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Thomas Vossen is from the Netherlands and has an extensive background in computer science and business. Before joining the Leeds School of Business, he served in the Royal Dutch Navy as a Systems Analyst for the Naval Intelligence Department.

Vossen uses computer simulation and optimization models to figure out practical solutions to everyday business problems like air traffic delays. “It is fun to really figure something out, to understand connections and how they impact each other. There is a puzzle factor to it that makes it interesting,” he says.

His 2006 paper, “Slot Trading Opportunities in Collaborative Ground Delay Programs”, examined the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airlines system for dealing with delayed flights. Airlines are often aware of flight delays hours in advance, so they ground flights rather than circling a congested airport because it is cheaper and safer. Through the FAA these grounded flights may switch arrival time slots. Building off of this idea, Vossen developed a computer optimization model to maximize on-time performance of flights and minimize passenger delays in as fair and equitable way as possible. Link to bio.

Zhiyi Wang is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems in the division of Organizational Leadership and Information Analytics, Leeds School of Business, ��������. He received his PhD in Information Systems and Analytics from National University of Singapore. His research focuses on open innovation communities, open source software development, online crowdfunding, and economics of information systems. His work has appeared in leading journals including Information Systems Research and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

Huanan Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the SEO division. Before joining Leeds, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State University. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Operation Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2017. Huanan’s research interests include the design of data-driven algorithms, approximation algorithms, and their applications in inventory and supply chain management, revenue management, and service operations. His research has been published in leading Operations Management journals like Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Production & Operations Management. Huanan also serves as a senior editor for Production & Operations Management.

Rui Zhang is an associate professor in the Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Operations division at Leeds School of Business, ��������. He is the Faculty Director of the Master’s Program in Business Analytics. Before that, he served as the Director of the Ph.D. Program in Operations. Furthermore, he serves as Associate Editor for INFORMS Journal on Computing and Networks. His research interests are quantitative methods, especially prescriptive analytics techniques. His work focuses on revenue management problems, last-mile delivery, and influence maximization problems on social networks. His work has been published in Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS Journal on Optimization, Naval Research Logistics, European Journal of Operational Research, and Networks, among others. In addition, he has won several Best Paper awards. A collection of his work was selected as the runner-up for the 2022 INFORMS Computing Society (ICS) Prize.