Industrial Engineering Doctoral Student Connects Research and Military Practice on Contested Logistics Panel

Where supplies are positioned before a crisis can determine how effectively organizations respond when it arrives. For LTC Clay Woody, a U.S. Army officer and doctoral student in the U of A's Department of Industrial Engineering, that challenge connects academic research with military planning.

Woody brought both perspectives to an Oct. 6 panel on contested logistics for an audience primarily from U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM). He served alongside Leighann Martin of the Defense Logistics Agency and Brig. Gen. Ronnie Anderson of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM). The panel discussion was offered by Scholara Education, LLC, a professional development company. COL Dylan Malcomb, deputy director of operations at TRANSCOM, moderated.

Contested logistics involves sustaining operations when an adversary actively threatens the facilities, transportation networks and information systems that supplies depend on. Those threats can extend from overseas operations to infrastructure in the United States. The Defense Logistics Agency has identified the need to adapt supply networks to operate through such disruption, making resilience a central concern for military planners.

Woody emphasized that logistics decisions help determine which operations are possible and effective. Where supplies are stored, which routes remain available and how organizations coordinate must be considered before a crisis limits their options. Woody highlighted this point during the panel saying, "Efficiency isn't the enemy. Unpriced fragility is."

That distinction captures a central planning challenge: a supply network that performs efficiently under normal conditions may be vulnerable when a critical port, airfield or communication link becomes degraded or destroyed. Woody's discussion and ongoing research calls for and analyzes targeted investments in alternatives, including dispersed storage sites, pre-positioned supplies, alternate routes and access agreements established in advance. He also emphasized rehearsing those alternatives so that backup plans represent capabilities organizations can actually use.

These questions closely connect to Woody's dissertation, advised by Dr. Rob Curry, assistant professor of industrial engineering. Funded by the U.S. Army Pacific Command's Chief Data Office alongside the Operations Research Center at the U.S. Military Academy, his research develops risk-informed optimization models for pre-positioning supplies in the Pacific Theater for humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.

The practical challenge is to make placement decisions before knowing exactly where an emergency will occur or which parts of the transportation network will remain usable. Industrial engineering provides methods for evaluating those choices, accounting for limited resources and comparing how plans perform under different conditions.

Woody also stressed that effective logistics requires coordination among military organizations, the Defense Logistics Agency, and civilian partners such as port operators. Shared planning assumptions, clear decision authority and exercises using realistic data help organizations prepare to work together before an emergency.

"Whatever we build has to be co-designed with sustainers," Woody discussed. "Technology built without domain experts solves the wrong problem."

His participation brought that connection between analytical methods and operational needs to the panel. It also reflects the U of A's broader work through its Contested Logistics Consortium, housed in the Supply Chain Management Research Center of the Sam M. Walton College of Business. The consortium brings together researchers in industrial engineering, supply chain management and information systems with defense and industry partners.

Woody is expected to complete his doctorate in summer 2027 and will then serve as a faculty member at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, carrying that combination of military experience and research into the education of future Army officers.