Dr. Robert G. Batson – College of Engineering

Professor

Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering

262 Hardaway Hall
(205) 348-1609
(205) 348-0783
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Education

Ph.D., Mathematics (Operations Research), University of Alabama, 1979
M.S., Industrial Engineering, University of Alabama, 1979
M.S., Mathematics, Florida State University, 1974
B.S., Mathematics/Physics, University of Alabama, 1972

Biography

Dr. Robert Batson has research interests in engineering and quality management, project risk management, supplier and supply chain management, quality and reliability engineering, maintenance of equipment and structures, and safety engineering.

Since joining UA in 1984, he has been awarded 52 contracts and grants worth more than $2.3 million with organizations such as Mercedes-Benz, American Cast Iron Pipe Co., BellSouth, National Science Foundation, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Army Aviation and Missile Command. A number of these dealt with materials processing, fabrication and assembly, or safety of operations.

He authored a Handbook of Project Risk Management for NASA in 1987 and a Wiley textbook entitled Applied Integer Programming in 2010, along with 75 refereed articles or book chapters in the past 35 years. Prior to joining the University of Alabama, Batson was employed for five years by Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company, where he was a systems engineer. Batson is a registered Professional Engineer in California, a Certified Quality Engineer and a Certified Reliability Engineer through the American Society for Quality, and an authorized OSHA Construction Industry Safety Trainer.

Honors and Awards

IIE Aerospace Division Award, 1988-89
Best Paper Award, Engineering Division, AFS Annual Casting Congress, 1989
Best Written Technical Paper Award, ASQC Annual Quality Congress, 1992
Fellow, American Society for Quality, 1996
Outstanding Faculty Member, Students of Dept. of Industrial Engineering–University of Alabama, 1993-94, 2005-06, 2007-08

Areas of Research

Latest Publications

Batson, R. G., and J. Zhang, “Empirical Models of Cold Working Effect in Steel Tube Production,” article in Characterization of Minerals, Metals, and Materials, John Wiley, Jiann-Yang Hwang, et al, Editors, March 2102, pp. 19-26.
Batson, R.G., “Recognizing and Controlling Ergonomic Hazards in Masonry Construction,” Professional Safety, Vol. 57, No. 9, American Society of Safety Engineers, September 2012, pp. 44-49.
Ray, P.S., Batson, R.G., and Wang, P., “Advisory System for Highway Work-Zone Safety,” Proceedings of the 24th Annual International Occupational Ergonomics and Safety Conference, Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 7-8, 2012, pp. 45-49.
Batson, R.G., “Alternative Approaches to Incorporate Design for Safety into Construction Engineering Curricula,” Proceedings of the ASEE 2013 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, June 23-26, 2013.
Batson, R.G., “Macro Simulation of Traffic Management Options for a Major Sporting Event,” Proceedings of the IIE Annual Conference and Expo 2013 in San Juan, May 18-22, 2103.
Batson, R.G., “Methodology to Optimize a Work Zone Queue Estimation Tool,” International Journal of Structural and Civil Engineering Research, Vol. 3, No. 3, August 2014, pp. 1-35.
Moynihan, G.P., A. Chau, R. G. Batson, “Application of Big Data in University Construction Projects,” paper published in Proceedings of the 2017 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference, Pittsburg, May 20-23, 2017.
Batson, R. G., “Supplier Management in Service Industry: What Can be Learned from Automotive Manufacturing?” Chapter 1 in edited collection Contemporary Issues and Research in Operations Management G.P. Moynihan (Editor), InTechOpen, London, 2018.
Batson, R. G., “A Service Management Metric with Origin in Plant Management,” accepted as Chapter in Advances in Industrial Engineering, G. P. Moynihan (Editor), InTechOpen, Spring 2020.