About

Julie Ivy is a Distinguished Professor Emerita and Department Head at NC State University in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Her research focuses on areas within industrial engineering, contributing to the advancement of the field through her leadership and scholarly work. As a distinguished faculty member, she has played a significant role in shaping the department's direction and fostering academic excellence.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Medicine
• Social Science
• Economics
• Machine Learning
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Business
• Pedagogy
• Psychiatry
• Geography
• Data science
• World Wide Web
• Gender studies
• Virology
• Management science
• Intensive care medicine
• Internal medicine
• Environmental health
• Psychology
• Public relations
• Engineering
• Marketing
• Environmental economics

Selected publications

• Organizational decision‐making during COVID‐19: A qualitative analysis of the organizational decision‐making system in the United States during COVID‐19

  UNC Libraries · 2025-05-06

  articleOpen access

  This study sought to understand COVID‐19‐related organizational decisions were made across sectors. To gain this understanding, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with organizational decision‐makers in North Carolina about their experiences responding to COVID‐19. Conventional content analysis was used to analyse the context, inputs, and processes involved in decision‐making. Between October 2020 and February 2021, we interviewed 44 decision‐makers from the following sectors: business ( n = 4), community non‐profit ( n = 3), county government ( n = 4), healthcare ( n = 5), local public health ( n = 5), public safety ( n = 7), religious ( n = 6), education ( n = 7) and transportation ( n = 3). We found that during the pandemic, organizations looked to scientific authorities, the decisions of peer organizations, data about COVID‐19, and their own experience with prior crises. Interpretation of inputs was informed by current political events, societal trends, and organization mission. Decision‐makers had to account for divergent internal opinions and community behaviour. To navigate inputs and contextual factors, organizations decentralized decision‐making authority, formed auxiliary decision‐making bodies, learned to resolve internal conflicts, learned in real time from their crisis response, and routinely communicated decisions with their communities. In conclusion, aligned with systems and contingency theories of decision‐making, decision‐making during COVID‐19 depended on an organization's ‘fit’ within the specifics of their existing system and their ability to orient the dynamics of that system to their own goals.

  PublisherDOI

• Predicting patient enrollment in a telephone-based principal care management service using topic modeling

  PLOS Digital Health · 2025-09-18

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a complication related to diabetes that can lead to vision impairment. To assist DR patients, a care management company provides a telephone-based principal care management (PCM) service, which includes care coaching and other services to reduce barriers to care for patients with DR. Despite its benefits, enrollment in the program is suboptimal. This study developed predictive models using call transcripts to investigate factors associated with patient enrollment in the PCM service. We analyzed transcripts of calls made during the enrollment process (prior to enrollment) and feature-engineered the call metadata (i.e., transcript length, number of calls, time between calls, customer and agent sentiment). In addition, we extracted topics discussed in the transcripts using Structural Topic Modeling (STM) and converted them into vector representations. Utilizing call metadata alongside topics, we developed three classification models (call metadata, topic-based, and topic+metadata) to predict patient enrollment, with the latter demonstrating superior performance. The topic+metadata classification model outperformed the other two models in distinguishing between patient enrollment and non-enrollment, with AUC values ranging from 0.81 to 0.99 across models using 3 to 15-topics. The findings suggest that proactively offering to schedule an appointment after the program benefits explanation leads to a higher odds of enrollment. When the scheduling portion of the conversation is not considered, agents should cover all parts of the script over multiple calls. Additionally, agents who explain the program and maintain longer intervals between calls have higher odds of patient enrollment, suggesting that there is value in allowing patients adequate time to reflect between calls. These findings offer valuable insights for agents to evaluate their strategies in patient enrollment. As the first point of contact, enrollment agents play a crucial role in determining whether patients can benefit from care coordination and management programs.

  PublisherDOI

• Optimizing Masks and Random Screening Test Usage within K-12 Schools

  MDM Policy & Practice · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Background. COVID-19 tremendously disrupted the global health system. People of all ages were at risk of becoming infected. Frequent school closures raised concerns about both the physical and mental health of school-age children. Many studies discussed the effectiveness of various interventions, while few focused on optimizing such interventions. Methods. This study aimed to optimize the usage of random screening tests and masking requirements within K-12 schools. We simulated the disease transmission within a school setting and sought to find the most efficient schedules for schools to arrange their weekly screening tests and mask mandates. The goal was to minimize the number of the end-of-semester infections as well as to use the minimum number of resources. We applied the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm, NSGA-II, to solve this multiobjective optimization problem. We also compared results when polymerase chain reaction (PCR) versus rapid antigen tests were used. Results. The NSGA successfully found Pareto solutions when optimizing the end-of-semester infections, the total number of tests, and the total number of weeks masking. The screening tests and masks can serve as alternatives to one another when prioritizing minimizing the number of infections. In addition, due to the faster return of testing results and lower accuracy, the rapid antigen tests had a similar effect as PCR tests. Conclusion. Our study provides policy makers in K-12 schools with valuable insights. The conclusions derived from this research can serve as a solid foundation for making informative decisions regarding random screening tests and universal masking policies. Highlights Our simulation optimization framework was used to design weekly schedules for random screening tests and masking within K-12 schools to mitigate COVID-19 infections. We considered multiple objectives and applied the NSGA-II algorithm to find a Pareto solution set. Based on local context and preferences, decision makers can trade off testing and masking to achieve a similar number of end-of-semester infections. When a few weeks of masks are mandated, it is best to use them at the beginning of a semester.

