Smith Awarded $215K for Intermodal Transportation Studies

The Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) has awarded $215,000 to the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business for intermodal transportation studies via the school’s Supply Chain Fellows program.

The award will fund scholarships, student travel to the Intermodal Expo, student participation in an annual case competition (the IANA Academic Challenge), and research for ongoing development of a fully online course in intermodal transportation (moving goods in the same containers through two or more modes, like truck, rail and ship).

The award reinforces the connection between Maryland Smith and IANA, with its 1,000-plus corporate members. IANA’s president and CEO is Joni Casey ’74, MBA ’79. The IANA-sponsored fellows program has launched the supply chain careers of at least 300 Smith graduates.

“The program creates an enthusiasm among the students to pursue professional careers in the field,” said Maryland Smith’s Thomas M. Corsi the academic director of the master of science program in supply chain management and the Michelle L. Smith Professor of Logistics. “It gives them hands-on experiences with leaders in the intermodal field. I am enthusiastically looking forward to the online intermodal course, being developed through the program, to be launched in the fall of 2022, as a resource for academic institutions as well as for IANA-member companies. The pandemic has increased the awareness of the critical role of the supply chain in the smooth functioning of the global economy. As a result, there has been a surge of interest in the academic field of supply chain management and intermodal transportation.”