Omar Bah wants to work in humanitarian logistics so that he can make the world a better place — and do it as efficiently as possible.

Bah coordinated movement of trucks for the United Nations’ World Food Program, helping distribute food and supplies to needy families who lost their crops due to drought. He also worked for UNICEF on moving the United Nations’ millennium development goals forward by monitoring the progress of school and health facility renovations in West Africa.

“I saw directly how humanitarian logistics plays a crucial role in helping the needy in times of natural disasters and crises,” he said. “My field of supply chain was inspired by the experiences that I had. A key to success in the field of humanitarian logistics is to have a good knowledge of supply chain management.”

So when looking to earn his graduate degree in business analytics with a concentration is supply chain, the international student chose UM-Dearborn to get the education needed to make an even stronger impact in humanitarian logistics.

Bah said the research experiences he has gained on campus have given him insight on conducting research, writing reports and giving presentations.

Presenting at local and regional conferences, Bah talked about how he assisted the City of Dearborn Fire Department on how to strategize fire station locations and resource distribution to have response times under the national average. To do this, Bah used data analytics from three years of 911 emergency calls  (450,000-plus calls) and identified solutions for the department to consider by using software and analytics.

“The exposure and experience was a big motivator to keep working hard as the research you do can go a long way in changing or helping a lot of people within your community and the country at large,“ he said. “If my education can help create community change, I will be very happy.”