Xuesong Zhou is a Professor of Transportation Systems at the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment , Arizona State University (ASU). He leads the ASU Transportation+AI Lab and develops open-source tools like DTALite, NEXTA, and OSM2GMNS with over 100,000 downloads. His research focuses on multimodal transportation planning , dynamic traffic assignment , and rail scheduling with methodological contributions to traffic flow theory and operations research . Dr. Zhou's research bridges transportation system operations , computer applications for ITS , and logistics optimization . His work on differentiable programming reformulations and state-space-time network modeling has advanced real-time traffic prediction and multi-echelon facility scheduling . Scientific awards include: 2022 Elsevier Multimodal Transportation Best Article Award 2018 Transportation Research Part C Best Associate Editor Award 2012 INFORMS Railway Applications Section Best Paper Award He has advised 9 PhD students and 6 postdoctoral researchers to completion, with mentees now at institutions like Georgia Institute of Technology and Michigan State University. Current projects include NSF CONNECT and DOE Argonne collaborations on multi-scale traffic simulation and smart campus cyberinfrastructure .
Miloš N. Mladenović is an Associate Professor at the Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering Group , affiliated with the Department of Built Environment under the School of Engineering at Aalto University. He also serves as a Vice Dean and leads the MSc program Sustainable Urban Mobility Transitions . His work bridges academic research and practical policy, with a focus on governance and ethical dimensions of emerging mobility technologies. Education: BSc in Transport Engineering, University of Belgrade MSc and PhD in Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech His research centers on: Societal Impact of Emerging Mobility Technologies , such as Mobility as a Service and automated vehicles Decision-Support Systems for urban transport planning Sustainable Transportation and accessibility frameworks Ethics in Transport Policy , including projects like EVA-HEL (electric scooters) and BATS (mobility solutions) Analysis of his recent publications shows: Development of open-source models for urban transport equity Focus on cultural governance in Finland Interdisciplinary approaches combining social sciences and engineering Scientific Recognition: 2024 Moshe Givoni Prize from Transport Reviews 2024 Linkki Pin Permit award Academic Leadership: Editorial Board Member, European Transport Research Review (2019-2024) Organizing Chair, Aalto University Summer School on Transportation (ASTRA) His work connects directly with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for sustainable cities and climate action.
Joe Geunes is a Professor and Associate Department Head for Graduate Affairs in the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University, holding the Mike and Sugar Barnes Professorship. His research focuses on production planning, supply chain management, logistics, and operations optimization. He earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration (Management Science & Operations Research) and M.B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University in 1999 and 1993, respectively. Dr. Geunes has received notable accolades including Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (2015), Marilyn and L. David Black Faculty Fellow (2022), and Best Reviewer Award from Omega (2022). His work spans infrastructure network restoration, supply chain resilience, and optimization algorithms for logistics systems. Recent projects address railcar operations, distribution network fortification, and disaster response strategies. Education: Ph.D., Business Administration (Management Science & Operations Research), The Pennsylvania State University – 1999 M.B.A., The Pennsylvania State University – 1993 Awards: Fellow, Institute of Industrial Engineers – 2015 Marilyn and L. David Black Faculty Fellow – 2022 Best Reviewer Award, Omega – 2022 Best Application Paper, IISE – 2018 His research integrates mathematical modeling and computational methods to address real-world challenges in supply chain design, inventory management, and infrastructure resilience. Recent publications emphasize multi-modal logistics, robust optimization under uncertainty, and post-disaster network recovery strategies.
Andrea Appolloni is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management and Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata. His academic career focuses on Management with emphasis on Sustainable Supply Chain Management , Digital Transformation , and Circular Economy . His research explores the intersection of technological innovation and sustainability, particularly through topics like AI in Logistics , Green Procurement , and Policy Optimization . Publications span both theoretical frameworks and empirical studies in China, Italy, and Malaysia, with a strong focus on environmental impact and organizational performance. Recent work includes digital twin applications for human-AI collaboration, blockchain integration in sustainable supply chains, and analyzing barriers to circular economy adoption. His 15 most recent articles (2025-2022) demonstrate a trend toward combining Artificial Intelligence , Operations Management , and Environmental Governance .
