Doctoral Candidate Profiles

Heidi Celebi
Email: hcelebi@rhsmith.umd.edu

Doctoral student Heidi Celebi obtained her bachelors in Physical Sciences: Materials Engineering, Physics and Math, at the University of Maryland College Park, followed by her masters in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from Izmir University of Economics in Izmir, Turkey. Besides doing work for her family's multinational business of manufacturing and distributing lower limb prosthetic adapters, Heidi has worked as a research analyst at CoStar in Bethesda, MD, and at the United Nations in Ankara, Turkey. Her UN work included managing the FAO-Turkey office budget as well as personnel issues, and involvement in the ARPC (Ankara Regional Procurement Center) at UNICEF, which handles bids for the distribution of goods to Iraq through the Oil for Food Program among other projects in the region.

Isaac Elking
Office: 3330 Van Munching Hall
Phone: 513-317-7429
E-mail:ielking@rhsmith.umd.edu 

2015 PhD student Isaac Elking obtained his bachelors degree in Logistics Management from the Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business. Prior to joining the PhD program, Isaac worked at Shell Oil Company for 3 years as a Senior Buyer. His research interests include supply chain disruptions and risk and resiliency in supply chains.

Omar Sherif Elwakil
Office: 3330 Van Munching Hall
Email: oelwakil@rhsmith.umd.edu

2014 Candidate Omar Sherif Elwakil holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a master’s degree in International Business Economics from K.U. Leuven.

Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, Omar was a Regional Program Manager at DHL Supply Chain. He held end-responsibility for all dimensions of the service parts logistics accounts of multiple Fortune 500 companies. Furthermore, Omar has experience as a third party logistics vendor manager and export specialist.

Omar's research on Transborder Demand Leakage in the U.S. – Canadian Air Passenger Market has been featured in The Economist and covered by Reuters. Omar has a forthcoming publication in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review.

Omar is currently an Instructor at the Robert H. Smith School teaching Senior and Junior undergraduates the course "Technology Applications in Supply Chain Management." Omar’s research interests include international supply chain strategy, international supply chain and operations risk, and international air transportation policy. 

Anupam Kumar
Office: 3330 J Van Munching Hall
Phone: 703-864-3299
Email: akumar3@rhsmith.umd.edu

2013 Candidate Anupam Kumar holds an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Oklahoma State University, and a master’s degree in Statistical Science from George Mason University.

Prior to joining the PhD program, Anupam led IBM's Public Sector Supply Chain Planning service area consulting for the U.S. Department of Defense. Over the last fifteen years he has held various positions at Tata Steel, Parsons Engineering and Science, Inc, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC., and IBM. His research interests include supply chain risk management; inventory planning and optimization.

Camil Martinez
Office: 3330 Van Munching Hall
E-mail: camil.martinez@rhsmith.umd.edu 

2017 Student Camil Martinez received her bachelor degree in Systems and Control Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2003. She worked for five years as a Business Planning Analyst for Hewlett Packard in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and for three years as a Planning Analyst for BP Lubricants in Wayne, New Jersey. Her research interests include total supply chain cost, inventory control and management and supply chain systems integration.

John Patrick Paraskevas
Office: 3330 Van Munching Hall
E-mail: john.patrick.paraskevas@gmail.com 

2016 Student John Patrick Paraskevas received his bachelors degree in Finance and International Business from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland College Park. He also received his masters degree in Supply Chain Management from the Robert H. Smith School of Business. He worked as a Co-op student with Naval Air Systems Command in the supplier financial health group and the supplier network group from 2009-2012. His research interests include supply chain risk management, supply chain strategy, international supply chain challenges and the supply chain for the domestic defense industry. 

Adams B. Steven
Email: asteven@rhsmith.umd.edu

2013 Candidate Adams B. Steven holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Prior to joining the PhD program, Adams led the Operations department for Maerskline in Sierra Leone.

His research interests include empirical work in transportation, supply chain management, international supply chain and policy.

Kevin Sweeney
Office: 3330 Van Munching Hall
E-mail: ksweeney@rhsmith.umd.edu

2014 Student Kevin Sweeney received his bachelors degree in Mathematics and Economics from Truman State University in 2009. He had worked for three years as an undergraduate assistant at the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Missouri St. Louis, as well as a part time consultant for CSTL. His research interest include supply chain risk management, empirical operations management, psychology in supply chain management, job shop scheduling, and waterway transportation.

Zuozheng Wang
Office: 3330E Van Munching Hall
Phone: 301-405-0479
Email: zuowang@rhsmith.umd.edu

2012 Candidate Zuozheng Wang received his masters of science in Innovation in Manufacturing Systems and Technology from Singapore - M.I.T. Alliance (SMA) in Singapore. He also holds a master degree in Vehicle Engineering and a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University in China. Zuozheng has worked as a Project Engineer in General Motors China.

Zuozheng was awarded a full graduate assistantship along with Dean's Summer Fellowship for his PhD studies. His research interests include behavioral issues in Supply Chain and risk management.

Recent Graduates

LBPP Doctoral Students Enjoy Graduation Day (L-R) Jian-yu “Fisher” Ke, Xiang Wan, Testudo, Rodrigo Britto

Rodrigo Britto
Rodrigo Britto graduated in 2012 and is working at the University of the Andes. He obtained his bachelors degree in chemical engineering (June 2000) from National University of Colombia and his masters of science in industrial engineering (June 2004) from University of Los Andes, Colombia. Rodrigo worked for three years as an instructor of optimization and operations management at University of Los Andes School of Management – UASM, Colombia. His research interests include supply chain risk and resilience, transportation safety and inventory management.

Woohyun Cho
Woohyun Cho graduated in 2012 and is currently working at the University of New Orleans. He holds an a bachelor of science degree from School of Air Transportation and Logistics, Korea Aviation University (S. Korea) and a masters of business logistics engineering from Fisher College of Business, the Ohio State University. Prior to joining the PhD program, Woohyun worked as a research analyst at PA Consulting in Washington, D.C., and as a planning manager for Korean air pilot outsourcing, Korea Aviation University (S. Korea), as well. His research interests include empirical research of transportation and supply chain management. He presented "Route Competition in Multiple Airport Cities" in TRF (2009).

Jian-yu “Fisher” Ke
Fisher Ke graduated in 2012 and is currently working at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. He obtained his bachelors of business administration (June 1996) from National Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan and his MBA degree (June 1998) with concentration in logistics from National Taiwan University, Taiwan and another MBA degree (August 2008) specifying in supply chain management from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. In addition, Fisher got the certificate (May 2007) of Advanced Study Program with a major in supply chain management at M.I.T., Cambridge, MA. Fisher has worked as a research and planning manager in DHL Taiwan. He was awarded Taiwan’s government full scholarship for three years (2007-2009) and a full graduate assistantship, along with a Dean's Summer Research Fellowship, for PhD studies. His primary research interests include public policy and supply chain management.