Fellow – Page 5 – Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity

September 17, 2018March 2, 2022

Nicos Makris, Hunt Institute Fellow

Nicos Makris, Ph.D. Addy Family Centennial Professor in Civil Engineering, Hunt Institute Fellow, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Southern Methodist University

Dr. Nicos Makris is a Hunt Institute Fellow collaborating in the Global Development Lab focused on his passion for researching low-cost seismic solutions, more specifically in rocking isolation. The initial project began with Dr. Makris’ work on Filling the Gap for Seismic Protection. During the COVID 19 pandemic, the work shifted to focus on Resilient Shelter, Phase I with Kostas Kalfas (Ph.D. student and researcher), Corrie A. Harris (Portfolio Manager), JuliaGrace Walker (Undergraduate Project Manager), Sam Borton (Undergraduate Research Analysis). The conclusion of Phase I resulted in a report titled Seeking Low-cost seismic Protection for Urban Masonry in an Unstable Terrain.

Professor Nicos Makris received his Ph.D. (1992) and his Master of Science (1990) from the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA; while he holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University, Athens, Greece. He has more than thirty (30) years of research, academic and professional experience in the areas of structural-earthquake engineering and structural mechanics-dynamics.

He has served as Assistant Professor at the University of Notre Dame (1992-1996) and at the University of California, Berkeley (1996-1998); Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley (1998-2002) and Professor at the University of California, Berkeley (2002- 2005), the University of Patras (2003-2014), the University of Central Florida (2014- 2018) and at Southern Methodist University (2018-present).

His research interests include the analysis, design, and protection of structures against natural and man-made hazards—from modern tall bridges and buildings to unreinforced masonry and historic structures, system identification and health monitoring studies, soil-structure interaction, and the reconstruction-preservation of ancient monuments and stone arches in areas with high seismic hazard. He has published more than 110 papers in archival journals, 120 papers in conference proceedings, and 30 technical research reports and monographs. His citation index is more than 9,200, while his H-index=52.

He has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, and the Chair of the Dynamics Committee on the same Journal. He is a member of Academia Europaea “The Academy of Europe”, a distinguished visiting fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the UK, a member of the Congress Committee and General Assembly of IUTAM; while, he has been honored with several international prizes and awards including the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) for his original contribution on the development of energy dissipation devices and for improving our understanding on the role of damping for the seismic protection of structures, the T. K. Hsieh Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers, the U.K. for the best paper in the Geotechnique Journal during year 1997, the Shah Family Innovation Prize from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), USA and the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, USA. He has directed as Principal Investigator more than 30 funded research projects in the USA and Europe with emphasis on structural testing and experimental methods. Professor Makris has also served for six (6) consecutive years as the Director of Reconstruction of the Temple of Zeus in Ancient Nemea, Greece. During that period (Jan 2004—Dec 2009) four entire columns and their capitals have been reconstructed.

When asked what his motivation is to do impact work he replied, “Part of our role as structural engineers is the design and construction of structures that are affordable to the local society and meet acceptable performance levels as present and the years to come without compromising the ability of future generations to use them, maintain them, and benefit from them.” Achieving this is his motivation.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

September 17, 2018March 23, 2022

Anna Grace Carey ’19, Hunt Institute Associate

Anna Grace Carey ’19 joins the Hunt Institute as an Associate, bringing with her a passion for marketing and giving back to the Institute as an alumna of SMU and the Hunt Institute.

Anna Grace is a Marketing Specialist at Sendero, a management consulting firm in Dallas. Prior to joining the marketing department, she worked as an Associate Consultant at Sendero where she led various organizational change management initiatives in IT departments at two Fortune 500 companies. She graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University in 2019 with majors in journalism, fashion media, and political science; and minors in law & legal reasoning and history of visual & performing arts.

Outside of the office, she is a member of the Genesis Young Leaders Board of Directors and volunteers through the Junior League of Dallas. She enjoys writing, traveling, and spending time with Henry, her energetic Goldendoodle.

During her time at SMU, Anna Grace worked at the Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity as the Communications Team Lead. She created the communication strategy and edited blog posts for the Hunt Institute Digest. She also developed the Sages & Seekers Podcast with the Hunt Institute for her honors distinction thesis in the SMU Division of Journalism. The goal of the podcast is to facilitate conversations about community and resiliency.

