smead, "Optimizing the Army's Aerial Reconnaissance and Surveillence Asset Mix." In review.
- E. M. Craparo, "Cooperative Exploration under Communication Constraints," Doctoral thesis, September 2008.
- E. M. Craparo, "Natural Language Processing for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Guidance Interfaces," Masters thesis, June 2004.
- D. L. Alderson, E. M. Craparo, and W. J. Fry, "Assessing Tradeoffs in Mobile Ad-Hoc Network Deployment: A Case Study in Ground Soldier Mobile Systems," NPS technical report NPS-OR-11-002, January 2011.
- R. Koyak, R. K. Wood, E. M. Craparo, and S. Buttrey, "Graph-theoretic Statistical Procedures for Detecting Signals in Indexed Multivariate Data," white paper, 2011.
- W. Gawronski and E. M. Craparo, "Three Scanning Techniques for Deep Space Network Antennas to Estimate Spacecraft Position," NASA Interplanetary Network Progress Report 42-147, July-September 2001, pp. 1-17, November 15, 2001.
|
| Presentations |
- "Optimizing the Army's Aerial Reconnaissance and Surveillance Asset Mix," 2012 INFORMS Annual
Meeting, Phoenix, AZ (coauthor).
- "Decision-Making in Information-Rich Environments," invited talk for Stanford University's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Palo Alto, CA, August 2012.
- "Decision-Making in Information-Rich Environments," invited talk for the Naval Academy's Systems Engineering Department, Palo Alto, CA, March 2012.
- "Optimizing Marine Security Guard Assignments," 2011 INFORMS Annual
Meeting, Charlotte, NC.
- "Graph-Theoretic Statistical Procedures for Signal Detection," NSF/DTRA Algorithms Workshop, Boston, MA, June 2011.
- "Making Emergency Evacuation Decisions with Uncertain Information," 2010 INFORMS Annual Meeting, Austin, TX.
- "Throughput Optimization in Mobile Backbone Networks," Department of Operations Research, Naval Postgraduate School, November 2008.
- "Design and Optimization of Mobile Backbone Networks," Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, UCLA, November 2008.
- "Throughput Optimization in Mobile Backbone Networks," 2008 SIAM Conference on Optimization 2008, Boston, MA.
- "Cooperative Sensing in Mobile Backbone Networks," SENSORS 2008, Shalimar, FL.
- "A Micro-Sized Ornithopter Wing Design," AIAA Northeast Region Student Conference, 2002. Best undergraduate presentation.
|
Mathematical optimization provides a rigorous framework for making decisions while taking into account physical, economic, logistical, procedural, and other constraints. Three key capabilities are required in the practical application of mathematical optimization techniques:
Formulation: expression of a real-world problem in mathematical notation
Implementation: realization of a written formulation in a computational solver
Post-optimality analysis: interpretation of solver output in terms of the original real-world problem
These capabilities form the core of my Systems Optimization course, which emphasizes practical application of a broad array of optimization techniques. They are also important in my Nonlinear Programming course, which focuses on algorithms and analysis techniques applicable to nonlinear optimization problems, and my energy course, which provides an energy-oriented survey of operations research techniques.
| OS3007 Operations Research for Energy Systems Analysts |
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
A survey of operations research techniques with emphasis on techniques relevant to energy applications. Topics covered include optimization, stochastic modeling, simulation, and statistical methods including forecasting and system test and evaluation. Excel-based spreadsheet models are used to analyze energy systems and energy consumption logistics during wartime operations and during peacetime. |
 |
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- Basic decision theory
- Linear programs and multiperiod models; sensitivity analysis
- Nonlinear and integer linear programs
- Multi-objective optimization
- Attacker/defender models; decomposition
- Forecasting techniques
- Stochastic modeling and simulation
|
| OA4201 Nonlinear Programming |
 |
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
OA4201 is the second of three required optimization courses (Linear Programming, Nonlinear Programming, and Network Flows and Graphs). Primary course objectives are to learn how to formulate and solve real-world (mixed-integer) nonlinear programs using commercial solvers, develop an understanding of nonlinear programming algorithms, theory, and associated analysis techniques, and obtain a broad knowledge of optimization algorithms for various classes of problems. |
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- Classification of optimization problems and associated algorithms
- Modeling and solution of real-world (mixed-integer) nonlinear programs
- Min-max and Benders' decomposition
- Heuristic algorithms
- Convexity
- Convergence analysis
- Unconstrained nonlinear optimization: optimality conditions and algorithms
- Gradient and Newton's methods
- Line search
- Step size rules
- Constrained nonlinear optimization: optimality conditions and algorithms
- Feasible and descent directions
- Lagrange multiplier theory and algorithms
|
| OS3211 Systems Optimization |
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
OS3211 is an application-oriented introduction to optimization. It introduces models (linear, integer and nonlinear programs), modeling tools (sensitivity and post-optimality analysis), and optimization software and solution techniques. It presents many military and private sector optimization applications, such as production planning and scheduling, inventory planning, personnel scheduling, project scheduling, distribution systems planning, facility sizing and capacity expansion, and product development. |
 |
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- Introduction to optimization; overview of some optimization applications
- Linear programs
- Network models
- Integer programs
- Multi-objective optimization
- Nonlinear programming and convexity; heuristics
|
| Education |
Ph.D., Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
September 2008.
