ISE Spring 2026 Seminar Series

ISE Seminar Speaker: Dr. Jennifer K. Ryan, Lehigh University, College of Business

Seminar Title: Dynamic Resource Sharing in Private 5G Networks with Slicing

Abstract:

We study the problem faced by the operator of a private 5G network (or cell), who must allocate the capacity of multiple resources to meet the needs of the primary user of the network and who may also lease excess capacity to external secondary users to generate additional revenue. Private cells can use network slicing, an advancement made possible by 5G, to meet differentiated resource needs across applications. Under slicing, the network resources, such as spectrum, computation, and storage, are segmented to support specific applications, with each slice supporting unique applications. Further, these slices are dynamic, being created and then reallocated as the needs of the primary user change. Network slicing also allows private cells to temporarily share or lease their private wireless infrastructure with external entities, such as brokers or mobile virtual network operators. For this setting, we develop a Markov Decision Process model to determine how the private cell can best serve the needs of the primary user of the network while leveraging the opportunity to lease resources to generate revenue. We then use that model to characterize the optimal admission, leasing, and cancellation decisions, which are made in real-time based on the private cell's current state. We also develop an efficient and easy to implement heuristic solution procedure, which can be run online and is able to solve large-scale problems. Finally, we conduct a comprehensive set of numerical experiments to demonstrate the behavior of the optimal policies and evaluate the proposed heuristic's performance. This was joint work with Demet Batur, Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Mehmet C. Vuran, School of Computing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Bio:

Jennifer K. Ryan is the Frank L. Magee Professor and Department Chair for Decision and Technology Analytics in the College of Business at Lehigh University. Prior to joining Lehigh in July 2025, she served as the inaugural Department Chair for Supply Chain Management and Analytics in the College of Business at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she held the Van Horne Family Endowed Chair in Business. Jennifer’s research and teaching interests are in the areas of inventory management, supply chain management and applied stochastic modeling. Her research has been published in journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Decision Sciences and IISE Transactions. She is the recipient of several National Science Foundation (NSF) grants, including an NSF CAREER grant, and she currently serves as a co-PI on one active NSF grant. Since 2021, Jennifer has served as the Focused Issue Editor for the Supply Chain and Logistics focused issue of IISE Transactions. She has also been active in professional societies, including service as the chair of the INFORMS Educational Outreach Committee, a member of the planning committee for INFORMS Meeting of Analytics Program Directors, a member of the INFORMS-NSF Liaison Committee, a member of the organizing committee for the 2024 and 2025 Early Career Sustainable Operations Management Workshop, and co-chair of the 2015 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Mathematics and the Social Sciences from Dartmouth College.