Barry Thomas

Profile image of Barry Thomas
Gary C. Fethke Research Professor of Business Analytics

Contact

Websites

Positions

  • Professor of Business Analytics

    Tippie College of Business

  • Interim Senior Associate Dean

    Tippie College of Business

  • Interim Departmental Executive Officer, Economics

    Tippie College of Business

Education

  • 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

Areas of Interest

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

Selected Awards & Honors

  • Tippie College of Business Collegiate Teaching Award, Tippie College of Business, 2014
  • Dean's Teaching Award, Tippie College of Business, 2007

Selected Publications

Selected Presentations

  • Thomas, B. W. (2019, October) Time Window Sizing for Service Routing. Conference Presentation presented at INFORMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2019, May) From Models to Methods: MDP, ADP, and Reinforcement Learning. Workshop presented at 019 PhD Workshop on Advances in Operations Research Applied to Transportation and Logistics, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2019, April) "Dynamic Time Window Allocation and Sizing for Service Routing". Seminar presented at Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences Seminar, Iowa City, Iowa.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2019, February) The Value of Autonomous Vehicle-Aided Last-Mile Delivery. Seminar Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2018, November) "Multi-Period Dynamic Technician Routing with Experience-based Service Times". Conference Presentation presented at INFORMS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2018, September) The Restaurant Meal Delivery Problem: Dynamic Pick-Up and Delivery with Deadlines and Random Ready Times. Conference Presentation presented at EWGT2018 21st meeting of the EURO Working Group on Transportation, Braunschweig, Germany.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2018, June) AlphaGo and Amazon: Reinforcement Learning for Same-Day Delivery with a Heterogeneous Fleet of Drones and Vehicles. Conference Presentation presented at ODYSSEUS 2018 7th International Workshop on Freight Transportation and Logistics, Cagliari, Italy.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2018, January) Approximate Dynamic Programming for Dynamic Vehicle Routing. Invited Lecture Ningbo, China.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2018, January) Same-Day Delivery with a Heterogeneous Fleet of Drones and Vehicles. Conference Presentation presented at INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society Workshop “E-Commerce and Urban Logistics”, Hong Kong.
  • Thomas, B. W. (2017, October) Meso-Parametric Value Function Approximation for Dynamic Customer Acceptances in Delivery Routing. Conference Presentation presented at INFORMS Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas.

Selected Grants & Contracts

  • Thomas, Barrett W (Principal Investigator), Brown, Kenneth G (Co-Principal) Collaborative Research:  Solving Large-Scale, High-Fidelity Workforce Planning Models That Recognize the Potential of Human Learning, Award No. 1266064. Sponsored by National Science Foundation. Funded. July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2017.
  • Thomas, Barrett W (Co-Principal), Jones, Philip C (Co-Principal) Sugarcane Harvest Logistics in Brazil. Sponsored by John Deere. Funded. January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2013.
  • Thomas, Barrett W (Co-Principal), Jones, Philip C (Co-Principal) Sugarcane Harvest Logistics in Brazil. Sponsored by John Deere. Funded. September 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011.
  • Thomas, Barrett W (Co-Principal), Jones, Philip C (Co-Principal) Sugarcane Harvest Logistics in Brazil. Sponsored by John Deere. Funded. September 1, 2010 - December 31, 2011.
  • Ohlmann, Jeffrey W (Co-Principal), Jones, Philip C (Co-Principal), Thomas, Barrett W (Co-Principal) Instructional Improvement Award. Sponsored by University of Iowa Council on Teaching. Funded. January 1, 2007 - June 1, 2007.
  • Campbell, Ann Melessa (Principal Investigator), Thomas, Barrett W (Co-Principal) Tippie Speaker Series in Transportation. Sponsored by College of Business. Funded. January 1, 2002 - January 1, 2009.

Professional Service

  • Grinnell College Board of Trustees, Vice Chair.
  • 2019 INFORMS O.R. & Analytic Student Team Competition, Juding Committee, Member, January 2019 - March 2019.
  • 21st EURO Working Group on Transportation Meeting, Review Team, Member, September 2018.
  • 2018 INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society Workshop, Marketing Co-Chair, June 2018 - January 2018.
  • ODYSSEUS 2018 7th International Workshop on Freight Transportation and Logistics, Scientific Committee, Member, March 2018 - June 2018.
  • Trustee and Trustee Organization Committee, Grinnell College Board of Trustees, Board Membership, Nonprofit, July 2017 - May 2017.
  • Organizing Committee, First Transportation Science and Logistics Society Conference, Member, June 2017 - July 2017.
  • Program Committee, TRISTAN 2016 9th Triennial Symposium on Transportation Analysis, Member, September 2016 - June 2016.
  • INFORMS New Faculty Colloquium, Chair, April 2016 - November 2016.
  • Transportation Science and Logistics Society, Past President, January 2016 - December 2016.

Editorial & Review Activities

  • IIE Transactions, Focused Issue on Operations Engineering and Analytics, Transportation Systems Analysis Department, Associate Editor.
  • INFOR: Canadian Journal of Operational Research an, Associate Editor.
  • Surveys in Operations Research and Management Science, Editorial Board Member.
  • Transportation Research - Part B, Editorial Board Member.
  • Transportation Science, Associate Editor.
  • Transportation Science - Special Issue: Uncertainty in Logistics and Transportation Systems, Associate Editor.