AGORA Lab studies operations management, manufacturing systems, and human decision-making in the economies and communities most research overlooks ” from Midwestern factory floors to smallholder cooperatives and informal markets across the Global South.
When AI and automation enter an operation, a factory, a cooperative, a trading corridor ... who gains decision-making power and who loses it?
This question runs through every project in AGORA Lab. The methods change ” operations research, field experiments, multi-criteria decision analysis, management science. The question does not.
Operations & management first. AGORA is grounded in industrial and systems engineering, operations management, and management science. AI is a tool we study ” not the discipline we practice.
Applied over abstract. Every AGORA project has a field component, an industry partner, or a real decision-maker as a stakeholder. Methods serve problems, not the other way around.
Advanced methods, broader contexts. AGORA examines how modern operations management and manufacturing practices ” Industry 5.0, AI-assisted decision-making, optimization, lean systems ” perform across a wide range of organizational scales and settings, from advanced manufacturers to SMEs worldwide. The comparison between what works in well-resourced environments and what transfers to constrained ones is where the most generalizable and impactful knowledge is produced.
Industry 5.0 as the frame. Human-centricity and resilience over automation-first efficiency. A system that optimizes throughput while excluding workers is not a well-designed system.
AGORA's research spans operations management, manufacturing systems, industrial engineering, development economics, and engineering education. It is structured around core questions rather than funding streams; each pillar representing a sustained line of inquiry supported by active projects, field partnerships, and ongoing proposals.
Applied human“AI decision systems
"How do managers and workers make better operational decisions when AI is a partner ” especially in high-mix, low-volume environments where data is scarce and stakes are high?"
Global South operations & cooperative management
"What does technology adoption and operational management actually look like inside artisanal cooperatives, small manufacturers, and platform sellers in resource-constrained economies?"
Operations research & manufacturing systems
"How do we design, optimize, and manage industrial and manufacturing systems ” facility layouts, logistics networks, recycling operations, production planning ” when real-world constraints dominate?"
Regional development & trade management
"How does digital infrastructure change physical trade flows, labor markets, and economic agency in emerging economies ” and what management frameworks help SMEs capture that value?"
Engineering education & simulation-based learning
"How do game-based simulations and entrepreneurial thinking tools build systems-reasoning capacity in engineering students ” and can those same tools be adapted to reach children earlier and more equitably?"
AGORA Lab is intentionally a lab in formation. Its portfolio reflects an active and evolving research agenda ” awarded fellowships and grants, live field collaborations, and projects in development seeking the right funding vehicle. We share this transparently, because momentum matters more than polish.
MANGO ” Manufacturing & Operations Game
KEEN Engineering Unleashed Fellowship · Kern Family Foundation · $10,000 · 2026 · Browser-based competitive simulation integrating production planning, MRP, supplier selection & disruption management ” deployed in ISE undergraduate courses at BGSU · published on EngineeringUnleashed.com · One of 30 fellows from 23 institutions (<10% acceptance rate)
Super Rapids Next Generation Workforce Development
BGSU Office of Workforce Transformation · Co-PI · $764,000 · 2024“2026 · Advanced manufacturing workforce development with Northwest Ohio industry partners
ISC-INGSA Training Programme on Science Advice to Policy
International Science Council & INGSA · 5-module programme · Modules 1“2 active July 2026 · Science-policy interface, evidence-informed policymaking
miniMANGO ” Children's Cooperative Simulation for Learning Equity
Extension of MANGO for ages 8“12 · AI-assisted cooperative decision-making · Cross-regional field study · Game Design Document & paper prototype in active development · Proposal submitted August 2026 · Further details to be shared upon project confirmation
NSF CAREER ” Decision Intelligence in Data-Scarce Environments
Lead PI · Human“AI collaborative operations in US SME manufacturing & global supply chains · Submitted July 2026
Closing the Last Mile of AI Adoption ” Human-AI Decision Support for SME Platform Sellers
Amazon Research Awards · Lead PI · Field experiment · Submitted May 2026
Digital Trade Facilitation & Physical Goods Flows Across AfCFTA Member States
Hinrich Foundation Fellowship · Lead PI · Submitted 2026
J-PAL Invited Researcher ” Morocco Innovation & Evaluation Lab (MEL)
J-PAL MENA / UM6P / Harvard Center for International Development · Application submitted August 2026
AAUW Liberatory Leadership Lab Fellowship
American Association of University Women · Leadership Development Fellowship with Capstone Project Grant (up to $2,000) · Submitted August 2026
Fulbright Flex Award ” AI, Task Restructuring & Worker Agency in SME Labor Markets
Lead PI · Comparative field study · MENA region · Proposed host: Mohammed VI Polytechnic University · Application in preparation 2026
Russell Sage Foundation ” Future of Work · AI-Driven Task Restructuring & Worker Agency
Lead PI · LOI in preparation · SME labor markets
GitLab Foundation ” AI for Economic Opportunity Fund
Lead PI · AI adoption & worker outcomes in SME-dominated economies · Application in preparation
Human“AI Decision Policies for Data-Scarce HMLV Manufacturing
NSF GOALI · Co-PI: Yarder Manufacturing, Toledo, Ohio · Under preparation
Human“Machine Collaboration for Industry 5.0 Supply Chains
NSF Manufacturing Systems Integration (PD-23-229Y) · Lead PI · Under preparation
Glass Recycling Operations Optimization ” Manufacturer & Supply Chain Levels
Northwest Ohio Innovation Consortium (NOIC) · Under preparation
Human-Centric AI Adoption Barriers in Manufacturing SMEs ” Marginalized Communities
UM6P / J-PAL MEL · MENA region · Active field collaboration · 2025“Ongoing
AI Advisory Tools in Agricultural Cooperatives ” Global South
Field research ongoing · Seeking funding vehicle · Active collaboration
Manufacturing & Operations Game — AGORA Lab · BGSU
A browser-based competitive simulation that puts undergraduate ISE students inside a real manufacturing operation. Teams make live decisions on production planning, supplier selection, MRP scheduling, and disruption response — experiencing first-hand how operations management choices cascade through an entire system.
