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Barrett W. Thomas

Associate Professor and Faculty Director, MBA Strategic Innovation Career Academy
 Leonard A. Hadley Research Fellow
Management Sciences
W272  John Pappajohn Bus Bldg
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1994		 Ph: 319-335-0938
Fax: 319-335-0297
E-mail: barrett-thomas@uiowa.edu
Website CV

Academic History

  • PhD in Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, 2002
  • MS in Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, 1999
  • BA in Mathematics and Economics, Grinnell College, 1996

Expertise

  • Finite horizon stochastic dynamic programming
  • Heuristic Search
  • Logistics
  • Vehicle routing

Awards

  • Dean's Teaching Award, Tippie College of Business, April 2007

Selected Publications

Working Papers

    Other Work

    • Process Improvement at the University of Iowa’s Hospitals and Clinics Infusion Suite, Philip C. Jones, Sabi Singh, Barrett W. Thomas
    • Djinni: A C++ Framework for Heuristic Search, Robert J. Hansen, Tristan D. Thiede, Justin C. Goodson, Jeffrey W. Ohlmann, Barrett W. Thomas, Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research, 2011
    • Dynamic Vehicle Routing, Barrett W. Thomas, Wiley Encylopedia of Operations Research and Management Science, 2010 - Publication Details Forthcoming
    • Lean in Healthcare, Philip C. Jones, Barrett W. Thomas, Handbook of Healthcare Delivery Systems - Publication Details Forthcoming
    • Challenges and Advances in A Priori Routing, Ann M. Campbell, Barrett W. Thomas, The Vehicle Routing Problem: Latest Advances and New Challenges/ Springer, 2008, 123-142
    • Anticipatory Route Selection Problems, Barrett W. Thomas, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan, 2002

    Work In Progress

    • Sampling Based Approaches for Stochastic Emissions Minimized Paths in Urban Areas, Jan Ehmke, Ann M. Campbell, Barrett W. Thomas
    • Sugarcane Harvest Logistics in Brazil, Kamal Lamsal, Philip C. Jones, Barrett W. Thomas

    Prior Positions

    • Associate Professor of Management Sciences, Henry B. Tippie College of Business, The University of Iowa, July 2009
    • Faculty Director, Strategic Innovation Academy, MBA Program, Henry B. Tippie School of Management, The University of Iowa, July 2009
    • Assistant Professor of Management Sciences, Henry B. Tippie College of Business, The University of Iowa, August 2002 - July 2009

    Review and Editorial Work

    • Referee, IEEE Transaction on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 2009
    • Referee, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2009
    • Referee, Networks, 2009
    • Referee, Transportation Science, 2009
    • Referee, Operations Research, 2008
    • Referee, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Sy, 2007
    • Referee, Manufacturing and Service Operations Managment, 2006
    • Referee, Operations Research Letters, 2003

    Professional Affiliations

    • Associate Editor, IIE Transactions, Focused Issue on Operations Engineering and Analytics, Transportation Systems Analysis Department, January 2013 - current
    • Editorial Board Member, Surveys in Operations Research and Management Science, January 2013 - current
    • Associate Editor, INFOR: Canadian Journal of Operational Research an, 2004 - current
    • Review Panels, National Science Foundation, December 2008

