schedule-maker: A Python repository from patrickfuller

#ChBE Recruitment Schedule Maker

v1.0 by Peter Winter v2.0 by Patrick Fuller

A script to optimize recruit-professor meetup schedules over Northwestern Chemical Engineering recruitment weekends.

Usage

Update all the tabs in schedule_input.xlsx.
Edit the words in recruit_schedule_template.tex to say what you want. It looks code-y, but the parts you want to edit should be easy to find.
To generate a "best" schedule, run schedule_generator.py. You might need to get a coder friend to explain what that means.
Go into the generated .xlsx file and edit the recruit schedule as you see fit. Specifically, look to match up non-requested professors to recruits by research field.
After doing this, run schedule_updater.py to update the other tabs in the schedule spreadsheet.
When happy with the schedule, run pdf_generator.py to create fancy schedules for all the recruits.

Python dependencies: pip install numpy openpyxl
LaTeX dependency: apt-get install texlive (replace apt-get with port or brew if you have a mac or yum if you have a neck beard)

The bulk of the logic is in algorithms.py. If you want to improve the approach, I think a smart brute force algorithm would work best. The current approach is a lazy attempt at that. Keep in mind that the solution space is not smooth, so things like genetic algorithms don't work too well (I tried).
There's potential to improve the scoring of schedules.
Runner schedules could be automatically generated fairly easily.