  PublisherDOI

• Vaccinating children against COVID-19 is crucial to protect schools and communities

  UNC Libraries · 2025-05-07

  articleOpen access

  To evaluate the joint impact of childhood vaccination rates and school masking policies on community transmission and severe outcomes due to COVID-19, we utilized a stochastic, agent-based simulation of North Carolina to test 24 health policy scenarios. In these scenarios, we varied the childhood (ages 5 to 19) vaccination rate relative to the adult's (ages 20 to 64) vaccination rate and the masking relaxation policies in schools. We measured the overall incidence of disease, COVID-19-related hospitalization, and mortality from 2021 July 1 to 2023 July 1. Our simulation estimates that removing all masks in schools in January 2022 could lead to a 31% to 45%, 23% to 35%, and 13% to 19% increase in cumulative infections for ages 5 to 9, 10 to 19, and the total population, respectively, depending on the childhood vaccination rate. Additionally, achieving a childhood vaccine uptake rate of 50% of adults could lead to a 31% to 39% reduction in peak hospitalizations overall masking scenarios compared with not vaccinating this group. Finally, our simulation estimates that increasing vaccination uptake for the entire eligible population can reduce peak hospitalizations in 2022 by an average of 83% and 87% across all masking scenarios compared to the scenarios where no children are vaccinated. Our simulation suggests that high vaccination uptake among both children and adults is necessary to mitigate the increase in infections from mask removal in schools and workplaces.

  PublisherDOI

• Food Bank Supply Chain and Operations in a Data-Driven World: Objectives, Challenges, and Opportunities

  Springer series in supply chain management · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Toward a More Diverse and Equitable Food Distribution System: Amplifying Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Food Bank Operations

  Production and Operations Management · 2024-04-22 · 10 citations

  article

  This article provides an evidence-based discussion of an ongoing effort within the operations of hunger relief organizations to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by sourcing and distributing more culturally relevant food. Through nearly 100 interviews with food bank personnel in diverse roles (from partner agency relations to executives) representing various regions of the United States, we explore the challenges faced by different functional units within the organization. These interviews indicate a shift to more inclusive language, more personalized metrics, and more inclusive operations. We critically analyze the related literature and identify opportunities for infusing DEI practices in the study of hunger relief supply chains.

  PublisherDOI

• COVSIM: A stochastic agent-based COVID-19 SIMulation model for North Carolina

  Epidemics · 2024-02-23 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  We document the evolution and use of the stochastic agent-based COVID-19 simulation model (COVSIM) to study the impact of population behaviors and public health policy on disease spread within age, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity subpopulations in North Carolina. We detail the methodologies used to model the complexities of COVID-19, including multiple agent attributes (i.e., age, race/ethnicity, high-risk medical status), census tract-level interaction network, disease state network, agent behavior (i.e., masking, pharmaceutical intervention (PI) uptake, quarantine, mobility), and variants. We describe its uses outside of the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub (CSMH), which has focused on the interplay of nonpharmaceutical and pharmaceutical interventions, equitability of vaccine distribution, and supporting local county decision-makers in North Carolina. This work has led to multiple publications and meetings with a variety of local stakeholders. When COVSIM joined the CSMH in January 2022, we found it was a sustainable way to support new COVID-19 challenges and allowed the group to focus on broader scientific questions. The CSMH has informed adaptions to our modeling approach, including redesigning our high-performance computing implementation.