While at SMU, Anna Grace also completed research on the Supreme Court and copyright law. She contributed to “Give Me a ©: Refashioning the Supreme Court’s Decision in Star v. Varsity into a More Complete Copyright Protection for Fashion Designers,” a paper written with Professors Jared Schroeder and Camille Kraeplin. This work was published in the UCLA Entertainment Law Review. Additional honors and awards include membership in Pi Beta Kappa and Kappa Tau Alpha, the Outstanding Senior in Writing & Editing award for the Division of Journalism, and the John Goodwin Tower award for leadership in political science.

When asked what her motivation is for doing impact work she replied, “Nothing is more rewarding than doing work in the impact space. Contributing to initiatives that move us towards a more sustainable, inclusive and conscientious future is such a gift.”

September 14, 2018March 2, 2022

Dinesh Rajan, Hunt Institute Senior Fellow

Dinesh Rajan, PhD., Hunt Institute Fellow

Dinesh Rajan, Ph.D., Hunt Institute Senior Fellow is the Department Chair for Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Professor. His areas of research focus are in wireless networking, computational imaging and signal processing, and system optimization.

Dinesh Rajan received his B.Tech degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras in Electrical Engineering. He was also awarded the M.S and Ph.D degrees from Rice University, Houston, Texas both in the areas of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is currently Department Chair and Cecil and Ida Green Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Rajan’s broad interests are in the sensing/extraction, transmission, and dissemination of information. His current research is interdisciplinary and spans the traditional areas of communications theory, wireless networks, information theory, system optimization, and computational imaging. His work has lead to the design of algorithms that can improve energy efficiency of next-generation mobile devices by an order-of-magnitude compared to existing methods.

Dinesh has published over 100 peer-reviewed technical articles in leading journals and conferences. He has also co-edited 2 books. His work has been supported by federal agencies such as NSF, ONR, ARL, DARPA, and companies including Toyota and Nokia. He was technical program chair for the IEEE vehicular technology conference in 2009 and served on several other conference executive and technical committees.

Dinesh is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2006 for his work on applying information theory to the design of mobile wireless networks. He has also received the Ford Research Fellowship in 2012 and the Golden Mustang Award in 2008 from SMU. IEEE Dallas named him outstanding young engineer in 2009. He has received multiple outstanding EE faculty teaching awards at SMU.

When asked what his motivation is for doing impact work he replied, “The simple joy in knowing that my actions have impacted another individual in a positive way is what motivates me to do what I do.”

September 14, 2018March 2, 2022

Jessica Burnham, Hunt Institute Fellow

It is with pleasure we announce Jessica Burnham as a Hunt Institute Fellow. The Hunt Institute Fellows are appointed for their expertise and demonstrated excellence in their fields. During their tenure, they will collaborate on projects and contribute to the endeavors of the Institute.

Jessica Burnham has a BFA in Communication Design from the Metropolitan State University of Denver and a MFA in Design Research and Innovation from the University of North Texas. She got her start in community engagement and community-based design through her thesis project that looked at how community can be built through communication. She wanted to research transitioning from Communication Design to Designed Communication and wanted to investigate areas of the city that have gone through physical renovations but needed to also go through relational renovations. Her efforts led to creating a business association on Lowest Greenville Avenue called the Lowest Greenville Collective which led to her role as the Executive Director of the Deep Ellum Foundation for three years.

During her time in Deep Ellum she was integral with rebranding the Deep Ellum Foundation, the Deep Ellum neighborhood-wide website, and initiating extensive policies and procedures. The largest effort she helped create was the Deep Ellum Public Safety (DEPS) program that recognized the need for more public safety elements in the area and worked with property owners and business owners to raise funds on a monthly basis to hire off-duty officers and private security to patrol the neighborhood on foot during peak entertainment hours. This program has tripled the original Public Safety budget and has gotten extensive recognition and attention from the Dallas Police Department, the City of Dallas, and other Public Improvement Districts throughout the city.

