The Center for Supply Chain Research® (CSCR®) is pleased to announce Dr. Brent Moritz has been named as the other CSCR Co-Director of Research. Moritz joins his counterpart, Dr. Hui Zhao, and the two Smeal College of Business faculty members will share the director position within the center. 
“In July, we were able to announce our first co-director appointment and today we’re equally as excited to have Dr. Brent Moritz join us as our other co-director of research in the center. He’s got a great track record of working with the industry and with the CSCR! Brent brings his unique expertise and background – both in industry and academia – to bear in both his research and in the classroom,” said Steve Tracey, executive director of the Center for Supply Chain Research.
“Dr. Moritz is enthusiastic about the possibilities of the role and how it will both impact his own research and the research in the SC&IS department. We are extremely pleased that he’s decided to join the center in a leadership role. This now complete research team has a very bright future ahead.”
Moritz, associate professor of supply chain management, brings a wealth of knowledge around the discipline of supply chain in teaching, research, and industry. His research is in behavioral operations management, focusing on decision-making in contexts such as inventory and forecasting. Moritz’s educational background includes a PhD from the Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota, an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Valparaiso University.
Moritz spent a decade working in manufacturing operations and supply chain management – including international experiences working in Mexico, England, and Germany – before going on to academia. Equipped with an impressive resume of global industry experiences and academic roles, Moritz is prepared and excited to once again connect with practitioners who are on the front lines of challenging problems. In his words, “working with the center is one way to stay engaged with practice.”
“I’m looking forward to helping to make connections – hearing from firms about the challenges they face and connecting them to researchers who can help solve those challenges. I can help spread the news about some of the excellent research already happening at Smeal.”
Sharing the director position for CSCR’s research agenda is a new path forward – and one where the center benefits from the expertise of two leading Smeal faculty members. With the addition of a co-leadership role, comes new initiatives and plans.
Moritz is eager to focus on further bridging research and academia in supply chain. He hopes to distribute short summaries of recent academic research that might be of interest to the center’s partners, such as emerging research on environmental responsibility and new technologies that can impact firms.
“I want to listen to our practitioner partners and help make connections with our faculty,” Moritz said. “A friend of mine in a major firm indicated he spent decades working on outsourcing and the last two years under COVID leading efforts to re-shore critical materials. How, when and why this can be accomplished are great questions for our faculty to help address.”
It’s no secret that cutting edge research can be leveraged to advance the supply chain discipline. Alongside Zhao, Moritz’s new role serves a critical function, and he seeks to establish stronger relationships with industry and funnel emerging research to those who can implement findings in their daily practices.
“One of the great things about academic research is that we get to work on interesting problems that have never been solved before. The best, most interesting research solves problems that impact practice or society at large,” noted Moritz.
The two faculty members’ collective expertise will be instrumental in achieving the center’s vision for research collaborations and solving problems that persist in supply chain.