There is an urgent need for innovative, scalable, and data-driven methodologies to comprehensively map and analyze supply chain structures and dynamics. The Dauch Center seeks proposals that address these gaps by developing novel methods to enhance supply chain visibility, enabling organizations to proactively strengthen their supply chain resilience.

The Dauch Center is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the second annual Dauch Center Faculty Fellowship. This initiative aims to foster collaborative research between the Daniels School of Business and the College of Engineering.

Topic: Global supply chains form the backbone of industrial productivity and economic stability. However, recent disruptions — such as pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, and climate-related disasters — have exposed significant vulnerabilities and a widespread lack of systemic preparedness across multiple sectors. These events underscore the critical need for resilient supply chains capable of anticipating, managing and rapidly recovering from disruptions. A fundamental challenge to achieving resilience is limited supply chain visibility. Most organizations have inadequate insight beyond their immediate (Tier 1) suppliers, resulting in poor understanding of critical material sources, supply routes and interdependencies. This lack of transparency is particularly acute in industries characterized by extensive global operations and complex, multi-tier networks. Traditional approaches to supply chain mapping — including surveys, input-output models and commodity flow analyses — often suffer from scalability issues, restricted scope and low data granularity. Given these limitations, there is an urgent need for innovative, scalable and data-driven methodologies to comprehensively map and analyze supply chain structures and dynamics. The Dauch Center seeks proposals that address these gaps by developing novel methods to enhance supply chain visibility, enabling organizations to proactively strengthen their supply chain resilience. We invite proposals that advance scalable solutions to map complex industrial supply chains, providing actionable insights that inform strategic resilience-building initiatives.

Award: One team of two will be awarded. The teams will be comprised of one faculty from the Daniels school and one from any of the Engineering schools. A graduate student will be assigned to assist with research support. Close collaboration with the Dauch Center staff is expected. Deliverables are: (1) a journal submission by February 2026 (2) a presentation at the Dauch Center Conference in February 2026.

Compensation: The faculty will be paid $12,000 each as summer salary for their efforts.   

Please complete a one-page write-up summarizing your project topic, project team, title and potential submission journal. Please email your proposal to Steve Dunlop (dunlops@purdue.edu) by May 1. Final selection and notification will be completed by May 10.

If you have any questions, please contact either Stephan Biller (sbiller@purdue.edu) or Steve Dunlop (dunlops@purdue.edu)