SIEDS

Contributed papers are solicited that apply diverse methodologies, including:

• Data Modeling: including Big Data, Data Analytics, and Data Mining
• Simulation and Stochastic Modeling
• Decision Analysis and Optimization
• Human Factors and Cognitive Engineering
• Systems Integration & Design
• Risk Analysis, Technology Management, and Policy

Papers can describe work in a wide variety of application areas, including:

• Telecommunications and Information Technology
• Military Applications
• Healthcare
• Economic and Financial Systems
• Energy
• Environmental
• Robotics and Sensor Networks
• E-Business
• Transportation and Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Critical Infrastructure
• Education
• Ethics and Social Justice

Papers should emphasize the application of fundamental systems analysis and design concepts. Symposium papers presented will be submitted for archival in IEEE Xplore. Only those papers that are presented will be published. Submitted papers that are not presented will not be published.

Abstracts Due: February 9, 2026. (Extended to February 15). Submissions open in January. See instructions below.
Abstract Decisions: March 13, 2026
Final Papers Due: April 10, 2026
Virtual Presentation Recordings Due: April 25, 2026
SIEDS Conference: May 1, 2026

All abstract, paper, and presentation submissions will be handled using EDAS. 

Submit an Abstract Here

Step-by-step Guide for Submitting an Abstract

The abstract should address the following four topics. 

Motivation - Why:  Provide context for the work and reasons it is important. 

Focus of this Work - What:  Write a short statement of the specific focus of the work presented.   

Methodology - How:  Describe the methodology used to approach the problem of interest. If the focus of your work is on designing a system, this section frequently focuses on your design (“how” the focus of the work is addressed). 

Results:  Identify results.  If results are forthcoming, state what you expect to have as results by the time the final paper is due.  If the focus of your work is on designing a system, then Results frequently focuses on validation/testing results.   

 Useful abstract preparation information:

• You will submit your abstract in a textbox; don’t focus on the formatting.  Figures, pictures, tables, or equations cannot be included.
• The headers for each of the four sections are not needed – that is just to help you structure your abstract.
• Your abstract should be 100-500 words.

Registration will open on March 20. 

SIEDS will offer a mix of hybrid virtual/in-person sessions on May 1, 2026. Authors declared their submission as in-person or virtual at the time of abstract submission.  This can be changed at registration.

Judges and Conference Organizers will be registered by the SIEDS committee.

UVA students on a SIE capstone team will be registered by their Department and should not register themselves.

All other in-person attendees should register as “In-Person”.  At least one author for each in-person paper presentation must register and attend their session to present. Multiple authors may present a paper in-person, but they all must register. In-person registration includes meals. 

For papers presented virtually, one author should register as “Virtual”.  They will need to upload a recorded presentation by April 25, and be present via video conference in their session on May 1 to answer questions.

The In-Person or Virtual registration fee is $225.

Additional authors may join via zoom without registering.

Register at https://edas.info/registerPerson.php?c=34866.

If you need to change from in-person to virtual after registering, contact [email protected].

All abstract, paper, and presentation submissions will be handled using EDAS.

Link to submit papers:  Sign into EDAS and register for the conference.  You will then see an icon to upload your final manuscript.  Only one author for each paper is required to upload the final manuscript. Papers should be uploaded by April 12th in PDF format. The maximum number of pages is six (6).

Paper Template:  All manuscripts must conform to the two-column IEEE format. We provide templates in Word and Latex.  The easiest way to have a properly formatted SIEDS paper is to open a template in Microsoft Word or Overleaf, copy in your text and images, export a PDF and upload it to EDAS.  We do not recommend exporting your manuscripts from google docs.  Please ensure that all template text is removed from your conference paper prior to submission.

MS Word Template (updated 3/9/2026)

Latex Template (updated 1/20/2026)

If you are having difficulty submitting your paper. (1) Make sure that at least one author is registered for the conference.  (2) The IEEE copyright checklist is completed.  (3)  The paper follows the IEEE template formatting.  (4) All authors listed match those on the paper. (5) The abstract and title match exactly between the EDAS entry and uploaded paper. (6) The paper is in PDF format.

