Collin Drent is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management in the School of Industrial Engineering. His research focuses on personalized decision-making, a paradigm that utilizes population heterogeneity to deliver tailored decisions and improve outcomes. This requires learning from data to determine optimal actions and timing, adapting dynamically to evolving conditions (e.g., patients needing treatment or systems requiring maintenance). Collin leverages tools from operations research, statistics, and machine learning to advance personalized decision-making, with applications in maintenance, manufacturing, and healthcare operations.

His work has been published in leading journals, including Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and the European Journal of Operational Research, and has been recognized by the Willem R. van Zwet Award and Beta Award. His research is currently funded by a VENI early career grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Collin also serves on the board of the Dutch OR Society.

Collin Drent earned his B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering (2015) and M.Sc. in Operations Management and Logistics (2017), both with cum laude honors, from Eindhoven University of Technology. In 2022, he completed his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, also with the cum laude distinction (highest honors, top 5%), from the same institution.