Virtual Visitor Dr. Haitao Li Talks Analytics and Optimization for Food Supply Chains

A food supply chain includes many aspects and variables, no small part of which is transportation of goods. In his September webinar “Optimizing the Configuration of Food Supply Chains”, Dr. Haitao Li from the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) introduced the food supply chain configuration problem (FSCCP) to explain the direction of his research on finding an efficient, quality, sustainable, and resilient method for modern food supply chains using prescriptive analytics, or data-driven optimization.

The goal of this research is to optimize the tactical-level mode selection and inventory positioning decisions for a general multi-echelon food supply chain. To demonstrate the effectiveness of optimal FSCCP solutions, he compares them to two heuristic solutions that focus solely on cost or quality.

Dr. Li currently holds a Professorship at UMSL, where he is also the founding Director of their Laboratory of Advanced Supply Chain Analytics and Chair of the Supply Chain & Analytics Department. His research experience prioritizes optimization modeling and algorithm design and he has worked with industries and researchers in the application of supply chain optimization, project scheduling, vehicle routing, and resource allocation.

Dr. Li was a recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the US Army Research Office (ARO) in 2010 and the Douglas Durant Award for Research Excellence of UMSL in 2015. He was named 2015 UMSL Inventor of the Year for his two U.S. Patent applications and numerous invention disclosures. He is also currently an Associate Editor of the Journal of the Operational Research Society and Transportation Journal, and an editorial board member of the International Journal of Project Management.