Sošić and her students analyze the effects of supply chains on the environment and explore new, sustainable methods. The professor didn’t just want her students challenging companies though. She asked them all to calculate their own carbon footprint. Many of them were shocked to discover their own impact on the environment. According to Sošić, lessons like these have already left a significant impression on students.

“I remember somebody wrote [in a student comment], ‘this is the first course I took at Marshall that wasn’t just talking about profits and reducing costs and increasing revenues, but actually looking at something,’” said Sošić.

Unlike other courses, Sošić’s class is a practical call to action, an urgent plea with a younger generation to stand up and change the systems that have brought the world to an environmental boiling point.

“As a researcher, as an educator, there is much more you can do,” said Sošić. “If you try to motivate your students to do something more, then perhaps something more can happen.”

When it comes to the global supply chain, it can be difficult for students to determine what “something more” is, especially when the issues center on macroeconomics and multinational corporations. Nick Vyas doesn’t shy away from the enormity of the dilemma though; he embraces it.

“In the class I’m teaching called The Global Supply Chain Management in International Settings (DSO 557A), I actually speak extensively in the modules regarding the role of the government — how government can enable the ecosystem that’s business-friendly. And converse to that: how government can stifle the progress.”

To illustrate the relationship between geopolitics and the supply chain, Vyas offered the example of the Russia-Ukraine War. For 35 years following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, post-Soviet Russia built their economy into a substantial power. Within eighteen months though, their entire system was shattered, thanks to sanctions brought on by the Russian army’s 2022 invasion of their southwest neighbor.

As Vyas pointed out, geopolitics are not merely a factor of world business. They are the cause and effect of the global supply chain.

“As a supply chain professional, as a business leader, one cannot have their head in the sand,” said Vyas.

Vyas and Sošić are certainly trying to keep their students’ heads out of the sand. They push themselves to remain on the cutting edge of today’s most pressing issues, and it appears that the people in charge are taking notice. The institute works with governments to provide advisory services. Vyas himself has served on various committees under three U.S. presidents.

This active engagement is crucial for the institute to remain relevant in a turbulent field. The world’s market has drastically shifted from where it was when the institute was founded 11 years ago. Those immense changes are compounded with new challenges, like geopolitical struggles and a desperate push toward sustainability. Ultimately though, the rewards will be far greater than money.

“I don’t just want you to be rewarded with millions of dollars in bonuses because you delivered a profit. That’s one part of your job. But are you responsible with your governments? And are you supporting sustainable practices?”

These questions aren’t going away any time soon. In the meantime, Vyas, Sošić, and the institute will attempt to remain on the front lines of a humanitarian fight most people hadn’t heard of four years ago.