Saif Benjaafar smiles and poses for a portrait.

Saif Benjaafar

Seth Bonder Collegiate Professor

Location

2863 IOE

Primary Website

https://benjaafar.com/

Biography

Additional Title(s)

  • Seth Bonder Collegiate Professor

Saif Benjaafar is the Seth Bonder Collegiate Professor and Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, he was McKnight Presidential Endowed Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota where he also served as Head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and as Director of the University of Minnesota Initiative on the Sharing Economy. He is a founding member of the Singapore University of Technology and Design where he served as a Head of Pillar (at the rank of Dean). He has broad research interests in operation management (supply chains, service systems, and markets) and other applications of optimization, stochastic modeling, and game theory. His current research focus is on sustainable operations and innovative business models, including sharing economy, on-demand services, and online marketplaces. He is a board member of Hourcar, a social car sharing organization. He is a Fellow of INFORMS and IISE and is the current Editor in Chief of the INFORMS journal Service Science.

Education

Research Interests

  • Business Operations And Analytics
  • Energy And Sustainability
  • Mobility And Transportation Networks
  • Optimization
  • Stochastic Systems

Research areas:
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Professional Society Memberships

Awards

  • Presidential McKnight Endowed Professor, University of Minnesota
  • Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and Management
    Science (INFORMS)
  • McKnight Distinguished University Professor Award, University of Minnesota
  • The George Taylor/IT Alumni Society Distinguished Teaching Award,
    University of Minnesota
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Award
  • INFORMS Distinguished Service Award
  • Management Science Best Paper Award in OM (awarded for the best OM
    paper published in the journal Management science in the previous
    three years)
  • MSOM Service Management SIG Best Paper Award (awarded by the MSOM
    Society for the best paper published on service management in the
    previous three years)

Sample Publications

  • Benjaafar, S. and X. Xiaobing, “Pricing in On-Demand (and One-Way)
    Vehicle Sharing Systems,” forthcoming in Operations Research, 2023.
  • Benjaafar, S., D. Chen, R. Wang and Z. Yan, “Appointment Scheduling
    under a Service Level Constraint,” Manufacturing and Service
    Operations Management, 25, 70-87, 2023.
  • Benjaafar, S., X. Li and X. Li, “Inventory Repositioning in
    On-Demand Rental Networks,” Management Science, 68, 7861–7878, 2022.
  • Benjaafar, S., S. Wu, H. Liu and E. Gunnarson, “Dimensioning
    On-Demand Vehicle Systems,” Management Science, 68, 1218-1232, 2022.
  • Benjaafar, S., H. Bernhard, C. Courcoubetis, and M. Kanakis,
    “Drivers, Riders, and Service Providers: The Impact of the Sharing
    Economy on Mobility,” Management Science, 68, 123-142, 2022.
  • Benjaafar, S., J. Ding, G. Kong, and T. Taylor, ” Labor Welfare in
    On-Demand Service Platforms,” Manufacturing and Service Operations
    Management, 24, 110-124, 2022.
  • Yu, Y., S. Benjaafar, and H. Liu, “Price-Directed Cost Sharing and
    Demand Allocation among Service Providers with Multiple Demand Sources
    and Multiple Facilities,” Manufacturing and Service Operations
    Management, 24, 647-663, 2022.
  • Jouini, O., S. Benjaafar, B. Liu, and B. Legros “Queueing Systems
    with Appointment-Driven Arrivals, Non-Punctual Customers and
    No-Shows,” Queueing Systems, 101, 1-56, 2022.
  • Benjaafar, S. and M. Hu, “Introduction to the Special Issue on
    Sharing Economy and Innovative Marketplaces,” Manufacturing and
    Service Operations Management, 23, 549-552, 2021.
  • Benjaafar, S. and H. Ming, “Operations Management in the Age of the
    Sharing Economy: What is Old and What is New,” Manufacturing and
    Service Operations Management, 22, 93-101, 2020 (Invited Paper for
    MSOM 20th Anniversary Special Issue, ISI Highly Cited Paper).
  • Benjaafar, S., G. Kong and C. Courcoubetis, “Peer-to-Peer Product
    Sharing: Implications for Ownership, Usage and Social Welfare in the
    Sharing Economy,” Management Science, 65, 477–493, 2019 (2022
    Management Science Best Paper Award in OM, 2021 MSOM Service
    Management SIG Best Paper Award, ISI Highly Cited Paper).