Minor: Mathematics
S.M., Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 2004
S.B., Aeronautics and Astronautics with Information Technology,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 2002 |
|
| Selected Awards |
- NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship
- NSF Graduate Fellowship
- NDSEG Graduate Fellowship
- MIT Presidential Fellowship
- Stanford Graduate Fellowship
- Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium Fellowship
- Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship (two-time winner)
- Association of MIT Alumnae Award 2002 (given to three graduating women at MIT)
- Best in session, American Control Conference, 2008
- Best undergraduate presentation, AIAA Northeast Regional Student Conference, 2002
- Accepted to NASA Academy, 2001
- NASA Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2001 (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
- AIAA Northwest Florida Section Student Achievement Award (two-time winner)
- Leaders for Manufacturing Award (2002)
- Commander Lewis E. Erdner Memorial Scholarship (awarded by the American Society of Naval Engineers)
- Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
|
| Professional History |
Naval Postgraduate School
- Research Assistant Professor, Department of Operations Research, July 2010-present
- NRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Operations Research, July 2009-July 2010
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Research Assistant, Aerospace Controls Laboratory, October 2005-September 2008
- Research Assistant, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, June 2002-October 2005
- Undergraduate Research Assistant, Software Engineering Research Laboratory, September 2000-January 2001
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Undergraduate Student Research Program (USRP) Fellow, June 2001-August 2001
Pennsylvania State University
- Undergraduate Research Fellow, Applied Research Laboratory, June 2000-August 2000
|
| Current and Past Society Memberships and Activities |
- IEEE
- SIAM
- INFORMS
- AIAA
- Tau Beta Pi
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Sigma Gamma Tau
- MIT Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Academics chair)
- Rowing (Union Boat Club, MIT Rowing Club, Santa Cruz Rowing Club)
- Pottery (MIT Student Art Association)
- Music (MIT Symphony Orchestra, MIT Chamber Music Society, MPC Band)
- Flying (East Coast Aero Club)
|
"Cooperative Sensing in Mobile Backbone Networks," presented at SENSORS 2008, Shalimar, FL.
"Throughput Optimization in Mobile Backbone Networks," presented at the 2008 SIAM Conference on Optimization 2008, Boston, MA.
"Design and Optimization of Mobile Backbone Networks," presented at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, UCLA, November 2008.
"Throughput Optimization in Mobile Backbone Networks," presented at the Department of Operations Research, Naval Postgraduate School, November 2008.
E. M. Craparo, "Location-Constrained Placement and Assignment in Mobile Backbone Networks," in Sensors: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications, P.M. Pardalos, V. Boginski, C. Commander, Y.Ye (eds.), Springer, pp. 20-39, Springer, November 2011.
"Graph-Theoretic Statistical Procedures for Signal Detection," presented at the NSF/DTRA Algorithms Workshop, Boston, MA, June 2011.
R. Koyak, R. K. Wood, E. M. Craparo, and S. Buttrey, "Graph-theoretic Statistical Procedures for Detecting Signals in Indexed Multivariate Data," white paper, 2011.
"Making Emergency Evacuation Decisions with Uncertain Information," presented at the 2010 INFORMS Annual Meeting, Austin, TX.
M. D. Enoka and E. M. Craparo, "Optimizing Marine Security Guard Assignments," submitted.
E. M. Craparo, D. I. Singham, J. A. White, and W. S. Cai, "A Capital Planning Study of a Carbon Sequestration Network," in preparation.
J. Tabacca, K. Smead, and E. M. Craparo, "Optimizing the Army's Aerial Reconnaissance and Surveillence Asset Mix," in preparation.
E. M. Craparo, D. L. Alderson, and W. J. Fry, "When More is Less: Assessing the Impact of Additional Radios in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network," in preparation.
"Optimizing the Army's Aerial Reconnaissance and Surveillence Asset Mix," 2012 INFORMS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ (coauthor).
"Optimizing Marine Security Guard Assignments," 2011 INFORMS Annual Meeting, Charlotte, NC.
CAPT M. D. Enoka, US Marine Corps, "Optimizing Marine Security Guard Assignments," Masters thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, June 2011.
LT J. Crews, US Navy, "Determining Optimal Evacuation Policies for Disasters," Masters thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, March 2012.
LCDR A. Malveo, US Navy, "Modeling Mass Hurricane Evacuations on a Multi-Regional Transportation Network," Masters thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, March 2013.
CDR E. DeWinter, US Navy, "A Persistent Planning Model for Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation
Unit Two," Masters thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, September 2012.
LT W. J. Fry, US Navy, "An Analysis of Mobile Ad-hoc Network Performance to Recommend a Basis of Issue for the U.S. Army Nett Warrior System," Masters thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, September 2010 (second reader).