Witten by: Anna Delap
Dr. Jackson Li, Marketing Department associate professor in Operations Management here at Missouri State University is a prolific researcher and has had three refereed journal articles published. While most of his research focuses on inventory theory and its application, his curiosity also covers mathematical programming, dynamic efficiency, stochastic convexity/concavity, rental problem, quality control and the emerging autonomous vehicles.
Dr. Li received the exciting news that his paper, “Egalitarian-Utilitarian Spectrum in Stochastic Capacitated Resource Allocation Problems”, was accepted by the International Journal of Production Economics. Dr. Li’s research discusses how to distribute resources fairly and efficiently in a humanitarian supply chain. This journal is ranked “A” in the ABDC list, with an acceptance rate of only 20%.
Dr. Li and his coauthors investigate a generalized resource allocation problem that involves allocating a limited resource to a group of agencies with stochastic receiving capacities, while considering the decision-maker’s preference for equity in allocation. To address the empirical distributional nature of the capacities, they formulate the problem using a chance-constrained Mixed-Integer Programming framework, which allows for user-specified reliability and tolerance levels, as well as an equity preference level. They demonstrate that the problem can be reduced to a linear equivalent with adjusted capacity constraints. Deriving the tightest lower and upper bounds corresponding to the utilitarian and egalitarian perspectives, respectively, they give the closed-form optimal solutions for such cases. Using real data, they test the behavior of their model with a view towards the inherent equity-efficiency as well as reliability-efficiency trade-offs. They further characterize the cost and value of information in a detailed analysis.
Dr. Ismet Anitsal adds, “Congratulations, Dr. Li! As the Marketing Department Head, I want to commend you on your exceptional research skills and remarkable productivity in publishing high-quality papers. Your contributions to prestigious journals have been outstanding. Please continue to uphold this impressive standard.”
On behalf of the Marketing Department, we congratulate Dr. Jackson Li on this astonishing accomplishment. Dr. Li continues to further his knowledge every day to better benefit his students. Dr. Jackson Li we are excited to see what you do next!