Associate Professor, Associate Dean
Dr. Sinan Salman is an associate professor and associate dean at the College of Technological Innovation at Zayed University. He received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arkansas and Oklahoma State University, respectively, and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology. Before joining Zayed University in 2014, he worked in the US in the field of Supply Chain Management for 13 years at Merck & Co. and Transplace (now Uber Freight). His professional career included global supply chain and transportation management, logistics consulting, and optimization software development. His areas of interest include operations research and its applications in decision support and complex systems modeling, simulation, and optimization, especially in the fields of supply chain and transportation. He is also interested in the use of cutting-edge technology in higher education. Dr. Salman is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) National Honor Society, Alpha Pi Mu (APM) Industrial Engineering Honor Society, Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and received multiple certificates and awards, including Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSS-BB), Certified Project Manager (CPM), IBM’s Artificial Intelligence mastery, and the outstanding teaching award from Zayed University. He is also the creator of the open-source X-Supply Game (XSG), an educational online and multi-player simulation game designed to introduce students to supply chain management.
• Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, University of Arkansas, USA, 2007
• M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management, Oklahoma State University, USA, 2001
• B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Jordan University of Science & Technology, Jordan, 1999
• Business Process Management
• Data Science
• Supply Chain Management and Logistics
• Systems Analysis and Design
Research Grants
• Towards zero-waste and crisis resilient supply chains, Zayed University research cluster incentive fund (#R20137). Grant: 419,303 AED (114,160 USD), 2020-2023.
• Policy Research Incentive Program Award, ZU, 2022. Award: 20,000 AED (5,445 USD)
• Sustainable transportation research cluster, Zayed University research cluster incentive fund (#R16084). Grant: 368,075 AED (102,000 USD), 2016-2019.
• Policy Research Incentive Program Award, ZU, 2017. Award: 20,000 AED (5,445 USD)
• Modeling and Optimizing the Abu Dhabi city petroleum distribution network as a capacitated distribution network, Zayed University research incentive fund (#R15041). Grant: 17,700 AED (4,800 USD), 2015.
Supervised Graduate Students
• Buthaina Al-Hebshi, A Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Models for Predictive Process Monitoring Using Object-Centric Event Logs, 2025.
• Hanan Al-Messabi, Fire Incident Analysis and Prediction in Abu Dhabi Residential Areas, 2025.
Research Area(s)
• Applied Operations Research
• Complex systems modeling and optimization
• Supply chain and transportation systems optimization
• Data analytics for decision support
• Technology in higher education
Professional Involvement
• Member of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE)
• Member of Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
• Steering Committee Member of the Student Research Conference on Applied Computing, 2025
Certifications and Trainings
• Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP)
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSS-BB)
• Certified Project Manager (CPM)
• IBM’s Artificial Intelligence mastery
Notable Projects and Contributions
Dr. Salman is the creator of the X-Supply Game (XSG), an open-source, online, team-based supply chain simulation game designed to enrich supply chain education in classrooms. (link)
