Sponsored research in operational decision-making, analytics, technology development, and research training.
Project status reflects the listed funding period.
21 projects / programs
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Sponsored Research Projects
CurrentMar 2026 - Dec 2027
Advancing Anchorage's Freight Transportation Network: A Comprehensive Analysis for Cost-Effective, Safe, and Resilient Operations
Alaska Dept. of Transportation and FHWA
Principal Investigator
Integrates discrete-event simulation and optimization to evaluate freight routing, fleet composition, and infrastructure strategies under demand variability and disruptions. Develops an interactive decision-support toolbox for Anchorage’s multimodal freight network to assess trade-offs among cost, reliability, safety, and resilience.
A Risk-Aware Decision-Support Platform for Commodity Pricing under Market Uncertainty
Universal Metal Coating Company (UNICOIL)
Principal Investigator
Predictive and decision analytics for steel procurement under price uncertainty. The research integrates market data, forecasting models, interactive analytics, and decision-support tools to connect market intelligence with purchasing decisions.
Platform
Analytics Capabilities
Market Analytics: Connect steel prices and market indicators with procurement context.
AI Forecasting: Use machine learning forecasts to examine future prices and uncertainty.
Decision Support: Connect market intelligence with purchasing decisions through interactive analytics.
Advancing Steel Market Analytics and Decision-Making through Integration of Large Language Models
Universal Metal Coating Company (UNICOIL)
Principal Investigator
Integrates retrieval-augmented language models, analytics APIs, and agent-based response validation to translate steel-market data and forecasts into conversational insights and automated reports. Establishes an extensible foundation for decision support in procurement, pricing, and margin analysis.
I-Corps: Translation Potential of a Software Platform for Optimizing Collaborative Human-Robot Operations
National Science Foundation
Principal Investigator
Examines the translation potential of a software platform for human–robot operations.
As part of the I-Corps project, PhD student Arghadeep Mitra traveled across the country to meet industry professionals and gain insights into the software ecosystem supporting autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
CyberTraining: Implementation: Small: Application-inspired Cloud DevOps Training using an Online Self-Service Learning Platform
National Science Foundation
Co-Principal Investigator
Develops and evaluates an application-inspired learning platform for automating scientific workflows with Cloud DevOps. Integrates healthcare scheduling and supply-chain cybersecurity use cases with hands-on learning, assessment, and learner-experience research.
Project Type: Cross-Cutting Research Education
CurrentJan 2024 – Dec 2028
Development of AI-Powered Analytics Platform for Steel Price Prediction
Universal Metal Coating Company (UNICOIL)
Principal Investigator
The project develops an AI-powered analytics platform for steel price prediction and market intelligence. Machine-learning and time-series models analyze historical prices and market indicators to generate forecasts that support procurement planning and purchasing decisions under market uncertainty.
Analysis Capabilities for Competition, Crisis, and Combat (AC4)
U.S. Department of Defense (via University of Houston)
Co-Principal Investigator
The project develops a machine-learning decision-support framework for procurement lead-time prediction in defense supply chains. The research integrates supplier, item, order, and historical lead-time data with interpretable model evaluation and operational requirements to improve planning for low-volume, high-variety parts.
Supports wireless research for cloud-based electric-truck and drone logistics.
REU SupplementAug 2024 – Jan 2028 · Current
Supports undergraduate research in electric-truck and drone route management.
Completed award periodAug 2023 - Dec 2025
Development of an intelligent truck transport management application for freight and fuel movement through route optimization, scenario analysis, and incident management
Alaska Dept. of Transportation and FHWA
Principal Investigator
Combines route optimization, scenario analysis, and incident management for freight and fuel transport.
A dashboard feature of iFreightOps, the platform developed for freight and fuel transport management through route optimization, scenario analysis, and incident management.
REU Site: Research on Prescriptive Analytics for AI-enabled Operations Engineering
National Science Foundation
Co-Principal Investigator
Provides undergraduate research experiences in prescriptive analytics for AI-enabled operations engineering.
