Center for Supply Chain and Maritime Logistics

The Center advances the global supply chain, maritime logistics, and transportation community through impactful education, innovative research, and engaged outreach — preparing a globally competitive workforce, informing policy and practice, and connecting industry, government, and academia across borders.

• Education — Provide impactful, practical, and experiential learning opportunities that develop a skilled maritime and logistics workforce and expand pathways to social mobility and career advancement.
• Research — Conduct innovative, nonpartisan research that strengthens policy and practice in global supply chain and maritime logistics, addressing regional and global challenges with both academic rigor and real-world application.
• Outreach — Engage the global supply chain and maritime logistics industry to identify needs, share knowledge, and deliver training, serving as an accountable partner that links industry, government, and academia at home and internationally.

Education 

• Launch experiential, industry-relevant learning — certificate programs, courses, and internships — that produce graduates the maritime and logistics economy actively wants to hire. (Innovation, Mobility) 
• Build pathways and support that bring a diverse student body into the field, including industry-sponsored placements and scholarships, so opportunity reaches people who haven't traditionally had access to it. (Mobility) 

Research 

• Establish a focused applied-research agenda and produce a steady stream of nonpartisan reports, policy briefs, and publications that practitioners and policymakers actually cite and use. (Curiosity, Trust) 
• Develop the Center's data and information repository as a shared resource — the asset that turns “a center that does research” into “the platform people come to.” (Innovation, Trust) 
• Secure sustaining external funding through grants and sponsored research so the research engine doesn't depend on any single source. (Accountability) 

Outreach 

• Convene the field through recurring forums, conferences, and roundtables that bring industry, government, and academia to the same table — the visible signal that the Center is a hub. (Partnership) 
• Deliver demand-driven training and advisory services by first collecting real needs from the industry, then meeting them. (Partnership, Accountability) 
• Formalize partnerships through MOUs and joint initiatives with public and private organizations, domestically and internationally, including the Kean–KMI relationship itself. (Partnership) 

Foundational / Platform 

• Establish the Center's identity and reputation so that, within a defined horizon (three to five years), industry and policymakers name it among the recognized centers in the field — the direct measure of the vision. (Trust, Accountability) 
• Build durable operating capacity — staffing, governance, and infrastructure — sufficient to sustain education, research, and outreach at scale over time. (Accountability) 

• Innovation. Forward-looking, even preemptive research and teaching that anticipates where global trade and logistics are heading. 
• Mobility. Opening pathways into the maritime and logistics economy for a diverse workforce — carrying Kean University's social-mobility commitment into the Center's domain. 
• Partnership. Solving the hardest problems by convening industry, government, and academia together, across borders. Anchored locally but oriented outward, treating supply chains and maritime logistics as inherently international. 
• Accountability. Acting as a reliable, transparent partner to the public and private sectors locally, nationally, and internationally. 
• Curiosity. Rigorous, evidence-based inquiry that pursues questions wherever they lead, held to genuine academic standards. 
• Trust. Nonpartisan integrity that makes the Center's findings credible to industry and policymakers alike — the heart of KMI's think-tank model.