Jessica also played a major role in creating a living prototype and proof of concept to shut down one of the small cross streets in Deep Ellum, Crowdus Street, to be a pedestrian only street. She headed up a design team that included members from SMU-MADI, Gensler, StudioOutside, Event Nerd, and Stash Design to build out three blocks of the street as a pedestrian plaza and then programed 52 events in 30 days. The goal of the project was to show the possibilities of what could happen in space that was exclusively for people. Her team put together a list of events and programs that could happen in a year and tested them throughout a thirty-day period. At the end of the month-long test several staff members from the City of Dallas were invited to see the space and asked about transforming the street permanently. The project proved to be successful and is slated to be a part of the 2017 Bond Program as a part of the Commerce Street Redo and should be complete by 2022.

Currently, Jessica is the Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor of the Master of Arts in Design and Innovation (MADI) program at SMU. This program trains students to use Human-Centered Design to help solve and improve unwieldy social problems. Jessica lives in Richardson, Texas and loves finding new restaurants, going on long road trips, and exploring any art history museum she can find with her husband and two young boys.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

September 14, 2018March 2, 2022

Jolanta Stankeviciene, Hunt Institute Fellow

It is with pleasure we announce Jolanta Stankeviciene as a Hunt Institute Fellow. Jolanta has long standing experience developing and managing impact investments in emerging markets to ensure sustainable business operations, as well as innovating financial instruments for SMEs in energy efficiency. At the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other international corporate and European governmental institutions, Jolanta is a champion in promoting and facilitating innovative private/public partnerships and initiatives in a multinational business environment.

Jolanta originally entered the field of finance and investment in Lithuania, through a senior position with the SME lender/investor Baltic American Enterprise Fund. This led to a position with IFC, where Jolanta developed the Commercializing Energy Efficiency Finance (CEEF) Program as Lithuanian Country Manager and later as Baltic States Regional Program Manager, also delivering IFC climate solutions. When subsequently based in IFC’s Moscow office, Jolanta provided advisory support in Ukraine and to the Russia Residential Energy Efficiency Project.

Currently based in Brussels, Belgium, Jolanta has valuable know-how of European government policy and EU decision-making processes through her work with the European Commission’s Regional Development Directorate and the Secretariat of the Audit Progress Committee, chaired by European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans.

Jolanta has a master’s degree in history and a joint MBA/EMBA from Baltic Management Institute.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

July 6, 2018March 2, 2022

Jeff Snell, Ph.D., Hunt Institute Fellow

Hunt Institute Fellow wearing a jacket handmade by textile artist in Uzbekistan, Dr. SnelI, International Folk Art Alliance — Dr. Snell’s jacket was a gift from a textile artist in Uzbekistan

Jeff Snell, Ph.D is a Hunt Institute Fellow. He brings his expertise to the Institute work in the area of Social Entrepreneurship and Enterprise. He serves as Special Advisor to the Dean & Vice Provost for Lifelong Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His focus areas include teaching social entrepreneurship, applying a social innovation lens to reaching nontraditional learners, and mentoring social entrepreneurs in the UW-Madison Discovery to Product program. His mentored start-ups have garnered best new business awards by local chambers of commerce, receipt of the Morgridge Force for Positive Change award in Wisconsin, and individual national recognitions, including honors from the Manhattan Institute, selection as a Fellow for Ashoka, and receipt of a MacArthur “Genius” Award. Several models are highlighted in his TEDx talks.

Dr. Snell defines social innovation as “a field dedicated to solving social problems—a welcome departure from managing them.” Aligning social innovation models with the values of the surrounding community is a key characteristic of successful SI.

Jeff says, “I believe that social innovation work is, ultimately, about increasing human capability and honoring human dignity. There’s joy to be discovered for everyone engaged in the doing.”

Prior to UW-Madison, Jeff served as Chief Executive Officer at the International Folk Art Market Santa Fe, the largest artisan-social-enterprise accelerator globally and voted “best arts festival” by USA Today readers. Before then he served as Special Advisor to the President, Marquette University, where he the led the school’s Changemaker Campus initiative, resulting in the campus social innovation resource hub; and as Chief Operating Officer at the Argosy Foundation, a private family foundation.

As founder of Midwest Social Innovation, LLC, he has designed regional executive education in social enterprise models, served as Entrepreneurial Mentor for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program, and launched a partnership with the New York Times to embed Social Innovation as an interdisciplinary learning tool across the curriculum (selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as one of 10 winners in a field of 1,000 proposals from 15 countries).

