Brian Thorn Headshot

Brian Thorn

Adjunct Faculty

Sustainable Engineering
Emeritus Faculty

Brian Thorn

Adjunct Faculty

Sustainable Engineering
Emeritus Faculty

Education

BS, Rochester Institute of Technology; MS, Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology

Bio

Dr. Brian Thorn completed a B.S. in Industrial Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology, his M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Thorn’s research focuses on the resolution of technical problems that have sustainability themes. Specific research application areas include sustainable product and process design, life cycle assessment, and applied statistical methods. He is a member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, and Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW). Dr. Thorn is co-advisor of the ESW student chapter at RIT and oversees, along with Prof. Andres Carrano, the Sustainable Engineering Research Group (SERG), a group of graduate students with research interests in sustainability. He currently serves as the Director of Sustainable Engineering Graduate Programs in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering.

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Areas of Expertise

Select Scholarship

Journal Paper
. . .
Thorn, Brain, et al. "Management and Logistics of Returnable Transport Items: A Review Analysis on the Pallet Supply Chain." Sustainability 13. 12747 (2021): 1-23. Web.
Tornese, Fabiana, et al. "Environmental and Economic Impacts of Preemptive Remanufacturing Policies for Block and Stringer Pallets." Journal of Cleaner Production 235. October 20 (2019): 1327-1337. Web.
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Published Conference Proceedings
Thorn, Brian K., Daniel Tomaszewski, and Andres L. Carrano. "Carbon Footprint of Alternative Wood Product Retirement Strategies." Proceedings of the 2020 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Annual Conference, Rochester, NY. Ed. Surendra K. Gupta. Rochester, NY: American Society for Engineering Education, 2020. Web.
Deo, Devdatta, Marcos Esterman, and Brian K. Thorn. "A Methodology to Quantify Cumulative Damage Function (CuDF) for Integration Into an Object-Oriented Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)." Proceedings of the ASME 2017 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Ed. ASME. Cleveland, OH: ASME, 2017. Web.
Gadre, Shantanu, Marcos Esterman, and Brian K. Thorn. "Implementation of an Object-Oriented Life Cycle Assessment Framework Using Functional Analysis and Systems Engineering Principles." Proceedings of the ASME Proceedings | 22nd Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference. Ed. ASME. Cleveland, OH: ASME, 2017. Web.
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Invited Article/Publication
Laboratories, Underwriters. "Product Category Rule (PCR) Guidance for Wooden Pallets, EPD Requirements." Product Category Rule (PCR) Guidance for Wooden Pallets, EPD Requirements. (2019). Print.
Book Chapter
Gnoni, Maria Grazia, et al. "A Measurement Tool for Circular Economy Practices: a Case Study in Pallet Supply Chains." Progress in Material Handling Research. Ed. E. Ballot, et al. Savannah, Georgia: Digital Commons at Georgia Southern, 2018. 12. Web.
Tornese, Fabiana, et al. "Improving the Environmental Sustainability of Pallet Logistics Through Preemptive Remanufacturing: an Integer Linear Optimization Model." Progress in Material Handling Research. Ed. E. Ballot, et al. Savannah, Ga: Digital Commons at Georgia Southern, 2018. 2. Web.
Invited Keynote/Presentation
Thorn, Brian K. and Sarah A. Brownell. "Social Sustainability of Sanitation Measures in Haiti and Methods of Measurement." RIT/Malmo University Joint Symposium. Rochester Institute of Technology. Rochester, NY. 2 Oct. 2013. Conference Presentation.
Carrano, Andres L. and Brian K. Thorn. "How to Calculate Carbon Footprints: A Wood Pallet Example." PROMAT Material Handling Show. Material Handling Institute. Chicago, ILL. 21 Jan. 2013. Conference Presentation.