Tag: LYLE

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.

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.

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.

Barbara Minsker, Ph.D., Hunt Institute Senior Fellow, a Professor and Department Chair for Lyle School of Engineering‘s Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Bobby B. Lyle Professor of Leadership and Global Entrepreneurship is a nationally recognized expert in environmental and water resource systems analysis and informatics.

Dr. Minsker’s scholarly interests include innovative informatics and systems analysis methods and software to improve sustainability and resilience of coupled human and natural systems. Current research focuses on coupling machine learning and social computing with “Big Data” to improve water resource and infrastructure systems, including green stormwater infrastructure, flood prevention, and response, and urban infrastructure equity.

In 2020, Dr. Minsker and her team finished a study called the Clowder Infrastructure Equity Project that clearly shows the existence of infrastructure deserts, which are like food deserts except for infrastructures like sidewalks, crosswalks, and even trees. The findings are summarized in a story map and the paper will be submitted for publication in the near future. The research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation under grant #1835877.

When asked about what motivates her when doing impact work, Dr. Minsker responded with, “I want my work to make a difference in the world, not sit on a shelf and never be used.”

Another recently completed study has shown how flood posts from Waze navigation app users can be used to accurately predict the risk that depressions in local roads will flood during a particular storm. These findings are also being prepared for submission to a journal.

Early Career

In 1996, Minsker served as professor and Arthur and Virginia Nauman Faculty Scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where she began her career as an assistant professor. She was also a faculty affiliate at UIUC’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Prior to her academic career, Dr. Minsker was an environmental policy analyst in the Washington, D.C., area.

She received the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute (ERWI) Outstanding Achievement Award and the ERWI Service to the Profession Award as a result of her extensive leadership background and experience. She has led major collaborative programs in research, education, and outreach in various roles including; PI of the WATERS Network, an NSF-funded project for advancing water resource science and management; Associate Provost Fellow who developed and implemented University of Illinois sustainability education and research initiatives; and founder of two start-up organizations. She is active as a Future Thinking leadership development program, Center for Authentic Leadership

Education and Licensure

1986: B.S. with Distinction in Operations Research and one in Industrial Engineering, Cornell University

1995: Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University

2007-2010: Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Academic Leadership Program

2009-2010: Licensed Professional Engineer, State of Texas

Honors and Awards

1991 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship
1998 NSF CAREER Award
1999-2000 National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Faculty Fellow
2000 Army Young Investigator Award
2000 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers (PECASE)
2001-2002 Center for Advanced Study Fellow
2001-2016 Arthur and Virginia Nauman Faculty Scholar, University of Illinois
2003 Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Invitation Fellowship Program
2003 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize
2005 ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) Outstanding Achievement Award
2006 Xerox Award for Faculty Research
2008-2011 University Scholar
2012 EWRI Service to the Profession Award
2015 Leadership Illinois, Class of 2015
2017 Fellow, ASCE EWRI
2018 Best Paper Award, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing (PEARC ’18)
2019 ASCE Margaret S. Petersen Award

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.

Sila Çetinkaya, Ph.D. is a Hunt Institute Senior Fellow, the Departmental Chair and Professor for Operations Research and Engineering Management (OREM) at the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering. Professor Çetinkaya joined SMU Lyle in 2014 as the Cecil H. Green Professor of Engineering in the EMIS Department and holds a courtesy appointment in the Information Technology and Operations Management (ITOM) Department in SMU’s Cox School of Business. She has received numerous national awards, including the prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Çetinkaya was also selected for Frontiers of Engineering by the National Academy of Engineering in 2005 and was named an IIE Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers in 2012 for her professional leadership and outstanding contributions.

Recently, Research Inside IISE Journals was released. It is as a collaborative paper that places an emphasis on effective decision making for sustainability in the context of reuse via remanufacturing (This “Research” section is provided for informational purposes only with permission of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers from the August 2021 issue of ISE magazine, Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. www.iise.org/ISEMagazine.) Dr. Çetinkaya continues her research in healthcare delivery for the indigent and uninsured, a long-time problem of interest she continues to seek solutions for.

