Nick T. Thomopoulos

Nick T. Thomopoulos is Professor Emeritus of Management Science at Illinois Institute of Technology's (Illinois Tech) Stuart School of Business. Prior to his academic career, Thomopoulos worked for International Harvester and rose to the position of supervisor of operations research for corporate headquarters. He also worked as a senior scientist at IIT Research Institute (IITRI), and served on the faculty in Illinois Tech’s Industrial Engineering Department, which became part of the business school in 1980.

Early life and education

Nick was born in Chicago during the Depression to parents Nick and Marie (Avgoustinos) Thomopoulos who immigrated from Zakynthos, Greece. They had seven children of which two died while young from diphtheria. Nick was the youngest child. When Nick was four months old, his father died leaving his mother with no other relatives in America other than her five small children. Nick attended a public school in Chicago (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), and for six years he attended a Greek school at the St. George Greek Orthodox Church (4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) five days a week. After high school, he attended the University of Illinois and received a B.S. in Business (1953). He then served in the U.S. army (1953 to 1955) rising to the rank of sergeant. A few years upon his return to Chicago, he attended the University of Illinois and received an MA in Mathematics (1959). While working fulltime, he attended Illinois Institute of Technology at night, and also began teaching courses at Illinois Tech on a night-time basis. In 1966 he received a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Illinois Tech.^[1]

Career

Thomopoulos worked at International Harvester (1959 to 1966) and rose to the title of supervisor of Operations Research in the corporate headquarters. In 1966, he joined the Illinois Tech Research Institute and was promoted to the rank of Senior Scientist. In 1968 he became an associate professor in the Industrial Engineering Department of Illinois Tech. In 1980, the Industrial Engineering Department moved to the Stuart School of Business and Thomopoulos moved along as well; and shortly after, was promoted to the rank of professor (Management Science). Thomopoulos retired in 2010, and was then awarded the title of Professor Emeritus.

Over the years, Thomopoulos has been a consultant to many firms in industry in North America, Europe and Asia. He was the keynote speaker at the Logistics Conference in Bangkok, Thailand in 2005; he presented a four-hour supply chain seminar for the Unity Conference in Taipei, Taiwan (2005), and did the same in Bangkok, Thailand (2005) as well. He also gave a six-hour seminar on supply chain methods at the Hellenic-American Institute in Athens, Greece (2003). He also has presented seminars on assembly lines and manufacturing in the U.S., Japan, England, France, Sweden, Italy and Belgium.

Awards and honors

Thomopoulos received the Rist Prize from the Military Operations Research Society in 1972 for new developments in queuing theory; the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Stuart Business School in 1996; the Distinguished Professor Award from the Asian Illinois Tech Alumni in 2005; and the Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award from the Illinois Tech Alumni Association in 2009.^[2] Thomopoulos is also a member of the following honor societies: Sigma Xi (Scientific Honorary), Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics Honorary), Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honorary) and Alpha Pi Mu (Industrial Engineering Honorary). Thomopoulos has a patent and is the inventor of the Gridiron Football game that is marketed by StatoGame Inc.^[3]

Publications

Thomopoulos has published over seventy papers in technical journals and in conference proceedings. He also is the author of ten books as listed below:

Assembly Line Methods, co-author Ted Prenting, Hayden Press, 1974; Applied Forecasting Methods, Prentice Hall, 1980;^[4] Strategic Inventory Management and Planning, Hitchcock Publishing, 1990;^[4] 100 Years: From Greece to Chicago and Back, Xlibris, 2010;^[5] Fundamentals of Production, Inventory and the Supply Chain, Atlantic, 2011;^[6] Fundamental of Queuing Systems, Springer, 2012;^[7] Essentials of Monte Carlo Simulation, Springer, 2013;^[8] Assembly Line Planning and Control, Springer, 2014;^[9] Demand Forecasting for Inventory Control, Springer, 2015;^[10] Elements of Manufacturing, Distribution and Logistics, Springer, 2016;^[11]

Family

In 1964, Nick married Elaine (Cotsirilos) Thomopoulos, (Ph.D. 74, Illinois Tech), and they have four children, Marie (Mathieu) Sussman, Melina (Joe) Collins, Diana (Mark) Patterson, and Christopher. He has eight grandchildren: Lauren, Daniel, and Jillian Sussman; Grace and Mike Collins; and Christopher, Kayden, and Jonah Patterson. His three daughters have M.B.A. degrees from Stuart School of Business at Illinois Tech.

References