College of Engineering Recruits Highly Respected Logistics Expert

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Russell D. Meller has been named the James M. and Marie G. Hefley Professor of Logistics and Entrepreneurship in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas. He will also be the director of the Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution, which is supported by the National Science Foundation and consists of eight universities and more than 30 industrial and governmental members.

Meller had been professor of industrial and systems engineering in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va., serving as assistant department head in 2002. He began his academic career in 1992 as an assistant professor at Auburn University in Alabama, rising to associate professor.

His research focuses on facility logistics, which analyzes and models material and information flow within facilities to improve productivity and performance.

"Say you order a book from Amazon.com at 10 p.m.," he said. "How does it get on a plane by 6 a.m. the next morning? Just the physical process of making that happen is a pretty amazing thing."

Meller develops computer algorithms to improve logistics within a facility, factoring in layout, automation and people, as well as material and information flow. His research reflects the global economic shift from a manufacturing to a service economy. "Distribution centers have traditionally been viewed as a cost center, so the focus has been on reducing costs," he said. "I’m looking at new ways of thinking about distribution to respond to the service economy. For example, you ordered that book from Amazon, which didn’t manufacture it. You purchased a service from Amazon to buy that book for you and then to deliver it to you."

Recent events underscore the importance of distribution. "Just look at Wal-Mart’s impact on assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina with bottled water and other necessities," said Meller.

Before joining the faculty of Auburn, he received a doctorate in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., winning the First Place Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Institute of Industrial Engineers in 1994. The institute also honored him with the Outstanding Young Industrial Engineer Award in 2002 and with the 2003-2004 Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award in Region 2. A recent paper with one of his master’s students earned the Best Paper Award from IIE Transactions on Design & Manufacturing. He was recognized at both the department and college level with awards for excellence in teaching at Virginia Tech.

"Professor Meller is a world-class researcher and teacher who will become one of the most prominent scholars at the University of Arkansas," said John English, head of the department. "The fact that we could possibly recruit someone with his talent is a credit to the national stature of the faculty and students in our department as well as the generous gift by Mr. and Mrs. Hefley. The Industrial Engineering Department of the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas is poised to become one of the finest in the country."

Coming to Northwest Arkansas, said Meller, was an easy decision.

"There are so many great opportunities in the College of Engineering, the university and in the area for someone who works on logistics," he said. "There are excellent corporate partnerships as well as collaborations within the university with the Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center, as well as the Supply Chain Management Research Center and the RFID Research Center within the Sam M. Walton College of Business. The university, the college and the department are really focused on quality."