Hanif Sherali honored with emeritus status
Hanif Sherali, University Distinguished Professor and W. Thomas Rice Professor of Engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of “University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering” by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The title of emeritus may be conferred on retired professors and associate professors, administrative officers, librarians, and exceptional staff members who are specially recommended to the board of visitors by Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board of visitors receive an emeritus certificate from the university.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1979, Sherali’s research has led to significant improvements in air traffic control and the management of rail resources, resulting in the saving of billions of dollars annually for the U.S. railroad industry.
His theoretical work leading to the novel Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT) provides a unifying, comprehensive method for solving a wide range of production, location/allocation/distribution, and design problems that have eluded solution for decades.
Sharali has made significant contributions to the field of operations research by publishing more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles in the most prestigious journals in his field and by serving as principal investigator on numerous grants from national funding sources. His service to scholarly journals has included serving on the editorial boards of eight top-tier journals in his field and reviewing more than 1,000 journal articles.
His awards and honors are many and include his election into the National Academy of Engineering, his designation as Fellow of both the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and his winning of the prestigious INFORMS Lanchester Prize and the IIE David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award.
Sherali received the Commonwealth of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 1993. At Virginia Tech, he is member of the Academy of Teaching Excellence and has received the Alumni Award for Research Excellence, the Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence, and Alumni Award for Excellence in Graduate Academic Advising.
Sherali received his master’s degree and doctoral degree from Georgia Tech and a bachelor’s degree from Bombay University (India).
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
