Robert L. Smith

Robert L. Smith is an American engineer, academic and author. He is the Altarum/ERIM Russell D. O’Neal Professor Emeritus in the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Smith's research focuses on the modeling, analysis, and optimization of dynamic systems over time. His main research contributions have been in areas of global optimization, infinite horizon optimization, and intelligent transportation systems. He has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has advised 28 Ph.D. students Smith received the Michigan Student Assembly's Outstanding Teacher Award (1989), the College of Engineering's Research Excellence Award (1999-2000), the university's Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (2002–03), and the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering's Award for Outstanding Accomplishments (2004–05). In 2003 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences and was cited for "having produced influential research in a variety of areas including infinite horizon optimization, capacity expansion, foundations of dynamic programming, and the modeling of large-scale distribution and transportation systems." Education Smith earned his bachelor's in physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1966. He then completed his master's in business administration in 1968 under the supervision of Reinhard Selten and master's in engineering sciences in 1971 from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also earned a Ph.D. in 1971 under Stuart Dreyfus.