Pursuing Sustainability: OR/MS Applications in Sustainable Design, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Resource Management

This handbook includes three parts, corresponding to the following three domains of OR/MS research related to sustainability: (i) Systems Design, Innovation, and Technology, (ii) Manufacturing, Logistics, and Transportation, and (iii) Sustainable Natural Resource Management. The first part of the handbook (Chapters 2-6) will focus on the creation and development of sustainable products, services, value chains, and organizations from a systems perspective. Key areas to be covered include Green Design & Innovation, Technology and Engineering Management, Sustainable Value Chain Systems, Sustainability Standards and Performance Evaluation, and Circular Economy and New Research Directions in Sustainability. The second part of the handbook (Chapters 7-11) will concentrate on the major operational and logistic issues faced by today’s industries in pursuing sustainability. Key areas to be covered include Remanufacturing, Reverse Logistics, Closed-Loop Supply Chains, Sustainable Transportation, and New Research Directions in Green Supply Chain Management. The third part of the proposed handbook (Chapters 12-16) will center on major sustainability issues in managing engineering infrastructure and natural resources. Key areas to be covered include Renewable Energy, Sustainable Water Resource, Biofuel Infrastructure, Natural Gas, and New Research Direction in Sustainable Resource Management.

The handbook aims to bridge the three main OR/MS research domains in sustainability: “Systems Design, Innovation, and Technology,” “Manufacturing, Logistics, and Transportation,” and “Sustainable Natural Resource Management.” Traditionally, these domains are treated separately in the OR/MS literature. By combining the three domains, the handbook will provide a more holistic treatment of MS/OR methodologies to address critical sustainability issues faced by today’s society. Unlike most existing handbooks which only focus on current OR/MS research in sustainability within a domain, this handbook will include a concluding chapter in each of the three parts to discuss and identify potential future research directions in each of the three main domains.

Chialin Chen is a Professor in the Department of Business Administration, College of Management at National Taiwan University.  He earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering/Technology and Policy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  His research interests include Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Performance Evaluation, New Product Design & Technology Innovation, and Technology Innovation Strategy.

Yihsu Chen is an associate professor at Department of Technology Management, University of California Santa Cruz. Prior to joining UCSC, he held a faculty position at University of California Merced with a joint appointment with School of Engineering and School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. He is also affiliated with UCE3 (University of California Center for Energy and Environmental Economics). He earned hisPh.D. in Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, and his M.S. in Environmental Health at Harvard University. Professor Chen's main research focuses on studying the impact of public policies on energy, water resources and transportation sectors.