Renata A. Konrad, PhD

Renata Konrad is an Associate Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering in the Foisie School of Business at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She received her PhD in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, and her MSc and BSc in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto.

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Dr. Konrad's research focuses on the application of operations research to social justice issues and healthcare to improve the quality, timeliness, and efficiency of operations. This research includes using optimization, and simulation to inform human trafficking awareness campaigns, to locate trafficking shelters,  estimate prevalence and capacity needs, to understand the relationship between illegal fishing and exploited labor and to improve access to primary care. Dr. Konrad’s research is funded by the National Science Foundation (CMMI-1841893, CMMI-1935602,  IIS-2039951). She is the 2018 recipient of the Romeo L. Moruzzi Young Faculty Award for innovative teaching. 

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Dr. Konrad was a Fulbright Scholar in Ukraine 2021/22. She served on the U.S. Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking and on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Science and Technology, Human Trafficking Advisory Committee. She currently serving  on the Markets Working Group for Delta 8.7 - a contribution by United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.  Within the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS), she currently serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and has previously served as President of the Women in Operations Research and Management Science (WORMS), and as an officer in the Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG). She is an Associate Editor for IISE Transactions  and Editorial Board Member of Operations Research in Health Care.

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Selected Recent Accomplishments

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[Award] Fulbright-Scholar 2020/21 to Ukraine "Disrupting Human Trafficking in Ukraine Using Operations Research Methods"

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[Service]  Serving on the Markets Working Group for Delta 8.7 - a contribution by United Nations University Centre for Policy Research. The group is developing Policy Guides to help policymakers understand the effective measures to end forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour that Member States committed to take by 2030 as stated in SDG Target 8.7.

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[Research Grant]  M. Gore (PI), R. A Konrad, K. Lee. "D-ISN: TRACK 2: Disrupting Wildlife Trafficking Networks through Convergence of Physical and Virtual Ecosystems," National Science Foundation.  Research Award IIS 2039951. Jan. 2021 through Jun. 2022.

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[Manuscript]  Azizi, S., Faber, B., Johnson, S., Konrad, R., Trapp, A.C. 2020. Select, Route and Schedule: Optimizing Community Paramedicine Service Delivery with Mandatory Visits and Patient Prioritization. Technical Report.  Optimization Online. Available.

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[Research Mention] Cited in the 2019 United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Counsel in "Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences" ( K. Maass, A. C. Trapp, R. A. Konrad, "Optimizing Placement of Residential Shelters for Human Trafficking Survivors," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Vol 70, 2020).

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[New Manuscript] Responsible Anti-Human Trafficking Research in Operations And Analytics. Supported by NSF Operations Engineering program (award numbers 1841893 and 1935602) (link to arXiv)

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[Research Grant] R. A. Konrad (PI), A. C. Trapp,  M. Dank, K. Maass.  "ISN2: Disrupting Human Trafficking via Needs Matching and Capacity Expansion," National Science Foundation Research Award CMMI-1935602, Jan. 2020 through Dec. 2022.

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[Journal Publication] A. C. Trapp, R. A. Konrad, J. Sarkis, A. Z. Zeng, "Closing the Loop: Forging High-Quality Agile Virtual Enterprises in a Reverse Supply Chain via Solution Portfolios," accepted for publication, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2020, 1-15. 

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