SIEDS will take place at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Getting to Darden
We encourage local attendees to transit to Darden by the UTS Gold Bus Route or by foot.  We encourage out of town attendees staying in a Charlottesville hotel to use a ridesharing service like Lyft or Uber.  Parking is available, with instructions for parking to be sent to all attendees via email.

Local Accommodations
Stay the night in Charlottesville either before SIEDS or after the SIEDS Banquet!  A complete list of nearby hotels is here.  The closest (by far - walk to SIEDS!) is the Kimpton.  A local favorite that is more economical and right by Charlottesville’s epic Bodo’s Bagles is the English Inn.  If you want to stay in a UVA-themed hotel near the undergraduate bars, check out The Graduate.

Becky Heironimus 
LinkedIn

Bio: Becky Heironimus (UVA SIE 99) is an experienced and innovative Digital leader with 20+ years of experience. She has an exceptional track record of product and platform management, digital transformation and leadership success, and large cross-functional team leadership.  She spent over 17 years at Capital One, rising to the ranks of Managing Vice President of Enterprise Data and Privacy. She is currently a Senior Director of Product Management at Meta.

SIEDS 2026 Schedule:

The full program is available at: https://edas.info/web/ieeesieds26/program.html.

SIEDS 2026 will be a hybrid of virtual and in-person presentation options.

Everything takes place at UVA’s Darden School of Business.

All events and food are included in the registration cost for in-person attendees.

Thank you for participating in SIEDS '26. We had an engaging and exciting conference due to your involvement. We are pleased to announce the best paper award winners in each of the tracks!

Track 1 - Decision-Making: "LeadFlow: A Systems Engineering Approach to AI-Driven Sales Prospecting in Zero-Baseline Environments" by Madeline Priebe, Carly Elbaum, Zack Sikkink, Dylan Jones, Ian Girdner, Bhima Pibuldham, and Matthew Burkett (University of Virginia)

Track 2 - Healthcare: "Beyond the Clock: Improving Elective Surgical Duration Predictions with Machine Learning" by Mia deLadurantaye, Elise Williamson, Michael Dertke, Mackenzie Craig, Jacob Singer, Nathaniel Kusic, Constanza Lorca Diaz, Daniel Otero-Leon, and Robert J. Riggs (University of Virginia)

Track 3 - Controls: "CleanSight: Detection Strategies for Label-Flipping Data Poisoning Attacks on MNIST" by Devon Alexander, Eli Cook, Adam Fridley, Ashraf Ibrahim, Hunter Oakey, and Hunter Moore (University of Virginia)

Track 4 - Sustainability: "Holding the Line: A Digital Twin Framework Supporting Policy Design for U.S. Power Grid Resilience" by Daniel Freedman, Alison Pike, Avery Suriano, Walker Watson, and Henning Mortveit (University of Virginia)

Track 5 - Human-Centered Design: "Albert or Alberta? Investigating Socratic Dialogue and Modality in AI-Assisted Engineering Problem Solving" by Augusto Grimaldi, Cameron Miller, Neeraja Poonjolai, Candelaria Aramburu, and Jad Atweh (University of Florida)

Previous winners are:

2025:

Track 1 - Policy & Decision Analysis: "High Utilizers of the Albemarle and Charlottesville Criminal Justice System" by Zakaria Afi, Sudarshan Atmavilas, Sarah Bedal, Olivia Bernard, Mohini Gupta, Caroline Lee, Loreto Alonzi, Michael Smith, K. Preston White, Jr., and Matthew S Vitale, (University of Virginia)

Track 2 - Health & Environment I: "Cost-Effective Method for Detecting Water Leaks on a Large Rural College Campus" by Elizabeth G. Wells and Jonathan Bender (Sweet Briar College)

Track 3 - Health & Environment II: "Direct User Control of Knee Exoskeletons" by Zachary Bucknor-Smartt, Javid Mustafa, Landry Graves, Willem Bannick, Mamta Korwani, Gray C. Thomas (Texas A&M)

Track 4 - Optimization, Data, Systems Design I: "COFFEE: a High-Performance Approach to Convex Optimization for Thermodynamic Equilibrium Computations" by Fu-Yao Yu, Sahil Shah, Yash Mittal, Paul Bessler, Aamir Mohsin, Jeffrey Geng, Arnav Vats and David Soloveichik (The University of Texas at Austin)

