Contact
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Email
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Primary Office
- C120 Pappajohn Business Building (PBB)
- (319) 335-0938
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Department
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Fax
Websites
Positions
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Professor of Business Analytics
Tippie College of Business
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Senior Associate Dean
Tippie College of Business
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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
- Vehicle routing
- Logistics
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
- The Value of Autonomous Vehicles for Last Mile Deliveries in Urban Environments. Management Science. , & (In Press).
- A Rollout Algorithm Framework for Heuristic Solutions to Finite-Horizon Stochastic Dynamic Programming. (Vols. 258). (1), pp. 216-229. European Journal of Operational Research. , & (2017).
- Sugarcane Harvest Logistics in Brazil. Transportation Science 51 (2) 771-789. , & (2017).
- An Operations Management Perspective on Employee Training and Workforce Planning. The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Training and Employee Development. , & (In Press).
- Data-Driven Approaches for Emissions-Minimized Paths in Urban Areas. Computers and Operations Research 67 34-47. , & (2016).
- Harvest Logistics in Agricultural Systems with Multiple, Independent Producers and No On-Farm Storage. Computers and Industrial Engineering 91 129-138. , & (2016).
- The Technician Routing Problem with Experience- based Service Times. Omega 61 49-61. DOI: j.omega.2015.07.006. , & (2016).
- Vehicle Routing to Minimize Time-Dependent Expected Emissions in Urban Areas. European Journal of Operational Research 251 478-494. , & (2016).
- Integer Programming Techniques for Solving Non-linear Programs with an Application to Workforce Planning Models with Learning. European Journal of Operational Research 242 (3) 942-950. , , & (2015).
- Restocking-Based Rollout Policies for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand and Duration Limits. Transportation Science 50 (2) 591-607. , & (2015).
Selected Presentations
- Time Window Sizing for Service Routing. Conference Presentation presented at INFORMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington. (2019, October)
- 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. (2019, May)
- "Dynamic Time Window Allocation and Sizing for Service Routing". Seminar presented at Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences Seminar, Iowa City, Iowa. (2019, April)
- The Value of Autonomous Vehicle-Aided Last-Mile Delivery. Seminar Atlanta, Georgia. (2019, February)
- "Multi-Period Dynamic Technician Routing with Experience-based Service Times". Conference Presentation presented at INFORMS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona. (2018, November)
- 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. (2018, September)
- 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. (2018, June)
- Approximate Dynamic Programming for Dynamic Vehicle Routing. Invited Lecture Ningbo, China. (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. (2018, January)
- Meso-Parametric Value Function Approximation for Dynamic Customer Acceptances in Delivery Routing. Conference Presentation presented at INFORMS Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas. (2017, October)
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
- Transportation Science, Other.
- Transportation Science, Associate Editor, September 2020 - December 2020.
- IIE Transactions, Focused Issue on Operations Engineering and Analytics, Transportation Systems Analysis Department, Associate Editor, January 2020.
- Transportation Research - Part B, Editorial Board Member, January 2019 - December 2019.
- Transportation Science - Special Issue: Uncertainty in Logistics and Transportation Systems, Associate Editor, May 2018 - February 2018.
- INFOR: Canadian Journal of Operational Research an, Associate Editor, January 2016 - May 2016.
- Surveys in Operations Research and Management Science, Editorial Board Member, January 2016.