Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Graduate Degree

09/17/2026

Tomorrow, we welcome our incoming Master of Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics cohort to Seattle for Residency Weekend (SCTL 501: Introduction to Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics).

The weekend centers on Risks in Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics. Our instructor, Arsalan Esmaili, designed the three days of programming around that theme, bringing together theory and data, industry insights, hands-on problem solving, and classroom learning. He’ll lead students through the weekend as they explore how supply chain professionals identify and respond to disruption, while also looking at how data, research, and analytical tools can help us understand complex transportation and logistics problems.

Here is a quick look at what's in store for the weekend:

On Friday, we will open the weekend with Anne Goodchild, followed by a behind-the-scenes visit to the REI Distribution Center in Sumner to see a large-scale operation firsthand. We will also preview the program’s Practicum course with presentations from recent graduates, including projects focused on AI-enabled dangerous goods compliance and global logistics operations. To wrap up the day, we’ll bring everyone together for a networking mixer with our advisory board, alums, instructors, and friends.

On Saturday, we will dig into strategy, critical thinking, and resilience. We have a full lineup of industry and military leaders: Todd Smith (Intel), Bill Keough, Tom Maxner (Urban Freight Lab), John Dew (Expeditors and Mercator), Mark Vitantonio (United States Air Force), and Carol Wylie (Vitamin Angels and United States Air Force). Students will explore core supply chain strategy, operational resilience, and what military evacuation planning can teach us about preparing for disruption. We’ll also get hands-on with decision intelligence and optimization during the Gurobi Optimization Burrito Game, followed by a panel of MSCTL alumni sharing their experiences in the program.

On Sunday, students will get into data and programming. They’ll work with a Seattle shipments dataset and begin exploring how data and code can be used to understand transportation patterns and inform supply chain decisions.

It’s a busy, immersive way to start graduate school. But the weekend is about more than the coursework. It’s also a chance for students to get to know their classmates, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals and start building the relationships that will support them throughout the program and beyond.

We can’t wait to welcome the new cohort tomorrow!

09/10/2026

This year’s Residency Weekend (SCTL 501, the first course in the program) centers on a topic that feels more relevant than ever: Risks in Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics.

Supply chains have always faced disruption, but the pace and range of challenges that organizations are now navigating make understanding risk increasingly important. From geopolitical uncertainty and extreme weather to shifting trade policies, infrastructure failures, labor shortages, cybersecurity threats, and rapidly changing technology, supply chain leaders are making decisions in an increasingly unpredictable environment.

Students will spend the weekend looking at risk from a range of angles. We will hear from faculty and industry professionals about logistics disruptions, operational decision-making, and how organizations respond when circumstances change. We'll also explore how tools like generative AI, data analytics, and automation are shaping the future of the field.

Risk can look very different depending on where you sit in the supply chain. Our incoming students have worked across aviation, rail, automotive, maritime, procurement, and operations, so they’ll come to the discussion with a range of experiences and perspectives. We’re looking forward to hearing their questions and ideas, and seeing where the conversation goes throughout the weekend.

09/08/2026

We’re excited to share that Arsalan Esmaili will be teaching SCTL 501: Introduction to Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics (Residency Weekend) this fall.

Arsalan is already a familiar face in our community, having spent the past two years serving as the program TA. We’re excited for him to bring his perspective, experience, and enthusiasm as he welcomes our incoming cohort to the program.

Arsalan is also a Ph.D. student in Transportation Engineering at the University of Washington Civil & Environmental Engineering and a Research Assistant with the Urban Freight Lab. His research spans transportation, urban freight, and emerging mobility technologies, with a focus on areas including equity, electric vehicles, transit data, traffic safety, and last-mile delivery. His work has earned the 2025 Best Academic Paper Award from the Transportation Research Board’s Freight Planning and Logistics Committee.

Arsalan’s thoughtful approach, genuine curiosity, and commitment to supporting students will make him a real asset to our teaching team.

We look forward to having our incoming students learn from and get to know Arsalan later this month.

Learn more about Arsalan: https://www.supply-chain-transportation.uw.edu/academic-experience/faculty-staff

09/03/2026

For our new graduate students, the start of the Master of Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics program looks a little different frm other degree programs.