Dr. Çetinkaya has a strong record of academic and professional service and has taken on leadership roles in several areas. Prior to joining SMU’s Lyle School, she served as the Associate Head of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. Professor Çetinkaya has served on the editorial board of five (5) scientific journals including IIE Transactions and Naval Research Logistics and on the organization and program committees of several international conferences including IIE and INFORMS.

Dr. Çetinkaya earned her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1989. She obtained her Master of Science in Industrial Engineering in 1991 from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and was awarded the Ph.D. in Management Science in 1996 from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Çetinkaya speaks to her motivation in her work, “For me, research is the single most effective way of simultaneous engagement with some of the most immediate stakeholders of higher education and our society: students, faculty, and industry, all of whom happen to be represented by my research collaborators.”

For a complete list of her appointments, research, publications, grants, selected invited seminars, PhD students, selected awards, and service in outreach, visit her professional website.

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.

Ajay Narayanan
Manager – Development Operations
Internal Audit
T +1 (202) 458-5915
E najay@worldbank.org
W www.worldbank.org

It is with pleasure we announce Ajay Narayanan as a newly appointed Hunt Institute Senior Fellow. The Hunt Institute Senior 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.

Mr. Narayanan is the Manager of Development Operations for the Internal Audit function at the World Bank Group (WBG). His role entails overseeing audits carried out to provide assurance to the Board on the effectiveness of the operational activities of World Bank Group Institutions, that include the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Insurance and Guarantee Agency (MIGA). His role entails prioritizing the operations of the WBG based on risk and strategic relevance, and managing the audits for the same. This entails managing the engagement team, coordinating with WBG senior management members and communication with the Board.

Prior to his current role, he was the Head of the Sustainability and Climate Business Unit in the Global Financial Markets department at the IFC. His team was mandated with the role of growing the financing of climate change mitigation and sustainability projects through financial market clients of IFC in areas such as Sustainable Energy, Sustainable value chains, Cleaner Production, and sustainable logistics. He has experience both within and prior to IFC in looking at the sustainability aspects in emerging financial markets covering both E&S risk management as well as business opportunities.

He has over 25 years of experience in Environment Health and Safety Management associated with financial institutions, chemical and engineering industry. He has also worked on industrial loss prevention, alternative models for financing sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy, carbon finance and new technology areas.

He has post graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Safety Engineering, is a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Fellow of the Institute of Risk Management, London, a LEAD Fellow and an Associate life member of the Indian Society of Applied Behavioral Science.

His interests include the application of complexity theory in organizational behavior and management, organizational coaching, scaling transformational initiatives, measuring and incentivizing development.

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.

Xiaochen Zhang is the President of FinTech4Good and World Digital Economy Council. He leads the design and implementation of FinTech4Goods’s strategy which aims to introduce impactful fintech and blockchain solutions to frontier markets through incubation, acceleration and investment. He brings more than 16 years of thought leadership and global experience to build impactful solutions and scale up innovative ideas in North America, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia. He serves on the Board of Directors and Board of Advisors for many innovative policy, technology and finance initiatives. Prior to FinTech4Good, Xiaochen advised government agencies and multinational organizations on innovation, emerging technologies, and investment in positions at the World Bank, United Nations, and other international partnership platforms. He also taught innovation and venture building at leading business schools and served as mentors for many innovative businesses. He hosts the World Responsible Leaders Dialogue show.

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.

Ahmet Can Sabuncu, Hunt Institute Fellow, teaches Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His teaching interest is on mechanical engineering design and thermal-fluids engineering. Dr. Sabuncu is eager to bring real-world experiences to his students using collaborations with industry, start-up companies, or using an idea that involves the pain points of stakeholders. His research and professional interests are on engineering education research on laboratory-oriented courses, renewable energy, and the development of biomedical devices from idea to market. Dr. Sabuncu is eager to discover next-generation workforce skills and to educate the next generation of engineers who will carry industry 4.0 forward considering the needs of the global world.

