Ideas with Impact
UNB Faculty of Management

Rebecca Angeles, a professor in the Management Information Systems area, is making a name for herself and the University of New Brunswick (UNB) through her research.

Back in 2005, Dr. Angeles wrote an article on a fairly unknown topic—Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology. Interest in RFID was just starting to pick up when her article, "RFID technologies: Supply-chain applications and implementation issues", was published.

Radio frequency identification is a small tag that is attached to products and stores information such as the product identification number, price, cost, manufacture date, and location. These tags are becoming increasingly important for closing information gaps in supply chains, especially in retailing and logistics.

What made the article so popular was that it combined all of the existing information on RFID technology into one source and made the information easily accessible to novice researchers and supply chain managers.

The article has made her the most cited researcher in the field, with over 45 citations. Dr. Angeles’ work has also resulted in UNB being ranked in the top three for institutional contributors in the RFID technology field.

The use of RFID can have serious implications in business. As Dr. Angeles comments, “RFIDs can dramatically improve a company’s efficiency and productivity”. Major companies, such as Wal-Mart and Boeing have been using RFID for years to track products and to assist with complex assembly.

In a field that is growing and advancing so quickly, being one of the first and most influential researchers is an amazing feat. Dr. Angeles is not done yet though; she plans to continue her research on RFID for many years to come.