René (M.) B.M. de Koster is a professor of logistics and operations management at the Department of Technology and Operations Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). After completing his PhD at Eindhoven University of Technology (1988) he worked as a consultant. He joined Erasmus University in 1995. Professor De Koster's research interests are warehousing, material handling, container terminal operations, behavioural operations and sustainable logistics. He is the author and editor of eight books and over 250 papers published in books and journals such as OR, POM, JOM, TS, IISE T, EJOR, and Interfaces. He is in the editorial boards of eight academic journals, a fellow of two reseach schools, chairman of Stichting Logistica, and founder of the Material Handling Forum. Professor De Koster is involved in teaching at RSM at all levels: bachelor, master, post-experience, and executive development. He held the honorary Francqui chair for Hasselt University in 2018 and was recently mentioned as “the most influential researcher” in material handling.