The Department of Defense (DOD) is the major consumer of energy within the Federal government, and it has been directed to implement cost cutting measures related to energy dependence through numerous Executive Orders and Congressional legislation. As a result, the DOD released an Energy Strategy which outlines ways to reduce energy requirements in order to meet both Presidential and Congressional mandates for energy security. With this research, we provide a historical review (1973-2014) of energy policy, legislation, and research. Additionally we identify gaps between strategy and research. The results show that DOD energy research lacks a unifying structure and guiding framework. We propose a knowledge management framework to unify and guide research efforts in direct support of the DOD Energy Strategy.

Inventory management is widely researched and the topic is taught in business programs across the spectrum of operations and supply chain management. However, the concepts are notoriously difficult for students to practice once they finish school and become managers responsible for inventory control. This article explains the structure and details of an inventory management class module designed to bridge the gap between learning inventory management theory and applying the learning to practice. Through an active learning exercise, groups of logistics management graduate students in two sections of an introductory inventory management class (in‐residence and online) are taught the exchange curve concept, introduced to its use in practice, and given a tool for implementing this learning in a variety of practical scenarios. The exercise is valuable as it is well suited for students with a limited math background because it allows the exchange curve concept to be taught and demonstrated without presenting complicated mathematics. A three‐tiered assessment of the exercise reveals its effectiveness in meeting the goals of providing an engaging and interesting use of learning time and giving the students an in‐depth practical understanding of the exchange curve concept. The exercise is designed to be equally useful for application in an undergraduate class.

Supply chain management students are introduced to a variety of modeling concepts. Yet learning facility location and capacity allocation modeling to the level of application and mastery proves difficult for the typical undergraduate business student. Spreadsheets facilitate the teaching of optimization modeling; however, providing feedback to students on spreadsheet assignments is an onerous and time-consuming task for instructors. In this teaching brief, a set of learning management system (LMS)-integrated spreadsheet exercises is presented which helps students learn spreadsheet modeling for the capacitated plant location problem. These exercises are also designed to reduce the instructor's grading burden while providing timely feedback and assessment of student performance. The effectiveness of the exercises is demonstrated by assessment data gathered from the LMS as well as postmodule student survey results.

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