Mission:
Equitable access to safe and nutritious food is a basic societal need that impacts the health, livelihood and wellness of all humans. The ability to provide and sustain such access has become a major concern and a challenge for many countries around the world. The Food Supply Chain Analytics and Sensing (FSAS) Initiative is creating predictive analytical tools and technologies to improve the design and management of safe and reliable food supply chains that are accessible and sustainable.
Areas of Focus
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The supply chain and market design optimization focus area concerns farmer & consumer welfare and agriculture practices. Research is focused on the design of analytical data-driven decision support models and tools addressing complex business and system design decisions under uncertainty in food supply chain areas such as procurement and inventory management, revenue management, pricing optimization and logistics. Projects include partnerships with industry collaborators worldwide.
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The food safety management focus area engages MIT and industry collaborators to develop predictive risk models, tools, and testing technologies. Our research aims to develop predictive risk analytics models that inform the management of economically motivated adulteration (EMA) risks as well as innovative testing technologies to monitor food supply chains.
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The healthy food access research area focuses on food deserts and food waste. Research aims to estimate food waste and access to fresh food and develop supply chain interventions to reduce waste and increase overall consumption of fresh food.
Featured Publications
Gao, Qihua, Retsef Levi, and Nicholas Renegar. Scientific Reports Vol. 12, (2022): 1650.
Chen, Lu, Donovan Guttieres, Retsef Levi, Elisabeth Paulson, Georgia Perakis, Nicholas Renegar, and Stacy Springs. Naval Research Logistics Vol. 68, No. 8 (2021): 1098-1112.
Levi, Retsef, Elisabeth Paulson, and Georgia Perakis (Submitted to Management Science, revision requested), Working Paper. July 2022.
Levi, Retsef, Manoj Rajan, Somya Singhvi, and Y. Karen Zheng, MIT Sloan Working Paper 5863-19. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, September 2022.
Gao, Qihua, Yasheng Huang, Yuze Sui, and Y. Karen Zheng. PNAS Nexus. Forthcoming.