Kenneth Baker

Bio

Ken Baker teaches courses relating to mathematical modeling and operations management. Over the years, much of his teaching and research has dealt with operations planning and control, and he is widely known for his work on sequencing and scheduling.

Current Research Topics

• Scheduling theory
• Problem solving
• Spreadsheet-based modeling and optimization

Professional Activities

Academic positions

• Tuck School of Business, 1979–present

  • Associate Dean, 1998–2000,
  • Associate Dean of Faculty, 1990–93

• Thayer School of Engineering,1979–present

  • Adjunct Professor, 1979–present,
  • Co-Director, Master of Engineering Management (MEM) Program, 2001–11

• Visiting Professor, University of Arizona, 2001–02

• Visiting Professor, Vermont Law School, 1996–97

• Visiting Professor, Harvard University, 1994

• Visiting Professor, University of Michigan, 1993

• Visiting Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology, 1979–80

• Visiting Professor, University of Waterloo, 1976

• Associate Professor of Business Administration, Duke University, 1973–79

• Visiting Professor, North Carolina State University, 1972–73 and 1976

• Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering, University of Michigan, 1969–72

Editorial positions

• Founding Senior Editor, International Journal of Planning and Scheduling, 2010–present
• Senior Editor, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 1996–2002
• Associate Editor, Journal of Scheduling, 1997–2004
• Associate Editor,  Management Science, 1976–82
• Editorial Board, Journal of Manufacturing and Operations Management, 1987–92
• Editorial Board, IIE Transactions, 1970–76
   

Working Papers

• “Trading Off Due Date Tightness and Job Tardiness in a Basic Scheduling Model”
• “Spreadsheet-Based Computations for the Flowshop Problem with Synchronous Transfers”

Selected Publications

• “Minimizing Earliness and Tardiness Costs in Stochastic Scheduling,” European Journal of Operational Research, 2014
• With S. Powell, Management Science: The Art of Modeling with Spreadsheets, fourth edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2014
• “Setting Optimal Due Dates in a Basic Safe Scheduling Model,” Computers & Operations Research 41, 2014
• "Computational Results for the Flowshop Tardiness Problem," Computers & Industrial Engineering, 64, 2013
• With D. Trietsch, "PERT 21: Fitting PERT/CPM for Use in the 21st Century," International Journal of Project Management, 30, 2012
• With D. Trietsch, L. Mazmanyan, and L. Gevorgyan, "Modeling Activity Times by the Parkinson Distribution with a Lognormal Core: Theory and Validation," European Journal of Operational Research, 216, 2012
• With D. Altheimer, "Heuristic Procedures for the Stochastic Flow Shop Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, 216, 2012
• With D. Trietsch, "Three Heuristic Procedures for the Stochastic, Two-Machine Flow Shop Problem," Journal of Scheduling, 14, 2011
• Optimization Modeling with Spreadsheets, second edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2011
• With B. Keller, "Solving the Single-Machine Tardiness Problem Using Integer Programming," Computers & Industrial Engineering, 59, 2010
• With D. Trietsch, Principles of Sequencing and Scheduling, John Wiley & Sons, 2009