Track 5 - Optimization, Data, Systems Design II: "Experimental Validation of Capacitive Touch Sensors: Recommendations for Human Machine Interface Design" by Molly R Booth, Ashley Maggiora, Samantha Champion, Ana Patiño Rojas and Bryan Kuhr (Sweet Briar College)

2024:

Track 1 - Decision Analysis & Policy: “Evolutionary-based Coordination of Multi-Robot Systems with Dynamic Constraints” by Vihar Shah, Matthew Heeter, Jose Vallarino, Patrick Sherman, Lauren Bramblett and Nicola Bezzo (University of Virginia)

Track 2 - Health & Environment I: “Predicting Winter California Precipitation with Convolutional Neural Networks” by Anthony Chiado, Kristian Olsson, Luke Rohlwing, Michael Vaden, Antonios Mamalakis (University of Virginia)

Track 3 - Health & Environment II: “Operating Room Throughput Efficiency Improvement at LewisGale Medical Center, Salem VA” by Robert N Bromwell, Natalie Cherbaka, Braxton T Atkins, Claire Braun and Natalie Kennedy (Virginia Tech)

Track 4 - Optimization, Data, Systems Design I: “ScanMatch Versus MultiMatch: A Comparison of the Sensitivity of Scanpath Similarity Metrics to Changes in Workload” by Jad A. Atweh and Sara L. Riggs (University of Virginia)

Track 5 - Optimization, Data, Systems Design II: “Exploration of Factors Associated with Successful Participation in Home Electronic Incarceration at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail” by Stella Banino, George Boulos, Chris Craft, Laura Phillips, Sally Sydnor, Loreto Peter Alonzi III, Michael Smith, K. Preston White, Matthew Vitale (University of Virginia)

2023:

Track 1 - Decision Analysis: "Locating Emergency Response in the Metrorail System: A Decision Support Tool" by Elizabeth Ottinger, Alejandro Medina Mora, Kaveena Patel, Islay Van Dusen, Erica Gralla (George Washington University)

Track 2 - Health: "Optimizing Outpatient Cancer Infusion Center Throughput Using a Systems-Based Approach" by Devon M. Zavacky, Anna M. Bustamante, Hayden C. Ratliff, Rupa S. Valdez (University of Virginia)

Track 3 - Data and Optimization: "AI Assisted Trail Map Generation Based on Public GPS Data" by Jared Macshane, Ali Ahmadinia (California State University San Marcos)

Track 4 - Policy: "A Robust Control Chart for Monitoring Reliability Systems" by Parisa Jahani Alamdari (K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Iran), Mohammad Mahdi Ahmadi (University of Arizona)

Track 5 - Environment: "Investigating the Impact of Temporal Labeling of Emergency Department Visits for COVID-19: Comparing Healthcare Disparities Analyses Using Comprehensive, Single-Site Data with National COVID Cohort Co" by Madeleine Jones, Aubrey Winger, Christian Wernz, Jonathan Michel, Sihang Jiang, Andrea Zhou, Ebony Jade Hilton, Mikhail Zemmel, Saurav Sengupta, Kierah Barnes, Johanna Loomba, Donald Brown (University of Virginia)

Track 6 - Systems Design: "A General Framework for Human-Drone Interaction Under Limited On-Board Sensing" by Sammy Nayhouse, Samir Chadha, Chase Moore, Patrick Hourican, Nicola Bezzo (University of Virginia)

Once again, congratulations to the authors and thank you to the session moderators and judges for their hard work! We hope to see everyone next year.

-SIEDS Committee

SIEDS 2026 Committee

• Chair: Bryan Kuhr, Sweet Briar College
• Program Chair: Blake Hament, Elon University
• Publication Chair, Makenzie Keepers, West Virginia University
• Judges Chair: Jad Atweh, University of Florida
• Session Chairing Chair: Megan Gunn, University of Virginia
   

Steering Committee

• Chair: Reid Bailey, University of Virginia
• Finance Chair: Matthew Burkett, University of Virginia
• Local Accommodations Chair: Greg Gerling, University of Virginia