Melissa R. Bowers, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and the Beaman Professor of Business in the Haslam College of Business at University of Tennessee Knoxville where she is the Director of the Master’s Program in Business Analytics. Her teaching and research interests include Production Planning and Scheduling, Supply Chain Optimization, Lean Manufacturing, Lean MRO, Theory of Constraints, and Discrete Optimization Models. Bowers has worked with organizations such as Milliken, ALCOA, Phillips Petroleum, Lockheed, Delta Air Lines, Air New Zealand, Embraer, Hanesbrands Inc., the United States Air Force, Boeing, the University of Tennessee Medical Center, and Cherry Point Naval Air Base. She has published in MIT Sloan Management Review, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Operational Research, Interfaces, Computers and OR, Production and Inventory Management Journal, and several other academic and professional journals. Bowers was the recipient of the 2016 Allen H. Keally Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Tennessee Haslam College of Business, the 2012 and 2015 Richard Sanders Outstanding Leadership in Executive Education Award, the 2014 MSBA Outstanding Service to Students Award, and the 2011 Outstanding MBA First Year Faculty Award, along with several other teaching awards. She is a co-author of the book, Lean Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul: Changing the Way You Do Business.
