Bio

Sarah Halsey is a Ph.D. student in NC State’s Industrial and Systems Engineering Department. Her academic interests include supply chain, logistics, systems analytics and optimization.

Halsey began college as a pre-law student. However, an introductory statistics course sparked her interest in mathematics and changed her academic direction. She later moved from pure and applied mathematics and statistics toward industrial engineering. ISE appealed to her because she could use analytical tools to solve practical problems and understand complex systems.

As an undergraduate, Halsey participated in an REU with NC State’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics. There, her team studied treatment methods for patients with brain metastases using mixed integer linear programming. During her senior year, she completed an honors thesis using logistic regression and inferential statistics. Her research examined ways to predict mental health outcomes among Meredith College students.

Additionally, Halsey gained industry experience as an engineering intern with Schneider Electric. In summer 2026, she joined the University of South Carolina’s NIH-funded T35 Big Data Health Scholar Program for Infectious Diseases. She was one of six students accepted into the program. At NC State, Halsey also serves as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses focused on supply chain network modeling and analysis.

Outside academics, Halsey enjoys staying active and spending time with her dog. She also enjoys attending sporting events, watching true crime documentaries and reading.

Advisor

Leila Hajibabai

Concentration

Supply Chain and Logistics

Area(s) of Expertise

Sarah Halsey's research focuses on applied operations research and spatial optimization, with a particular emphasis on facility location modeling for public services, sustainable infrastructure planning and disaster management.

She worked with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to develop methodologies for planning and designing an electric vehicle infrastructure network that supports both light-duty and medium- to heavy-duty vehicles. In addition, Halsey collaborated with the Goldsboro Fire Department to develop multiple supply chain network models, identifying optimal locations for fire station expansion by focusing on population growth and development in northern Goldsboro, NC.

Currently, she is using her statistical background to build an AI framework for inferring recovery and guiding cardiorespiratory exercise in aging adults from wearable data.