About
Thomas C. Sharkey joined Clemson University in August 2020 as a Professor of Industrial Engineering. Prior to that, he served as a faculty member at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 2008 through 2020. His research program focuses on responsibly and ethically creating operations research (OR) models to address problems in the public sector. His research is tackling important health-related issues including disrupting human trafficking and reducing the harm done by fentanyl. Therefore, in his work, he recognizes that the OR models need to be carefully built through collaborations with other (non-engineering, non-mathematical, non-computer science) disciplines for them to be useful and capture all the consequences of our selected decisions. He is part of a transdisciplinary team pioneering new action research methods to create OR models that leverage both social science domain expertise and lived experience to prevent and disrupt human trafficking.
Visit Dr. Sharkey's Department Profile.
How their research is transforming healthcare
His research team is examining how to best prevent and disrupt human trafficking by leveraging expertise across a range of disciplines and lived experiences. This includes how to allocate resources to strengthen communities, and their supporting healthcare systems, to decrease vulnerabilities that could lead to someone being recruited into a trafficking situation. In addition, his work is examining how to disrupt (illicit) fentanyl distribution networks, with a specific focus on reducing the harm done by fentanyl.
Health research keywords
Faculty Scholar, Preventing human trafficking; disrupting human trafficking; modeling harm reduction; opioid epidemic
