Donald J. Bowersox Doctoral Symposium

Issac Elking
2026 Doctoral Symposium Chair
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Prabhjot Mukandwal
2026 Doctoral Symposium Co-Chair
Assistant Professor, Wayne State University

The Doctoral Symposium began in 1991 as a means of providing professional development training and networking opportunities to Ph.D. students. John Langley, then President of CLM and Professor of Logistics & SCM at the University of Tennessee (now Professor of SCM at Penn State University), played a central role in founding the Symposium. The first year, 26 Ph.D. students from eight programs participated, with leaders such as John Langley, Bud Lalonde, Don Bowersox, John Coyle, Martha Cooper, Tom Mentzer, Doug Lambert, and Jim Stock among the speakers.

Over the years, the Symposium has become a platform for doctoral student learning and development, welcoming hundreds of Ph.D. candidates. It offers doctoral students the opportunity to learn from and connect with established scholars while also preparing to enter the academic community. Since CSCMP is an organization of both practitioners and academics, the Symposium emphasizes the intersection of practice and scholarship, focusing on rigor and relevance in research.

In 2011, the Symposium was named in honor of Donald J. Bowersox, CSCMP co-founder and leading academic. Don Bowersox was a pioneer in logistics discipline development and is often referred to as “The Grandfather of Logistics.” His career included more than 17 books, 250 articles, and decades of leadership, including service as the second president of NCPDM and as a co-founder of CSCMP. Don was passionate about doctoral education, having chaired 27 dissertations, and remained a strong supporter of the Doctoral Symposium throughout his career.

Today, the Bowersox Doctoral Symposium continues his legacy, helping prepare the next generation of supply chain scholars for successful academic careers and lifelong engagement with CSCMP.

Download the 2026 Agenda

2026 Donald J. Bowersox Doctoral Symposium Students

Kyle Chiapperino
University of Arkansas

Madison Edwards
Auburn University

Chang Gao
Michigan State University

Ahnna Ju
University of Tennessee

Tamara Kirkwood-Wright
Hanken School of Economics

Chaehwan Lim
Michigan State University

Jennifer Nowicki
The Pennsylvania State University

Paula Penagos
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Steven Riedl
Michigan State University

Sayed Abu Sayeed
Florida Atlantic University

Matrika Shukla
University of Arkansas

Vladyslava Snyder
University of Tennessee

Zhenia Tahmasebinia
Ivy College of Business, Iowa State University

Nadja Vorontsova
University of Tennessee

Parker Whiting
University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business

Yawen Zheng
The Ohio State University