Event Calendar
Past Event
Sandhouse Rail Group Meeting: "Railroads in the eye of TWO storms" | Anthony B. Hatch, Senior Transportation Analyst & Financial Consultant, ABH Consulting
Northwestern University Transportation Center
11:30 AM
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Maggiano's Little Italy
Details
Northwestern University Transportation Center's Hagestad Sandhouse Rail Group invites you to attend a special, annual holiday lunch presentation at Maggiano's Little Italy, Chicago…
Railroads in the eye of TWO storms
Anthony B. Hatch
Senior Transportation Analyst & Financial Consultant
ABH Consulting
Preceded by a brief sneak preview of Geoffrey Baer’s new show about Chicago railroads debuting on WTTW (PBS) and wttw.com in April 2026.
Riding the Rails with Geoffrey Baer
Geoffrey Baer
Writer, Producer, Host
WTTW
Thursday, December 11, 2025 @ 11:30am CT
Maggiano's Little Italy, Chicago - 111 W. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL
AGENDA
11:30 AM - Check In, Networking, Cash Bar
12:00 PM - Family Style Luncheon
12:30 PM - Presentation by Mr. Hatch, with show preview by Geoffrey Baer
Registration required in advance by Tuesday, December 9:
$60, Online credit card payment (in advance, recommended)
$65, Check payment – please email Andrea Cehaic, andrea.cehaic@northwestern.edu
Anthony B. Hatch
Tony Hatch has been a senior transportation analyst on Wall Street for over twenty years, starting at Salomon brothers; proceeding to Argus, Painewebber, and most recently at NatWest Markets (USA) prior to starting his independent analyst/consultancy in 1999 and working with CV Brokerage. Mr. Hatch’s coverage has been focused on the freight transportation segment, particularly surface transportation. Mr. Hatch is known for his knowledge of the intermodal area, where the various modes of freight transport converge, on which he has held several dozen specialized conferences.
Geoffrey Baer
Geoffrey Baer is a ten-time Emmy-winning Public Television writer, producer, and program host. He has been a fixture on Chicago’s PBS station WTTW for 30 years, best known as the host and writer of WTTW’s popular specials about the architecture and history of Chicago and its suburban areas. His work includes more than 25 feature-length “television tours” including Chicago by ‘L’, The Chicago River Tour, and Chicago on Vacation. Geoffrey hosted the WTTW series The Great Chicago Quiz Show and appeared for years on WTTW’s flagship nightly public affairs program Chicago Tonight answering viewers’ questions about Chicago architecture and history in a segment called “Ask Geoffrey.” Nationally he hosted the PBS primetime series 10 that Changed America about the built environment across the country. He also hosted and co-wrote the PBS primetime special Weekend in Havana. He holds a B.A. in Radio/TV/Film from Miami University, Ohio, and a M.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University.
Archived Presentations
Please consider a year-end donation to the Sandhouse Hagestad Memorial Fund
Or send to:
Northwestern University Transportation Center
600 Foster Street, Third Floor
Evanston, IL 60208
Time
Thursday, December 11, 2025 at 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Location
Maggiano's Little Italy
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern University Transportation Center
NUTC Seminar Series: "Decomposition methods for optimization under uncertainty" - Akul Bansal, Northwestern
Northwestern University Transportation Center
4:00 PM
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Ruan Conference Center, Chambers Hall
Details
Abstract:
Many transportation and logistics problems—such as freight routing, lot sizing, and capacity allocation—are naturally modeled as mixed-integer linear programs (MILPs). These models capture operational realities including discrete decisions, capacity limits, and service constraints, but they can become computationally intractable at scale—especially when model inputs (e.g., demand or travel times) are uncertain. In this talk, we present improvements in cut-based decomposition methods for solving large scale stochastic MILPs. First, we show that integer L-shaped cuts—computationally cheap but often viewed as weak—belong to the family of Lagrangian cuts, which are typically stronger but harder to compute. Second, we address dual degeneracy in cut generation, where multiple optimal dual solutions may produce weak cuts. We propose a normalization approach that selects dual solutions yielding stronger, Pareto-optimal cuts. Finally, we compare normalization with regularization-based alternatives, showing that normalization can recover cuts produced by regularization, while the converse need not hold.
Bio:
Akul Bansal is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern. His research interests include mixed-integer, large-scale, and stochastic optimization.
Time
Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
Ruan Conference Center, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern University Transportation Center
NUTC Seminar Series: Christpher Borroni-Bird, Afreecar LLC
Northwestern University Transportation Center
4:00 PM
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Ruan Conference Center, Chambers Hall
Details
Time
Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
Ruan Conference Center, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern University Transportation Center
44th Annual William A. Patterson Distinguished Transportation Lecture:Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, XPO, Inc.
Northwestern University Transportation Center
7:30 PM
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To be Updated
Details
About Mario Harik
Mario Harik leads the execution of XPO's strategy, including growth investments in customer service excellence and employee satisfaction. Leveraging his previous service as XPO’s chief information officer, Mr. Harik also oversees the expansion of network capacity and proprietary technology that are transforming the company’s operations. Prior to XPO, Mr. Harik held positions as chief information officer and senior vice president of research and development with Oakleaf Waste Management, chief technology officer with Tallan, Inc., and co-founder and chief architect of web and voice applications with G3 Analyst. He holds a master’s degree in engineering, information technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a degree in engineering, computer and communications from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Mr. Harik also serves as chairman of XPO's board of directors, and is on the board of directors of QXO, Inc.
Time
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Location
To be Updated
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern University Transportation Center
NUTC Seminar Series: Kai Zhang, University of North Texas
Northwestern University Transportation Center
4:00 PM
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Ruan Conference Room, Chambers Hall
Details
Time
Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
Ruan Conference Room, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern University Transportation Center
NUTC Seminar Series: Alex Bayen, University of California, Berkely
Northwestern University Transportation Center
4:00 PM
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Ruan Conference Center, Chambers Hall
Details
Time
Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
Ruan Conference Center, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern University Transportation Center
NUTC Seminar Series: Nadim Hamad, Northwestern University
Northwestern University Transportation Center
4:00 PM
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Ruan Conference Room, Chambers Hall
Details
Time
Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
Ruan Conference Room, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern University Transportation Center