    Presentations

    • An Empirical Analysis of Real-Time Heuristics for the Dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem, INFORMS Annual Meeting, INFORMS, Washington, D.C.
    • Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Requests from Known Customer Locations, Invited Presentation. Department of Quantitative Analysis and Operations Management, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, November 2006.
    • Probabilistic Traveling Salesman with Deadlines, Invited Presentation. Dipartimento di Matematica "Ennio De Giorgio," University of Lecce, Lecce, Italy, October 2006.
    • Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Requests from Known Customer Locations, Invited Presentation. Dipartimento di Matematica "Ennio De Giorgio," University of Lecce, Lecce, Italy, October 2006.
    • Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Requests from Known Customer Locations, Invited Presentation. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. University of Iowa. January 2007.
    • Solution Approaches to the Probabilistic Traveling Salesman Problem with Deadlines, Sponsored Session. INFORMS, Pittsburgh, PA, November 2006.
    • Big Data and OR: Data-Driven Innovation, OPTIMUS 2012, ORTEC Consulting, Atlanta, GA, November 2012
    • Analytics and OR: Data-Driven Innovation, Presentation of 2012 Franz Edelman Award to TNT Express, INFORMS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 2012
    • Sugarcane Harvest Logistics in Brazil, 19th Triennial Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies, International Federation of Operational Research Societies, Melbourne, Australia, July 2012
    • A Rollout Policy Framework for Dynamic Programming Approximations to the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand and Duration Limits, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, April 2012
    • A Rollout Policy Framework for Dynamic Programming Approximations to the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand and Duration Limits, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, January 2012
    • A Rollout Policy Framework for Dynamic Programming Approximations to the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand and Duration Limits, Department of Industrial Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, March 2011
    • A Rollout Policy Framework for Dynamic Programming Approximations to the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand and Duration Limits, CIRRELT, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada, February 2011
    • Scheduled Penalty Variable Neighborhood Search, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences, Austin, TX, November 2010
    • Process Excellence: A New Specialization for MBA Students, Lean Educator Conference, Lean Advancement Initiative, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, May 2010
    • Subgraph Design for Time-Constrained Delivery, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences, San Diego, CA, October 2009
    • Subgraph Design for Time-Constrained Delivery, INFORMS Annual Meeting, INFORMS, San Diego, CA, October 2009
    • Subgraph Design for Time-Constrained Delivery, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences, San Diego, CA, October 2009
    • An Empirical Analysis of Real-Time Heuristics for the Dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem, Odysseus: Fourth International Workshop on Freight Transportation and Logistics, Cesme, Turkey, May 2009
    • Teaching Operations Management as Process Improvement, Lean Aerospace Initiative EdNet Workshop, Lean Aerospace Initiative and Boeing Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, July 2007
    • Probabilistic Traveling Salesman Problem with Deadlines, ROUTE 2007, Georgia Institute of Technology, Jekyll Island, Georgia, May 2007
    • Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Requests from Known Customer Locations, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Universtiy of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, January 2007
    • Lean Academy: Using Rockwell Collins as a Real-time Case Stud, Sponsored Session. INFORMS, Pittsburgh, PA, November 2006
    • How Can a Blacksmith Help FedEx and UPS Save Money?, Invited Presentation. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Grinnell College, February 2006
    • Real-time Heuristics for Anticipating Customer Service Requests from Known Customer Locations, INFORMS Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 2005
    • Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Customer Service Requests from Known Customer Locations, Invited Presentation. 17th Triennial Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies. Honolulu, HI, July 2005
    • New Directions in Time-Constrained Routing, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Iowa, November 2004
    • Probabilistic Traveling Salesman Problem with Deadlines, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University, November 2004
    • New Directions in Time-Constrained Routing, Department of Engineering Management, University of Missouri-Rolla, November 2004
    • Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Service Requests at Known Customer Locations, Sponsored Presentation. INFORMS, Denver, CO, October 2004
    • A Compressed Annealing Approach to the Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows, Sponsored Presentation. CORS/INFORMS, Banff, Alberta, Canada, May 2004
    • Compressed Annealing Approach to the Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows, United Parcel Service, Timonium, MD, January 2004
    • Compressed Annealing Approach to the Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows, INFORMS Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, October 2003
    • Dynamic and Stochastic Shortest Path Problem with Anticipation, INFORMS Annual Conference, San Jose, CA, November 2002
    • Anticipatory Route Selection, NSF Workshop on Real-time Logistics Long Beach, CA, May 2002

    Committees and Professional Service

    • Grinnell College Young Innovators in Social Justice Prize Committee, 2013-current
    • Tippie College of Business Strategic Planning Core Committee, 2012-current
    • Tippie College of Business Strategic Planning Steering Committee, 2012-current
    • Tippie College of Business Elected Faculty Council, 2012-current
    • Audit and Assessment Committee, Grinnell College Board of Trustees, 2011-current
    • Grinnell College Board of Trustees, 2005-current
    • INFORMS Sections/Society Committee, 2013-2014
    • Analytics Certification Taskforce, INFORMS, 2012
    • INFORMS Subdivision Council, 2012
    • INFORMS Sections/Society Committee, 2011-2012
    • Institute for Operations Research and Management Science, 2011-2012
    • Dept. of Management Sciences Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 2011-2012
    • Scientific Committee, ODYSSEUS 2012, 2011-2012
    • Dean's Search Committee, 2011-2012
    • Dissertation Prize Committee, Transportation Science and Logistics Society, 2011
    • Management Sciences Graduate Student Committee, 2003-2011
    • Lean Advancement Initiative Ednet Lean in Healthcare Curriculum Development Team, 2008-2010
    • IEEE Service Operations, Logistics, and Informatics Conference Program Committee, 2009
    • INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society, Communications Chair, 2008-2009
    • INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society, Representative to INFORMS Subdivision Council, 2007-2009
    • INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society, Newsletter Editor, 2007
    • INFORMS, Transportation Science and Logistics Society, Secretary/Treasurer, 2006
    • Lean Aerospace Initiative Lean Academy Quality Module Revision Team, Team Lead, 2006
    • Lean Aerospace Initiative Lean Academy Day 2 Curriculum Revision Committee, 2005
    • Transportation Science and Logistics Section Co-Cluster Chair, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, 2003-2004
    • MBA Core Committee, 2002-2004

    Additional Training

    • New Technology in the Learning Environment Workshop, 2003