He completed a Ph.D. at Marquette University where he later received a Distinguished Alumni Award; elected in 2011 to Alpha Sigma Nu, the international honor society for Jesuit colleges and universities; appointed in 2018 as a Fellow at the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity at Southern Methodist University; and appointed in 2019 as Senior Fellow in Social Innovation at ASU’s Lodestar Center. His family lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

March 27, 2018November 5, 2020

Khaled Abdelghany, Ph.D., Hunt Institute Fellow

Khaled Abdelghany, Ph.D., is a Hunt Institute Fellow, an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Southern Methodist University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001.

He also worked as an operations research analyst at United Airlines’ R&D Division. Dr. Abdelghany joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Department at SMU in 2004 as an Assistant Professor with the responsibility of developing a transportation research program in the department. He served as the chairman of the department from 2011 to 2016.

Dr. Abdelghany has extensive research experience in transportation network modeling, real-time traffic network management systems, crowd dynamics and evacuation studies, connected vehicle applications, and airline strategic planning and operations management. Dr. Abdelghany authored one book and numerous peer-reviewed journal and conference articles. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, NGOs, and several consulting firms.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

March 27, 2018February 17, 2022

Ali Beskok, Ph.D., Hunt Institute Senior Fellow

Ali Beskok, Ph.D. is a Hunt Institute Senior Fellow, is the Brown Foundation, Inc. Professor of Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Beskok previously served as the former Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering.

Ali Beskok, Ph.D. is a Hunt Institute Senior Fellow, and he is the Brown Foundation, Inc. Professor of Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Beskok previously served as the Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering from 2013-2019.

Currently, his research concentrates on the theory, experiments, and numerical modeling of micro- and nano-scale thermal/fluidic transport processes, which have applications in bio-microfluidics, nanotechnology, and energy systems. The Biomicrofluidics Research Laboratory, led by Dr. Beskok, focuses on the study of microfluidic and nanofluidic transport phenomena and the design of fluidic devices with applications in healthcare, energy systems, and biochemical analysis. In the biomicrofluidics lab researchers design, build, and test Lab on Chip devices for biomedical, environmental monitoring, and food/water safety applications. Researchers also perform numerical simulations of mass momentum and energy transport in micro and nano-scales, using continuum based and atomistic methods.

In 2018, Dr. Beskok partnered with the Hunt Institute’s Global Development lab for his research in the Lab on Chip Point of Care Device (POCD). The first phase was completed in the Spring of 2019 and produced a broader impact report titled Bridging the Gap in Diagnostics. Phase II is focused on COVID-19 antibody detection research.

Regarding this cutting-edge research, Dr. Beskok says, “The gold standard for antibody detection is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). However, its application is limited by its portability and high-cost operation. Its detection mechanism relies on receptor/target molecule reactions, which take place through diffusion-dominated transport kinetics. Therefore, the detection mechanism is quite slow and has low sensitivity. Unfortunately, the most recently developed lateral flow assays exhibit low sensitivity and specificity, and these cannot be reliably used for determining the spread of COVID-19 infection. We developed a quantifiable, accurate, fast, portable, and inexpensive diagnostic method based on detection of Covid antibodies from blood plasma. This point of care device will enable testing of the entire or large portions of the population for COVID-19.”

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu

March 27, 2018March 7, 2022

Introducing James F. Hollifield, Hunt Institute Fellow

James F. Hollifield
Professor of Political Science and
Director, Tower Center, SMU
Global Fellow, Wilson Center

It is with pleasure we announce James F. Hollifield as a newly appointed Hunt Institute Fellow. The Hunt Institute Fellows are appointed for their expertise and demonstrated excellence in their fields. During their two-year tenure, they will collaborate on projects and contribute to the endeavors of the Institute.

James F. Hollifield is Professor in the Department of Political Science, and Director of the Tower Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, as well as a member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, DC.

Hollifield has served as an Advisor to various governments in North and South America, Europe, East Asia and the Middle East and Africa, as well as the United Nations, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the OECD, the ILO, the IOM, the EU, and other international organizations. He currently chairs working groups at the World Bank and the IDB and serves on the International Advisory Board of the National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR for Migration and Mobility) of the Swiss National Science Foundation. He has been the recipient of grants from private corporations and foundations as well as government agencies, including the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Social Science Research Council, the Sloan Foundation, the Owens Foundation, the Raytheon Company, and the National Science Foundation.

