Research Interests: Operations Research, Large-scale Optimization, Data Science, Machine Learning for Operations Research, Metaheuristics, Algorithm Configuration, Solvers

Published & Under Review

1. OCP Optimizes its Supply Chain for Africa

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi, Beljadid Ahmed, Bennouna Mohammed Ali, Bennouna Rania, Boussaadi Latifa, El Hachemi Nizar, El Hallaoui Issmail, Fender Michel, Jamali Mohamed Anouar, Si Hammou Nabil and Soumis François
• Deployed by our industry collaborator OCP Group, estimated impact of 5% in incremental turnover annually
• Winner at the EURO Excellence in Practice Award 2024
• Finalist at the IFORS Prize for OR in Development 2023
• Published in INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, 2025

2. A Decomposition Matheuristic for the Transient Stability Constrained Unit Commitment at Hydro-Quebec

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi, Bani Abderrahman, Morabit Mouad, Blondin Alexandre, Besner Alexandre, Fournier Julien and El Hallaoui Issmaïl
• Published in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2025

3. Primal Methods For Very Large-scale Optimization

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi
• Ph.D. Thesis, Polytechnique Montreal, 2024

4. Towards Resilience: Primal Large-scale Re-optimization

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi, Wu Yong, El Hallaoui Issmaïl and Soumis François
• Part of the Project “OCP Optimizes its Supply Chain for Africa”
• Published in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2024

5. Incremental LNS Framework for Integrated Production, Inventory, and Vessel Scheduling: Application to a Global Supply Chain

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi, Himmich Ilyas, El Hachemi Nizar, El Hallaoui Issmaïl and Soumis François
• Deployed by our industry collaborator OCP Group, estimated impact of 5% in incremental turnover annually
• Part of the Project “OCP Optimizes its Supply Chain for Africa”
• Published in Omega, 2023

6. MPILS: An Automatic Tuner for MILP Solvers

• Authors: Himmich Ilyas∗, Er Raqabi El Mehdi∗, El Hachemi Nizar, El Hallaoui Issmaïl, Metrane Abdelmoutalib and Soumis François
• Deployed by our industry collaborator OCP Group, estimated impact of 5% in incremental turnover annually
• Part of the Project “OCP Optimizes its Supply Chain for Africa”
• Published in Computers & Operations Research, 2023

7. An Electric Vehicle Transitioning Framework for Public Fleet Planning

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi and Li Wenkai
• Published in Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 2023

8. The Primal Benders Decomposition

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi, El Hallaoui Issmaïl and Soumis François
• Part of the Project “OCP Optimizes its Supply Chain for Africa”
• Under Review

9. Combining Benders Decomposition and Column Generation for the Petrol Replenishment Problem with Inventory Management

• Authors: Bani Abderrahman, Er Raqabi El Mehdi, El Hallaoui Issmaïl and Corréa Ayoub Insa
• Under Review

10. The Petrol Station Replenishment Problem: A Case Study from West Africa

• Authors: Bani Abderrahman, Er Raqabi El Mehdi, El Hallaoui Issmaïl and Corréa Ayoub Insa
• Under Review

11. Design of Electric Vehicles Charging Station Network

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi
• Master’s Thesis, International University of Japan, 2019

Working Papers

12. The Stochastic Improved Primal Simplex

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi, El Fassi Mohamed, Leus Roel and El Hallaoui Issmaïl

13. The Multi-Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem with Multiple Time Windows

• Authors: Er Raqabi El Mehdi, Dalmeijer Kevin and Van Hentenryck Pascal

14. A Fairness Framework for Resource Substitution in Large Networks

• Authors: Mohan Ved, Er Raqabi El Mehdi and Van Hentenryck Pascal

15. Workshop Design with Flow Optimization and Robot Planning

• Authors: Arnovi Moinuddin, Er Raqabi El Mehdi and Van Hentenryck Pascal

(*: Equal Contribution)