Prof. Constantinos Antoniou is a Full Professor in the Chair of Transportation Systems Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), part of the TUM School of Engineering and Design. He holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (1995), an MS in Transportation (1997), and a PhD in Transportation Systems (2004) from MIT. His research focuses on transportation systems engineering, including modeling/simulation, intelligent transport systems (ITS), behavioral economics in transport, road safety, and sustainable transport systems. He has authored over 500 scientific publications, including over 210 peer-reviewed journal papers, and serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part A . Awards include the Francquis Chair (2023), IEEE ITS Outstanding Application Award (2011), and Marie Curie Fellowship (2006–2008). He has secured over €4M in third-party funding, leading projects such as SCUDO, CulturalRoad, and PHOEBE. Currently supervising 17 PhD students, he has mentored seven graduates who now hold academic positions at institutions like UCL and UPC. Research interests span autonomous vehicles, traffic resilience, and policy-driven transport solutions. Key projects include analyzing urban air mobility, MaaS potential, and pandemic impact on transport networks. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals, emphasizing sustainable cities and communities.
Prof. Rob Goverde is a Professor of Railway Traffic Management & Operations at the Department of Transport & Planning, TU Delft, and Director of the Digital Rail Traffic Lab. He holds a PhD in Railway Operations (2005) from TU Delft and an MSc in Mathematics from Utrecht University (1993). His research focuses on resilient railway timetabling, disruption management, energy-efficient train control, and railway safety. He teaches MSc courses like 'Railway Operations and Control' and coordinates the MSc Annotation Railway Systems and a collaborative BSc program with Beijing Jiaotong University. Research interests include railway operations optimization using operations research, max-plus algebra, and data analytics. Projects funded by Shift2Rail, NSFC, and NWO address topics like high-speed rail network capacity and resilient railway systems. He leads the Railway Systems theme at TU Delft Transport Institute and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management. His work bridges mathematical methodologies with railway domain knowledge to enhance system performance and sustainability.
Michael Trick is the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research and Higgins Professor of Operations Research at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on combinatorial optimization, sports scheduling, constraint programming, and operations research applications. He has contributed to seminal work on sports timetabling (e.g., scheduling college basketball conferences) and the traveling tournament problem. Trick's work bridges theoretical advancements with practical applications, including integer programming, branch-and-price methods, and stochastic dynamic programming. He has led initiatives in operations research education and served as President of INFORMS, emphasizing the field's societal impact. His research also spans voting systems, optimization for newspaper zoning, and algorithmic design for complex scheduling problems. Trick's expertise spans academic leadership, research methodology, and cross-disciplinary applications. His articles address topics like auction design for spectrum allocation, bike-sharing logistics, and robust scheduling strategies. He collaborates across academia and industry, contributing to both theoretical advancements and real-world operational challenges. His work often highlights the practical utility of mathematical programming techniques in diverse domains.
Lacra Pavel is a Professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. She joined the department in August 2002 after industry experience at Nortel Networks and Solinet Systems, and remains active in the System Control Group and Photonics Group. Her educational background includes: Diploma of Engineering (with distinction) in Automatic Control, Technical University Gh. Asachi of Iasi, Romania (1989) PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Queen's University at Kingston (1996) Research focuses on integrating game theory, control theory, and optimization within networked systems. She pioneered applications in noncooperative/evolutionary game theory for network control, nonlinear/robust control frameworks, and energy-efficient optical/transportation networks. Current work develops mathematical foundations for learning in games via control-theoretic approaches to enable autonomous multi-agent network optimization. Recent publications (2019-2013) reveal dominant trends: distributed Nash equilibrium seeking using passivity-based and operator-splitting methods, stability analysis for optical network power control with time-delays, and extensions to transportation systems like railway timetabling. Key subfields include graphical games, ADMM algorithms, and Lyapunov-based boundary control for distributed parameter systems. Scientific recognition includes: Fellow of the IEEE (2025) for contributions to game theory, control, and optimization for network systems Connaught New Staff Award, University of Toronto (2003) New Opportunities Infrastructure Award, CFI/OIT (2003) Award for Innovation, Solinet Systems (2001, 2002) Inventor Recognition Award, Nortel Networks (2000) She has advised over 20 graduate students including current PhD candidates and former students now at MIT, Princeton, Amazon, and Ciena. Major grants include the CFI/OIT New Opportunities Infrastructure Award (2003). Her research bridges theoretical game control with practical implementations in optical and transportation networks. As co-director of the System Control Group and member of the Photonics Group, she leads teams developing algorithms for autonomous network optimization. Current projects focus on stochastic approximation methods for multi-agent learning and energy-efficient network design.