  PublisherDOI

• Building Community Through Professional Development: The LATTICE Program

  2024-02-13 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Launching Academics on the Tenure-Track: an Intentional Community in Engineering (LATTICE) is a national program to increase the retention and advancement of women academics in engineering and computer science. This NSF ADVANCE funded effort has a focus on community, ongoing connections, and professional development to support women as they navigate the postdoctoral and junior faculty stages. These early career stages are a crucial time of transition, and an important opportunity for retention of women in engineering and computer science. For individuals who are an "only" in terms of their social identity (e.g., gender, race, sexuality, ability status, etc.), the isolation during this transitional period can be particularly acute. Research shows that a strong connection to community can counter this isolation, and that the resulting sense of belonging is important to individual success and persistence in STEM. The LATTICE program is designed to build community and ongoing support while providing professional development. This presentation will introduce the LATTICE program theory and design, then discuss evaluation findings, unexpected challenges, and planned modifications to continue to improve the program. The LATTICE program begins with a four-day symposium that weaves together professional development skill building and conversations about social identity. The symposium activities and resulting community lay the foundation for deeper and ongoing support through the peer Mentoring Circles. Each Mentoring Circle, composed of eight to nine participants, provides a frequent and safe forum to discuss concerns, gain perspective, problem-solve, and set personal goals. The first LATTICE symposium was held May 18-21, 2017 with participants who were early-career women from electrical engineering and computer science. The second LATTICE symposium for women in any field of engineering who are underrepresented minorities will be held May 30-June 2, 2019. Evaluation data shows that the LATTICE symposium is a valuable experience for participants, who benefit both from the information discussed and the relationships they began at the symposium. Further, the Mentoring Circles help build community, while providing needed support and accountability. Within several months of participation, participants perceive that the LATTICE program is having a positive impact on their self-confidence and ability to proactively engage in career-building behaviors, such as asking for resources, seeking advice, and starting collaborations. Participants self-reported statistically significant improvements in both self-efficacy and networking activity. LATTICE participants came to the first symposium with a wide array of experiences and perceptions of bias. In order to more fully address the intersectional identities of participants while building a cohesive community, programmatic modifications are planned for the second symposium. One modification will be to incorporate the pedagogical tool of caucusing, in which participants suggest the social identities they wished to caucus around (e.g., Black, Spanish-speaking, first-generation). This allows participants (and panelists) an opportunity to gather in affinity groups of self-identified salient identities, serving to enhance and support communication, while building the capacity to understand their own identities and thereby build authentic relationships across identities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ADVANCE-ENG Success at the Intersection of Formal and Informal Networks for Women of Color (WOC) Engineering Faculty

  2024-02-13 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Underrepresented Minority (URM) women engineering faculty are leading change in the academy through outstanding research and leadership endeavors. A 2005 ADVANCE Leadership award entitled, "Peer Mentoring Summits for Women Engineering Faculty of Color" convened the first ever set of summits focused on URM women engineering faculty. Using a "where are they now" approach, we will highlight the accomplishments of participants in this initiative started 12 years ago. While this group does diversify the faculty, their roles in the academy are not focused solely on issues of diversity. For example, as administrators, it is critical to recognize their intellectual contributions to academic policy, research and pedagogical advancements in higher education. Given the increasing number of workshops, summits and publications focused on Women of Color (WOC) STEM academicians, we will present experiential perspectives and summarize these efforts for WOC STEM faculty. The subsequent development of cross-cultural collaborations in a new multi-university NSF-ADVANCE project entitled, "Launching Academics on the Tenure-Track: An Intentional Community in Engineering (LATTICE)" will also be presented. While intersectionality defines unique issues at the intersection of race and gender, this paper explores the expansion of formal networks of our diverse LATTICE team building on the success of previous faculty development initiatives. The paper will also discuss how ongoing informal networks continue to incorporate mentoring and coaching to empower women engineering faculty.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Collaborative Ethnography and Matters of Care in Counterspaces

  Engaging Science Technology and Society · 2024-04-22 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  This paper offers a reflexive analysis of an interdisciplinary and cross-race collaboration to advance equity in engineering called LATTICE (Launching Academics on the Tenure-Track: an Intentional Community in Engineering). We engage two bodies of scholarship—matters of care in feminist science and technology studies (STS) and critical race theory on counterspaces—to theorize on the data infrastructure and narrative practices that we developed when applying critical methodologies to collective action in technoscience. We discuss how our care practices conflicted with traditional ethnographic practices and thus, inspired us to innovate on methods. These methods—member-checking and polyvocal memo-ing—make transgressing the boundaries of LATTICE counterspaces for public dissemination possible by invoking caring as praxis. We conclude that using these methods to discuss the contradictions and challenges in STS collaborations is an opportunity for advancing mutual intelligibility among interdisciplinary scholars and a politics of knowledge production grounded in values of care and friendship that may contribute to equity and justice in technoscience.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• SCH: INT: Collaborative Research: S.E.P.S.I.S.: Sepsis Early Prediction Support Implementation System

  NSF · $850k · 2015–2019

• Collaborative Research RAPID: Matriculation and Well-Being Under Emergent Events (MWEE): Using Data to Empower Campus Communities in Times of Crisis

  NSF · $107k · 2020–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Coleen Carrigan

  Cal Poly Corporation

  52 shared

• Saejin Tanguay

  University of Washington

  49 shared

• Christine Grant

  North Carolina State University

  45 shared

• Barbara Smith

  University of Washington

  36 shared

• María E. Mayorga

  North Carolina State University

  36 shared

• Jessica T. DeCuir‐Gunby

  36 shared

• Julie Swann

  North Carolina State University

  29 shared

• Müge Capan

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  19 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow, Institute for Operations Research and the Management…
• Fellow, BRIDGES Academic Leadership for Women Program (2022)
• WORMS Award for the Advancement of Women in OR/MS, INFORMS (…
• Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, NC State Univ…
• Moving Spirit Award, INFORMS (2016)