28 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

Just as the COVID-19 pandemic brought massive so-

cietal disruption, the antidote for the deadly virus cre-

ated its own unique challenges. As vaccines became

widely available early in 2021, process improvement

experts faced the logistics task of learning how to dis-

tribute them on a large scale.

One high priority location was on college campuses, where

many students and faculty weary of a year of remote learn-

ing and social distancing were anxious to receive their shots

quickly and efﬁciently so they could attend graduation cer-

emonies and other gatherings at the end of spring semester.

To streamline such operations, a team of industrial and

systems engineering students at Iowa State University col-

laborated with the school’s Emergency Operations Center for

procedures to help administer the shots effectively at a central

mass vaccination site on campus.

The student group included undergraduates Tyler Brenza,

Grace Nashleanas, Colton Richardson and Sam Schwierking,

ISE students help deliver a shot in the arm

Data analysis, logistics used to set up Iowa State vaccination clinic

By Keith Albertson

Photo courtesy of Christopher Gannon | Iowa State University News Service

August 2021 | ISE Magazine 29

with Ph.D. student Ghazal Shah Abadi as project manager. All

are part of an undergraduate research program led by Sarah

Ryan, an industrial and systems engineering professor and

IISE fellow.

The goal of the university’s emergency operations depart-

ment was to move the vaccinations to a single site to maxi-

mize the number of shots delivered. The students began by

studying data from smaller clinics operating in late March.

They analyzed wait times along each step of the process to de-

ISE students help deliver a shot in the arm

Data analysis, logistics used to set up Iowa State vaccination clinic

By Keith Albertson

vise a queueing network model and determined that the clinic

could vaccinate more than 2,000 people per day.

Schwierking, a junior and undergraduate research assistant

in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, told ISE

that efforts to move people quickly through lines at the vac-

cination site relied on collecting data involving several time

measures. Those included when people arrived for their ap-

pointment, how long it took to register, their arrival and de-

parture at each station and how many registration areas were

being used.

They factored in potential time delays along the way. While

the vaccination itself can be administered in as little as ﬁve

minutes, planners had to account for variables such as late ar-

rivals and delays patients might encounter at registration sta-

tions. Because the vaccines must be prepared in advance and

can be spoiled if not delivered in time, the goal was to move

people as quickly and efﬁciently as possible.

The team also worked to ensure there was enough space set

aside for people waiting 15 minutes at a post-vaccine observa-

tion station to be monitored for any allergic reactions. They

measured the number of patients at a time every minute for

the 15 minutes to calculate the amount of space needed.

“One of the delay factors that we had seen when looking at

the minor clinic was if there were technical issues or a large

group of people coming into the clinic at once. Both of these

issues would force a backup in the queueing line before the

entrance,” Schwierking said. “Then once they started pushing

people through as fast as they could, the number of people

in the observation section would increase, and their number

of chairs would be too low. So we recommended that they

would have additional seating areas for these two cases. Actu-

ally, during the ﬁrst few days of the clinic opening, this spe-

ciﬁc recommendation seemed vital to the operation.”

“With a queueing network model, we get a glimpse ahead

at issues they might confront so they can make adjustments on

Industrial engineering

students helped design Iowa

State’s mass vaccination

clinic at State Gym.

An ISU student receives a COVID-19 vaccine at Iowa State’s

mass vaccination clinic at State Gym.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Gannon | Iowa State University News Service

30 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

Healthcare ISEs: Reach out and change a student’s life

the ﬂy,” Brenza, a junior majoring in industrial engineering,

told The Iowa State News Service.

With the processes in place, the clinic began serving the

university population April 20 at State Gym. Once the clinic

began dispensing vaccines, the team observed the results and

sought to make any necessary adjustments based on changing

needs.

“Actually, the clinic went well,” Schwierking said. “We

made most of the adjustments before the clinic’s opening be-

cause of the statistical analysis that we did. For instance, us-

ing queueing theory, we discovered that the sticker dispenser

station, where people get what registration and vaccination

station they are supposed to go to, was understaffed. So we

adjusted accordingly, and I believe, got rid of that function

altogether to make sure it wasn’t backing up the process.”

“With any research project, you typically start out with

some objectives, then things change along the way and you

have to adjust as you go,” Ryan told ISU News Service. “I was

worried the students would be frustrated by that, but I was

encouraged that they understand this clinic has to adapt to

events as they happen.”