Each September, we kick off the program with Residency Weekend here in Seattle (with an online option for those who are unable to attend in person). It’s an intense, high-energy weekend where students dive right into their first course, SCTL 501: Introduction to Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics. They meet their classmates, faculty, advisory board members, alumni, and industry professionals, while taking part in hands-on activities, games, panels, presentations, and conversations about real-world challenges, along with a few opportunities to get out of the classroom.

It’s busy, it’s fun, and it’s a great way to start building a tight-knit MSCTL community before the quarter even gets rolling. We’re excited to see this year’s group come together!

09/02/2026

The start of a new academic year is just around the corner, and we’re getting ready to welcome a new cohort of students to the Master of Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics program.

Every year, we’re reminded of how much our students bring to the program. They come from different industries and contribute their own experiences, perspectives, and questions to the classroom. We’re excited to meet this year’s incoming students and see where those conversations take us.

There’s a lot to look forward to this fall. We’ll be sharing more in the weeks ahead as the new quarter approaches.

08/13/2026

Congratulations to Tropic Like It’s Hot for placing 12th in the 2026 Global Student Challenge!

Made up of Kellen LaVigne, Kevin Liu, Alex Lackey, and Alex Larue, Team Tropic Like It's Hot qualified for the five-day Global Final, competing alongside teams representing 18 countries. The Global Student Challenge brings together graduate students from around the world to compete in supply chain management.

Using The Fresh Connection simulation from Inchainge - We Develop Value Chain Leaders, each team member took on an executive role in a virtual fruit juice company, with responsibilities spanning finance, purchasing, supply chain, and sales. The goal was to improve the company’s performance by balancing decisions across those functions and considering how decisions in one area affected the rest of the business. That cross-functional approach is also a focus of SCTL 508: Collaboration Across the Supply Chain.

We love seeing our students take the concepts they’re learning in the program and apply them in new ways. Congratulations, Tropic Like It’s Hot!

07/28/2026

One of the questions we have explored throughout our Applied AI in the Modern Supply Chain webinar series is how AI can help make data analysis more accessible, regardless of technical background.

In our most recent session, Teaching Assistant Arsalan Esmaili shared a practical demonstration of how generative AI can support supply chain data analysis, helping users explore data, work through complex problems, and quickly build tools like interactive dashboards to support decision-making.

It was a great opportunity to see these low-code tools in action and to gain a clearer view of where AI fits into supply chain analytics today and where they may take us next.

If you missed the session, or would like to watch it again, the recording is now available:

07/06/2026

U.S. supply chains are back in the spotlight as tariffs, shifting trade relationships, and sourcing disruptions continue to reshape global logistics.

Our Advisory Board member Mark Vitantonio shares learnings from decades of logistics leadership in a recent Chief Executive Group article: when systems come under stress, resilience often comes back to the fundamentals.

A thoughtful look at the foundations that help complex systems keep working under pressure:

The current supply chain crisis isn't a technology problem. It's a fundamentals problem.

06/28/2026

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the Class of 2026 from the UW Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Master's degree program.

From their first days together in Seattle for Residency Weekend to their final Practicum projects, this cohort has brought a wide range of professional backgrounds, thoughtful questions, and new perspectives into the classroom. Over the past two years, they have dug deep into the complex systems, decisions, and relationships that keep supply chains moving, and explored how to make them more efficient, resilient, and responsive to a changing world.

It has been a true privilege to have this group in our student community. Thank you for your hard work, curiosity, and dedication.

Congratulations, Class of 2026, and welcome to the SCTL alumni network. We can't wait to see what comes next.

06/11/2026

For Special Olympics Washington athletes, the lighting of the cauldron at Opening Ceremonies marks the start of the Games after months of training, preparation, and anticipation. When the previous cauldron became unsafe to use, more than 50 The Boeing Company employees across Washington came together to design and build a new one.

Using engineering expertise and materials used in aircraft manufacturing, the team created a larger, lighter, and more durable cauldron, presented at the 2026 State Spring Games Opening last week.

Scott Mercer, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President of Fulfillment, Logistics & Program Integration (and member of our Advisory Board), is featured in a recent story about the effort, speaking about the project and the employees involved in bringing it to life.

Boeing crafted a new version from airplane materials, blending the organization’s logo with Pacific Northwest imagery