About Me
I was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Bob and Teresa Freeman. I have one brother, Chris, who owns and operates a custom fabrication shop that focuses on marquee lights (see https://www.metalandlights.com/). While attending Hillcrest High School, I worked in a sheet metal fabrication shop owned by my father and his brother. during summer and winter breaks. It was this experience that really opened my eyes to the roles of productivity, efficiency, and quality in a production context. As a result, I decided to attend the University of Alabama (UA) to pursue a degree in Industrial Engineering .
I graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering in the Spring of 2007 and started working as a Process/Quality Technician for Michelin North America (at their BFGoodrich plant in Tuscaloosa). In this position, my responsibilities included 1) monitoring the quality performance and production output for a cluster of tire-building machines, and intervening when necessary, 2) constructing weekly machine schedules for all tire-building machines, and 3) developing and implementing new reporting systems that were used by the Quality group to identify potential problems faster.
After three years with Michelin, I was ready for a change. After a conversation with Dr. Daniel Fonseca, a former faculty member of mine during my Industrial Engineering studies, I decided to apply to the Operations Management program at UA. I was accepted into the program and started my graduate studies in the Fall of 2010. Working with co-advisors Dr. Sharif Melouk and Dr. John Mittenthal, I pursued a research program investigating operational decision-making under uncertainty. I completed the program in the Spring of 2014, and accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management at the University of Houston. I worked in this role until August of 2017, at which time I was fortunate enough to rejoin the Operations Management group at UA as an Assistant Professor. I was promoted to Associate Professor of Operations Management in August 2020.
I am married to Alyson Freeman, who I met when I returned to school to pursue a PhD. We have two fur babies, Andy and Dolly, who keeps us quite entertained.
I graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering in the Spring of 2007 and started working as a Process/Quality Technician for Michelin North America (at their BFGoodrich plant in Tuscaloosa). In this position, my responsibilities included 1) monitoring the quality performance and production output for a cluster of tire-building machines, and intervening when necessary, 2) constructing weekly machine schedules for all tire-building machines, and 3) developing and implementing new reporting systems that were used by the Quality group to identify potential problems faster.
After three years with Michelin, I was ready for a change. After a conversation with Dr. Daniel Fonseca, a former faculty member of mine during my Industrial Engineering studies, I decided to apply to the Operations Management program at UA. I was accepted into the program and started my graduate studies in the Fall of 2010. Working with co-advisors Dr. Sharif Melouk and Dr. John Mittenthal, I pursued a research program investigating operational decision-making under uncertainty. I completed the program in the Spring of 2014, and accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management at the University of Houston. I worked in this role until August of 2017, at which time I was fortunate enough to rejoin the Operations Management group at UA as an Assistant Professor. I was promoted to Associate Professor of Operations Management in August 2020.
I am married to Alyson Freeman, who I met when I returned to school to pursue a PhD. We have two fur babies, Andy and Dolly, who keeps us quite entertained.