Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Within TSL are a number of special interest groups to promote activities within major areas of application. Below are brief descriptions and the current chair and vice chair. Please feel free to contact them for additional information. Each SIG has its own mailing list. Anyone may join any of the SIGS. The instructions for joining the email list for each SIG accompanies the description for each below.

Freight Transportation and Logistics

Chair – Burak Eksioglu burak@uark.edu
Vice Chair – Jeff Ohlmann jeffrey-ohlmann@uiowa.edu

The evolution of efficient freight transportation networks has had an immeasurable effect on our standard of living by allowing the best suppliers in the world to meet consumer demands. The SIG for freight transportation and logistics encompasses problems in trucking, rail, shipping, air cargo and all aspects of intermodal transportation. Active research spans planning and real-time control, pricing, demand management, risk analysis and the design of information networks to support these operations.

Urban Transportation

Chair – Chiwei Yan chiwei@uw.edu
Vice Chair – Qi Luo qluo2@clemson.edu

Urban transportation models focus primarily on predicting level of service in networks subject to congestion. This objective has many constituent sub-problems, and is part of more expansive urban and regional modeling activities intended to improve decision making for public transit, infrastructure investments, goods movement, facility location, and similar applications. Computational and algorithmic improvements and advanced data analytics have permitted the problem domain to expand rapidly in recent years to encompass extensions related to areas as diverse as dynamic traffic assignment, risks from natural and man-made hazards, pricing, shared mobility, intelligent transportation systems and control, and land use/transport interactions.

Facility Logistics

Chair – Baris Yildiz byildiz@ku.edu.tr
Vice Chair – Reem Khir rkhir@purdue.edu


Facility Logistics encompasses facility design and internal logistics for manufacturing, distribution, and service facilities. Research topics in this area include both design and operational aspects of material and information flow within facilities to improve productivity and performance. Specific topics include facility layout, material handling, storage/retrieval systems, warehousing and order fulfillment, sensor deployment, and inventory tracking and control.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Chair – Yanshuo Sun y.sun@eng.famu.fsu.edu
Vice Chair – Nikola Markovic u6019292@utah.edu


Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) includes fields of research related to analyzing the impact of communication devices and infrastructure on the transportation system. To this aim, the SIG addresses fields including, but not limited to, dynamic traffic assignment, traffic flow, the impact of uncertainty and information on traffic systems, real-time optimization, routing algorithms (dynamic, stochastic, online, etc.), transportation operations and management with Connected and Automated Vehicles, and analyses of transportation data collected from new sensing technologies.

Air Transportation

Chair – Bruno Santos <B.F.Santos@tudelft.nl>
Vice Chair – Heng Chen <heng@unl.edu>

The Air Transportation SIG promotes the exchange of ideas, research, and accomplishments in aviation. We focus in areas including, but not limited to, the planning and operation of airports and airline companies, air traffic control, financial, economic and policy analysis, human factors, and the future of aviation.