The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, a logistics and supply chain management professional organization, awarded Travis Kulpa the 2024 Doctoral Dissertation Award at its Academic Research Symposium on Sept. 30 in Nashville. Kulpa, who received his Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in supply chain management from the U of A in May, was honored for his dissertation, titled "How Supply Chains Respond to Disruptions: Three Essays on Responses to Operational, Geopolitical and Natural Disaster Disruptions."

"We are immensely proud of our faculty, students and alumni for their outstanding contributions to the field of supply chain management, as recognized by CSCMP at their Academic Research Symposium," said Brian Fugate, associate dean for graduate programs and research. "Their dedication and innovative research not only reflect the strength of our J.B. Hunt Transport Department of Supply Chain Management but also reinforce our commitment to shaping the future of supply chain excellence." 

At the symposium, several faculty, doctoral students and alumni of the J.B. Hunt Transport Department of Supply Chain Management at Walton College were recognized for their academic research, including:

• Adriana Rossiter Hofer, associate professor, along with co-authors and U of A alumni Nicolò Masorgo, assistant professor at Oxford University, and Saif Mir, assistant professor at Lehigh University, were runners-up in the 2024 Bernard J. LaLonde Best Paper Award for "You're driving me crazy! How emotions elicited by negative driver behaviors impact customer outcomes in last mile delivery." Publication: Journal of Business Logistics
• Brian Fugate and Satabdi Hazarika, doctoral student, along with co-author and U of A alumna Ellie Falcone, assistant professor at Texas Christian University, were recognized as a Plowman Nominee for their paper "Going Moral with Going Green: An Investigation of Firm and Supply Base Sustainability Congruence on Firm Performance."
• Finnegan McKinley, doctoral student; John Aloysius, professor and Oren Harris Chair in Logistics; and Adrian Rossiter Hofer, associate professor; along with alumna Rebekah Brau, assistant professor at Brigham Young University, were also recognized as a Plowman Nominee for their paper "Using Ai-Based Systems for Supply Chain Demand Planning: The Effect of Algorithm Performance on User Vigilance."

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.