Felipe Aros-Vera
Rights Lab Visiting Professor in Operations Management and Human Trafficking
Email: aros@ohio.edu
Dr. Felipe Aros-Vera is a Visiting Professor of Operations Management and Human Trafficking at the Rights Lab. He is an Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Director of the Center for Advanced Systems and Transportation Logistics Engineering (CASTLE) at Ohio University. He holds a Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.S. and B.S. in Engineering Sciences from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
His research spans human trafficking, humanitarian logistics, and transportation engineering, using network modeling, optimization, and AI-based statistical methods to design interdiction strategies, analyze critical infrastructure resilience, and identify key variables that drive human trafficking risk at the country and state levels. During more than two decades of research, Dr. Aros-Vera has conducted fieldwork in the aftermath of multiple disasters and shadowed law enforcement sting operations to document the realities of trafficking on the ground. He collaborates with universities, private sector partners, and institutions including Jack Faucett Associates, Risk Slate, and the Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force.
His awards include the Outstanding Research Award from the Ohio University ISE Department (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025), the 2023 Outstanding Research Award from the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, the 2020 Outstanding Mentor Award from the Cutler Scholars Program, finalist of the 2017 Franz Edelman Award by INFORMS, and the 2014 Thomas Archibald Bedford Prize from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.