Production Planning
Teams manage a live production schedule, balancing capacity, lead times, and customer demand across multiple product lines and time horizons.
MRP & Inventory Control
Material Requirements Planning drives real order decisions. Students feel the difference between just-in-time and safety-stock strategies under demand uncertainty.
Supplier Selection
Multi-criteria supplier decisions under cost, quality, and lead time trade-offs — with dynamic conditions that change mid-game to reflect real sourcing complexity.
Disruption Management
Unexpected events — supplier failures, demand spikes, logistics delays — force teams to adapt in real time, building resilience thinking beyond static models.
Competitive Team Play
Teams compete against each other on a shared market, creating genuine strategic tension. Decisions are interdependent — what one team does affects every other.
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Developed under the KEEN Engineering Unleashed framework, integrating opportunity recognition, value creation, and systems thinking into the engineering education experience.
Brief & team formation
Students receive their company roles, initial inventory, budget, and market conditions. Teams self-organize across production, procurement, and logistics functions.
Round play
Each round represents a planning period. Teams simultaneously make supplier, production, and inventory decisions using the browser-based interface — then a market simulation resolves outcomes.
Disruption events
Mid-game events — a supplier quality failure, an unexpected order surge, a logistics disruption — force real-time adaptation and expose the fragility of over-optimized systems.
Debrief & analysis
Post-game data review connects team decisions to outcomes. Students see, quantitatively, how their planning choices propagated through the system — and what they would do differently.
Classroom integration
MANGO is designed to complement ISE and operations management curricula. Facilitation guides, rubrics, and learning objectives are provided for instructors.
Building on MANGO's foundation, AGORA Lab is developing miniMANGO — a cooperative simulation adapted for children aged 8–12 that investigates how AI-assisted decision support affects systems thinking, learning persistence, and equity across diverse global contexts. A Game Design Document and paper prototype are in active development. A cross-regional field study proposal has been submitted. Further details will be shared upon project confirmation.
AGORA's research happens where the questions live. Our field sites span manufacturing corridors, smallholder economies, and emerging trade systems.
AGORA Lab operates as a network rather than a physical space. It offers three distinct pathways for engagement, tailored to students, industry partners, and international research collaborators, each defined by a unique form of participation and contribution.
Graduate students & researchers
AGORA is looking for students who want to do research that goes somewhere ” into manufacturing plants, cooperative management offices, and trade ministries, not just journals. We offer field experience across multiple continents, an international network spanning MENA, sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia, and direct industry exposure through active partnerships in the Great Lakes region. If you are drawn to industrial engineering, operations management, manufacturing systems, or development economics ” and want your dissertation to matter outside academia ” this is your lab.
Industry & manufacturing partners
AGORA works with manufacturers, logistics operators, and operations managers who want rigorous analytical work ” not generic consulting. We bring operations research methods, optimization modeling, field experiment design, and management science expertise. What we need from industry partners: data access, site access, and co-PI participation in funded research. Current partners include manufacturing firms and innovation consortia in Northwest Ohio. We are actively seeking new industry co-investigators for NSF GOALI and NOIC proposals in manufacturing systems, circular economy operations, and human-AI integration.
International academic collaborators
AGORA is actively building a network of researchers across the Global South, MENA, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia who study operations management, manufacturing systems, industrial engineering, and development economics. We welcome partners in three forms: field access and co-authorship on proposals targeting marginalized or under-researched economies; co-supervision of doctoral students across institutions; and participation as named collaborators on international grant proposals including the Hinrich Foundation and future development economics submissions. We acknowledge the asymmetries of international academic collaboration honestly ” AGORA is a genuine partner, not an extractive research relationship.
At AGORA Lab, individuals are defined by their contributions to the core research questions rather than by formal titles. The lab is purposefully small and highly engaged, emphasizing hands-on, field-based work over distant observation.
Sara Haddou Amar, PhD
Founder & Principal Investigator · AGORA Lab
Assistant Professor, Industrial & Logistics Engineering · Bowling Green State University · Program Coordinator, Systems Engineering
Sara's research sits at the intersection of operations management, manufacturing systems engineering, human-machine collaboration, and economic development. She examines how technology adoption ” particularly AI and digital tools ” reshapes operations, labor, and organizational outcomes in resource-constrained and SME-dominated economies across the Global South. Her work spans facility layout and optimization, artisanal cooperative resilience, human-centric AI adoption barriers in manufacturing, and logistics system design in low-data environments. She is committed to operations research and management science that is applied, global, and honest about the communities it serves.
H. Mouhib
Co-author · Industry 5.0 & cobot research
Active collaboration on human factors and manufacturing transition
K. Benchouk
Co-author · AI in STEM education
Springer book chapter collaborator on generative AI in higher education
Y. Kessou
Research collaborator · Decarbonization
IISE 2026 ” industrial readiness for decarbonization in emerging economies
Open positions
MS & PhD students welcome
Seeking students with interest in ISE, AI in operations, and development economics
Inquire →AGORA Lab is a lab in active formation ” awards, training, partnerships, and research developments as they happen. Updated as the work evolves.
These are not aspirational affiliations. Each represents an active or directly prior research relationship ” a co-authored paper, a field collaboration, a grant proposal, or a funded project.