Group Members

Martha Lucia Sabogal De La Pava

PhD Candidate

Martha joined the Tucker Research Group as a PhD student in Jan. 2021. Her research interests lie in the area of mathematical modeling of supply chains and healthcare systems applying economic, environmental, and community welfare factors. She has previously worked on sustainable supply chain design, supply chain design with financial factors, and optimization of wind energy project portfolios. Martha was awarded the Student Development Award in recognition of her scholarship and the Janine Anthony Bowen ‘89 Graduate Fellow honor in recognition of her academic performance, both from Clemson IE. Prior to Clemson, she earned her M.Sc. and B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Universidad del Valle in Colombia.

Papers

• Sabogal De La Pava and Tucker, 2025 "Effects of Geopolitical Strain on Global Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Design and Drug Shortages" European Journal of Operational Research. Link.

• Sabogal De La Pava and Tucker, 2022: "Drug shortages in low- and middle-income countries: Colombia as a case study" Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice. Link.

Email: msaboga[at]clemson.edu

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/martha-sabogal 

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d4dB7ngAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao 

Mohammadreza Momtazi

PhD Student Researcher

Mohammadreza joined the Tucker Research Group as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2024. His research interests lie in the resilience of healthcare systems and drug supply chains, considering economic, social, and environmental factors. In his academic life, he has worked on the resilient project management, applying game theory to energy systems to induce efficiency, and the fleet size of minerals’ transportation facilities. Besides, he has worked as a teaching assistant (TA) in Macroeconomics and Systems Modeling. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran and an M.Sc. in Operations Management from Kharazmi University, Iran.

Email: momtazi[at]clemson.edu

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/mohammadreza-momtazi/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dXJhU2kAAAAJ&hl=en

Emma Arnold

PhD Student Researcher (Co-Advised with Dr. Kapil Madathil)

Emma joined the Tucker Research Group as a PhD student in Jan. 2025. Her research interests lie in mathematical modeling and the interactions between humans and systems. She is excited to solve novel problems at the intersection of human factors and operations research. Emma graduated from Clemson University with her BS in Industrial Engineering in Dec. 2022.

Email: emarnol[at]clemson.edu

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/emma-arnold

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gqUFQIgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao 

Lu Liu

MS Student Researcher

Lu joined the Tucker Group in May 2024 as a master’s student researcher. His research interests include developing robust mathematical models and designing provable algorithms for challenges in transportation and supply chain. Previously, he worked on large-scale logistics network design, transit network design, and applying reinforcement learning to the Vehicle Routing Problem.

MS thesis: "Optimizing Park Locations While Considering Resident Behavior"

Email: lliu6[at]g.clemson.edu

Aisha Nelson

Graduate: MS Thesis (May 2023)

Aisha joined the Tucker Research Group in Aug. 2021 as an Masters Student Researcher. Her research focused on hospital operations, and she developed the first simulation model of multiple emergency departments under strain. Her industry experience includes internships at the Walt Disney Company and UPS. Prior to Clemson, Aisha graduated from Morgan State University with a BS in IE in May 2021.

MS thesis: Network Effects of Emergency Department Clinician Strain and Patient Congestion

Email: aishan[at]g.clemson.edu

Anisa Young

Graduate: MS Thesis (Aug. 2022), BS (May 2021)

Anisa was a masters student researcher with a focus in optimization and resilience within the context of environmental applications. She initially joined the Tucker group in January 2021 as an Undergraduate Researcher working with large-scale nurse scheduling models before transitioning to an MS researcher in Fall 2021. Her MS thesis paper was named an Editor's Choice Article in the journal Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. She had previously worked as an undergraduate researcher to create a heuristic-based optimization model for Savannah River and has industry experience from her work with the Rehrig Pacific Company and with Robert Bosch LLC. Anisa graduated from Clemson University in May 2021 with a BS in IE and with her MS in August 2022.

MS thesis: Park Equity Modeling: A Case Study of Asheville, North Carolina

Thesis paper: Young et al., 2024 "An Optimization Approach to Improve Equitable Access to Local Parks" Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. Named an Editor's Choice Article!

Press release from City of Asheville, NC: Equitable access: Asheville’s parks serve as model for study

Tyler O'Brien

Graduate: MS Thesis (Dec. 2021)

Tyler joined the Tucker group in Jan. 2021 as a Masters Student Researcher, co-advised by Dr. Sudeep Hegde. Tyler’s research focused on campus COVID-19 mitigation efforts and integrating human factors and optimization methods. He earned his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University in Dec. 2020 and his MS in Dec. 2021. After graduation, Tyler joined Accenture as an Asset Performance Management Analyst.

MS thesis:  COVID Response: Iterative Model Development in the Deployment of Hand Sanitation Stations at a Large Public University

Preprint of thesis paper: O'Brien et al. "Developing Optimization Models with Cognitive Systems Engineering" Forthcoming in the Journal of the Operational Research Society.

Brittany Sanders

Graduate: MS (May 2023)

Brittany joined the Tucker group in March 2021 as a Graduate Student Researcher. She earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University in December 2020 and an MS in May 2023. During graduate school, she worked as a graduate assistant for Clemson University PEER & WISE to create inclusive and supportive learning environments for underrepresented student populations. Her research interests focus on understanding and addressing widened racial and socioeconomic inequities in academia through OR models and optimization. After graduation, Brittany became the Project Manager of Next Engineers, a five year, $5 million GE-funded project to inspire underrepresented high school students to become engineers. She was awarded the Clemson Alumni Association's Roaring 10 award for outstanding impact. Brittany is currently pursuing a PhD in Engineering and Science Education at Clemson.

Email: bfasnde[at]g.clemson.edu 

Hollis Skidmore

Graduate: MS (May 2022)

Hollis joined the Tucker group in Fall 2021 as a Graduate Student Researcher. She earned a BS in Industrial Engineering in May 2021 and an MS in May 2022. Her research focused on non-profit coordination and collaboration, and she developed network flow optimization models. After graduation, Hollis joined Accenture as an Asset Performance Management Analyst.

Email: hskidmo[at]g.clemson.edu

Shravan Shinde

Graduate: MS (Dec. 2022)

Shravan was a member of the group in Spring-Summer 2021 as a Graduate Student Researcher. He previously worked at a supply chain company in the Procurement and Sourcing Department. He earned his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Mumbai University in 2019. He is deeply interested in learning all aspects about supply chains. Shravan graduated in Dec. 2022 and works as a Deployment Consultant and Solutions Analyst. He is very enthusiastic about playing and watching different types of sports.

Email: sashind[at]clemson.edu

Conference paper: Vann Yaroson E, Tucker EL, Shinde S. (2021) "Towards a predictive supply chain resilience model for global medicine shortages: evidence from the US and Belgium" EurOMA 2021.