Pengyi Shi

Associate Professor of Management

Professor Shi joined Purdue's school of business in January 2014. She is an Associate Professor of Operations Management. She is also a faculty affiliate of the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering and the Integrative Data Science Initiative. She received her Ph.D. from the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Professor Shi's research focuses on building data-driven, high fidelity models and developing predictive and prescriptive analytics to support decisions making under uncertainty in healthcare and service systems. One of her main research streams is to develop patient flow models to improve hospital operations and patient outcomes. This stream of research has been implemented as tools for supporting inpatient discharge management and for supporting COVID-19 response in the hospital systems in Indiana. Recently, she has started working on developing predictive and operations tools for the criminal justice system.

Her research methodologies include stochastic models, queueing theory, Markov decision process, machine learning, reinforcement learning, and online learning. See her full publications at https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~shi178/.

Innovating Healthcare: Addressing the Nursing Shortage with Data Analytics
The longstanding nurse shortage has risen to the level of a global health crisis, with the U.S. projected to face a deficit of half a million nurses by 2025, according to Pengyi Shi, an associate professor at Purdue's Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business. Combined with spikes in demand, the accelerating shortage has prompted hospitals and health systems to explore innovative solutions.
Full story: Innovating Healthcare: Addressing the Nursing Shortage with Data Analytics
No Room in the Hospital? An Analytical Tool Helps Doctors Decide Which Patients to Discharge
The COVID-19 pandemic has put immense stress on hospitals around the country, many of them struggling to provide enough beds to accommodate the surge in patients. To create room for all these new patients, hospitals have been forced to discharge existing patients earlier than expected. Sending them home early alleviates overcrowding and reduces costs, but it may put their health at risk, increasing the chances that they'll be back in hospital beds within a few weeks.
Full story: No Room in the Hospital? An Analytical Tool Helps Doctors Decide Which Patients to Discharge
https://www.youtube.com/embed/TNMJr57cBR0
Reducing Hospital Readmissions
Professor Pengyi Shi on using data analytics to reduce hospital readmissions and congestion

Nurse Deployment Program Saves Indiana Millions of Dollars, Addresses Shortage
Pengyi Shi is applying a state-wide, data-based solution to a national crisis: nursing shortages.
Full story: Nurse Deployment Program Saves Indiana Millions of Dollars, Addresses Shortage
Purdue researchers address youth substance crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Purdue University researchers Pengyi Shi, an associate professor of management, Nan Kong, a professor of biomedical engineering, and Omolola A. Adeoye-Olatunde, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice, have received the Shah Family Global Innovation Lab’s 2022 Seed Grant Award for their proposal to co-develop a digital solution and decision support system addressing the youth substance abuse crisis in Aru, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
ESC awards grant to Krannert faculty member for community-based research on criminal justice system
The Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) has awarded Krannert Associate Professor Pengyi Shi a seed grant for her proposal titled “A Community Approach for Racial Justice: Decision Analytics Using Fair Machine Learning and Optimization.” Shi’s research focuses on building data-driven, high fidelity models and developing predictive and prescriptive analytics to support decisions making under uncertainty in healthcare and service systems.
Krannert and Kelley business schools collaborating to help IU Health manage surge of Covid-19 patients
Faculty at two of Indiana’s leading business schools at Indiana and Purdue universities are collaborating on a project with IU Health to help the healthcare provider manage the COVID-19 demand surge in their 16 hospitals across five regions of the state. Pengyi Shi, assistant professor of supply chain and operations management at Krannert, led the patient-flow workload team.