Dr. Emily Tucker is an industrial engineer (IE) who believes the purpose of IE is to make the world a better place. The key goals of the profession - improving quality, resiliency, and sustainability as well as reducing costs, waste, and time - have at their foundation the view that we can make things better. Systems and processes might currently be broken (or inconvenient or expensive), but she believes IEs can and should play an active role in improving them.

As a professor, Dr. Tucker works this out through her 3 main roles: research, teaching, and service. 

• In her research program, Dr. Tucker leads a team of students (from undergrads to PhD students) to develop operations research models and methods with the goal of improving people's lives. She uses stochastic, discrete, and quantum optimization methods and is known for her work in drug shortages and supply chain resilience. 

• In her teaching, Dr. Tucker helps to develop the next generation of IEs. She teaches classes ranging from optimization methods to logistics engineering.

• In her service, Dr. Tucker aims to make the field of IE a better place to be. In the Clemson IE department, she serves as Faculty Advisor for the IISE student chapter and on the Undergraduate Committee. Her field-wide roles include serving on the INFORMS Professional Recognition Committee and as an Associate Editor of the journal Socio-Economic Planning Sciences.