Through the end of May, the university had served nearly

6,800 patients and delivered more than 12,000 vaccines. The

school planned to reopen clinics in August in time for fall se-

mester.

“I got vaccinated the same day we had done observations.

It’s weird how different the patients see it versus how we’re

observing it,” Richardson, sophomore in industrial engineer-

ing, told the ISU New Service.

Schwierking said he received positive feedback from those

served at the clinics who had a positive experience.

“I heard many quality responses, personally,” he said. “I

know the people we were working with within the Environ-

mental Health and Safety department were very grateful for

having our help in trying to make sure that it went correctly

the ﬁrst time. I heard no complaints about the wait being long

or unclear where to go next. So all in all, I think it was a suc-

cess.”

“I’m really glad we got to work with these students,” ISU

Emergency Manager Clayton Oliver told the ISU News Ser-

vice. “This was a way for them to contribute directly to the

solution.”

In addition to helping get more shots in arms, the project

gave the students a chance to apply ISE principles they learned

in class to tackle a real-world challenge.

“This idea was foreign to the rest of my team and me before

the project,” Schwierking said. “So it we received the oppor-

tunity to expand on something even outside the studies that

we have been given to that point and use some of the higher-

level skills that we have learned in classes, like matrices.

“I think that it was a wonderful experience. I am not quite

sure what I want to do in industrial engineering yet, but being

a part of this project helped me understand the process side. I

thought it wouldn’t be something that I would consider, but

this subset of IE allows me to touch so many different people

in different ways.” 

Keith Albertson is managing editor of ISE magazine.

From left, Iowa State University industrial engineering students, from left, Grace Nashleanas, Sam Schwierking, Tyler Brenza and

Colton Richardson, industrial engineering professor Sarah Ryan and Ph.D. student and project manager Ghazal Shah Abadi.

Photo courtesy of Grace Nashleanas

August 2021 | ISE Magazine 31

Dashboard helps track vaccination levels

As COVID-19 vaccines are delivered, the next step

for healthcare directors and process improvement

experts is to gather data on who has received the

shots, mostly to determine who is not getting the

vaccines and how to reach them.

As of late June, more than 66% of U.S. adults

had received their full vaccines, according to the

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(covid.cdc.gov), leaving a third of the population

unvaccinated. The percentage of people who have

been immunized can vary widely by region and

demographics.

To monitor this data in their state, a research team

at Georgia Tech assembled a dashboard to measure

and display vaccination rates that can be divided

by county, race and age, according to Georgia Tech

Research Horizons (rh.gatech.edu). The Georgia

COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard includes interactive

maps and tables that compare and rank counties by

vaccination rates, social vulnerability index and other

indicators.

“There is a lot variability in different regions of

the state, so we wanted to take a closer look from an

equity perspective,” said Pinar Keskinocak, an IISE

member, the William W. George chair and professor

in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and

Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech and co-founder

and director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian

Systems, an interdisciplinary research center at

Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech’s research team includes Ph.D.

students Akane Fujimoto and Tyler Perini and CHHS

Research Director Dima Nazzal, an IISE member. They

worked with the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) to set up the dashboard. They share early versions of it with the DPH

and the Georgia COVID-19 Health Equity Council.

The dashboard concept is key to helping speciﬁc areas achieve full herd immunity. Even as vaccination rates rise overall,

targeting areas that fall short of achieving such immunity is key. It also helps divulge what socioeconomic factors might be involved

in keeping rates low. Its totals as of early June showed that vaccination rates were higher among white residents in large metro area

counties and in about 70% of counties overall.

Nazzal said the dashboard shows lower rates overall in areas below the poverty level compared to the national average. Some

counties showed higher vaccination rates among white residents, particularly in large urban counties, while the vaccination rate is

higher among Black residents in a few counties.

A CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released in late May showed vaccination rates lower among adults in

counties with the highest social vulnerability, such as lower socioeconomic status, households with children, single parents and

persons with disabilities.

A sample screen shot of the Georgia COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard.

Photos courtesy of Georgia Tech Research Horizons

The research team behind the COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard includes,

from left, Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems Research

Director Dima Nazzal, an IISE member, and Ph.D. students Akane

Fujimoto and Tyler Perini.