A Lifetime of Achievement: Mays Honors Dr. Chelliah Sriskandarajah with the Highest Honor

Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Dr. Chelliah Sriskandarajah in the Wayne Roberts ’85 Building at Mays Business School.

Dr. Chelliah Sriskandarajah was sitting with colleagues in a department research seminar when Mays Business School Dean Dr. Nate Y. Sharp and other school leadership walked in and surprised him with the announcement that he would be receiving Mays’ Lifetime Achievement Award, the school’s highest honor given previously to only six other faculty members. 

“I am deeply honored to be the seventh,” says Sriskandarajah, a renowned scholar in the production and operations management field. “I am especially proud to be the first faculty member from the Department of Information and Operations Management to receive this distinction.”

Born into a modest, middle-class family in Sri Lanka, Sriskandarajah has had a stellar work ethic from the beginning. In a system where only a small fraction of students earn a public‑university seat, his undergraduate years were defined by long hours and sacrifice. That determination continued on a global scale, his academic path taking him from Sri Lanka to Thailand, France, Canada, and eventually to the U.S. and now Mays, where he joined the faculty as the Hugh Roy Cullen Chair in Business Administration in 2012.

“Professor Sriskandarajah’s scholarship reflects a career marked by rigor, relevance, and impact,” says Sharp. “His work has informed real-world decision-making across industries and helped advance how organizations think about efficiency, resilience, and operational design.”

A prolific mentor, Sriskandarajah often tells his students that there are no shortcuts in research — and advises them to sit with a problem for many hours, sometimes “hundreds of hours,” a tenet he himself practices. Before sunrise, you can find Sriskandarajah at his desk in a dark office starting at 4 a.m. dedicating hours to a single research problem. 

Dr. Chelliah Sriskandarajah mentors two Ph.D. Business Administration students in Operations and Supply Chain Management in the Wayne Roberts ’85 Building at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University.

Sriskandarajah’s research record, spanning production scheduling, robotic cells, supply chains, healthcare operations, and physical currency systems, is prolific — and a core reason for receiving the honor. His work has increased companies’ productivity by millions of dollars per week through improvements in semiconductor manufacturing. Sriskandarajah’s research on the currency supply chain provided practical guidelines for central banks to redesign how they manage notes and coins, reducing costly back-and-forth shipments and excess inventory. His models have demonstrated measurable improvement in efficiencies that will shape how these industries operate for years to come.

“Dr. Sriskandarajah’s career exemplifies the scholarly excellence and global impact that define Mays Business School,” says Mays Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship Dr. Rogelio Oliva. “His pioneering research and lifelong commitment to mentoring have shaped both industry practice and the next generation of scholars. We are honored to recognize his remarkable contributions to our field and community.”

A fellow of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), Sriskandarajah has proudly dedicated years of service to the professional organization, touching just about every aspect. 

He’s been an editor for its flagship journal, Production and Operations Management, for 20 years. He also held key leadership roles at POMS — including president, general chair of the annual conference, and eight years as associate executive director. The society now honors rising scholars with the award under his name “Chelliah Sriskandarajah Early Career Research Accomplishments Award,” underscoring how deeply his work has influenced the discipline. 

“Being recognized by one’s peers for sustained scholarly impact is extraordinarily meaningful,” says Sriskandarajah. “It affirms the relevance of my research and motivates me to continue contributing with renewed energy.”

Another major milestone in his career that makes up a lifetime of achievement are the 20 Ph.D. dissertations that Sriskandarajah has supervised. Those faculty are now spread across the globe, in prominent positions at major universities across the U.S., Canada, and Asia. He also has helped to guide and mentor junior faculty closer to home, right here at Mays.

Reflecting on what sets Texas A&M apart from the seven previous institutions he’s served or been educated in, Sriskandarajah says, “I have been around the world, and I have never seen a culture like Texas A&M. The Aggie Spirit, the politeness, the discipline of the students. The students’ unconditional loyalty to the institution and their pride in being Aggies is unlike anything I have encountered elsewhere.”

Grounded in the Aggie culture and recognition from his peers, he’s now turning the same 4 a.m. focus toward emerging challenges in healthcare operations and resilient supply chains, convinced that some of his most important problems are still ahead of him. Across nearly four decades and multiple continents, his work has reshaped production and operations and launched the careers of researchers now making their own positive impacts. And Sriskandarajah has no intention of stopping now. This Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes not a career winding down, but a scholar whose influence is still rising.