Feb. 26, 2025

By Deon Foster, Anthony Siciliano, Siska Lyssens and Garret Morgan

To be a scholar at the institution that originated the modern concept of your research field may just be the academic dream.

In the case of Jason Miller, an Eli Broad Endowed Professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University, that trajectory began early.

A chain of events

Growing up in the 1990s, before the term “supply chain management” was common, Miller became aware of how supply and demand affected the economy. Raised by a father who was a former truck driver and sales engineer and a mother who was a former business analyst and tax administrator, he says, “I kind of got brought up in a household where there was a lot of conversation about economics and the importance of truck transportation.”

Now, as a professor and interim chairperson of the Department of Supply Chain Management at MSU, Miller is part of the nation’s top-ranked program that exposes students to a broad range of topics — from manufacturing to transportation to data analytics — preparing them to solve real-world challenges that affect industries, economies and daily life.

Miller is especially interested in understanding motor carrier safety, he explains, “because over 4,000 Americans are killed each year in crashes involving large commercial trucks. Because of this, a lot of my research tries to understand how trucking companies behave when inspections are heightened, what trucking companies are more versus less safe, and how regulatory changes affect the behaviors of independent trucking companies and larger firms.”

It’s an example that reveals that supply chain management concerns extend beyond the physical flow of goods and services to also include complex issues such as infrastructure, safety, government regulations and market competition — regionally, nationally and worldwide.

Driving innovation in the auto industry

Few industries rely on supply chain management more than automotive manufacturing — a critical sector in Michigan’s economy. At MSU, Miller and his colleagues work closely with automakers to improve efficiency and drive innovation in the field.

“The auto industry is certainly front and center for the state of Michigan. We have a lot of engagement as a department through our Supply Chain Council. Many of the major automakers are part of that,” says Miller. Michigan leads the nation in motor vehicle assembly jobs, with 47,000 workers (16% of the U.S. total) and tops all states in motor vehicle parts employment at 114,000.

By collaborating with the Big Three automakers and international manufacturers, MSU ensures students and faculty are solving real-world challenges in manufacturing, transportation and logistics. One way Miller and his colleagues do this is through their work investigating product recalls by auto firms, assessing recall timing and determining how those recalls affect stock market events. Their research findings then help shape regulatory guidance by making cost-neutral policy recommendations for the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.

Culture of collaboration

In MSU’s supply chain management programs, “finding ways to be more efficient, to reduce waste and to create new products is front and center,” says Miller. “These are supply chain challenges. You really can’t tackle any of the world’s key massive problems without the skills that we teach our students.”

As supply chains become more complex, MSU ensures its students develop the right mix of skills needed to succeed in the field. “Right now, it’s an equal balance of the soft skills — teamwork, negotiations — as well as the harder analytical skills, like working with spreadsheets, creating pivot tables, analyzing data,” says Miller.

Both the undergraduate and graduate programs in supply chain management at MSU consistently rank first in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report, a distinction built on decades of research and innovation. That legacy continues today, driven by faculty who, along with Miller, are expanding the field in new and meaningful ways.

“Stanley Lim has been doing outstanding work on last-mile distribution as well as food waste,” Miller shares, highlighting current faculty members who are moving supply chain research forward. “Sriram Narayanan has been doing phenomenal work on understanding how companies can better incorporate individuals with disabilities into the workforce, especially within manufacturing operations.”

These topics exemplify how better supply chain management can enhance opportunities and improve lives for people throughout the state of Michigan and beyond. “That’s when you get those aha moments,” says Miller. “We take issues that we see in the world, look at them in a systematic manner and put the puzzle pieces together.”