Students and mentors in Mizzou’s 2025 summer REU program in prescriptive analytics and AI-enabled operations engineering. Read the Mizzou Engineering story ↗
IRES Track 1: International Research Experiences for Students in AI-Enabled Decision Analytics for Advancing Air Taxi and Drone Operations
National Science Foundation
Co-Principal Investigator
Integrates machine learning and simulation-based optimization to study hub locations, fleet allocation, and coordinated delivery for air taxis and drones. Through collaboration with IIT Madras faculty and students and the ePlane startup team in India, the program connects decision-analytics methods with practical challenges in advanced air mobility.
Students and faculty during the IRES research program in India, connecting AI-enabled decision analytics with air-taxi and drone operations.
I-Corps: A Scalable Cloud-based Route Optimization Software for Efficient Aerial and Road Logistics
National Science Foundation
Principal Investigator
Advances RoutePEARL, a route-optimization platform for coordinated electric-truck and drone deliveries, through more than 100 industry customer-discovery interviews. Translates operational needs into routing requirements for battery constraints, safe drone deployment, and reliable network connectivity.
Enhancing Innovation, Resilience and Agility in Missouri's Manufacturers
U.S. Economic Development Administration
Co-Principal Investigator
The project supported applied research and technology translation to strengthen innovation, resilience, and operational agility among Missouri manufacturers. As part of the program, complementary funding extended industry-focused research in production optimization and steel-market analytics, including the Rebundle and Trinity Products projects.
CELDi: Intelligent Decision Support System for Steel Market Analytics
Trinity Products
Principal Investigator
Combines descriptive analytics and machine-learning forecasts to translate steel-market data into purchasing insights for Trinity Products. Develops an AI-enabled decision-support system to help procurement teams interpret market trends and make informed buying decisions under price uncertainty.
Research Translation
Pyam Oveys presenting the Trinity Products steel-market analytics project at the 2024 CELDi Research Symposium, where he earned first place in the poster competition. Read the Mizzou Engineering story ↗
Optimization of Hair Extension Manufacturing Process
Rebundle Co.
Principal Investigator
The project integrates mixed-integer production scheduling with discrete-event simulation to coordinate workforce capacity, material flow, and production under resource constraints. A deployable scheduling and scenario-analysis tool translates model outputs into weekly production plans and supports operational decisions as the manufacturing system scales.
Ray Wood presenting the Rebundle manufacturing-optimization research at the IISE South Central Regional Conference.
Third Place · IISE Global Undergraduate Student Technical Paper Competition · 2024 Third Place · IISE Operations Research Undergraduate Research Competition · 2024 Read Mizzou Engineering story ↗
GEER Non-credit Professional and Continuing Education Program
Missouri Dept of Higher Education and Workforce Development
Principal Investigator
Connects university expertise and industry workforce needs through a Digital Transformation Consortium with MU Extension. Delivers self-paced, certificate-based training in business analytics, programming, and geospatial analysis to help Missourians translate data into workplace decisions and transition into digital careers.
The project combines supplier-performance analytics with spare-parts inventory modeling to support aerospace supply-chain decisions. The framework connects supplier reliability and performance measures with inventory requirements to improve part availability, strengthen supplier collaboration, and reduce excess inventory exposure.
Uses real-world pre- and post-implementation data to evaluate the economic impact of NAVIFY digital tumor board software. Combines personnel-cost modeling, system-wide savings projections, and discounted payback analysis to inform investment in cancer-care workflow technology.
Completed award periodAug 2018 - Mar 2020
Tactical Decision-Making for Made-to-Order Electrical Hardware Products
Schneider Electric
Co-Principal Investigator
The project integrates predictive analytics with inventory optimization to support tactical decisions in a high-variety, made-to-order electrical hardware supply chain. Improved demand forecasts inform inventory policies that balance inventory investment, stockout risk, and customer-service requirements under long supplier lead times and substantial SKU-level uncertainty.
