Last year, we introduced a new award for mid-career researchers, the Stella Dafermos award. Today, we want to introduce last year's winner, Niels Agatz. Niels is a professor of Last-Mile Supply Chain Analytics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Beyond serving as our treasurer at TSL and as an associate editor at TS, he is also the Scientific Director of the Dutch Institute of Advanced Logistics.
TSL: Why did you go into transportation science? What was your path towards our field?
Niels: I always liked mathematics in school, especially creatively solving word problems. Later, as an industrial engineering student, I was immediately attracted to courses in operations research and analytics. For my master thesis project, I worked on an interesting real-world facility location problem in prisoner transportation. This sparked my interest in research, and I continued my academic path by working on last-mile logistics problems during my PhD. What I like about transportation problems is that they are very tangible.
TSL: What achievement (big or small) are you most proud of?
Niels: I like to believe that my best work is still ahead of me. I really like our current projects in e-grocery and service delivery. I am most proud of my projects with practical stakeholders.
TSL: In no more than 3 words, how would you describe your research?
Niels: creative, fun, real
TSL: What made you apply for the Stella-Dafermos award, and what can you recommend to people considering applying this year?
Niels: I never thought about applying until I was nudged to do so by a colleague in the TSL community, and my department chair offered to nominate me. Please all actively promote this opportunity to your mid-career colleagues!
Thanks, Niels, for providing us with insight into your research and the Stella Dafermos award. I would really like to stress Niels' words: Actively promote this opportunity to your mid-career colleagues and consider applying yourself!