Michel Gendreau is a Full Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal. He holds a B.Com. from McGill University, and both an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Montreal. His research focuses on operational research with applications in logistics, transportation, energy systems, and telecommunications. He is affiliated with several prestigious research centers including the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), the Trottier Energy Institute (IET), and the Interuniversity Research Center on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transport (CIRRELT). Professor Gendreau's research interests span operational research, with particular emphasis on stochastic optimization methods applied to transportation and logistics problems, energy systems management, and telecommunications. His work often addresses real-world challenges through mathematical modeling and algorithm development, with applications ranging from bike-sharing systems to emergency response planning and electricity grid management. The analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on vehicle routing problems under uncertainty, maintenance optimization, and the integration of stochastic programming with machine learning techniques for improved decision making. Professor Gendreau has received numerous prestigious awards recognizing his contributions to the field of operations research. In 2022, he was named a Fellow of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS). In 2010, he was awarded Fellow status by INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences). Most notably, in November 2015, he received the Robert M. Herman Lifetime Achievement Award from the Transportation Science and Logistics Society of INFORMS, which is considered the most prestigious distinction for operational researchers working in logistics and transportation. Throughout his career, Professor Gendreau has supervised 25 doctoral students and 18 master's students, contributing significantly to the development of the next generation of operations research experts. His research has been supported by numerous grants from organizations including NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), with expertise recognized in Operational Research and Management Science (NSERC subject 1601) and Logistics (NSERC subject 1603). Professor Gendreau is actively involved in several research teams and laboratories, particularly those focused on data valorization, energy systems, and transportation logistics. His current work continues to push the boundaries of stochastic optimization and its applications to complex real-world problems, with recent publications addressing challenges in urban transportation, energy management, and emergency response systems.
Christopher Kirkland is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at York St John University's School of Humanities, specializing in British political economy, crisis theory, and electoral studies. His research examines how crises shape political institutions and party ideologies, with recent work analyzing constitutional aspects of Brexit. He holds a BA in Politics and Modern History from University of Manchester, MA in Politics Research Track from University of Nottingham, and PhD from University of Sheffield (2015). Kirkland has authored monographs on Labour's economic ideology and election classification in Britain. Research focuses on party responses to economic crises, electoral behavior, and UK constitutional development. His mixed-methods approach combines historical institutionalism with contemporary political analysis. Recent publications address tactical voting, electoral system reform, and post-Brexit governance. Kirkland teaches British politics, comparative politics, and political analysis modules. His public engagement includes frequent contributions to The Conversation on UK elections and constitutional issues.
Rainer K. Silbereisen is a Research Professor of Developmental Psychology at Friedrich Schiller University Jena , Director of the Center for Applied Developmental Science , and Adjunct Professor of Human Development at Pennsylvania State University . He has held faculty positions at Technical University Berlin, Justus Liebig University Giessen, and Penn State, alongside leadership roles at the Gesis social science infrastructure company and the University of Haifa Board of Governors. Research Focus: Human development across lifespan, dynamic interactionism, social change impacts, acculturation of immigrants, entrepreneurship, and biobehavioral aspects of adolescence. Applications: Prevention of maladjustment, promotion of positive development, and social policy relevance. International Collaborations: Comparative studies in Germany, Poland, Israel, and post-Soviet states. Funding Sources: German National Science Foundation, W.T. Grant Foundation, Jacobs Foundation, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Scientific Recognition: Member of Academia Europaea and Erfurt Academy of Sciences Fellow of American Psychological Association and Association for Psychological Science 2012 ISSBD Distinguished Scientific Award 2014 EARA Lifetime Award Academic Leadership: Past-President of ISSBD, German Psychological Society, and IUPsyS. Editor of European Psychologist and American Psychologist Associate Editor. Directed large-scale networks on immigration and social change.
