Keynote Speakers

Dr. Alexandre Dolgui is a Distinguished Professor (Full Professor of Exceptional Class in France) and the Head of Automation, Production and Computer Sciences Department at the IMT Atlantique (former Ecole des Mines de Nantes), France. His research focuses on manufacturing line design, production planning and supply chain optimization. His main results are based on the exact mathematical programming methods and their intelligent coupling with heuristics and metaheuristics algorithms. He is the co-author of 5 books, the co-editor of 16 books or conference proceedings, the author of 212 refereed journal papers, 25 editorials and 28 book chapters as well as over 400 papers in conference proceedings. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Production Research, an Area Editor of Computers & Industrial Engineering, and an Associate Editor of Journal Européen des Systèmes Automatisés, past Associate Editor of International Journal of Systems Science (2005-2008), IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (2006-2009) and Omega-the International Journal of Management Science (2009-2012), consulting Editor of the International Journal of Systems Science (2009- ). He is Member of the Editorial Boards for 25 other journals, including the International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Manufacturing Technology & Management, International Journal of Simulation & Process Modelling, International Journal of Engineering Management & Economics, Journal of Decision Systems, Journal of Mathematical Modelling & Algorithms, Journal of Operations and Logistics, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management & Production Engineering Review, Decision Making in Manufacturing and Service, Risk and Decision Analysis, etc. Fellow of the European Academy for Industrial Management, Member of the Board of the International Foundation for Production Research, Chair of IFAC TC 5.2 Manufacturing Modelling for Management and Control, Member of IFIP WG 5.7 Advances in Production Management Systems, IEEE System Council Analytics and Risk Technical Committee, Guest editor of special issues of European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Omega – The International Journal of Management Science, Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Journal of Mathematical Modeling and Algorithms, and Annual Reviews in Control; he was General Scientific Chair of the 12th IFAC symposium INCOM'06, Chairman of International Program Committee of SCM’02, MOSIM’04, INCOM'09, INCOM'12, IESM'13, MIM'13, INCOM'15, IESM'17, GSC'18, MIM'19 and Chairman of Steering committee of MIM'16. Chairman of Organizing Committee of the International Conference MOSIM’01 and ROADEF'2011; last ten years, he was Member of Program Committees of over 200 International Conferences, etc.

Surendra M. Gupta, Ph.D., P.E., is a Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and the Director of the Laboratory for Responsible Manufacturing at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.He received his BE in Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, MBA from Bryant University, and MSIE and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Massachusetts, USA. Dr. Gupta’s research interests span the areas of Production/Manufacturing Systems and Operations Research. He is mostly interested in Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing, Reverse and Closed-Loop Supply Chains, Disassembly Modeling and Remanufacturing. He has authored or coauthored twelve books and approximately 600 technical papers published in edited books, journals and international conference proceedings.His publications have received over eleven thousand citations (with an h-index of 52) from researchers all over the world in journals, proceedings, books, and dissertations. He has traveled to all seven continents viz., Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America and presented his work at international conferences on six continents.Dr. Gupta has taught over 150 courses in such areas as operations research, inventory theory, queuing theory, engineering economy, supply chain management, and production planning and control. Among the many recognitions received, he is the recipient of outstanding research award and outstanding industrial engineering professor award (in recognition of teaching excellence) from Northeastern University as well as a national outstanding doctoral dissertation advisor award.

Bahar Yetis Kara is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Bilkent University. Dr. Kara holds an M.S. and Ph.D. degree from Bilkent University Industrial Engineering Department, and she worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at McGill University in Canada. Dr. Kara holds “Best Dissertation Award” given by INFORMS - UPS-SOLA (2001), TUBA-GEBIP (National Young Researchers Career Development Grant) reward (2008), IAP Young Researchers Award (2009), and TÜBİTAK Young Scientist Incentive Award (2010).Dr Kara’s current research interests include distribution logistics, humanitarian logistics, hub location and hub network design, and hazardous material logistics. She is currently an associate editor of IIE Transactions. Dr. Kara is also one of the founders and so one of the members of the current executive board of the EURO Working Group on Humanitarian Operations (HOpe).

Michael G. Kay is Interim Director of the Graduate Program in Operations Research and Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University. He has degrees in economics and industrial engineering from the University of Florida, and he did his doctoral studies at NC State’s Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines. He teaches courses in production system design and logistics engineering and his research interests include logistics, metaheuristics, freight transportation, material handling, warehousing, and facilities design, and is currently focused on the development of home delivery logistics networks.He developed the Matlab toolbox Matlog to solving a variety of different logistics engineering problems, and has used it extensively in his teaching, research, and consulting. He has worked in the electric utility industry for three years on contested rate negotiations and his consulting experience has included logistics engineering projects with GlaxoSmithKline, GE, Caterpillar, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Dollar Wholesale, and Circuit City.He developed a region-segmentation procedure that is a key component of an image surveillance system used by law-enforcement agencies worldwide, and has created scheduling algorithms that have been incorporated into commercial SAP-based plant maintenance software. He has directed an NSF/USDOT-sponsored project to develop public logistics networks and several AHFA-sponsored projects on strategic supply chain logistics for the furniture industry.He has twice been elected a member and is currently the President of the College–Industry Council on Material Handling Education, sponsored by the Material Handling Industry. He has published over 95 technical papers and is the coeditor of the books Multisensor Integration and Fusion for Intelligent Machines and Systems and Progress in Material Handling Practice.

Russel King is the Henry A. Foscue Distinguished Undergraduate and Graduate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC USA and is a Fellow of the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). At N.C. State, he is Co- Director of the Center for Additive Manufacturing and Logistics (camal.ncsu.edu). He has consulted for a number of companies including Ford Motor Company, The Gap, Dillards Department Stores, and the Institute for Defense and Business. He has received number of awards for his teaching, advising and research including the Scientific Achievement Award from the National Textiles Center as well as the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award and the Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). He is a Fellow of IISE.  Dr. King has taught over 18 different graduate and undergraduate courses and is the Chair or Co-Chair of over 75 Masters students and over 35 PhD students.
Before joining the faculty at North Carolina State University in 1985, Dr. King worked for Computer Science Corporation at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Naval Air Rework Facility at the Jacksonville, Florida Naval Air Station, and Dynamac Corporation at the Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland, USA. He received a B.S. in Systems Engineering and a Master and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering all from the University of Florida. His research interests include analysis, control and scheduling of production and logistics systems, particularly related to additive manufacturing.
In his spare time he is a Master (4th degree black belt) of Taekwon Do studying under Grand Master K.S. Lee in Morrisville, NC, USA.