In Toys with Wings: Creating Value through Collaborative Entrepreneurial Mindset Learning (EML), Dr. Sabuncu and his team use EML to, “…students develop entrepreneurial thinking and empathy by intentionally seeking to create an educational toy with a potential societal value.” Their findings are students discover opportunities and insight with these hands-on problem-solving exercises.

His most recent research focuses on the development of bioelectric sensors for tissue and cell diagnostics. The sensor uses bioimpedance measurements in the broadband frequency range to obtain a dielectric data of superficial tissues. These sensors can be effective in determining the locations and severity of lesions. Currently, he is testing this technology on intestinal tumor tissues in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also working on linking cell and tissue impedance spectra to cellular function and structure. In addition to these, he has developed metallic electrodes with fractal topology to enhance dielectrophoresis, whose applications include biological cell separation and nanoparticle manipulation.

When asked what motivates him to do impact work, Dr. Sabuncu answered, “I want to create value for the developing world with my research.”

Preciously, he instructed senior design and biomedical engineering-related courses at Lyle School of Engineering. Dr. Sabuncu is working on low-cost and energy-efficient urban farming technologies in collaboration with the Hunt Institute. His research expertise includes the use of microfluidics and micro&nano sensors for biomedical applications such as single-cell manipulation and cancer diagnosis. The techniques he uses are bioimpedance spectroscopy, dielectrophoresis, microfabrication, micro-particle image velocimetry, finite element, and Monte Carlo simulations.

Dr. Sabuncu holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Old Dominion University, a Master of Science in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Yildiz Technical University.

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.

Regina Montoya is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and is the Chair of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ Task Force on Poverty. Ms. Montoya is the Chief Strategist of the JMC Strategy Group, and she is currently writing a book about the importance of incorporating Latinos into the economic, political and social fabric of America. In addition, she is a frequent public speaker on a wide range of issues including health care, poverty, diversity and children.

Ms. Montoya is a Harvard-trained attorney who has been nationally recognized as one of the top lawyers in the country, and she is a former award-winning television commentator.  She was one of the first Latinas to earn partnership in a major corporate law firm in the United States.  In 2014, Ms. Montoya received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Minority Counsel Program of the State Bar of Texas.  In addition, Ms. Montoya was awarded the Latina Lawyer of the Year by the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Women’s Advocacy Award from Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, the La Luz Achievement Award from the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, and the Pioneer for Justice Award from the Los Angeles-based Mexican American Bar Foundation.

In 1993, Ms. Montoya served in the White House as an Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.  In 1998, she was nominated by the President to serve as a U.S. Representative to the 53^rd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Previously, Ms. Montoya served as the Senior Vice President, External Relations and General Counsel at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, the seventh-largest pediatric health care provider in the nation. In addition, she was the chief executive officer of the New America Alliance, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the economic advancement of the American Latino community.

A leader in the nonprofit community, Ms. Montoya is the Chair of the Board of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF).  She is a member of the Board of Directors of Girls Inc. (National Board), the Texas Book Festival, the Center for Public Policy Priorities, the Harvard Club of Dallas, ChildCareGroup, and the SMU Tate Lecture Series, and she serves on the Texas Lyceum Advisory Council.

Ms. Montoya has received numerous awards for her corporate, philanthropic and nonprofit accomplishments. Among her awards, she has received the Harvard Alumni Association Award, the Susan B. Anthony Award from the League of Women Voters of Dallas, the “Can Do!” Award from the Wilkinson Center and the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas Real Woman Award. Ms. Montoya has been recognized by numerous publications for her achievements, including Hispanic Executive Magazine, which featured her on the cover of its July/August/September 2014 edition and Hispanic Business magazine, which twice named her one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the US.

Ms. Montoya earned her B.A. from Wellesley College, where she is a Trustee Emerita, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.  She also has served as vice president and elected director of the Harvard University Alumni 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.