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Erick C. Jones Named Distinguished Alumni at UH EAA 2021 Gala

Erick C. Jones, Sr., Ph.D.

Erick C. Jones, Sr., Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor and Fellow in industrial engineering who has served in many roles, including engineer, researcher and leader. His wide-ranging career experiences have spanned industry, government and academia. He currently works for the U.S. State Department as a Senior Analyst (Expert) in the Office of the Chief Economist through a science fellowship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He is working on resilient supply chains foreign policy, which positively impacts the U.S. middle class. 

In industry, he went from being an engineer to serving in management and executive management positions at UPS, Academy Sports and Outdoors, and Arthur Anderson, LLP, and leading projects including ERPs, business process re-engineering, and mergers and acquisitions. His industry experiences facilitated his success in academia with supply chain engineering and led to four academic textbooks, more than 150 peer reviewed publications, 17 Ph.D.s, funding from national agencies including NASA, the Department of Transportation and the National Science Foundation, and tenured professorships from two Tier One universities. His fundamental theories on automated inventory control, quality and logistics engineering have impacted the fields of artificial intelligence, manufacturing and supply chain management. 

Jones’ leadership and administrative activities include leading government-funded public and private multi-university research centers, funding large scale programs at the National Science Foundation as a director, initiating academic programs as a chair and dean, and fundraising as a board member on public and private foundation boards. He represents and is an advocate for diverse and equitable conditions for all.

Jones is an alumnus of the University of Houston with both Ph.D. and master’s degrees. He is also an alumnus of Texas A&M University, a scholar of the William J. Fulbright and Alfred P. Sloan programs, and a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Jones is a tenured Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.