His major books include Immigrants, Markets and States (Harvard), L’Immigration et l’Etat Nation: à la recherche d’un modèle national (L’Harmattan), Pathways to Democracy: The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions (with Calvin Jillson, Routledge), Migration, Trade and Development (with Pia Orrenius and Thomas Osang, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas), Herausforderung Migration—Perspektiven der vergleichenden Politikwissenschaft (with Uwe Hunger, Lit Verlag), Migration Theory (with Caroline Brettell, Routledge, now it its 3^rd edition), and Controlling Immigration ( with Philip Martin and Pia Orrenius, Stanford, also in its 3^rd edition). His current book projects are The Migration State (Harvard)—a study of how states manage international migration for strategic gains—and International Political Economy: History, Theory and Policy (with Thomas Osang, Cambridge). He also has published numerous scientific articles and reports on the political economy of international migration and development.

Hollifield was educated at Wake Forest College (BA with honors in politics and economics), and he studied at Sciences Po Grenoble and Paris (DEA in applied economics) before completing his PhD in political science at Duke University. In addition to SMU he has taught at Brandeis and Auburn, served as a Research Fellow at Harvard’s Center for European Studies and MIT’s Center for International Studies, and was appointed Director of Research at the CNRS and Sciences Po in Paris. He is a Fellow at the Center for US-Mexican Studies at the University of California at San Diego, at the Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA) at the University of Bonn, and the Global Migration Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. In 2015, he was named as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC and has continued his work there as a Global Fellow. In 2016, Hollifield received a Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

March 27, 2018March 2, 2022

Dr. Halit Üster, Hunt Institute Fellow

Halit Üster, Ph.D. Professor Engineering Management, Information, and Systems (EMIS) Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) (by courtesy)

Halit Üster, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Operations Research and Engineering Management (OREM) department with a courtesy appointment in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and is a Hunt Institute Fellow. Dr. Üster joined SMU Lyle School of Engineering in Fall 2014. He was previously an Associate Professor in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. He also served as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M (2000-2002) and in the Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Alabama (1999-2000). In the Lyle OREM Department, Dr. Üster teaches the Operations Research course at the undergraduate level and the Network Flows and Advanced Logistics Networks courses at the graduate level.

Dr. Üster received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. After working as a design and field engineer for a new plant built for Procter&Gamble and Eczacibasi in Istanbul, Turkey, he returned to school for a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey, while working part-time to complete the project as a mechanical engineer. He later obtained his Ph. D. in Management Science/Systems from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada in 1999.

Dr. Üster’s research interests are in large-scale optimization models and efficient solution algorithms for the design and analysis of networked systems with applications in logistics and communications. Societal impact is typically a central theme and emphasis in the applications of Üster’s research. Specifically, his recent research focuses on application areas including emergency logistics networks, biomass/bio-energy logistics networks, closed-loop logistics and recycling networks, multi-commodity and relay networks in transportation to address driver turnover and shortage problems, integrated production-distribution-inventory networks, and wireless sensor networks with environmental monitoring applications. His research activities to date were funded by grants totaling $2M from sources including National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, and Frito-Lay, Inc. Üster was the founding director of the Logistics and Networked Systems Research Laboratory in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Texas A&M University.

Dr. Üsters explains his motivation for impact work, “The central theme in my research is societal impact as evident in the applications I work on. This is important because it affects people’s lives in a way to improves them for the better. To that end, we work on mathematical models, algorithms, analysis for optimal strategic decision-making to impact policy-making and, thus, have far-reaching and long-term positive effects for societal impact.”

Üster also serves on numerous committees at the department, school, and university level as part of his service activities in the university and also on several committees of INFORMS at the national level as a service to the professional community.

Üster’s research has been featured in the Industrial Engineer Magazine in 2008, 2010, and 2017. He has been named the Eshbach Society Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Science, Northwestern University in 2009 while he was on faculty development leave. His collaborative research for Frito-Lay, Inc. was a finalist for the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research, INFORMS in 2008. He was awarded Caterpillar Teaching Excellence Award at Dwight Look College of Engineering, Texas A&M University in 2011 and was voted as the Outstanding Faculty Member by the IIE Chapter at The University of Alabama, 1999-2000. He also received a national Moving Spirit Award from INFORMS in 2007.