N. van Oort is an Associate Professor in the Department of Transport, Mobility and Logistics at Delft University of Technology. He specializes in public transport systems, sustainable mobility, and data-driven decision making. His research focuses on optimizing transport networks, electrification strategies, and future mobility scenarios. He has led the Smart Public Transport Lab, contributing to projects like the CriticalMaaS initiative (2019-2023), exploring Mobility as a Service dynamics. His work spans over 249 publications and 8 recognized prizes, including awards for innovative transport solutions and research excellence. Van Oort actively engages in public discourse, appearing in media like NPO Radio 1 and Trouw, discussing topics such as 2050 mobility futures and challenges in Dutch public transport. He has advised on policy matters and serves as a keynote speaker at industry events.
Dr. Tommaso Schettini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering at Concordia University. His research focuses on transportation systems optimization, including electric vehicle charger location, metro timetabling, and demand-driven scheduling strategies. He holds an ORCID identifier (0000-0003-2578-1539) and supervises Master's and PhD students in Industrial Engineering. His work integrates operations research techniques like Benders decomposition and metaheuristics to solve real-world transportation and manufacturing challenges. Research Areas: Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Planning, Metro Timetabling Strategies, Integer Programming, Discrete Simulation-based Optimization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Notable contributions include developing pattern-based algorithms for short-turning metro lines and optimizing micro-mobility integration with public transit. His articles span 2016–2024, emphasizing demand-driven approaches in transportation and manufacturing systems.
Prof. Dr. Rolf Wanka is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), specializing in efficient algorithms and combinatorial optimization. His research focuses on swarm intelligence, discrete optimization algorithms, and scheduling problems, particularly in timetabling and robotics applications. Education : Sc.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in Computer Science His work includes theoretical and experimental analyses of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms, addressing runtime complexity, stagnation behavior, and convergence properties. He has developed novel heuristics for timetabling and sorting problems, with applications in multi-robot systems and medical imaging. Notable collaborations include studies on Markov chain-based PSO and fairness in academic scheduling. Key trends in his recent publications span swarm intelligence , discrete optimization , and scheduling heuristics , with a focus on robust timetabling , runtime analysis , and stochastic algorithm behavior . While no explicit scientific awards are listed, his mentorship in the Max Weber-Programm highlights his advisory role in academia. His publications demonstrate interdisciplinary applications of algorithms in robotics , medical imaging , and parallel computing , leveraging both theoretical rigor and practical experimentation. The full description below provides exhaustive details on his academic contributions and affiliations.
Pasi Lautala is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering at Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) and currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research. He holds a BS from Tampere University of Technology (Finland) and MS/PhD from Michigan Tech. His research focuses on rail and highway transportation engineering, with emphasis on grade crossing safety, multimodal logistics, sustainability, railway capacity analysis, and engineering education development. Since 2007, Lautala has directed the Rail Transportation Program (RTP) within the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI), expanding rail research collaborations across disciplines. He leads over $10M in external research funding, including projects on trespasser safety, freight logistics, and lifecycle analysis. Lautala is a key figure in rail education revitalization, serving as Rail Group Chair at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and advising the Michigan Commission for Supply Chain Logistics. His teaching spans courses like Transportation Engineering, Railroad Design, and Logistics Management. Lautala has advised numerous undergraduate and graduate projects, emphasizing industry partnerships. Recent contributions include developing in-vehicle auditory alerts for rail crossings and AI-driven safety systems like RAIILS. Key collaborations include the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on grade crossing safety ($641K+ projects), U.S. DOT on rail modal analysis, and Battelle on connected vehicle systems. He mentors the Tracks to the Future youth program and co-leads international rail education initiatives.
