The Colleges of Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain Management will be hosting a joint mini-conference on Thursday 8 May 2014 in honor of the 25th anniversary of POMS. The event will be held in Atlanta, Georgia one day prior to the main POMS conference and will be located at the conference hotel. Join us to discuss issues relevant to environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Meet leading academics and practitioners who are working together to ensure our research is focused on topics relevant to the practice of management. Learn how to integrate these themes into existing operations and supply chain courses.

Program for Joint Sustainable Operations/Supply Chain Management POM 25th Anniversary Mini-Conference

The 2012 Mini-Conference of the POMS College of Sustainable Operations was held at the Chicago Marriot Downtown Magnificent Mile in Chicago, IL on April 19, 2012, and was focused on sustainability across the supply chain from a perspective of industry. Coleman Bigelow (Johnson & Johnson) talked about Johnson & Johnson’s sustainable supply chains that take into account consumer behavior. Kate Heiny (Target) talked about supply chain operations that Target conducts to pursue sustainability, such as cell phone collection program and trade-in program. Daniel Guide (Penn State University) explained what kinds of research papers the Journal of Operations Management would like to review and accept for publication from the perspective of an editor. Jeff York (University of Colorado – Boulder) presented his research about green buildings and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the perspective of history, major trends, and drivers of green buildings.

Winner: Saed Alizamir (Duke University) (advised by Dr. Peng Sun and Francis de Vericourt, INSEAD
Dissertation title: Designing Government Policy Instruments to Promote Green Technologies

Runner Up: Jury Gualandris (Università degli Studi di Bergamo) (advised by Dr. Matteo Kalchschmidt)
Dissertation title: Sustainability Implementation in Industrial Supply Networks: Why and How?

The 2011 Mini-Conference of the POMS College of Sustainable Operations was held at the Peppermill Hotel in Reno, NV, on Thursday April 28, 2011, and focused on carbon footprint. It was co-chaired by Atalay Atasu (Georgia Tech), and Edgar Blanco (MIT).

The Mini-Conference commenced with Laura Draucker’s presentation about the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standards. She elaborated on the process, merits and challenges of the recently developed two standards: Scope 3 (Value Chain Accounting and Reporting Standard) and Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard. Sujeesh Krishnan talked about the evolving product carbon footprinting space from the perspective of what it is, why it is important, what the emerging methodologies are, and what the Carbon Trust is doing in this space. Through a few case studies, his presentation also emphasized that product carbon footprint can drive changes in market behavior. Buddy Polovick talked about the EPA’s SmartWay program, a program that promotes environmentally cleaner and more fuel efficient transportation options through among others, R&D and product labeling. His presentation focused on benefits of the SmartWay and how the partnership works among the stakeholders in the traffic sector. Leonardo Bonanni’s presentation introduced Sourcemap.org, which is a social network platform for mapping and sharing supply chains to inform sustainable choices. He explained how the social network platform can estimate the carbon footprints of product and share this information across different media.

Winner: Ayse Selin Kocaman from Columbia University (advisor: Vijay Modi)
Dissertation title: Connecting People to Electricity: Single Level and Multi-level Grid Network Design for Rural Electrification

Runner Up: Nan Gao from Iowa State University (advisor: Sarah M. Ryan)
Dissertation title: Closed Loop Supply Chain Design for Uncertain Carbon Regulations and Random Product Flows

Runner Up: Mohammad Moshthari from University of Lugano (advisor: Paulo Goncalves)
Dissertation title: Inhibitors of Collaboration among Humanitarian Aid Organizations

The Operations & Decision Technologies Department at the Kelley School of Business of Indiana University sponsored a workshop on the interface between new product development, innovation, and sustainability. The workshop was held at the Kelley School on October 14-15, 2010. This workshop preceded the deadline for submission of papers to the special issue of Production and Operations Management on new product development, innovation, and sustainability, and had 20 presentations. Most presentations in the Workshop were later submitted to the special issue. Program committee members for the workshop included Kyle Cattani (Indiana University), Mark Ferguson (Georgia Tech), Glen Schmidt (University of Utah), and Gil Souza (Indiana University).

The Mini-Conference of the POMS College of Sustainable Operations was successfully held at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Center Hotel on May 6, 2010. The Mini-Conference brought together more than 30 researchers who shared the common interest in sustainability and sustainable operations.

The Mini-Conference commenced with Stelios Kavadias’s presentation about interaction between sustainability and product development from a thought-provoking viewpoint. He emphasized the importance of metrics for measuring sustainability and discussed driving factors of sustainability in the context of organization structures. Alfonso Pedraza Martinez talked about humanitarian logistics based on his pioneering field work. His presentation focused on fleet management in the fields. Industry keynote speaker, Burton Hammer, talked about sustainability using an example of a new hydropower technology that his company developed and its vivid business model. Shmuel Oren clearly explained complicated electricity markets using mathematical models that are actually used for the market. His presentation covered important issues of the market, including portfolio for electronic market risk and impact of carbon regulations. Andrew Hoffman analyzed the evolution of the concept of sustainability from his innovative cultural and social viewpoint.

Congratulations, Alfonso.

Award Committee:

 Vedat Verter (chair, McGill), Charles Corbett (UCLA), Mike Ketzenberg (Texas A&M), and Joe Blackburn (Vanderbilt)

Sustainable Operations Dissertation Proposal Award Competition

Call for Applications

The Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) College of Sustainable Operations invites applications to the 2013 Dissertation Proposal Award Competition. The aim of the College of Sustainable Operations is to foster the creation and dissemination of knowledge to improve our understanding of the issues at the interface between sustainability and operations. The Dissertation Proposal Award Competition was started in 2010 to highlight the most promising doctoral student dissertation projects in the field of sustainable operations and provide visibility to the doctoral students carrying out these initiatives.

The applications will be judged by the Award Committee. Up to four finalists will be selected. The proposals submitted for the competition will be evaluated based on the importance of the topic, the significance of the potential research contribution, and the appropriateness of the research approach. Up to two awards (a first place award and a runner-up award) may be given upon recommendation of the Award Committee. For the 2013 competition, first place carries a cash award of $800 and the runner-up $300. Winners will be announced at the 24th Annual POMS Conference in Denver, Colorado.

Eligibility Requirements

There are two conditions to be eligible as an applicant for the competition:

1.An applicant must be a doctoral student who has not yet defended his/her dissertation proposal prior to the POMS Conference in May 2013.

2. The applicant must not be scheduled to graduate before September 2013.

Application Process

The completed applications should be submitted electronically (as .pdf files) to the Chair of the Award Committee. The submission deadline for the competition is March 31, 2013 at midnight (EST).

A complete application includes two main components:

1. A cover document including:

a. The doctoral student's name, current affiliation, e-mail address and phone number. This information must not appear anywhere else.

b. The title of the dissertation proposal.

c. A statement that all eligibility requirements have been met that is signed by the doctoral student and the student’s supervisor.

2. A main document including:

a. A separate title page with a summary of no more than 300 words.

b. The proposal (12 point font, 1.15 spacing, 1 inch margins, 4 pages or less including tables and figures but excluding references).

Contact

For more information, or to submit a completed application, please contact the Chair of the 2013 POMS College of Sustainable Operations Doctoral Proposal Competition Award Committee, Professor David Drake from Harvard Business School at ddrake@hbs.edu.

Please note that eligibility requirements as well as length, format and submission deadline for the application will be strictly enforced.