ISE News: Spring 2016

The ISE News are listed in reverse chronological order.

Dr. John Shewchuk named Interim Associate Department Head and Undergraduate Program Director

(July 1, 2016)  Associate professor John P. Shewchuk has been selected to serve as interim associate head and undergraduate program director of the ISE Department.  He will start this position on July 1, 2016 when the current associate head, Dr. Eileen M. Van Aken, begins her term as interim department head.

Dr. Shewchuk's teaching and research are in the areas of production and manufacturing systems.  He has been on faculty in the ISE department since 1995.

Dr. Eileen Van Aken named Interim Head of ISE Department

(June 24, 2016)  Professor and current ISE Associate Department Head Dr. Eileen M. Van Aken has been chosen as the interim head of the ISE department. She will start this role on July 1, 2016, when the current department head Dr. G. Don Taylor begins his term as the interim dean for the College of Engineering.

For more information, please go to the full story “Eileen Van Aken named interim department head of industrial and systems engineering” on the Virginia Tech News.

Class of 2016 Patrick Acker featured as entrepreneur on Virginia Tech News

(June 15, 2016)  Recent ISE alumnus Patrick Acker was featured as an entrepreneur on the Virginia Tech News. He and his business partner David Evans (a rising senior in Electrical Engineering major) are the inventors and company co-founders of Yard Mapper, a software system that tracks trailers and shipping containers at distribution centers, streamlining the process and saving manufacturers’ time and money. After the first system was installed, they won the People’s Choice award at the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Entrepreneurship Challenge Semifinals. They also won the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize at VT and advanced to the final ACC InVenture Prize competition at Georgia Tech this spring.

Yard Mapper is not the first organization Patrick has started; he founded the non-profit Cycling4aCure in 2013, making a bicycle journey from San Francisco to Virginia Beach in 46 days to raise money and awareness for cancer research and support.

Patrick also demonstrated his successful project management skills while at ISE. His senior design project team (with Kara Michelle Love, Ian Stanchi, Alexander Cyrus Talati) was selected to receive not only the Innovation and Creativity Award but also the People’s Choice Award at the 2016 ISE Senior Symposium.

For more information, please go to the article “College project becomes career for Keystone Fellow Patrick Acker” on the Virginia Tech News.

Related news: "Patrick Acker recognized as 2016 Keystone Fellow" (May 3, 2016)

ISE Alumnus C. Richard Cassady won IISE Distinguished Educator Award

(June 14, 2016)  ISE Alumnus Dr. C. Richard Cassady was selected to receive the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) at the annual conference in May. According to the award description, it recognizes educators who contributed significantly to the profession through teaching, research and publications, extension, innovation, or administration.

Dr. Cassady is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Director of the Freshman Engineering Program at the University of Arkansas. He has been a member of the Virginia Tech ISE Advisory Board since fall 2015. He holds a BS summa cum laude, an MS, and a PhD, all in Industrial and Systems Engineering from VT.

For more information, please visit the news page “Industrial Engineering Professor Receives Distinguished Educator Award” on the University of Arkansas website.

Evan and Rebecca Graupmann completed MEA degrees together in NCR

(June 6, 2016)  A wife and a husband graduated with Master of Engineering Administrations (MEA) degrees this May from ISE’s Extended Campus Graduate Programs in the National Capital Region (NCR). Evan and Rebecca Graupmann completed the MEA program in two years while working as consultants at Tysons, Virginia-based LMI (Logistics Management Institute). Their advisor was Professor Ken Harmon.

For the full story, please visit the news page, “Shared personal, professional, and academic lives proves a good formula for recent NCR graduates” on the Virginia Tech National Capital Region website.

ISE Alumna Kristy Casto interviewed by National Public Radio

(June 3, 2016)  ISE Alumna Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.) Kristen “Kristy” Casto was interviewed by National Public Radio (NPR) for the story about US Army’s smart earplug, which aims to boost soft, quiet sounds but reduce the intensity of loud sounds. She is an active-duty Army audiologist currently assigned to the Office of the Army Surgeon General where she serves as audiology and hearing conservation consultant to the Army Surgeon General. She earned a Ph.D. in Human Factors Engineering in 2009 and was inducted into the VT College of Engineering Academy of Engineering Excellence in 2015.

Army's Smart Earplug Damps Explosive Noise, But Can Enhance Whispers (3:13)

ISE Alumnus Kirk Spitzer inducted into VT Academy of Engineering Excellence

(May 17, 2016)  Virginia Tech College of Engineering recently inducted Kirk Spitzer as one of six new members into the Academy of Engineering Excellence.  Mr. Spitzer is a member of the ISE Class of 1967, Virginia Tech’s Ut Prosim Society, and a former member of the ISE Advisory Board. He became the 21^st ISE alumna/alumnae among more than 140 Academy of Engineering Excellence members.

For more information, please visit his ISE Alumni bio page and the news page “College of Engineering inducts six members into the Academy of Engineering Excellence” on the Virginia Tech News.

Kelsey Mericka featured as VT Athlete of the Week

(May 13, 2016)  ISE graduating senior Kelsey Mericka was recently recognized as the VT Athlete of the Week. She is a member of the VT Women’s Softball Team, and had her second grand slam homerun of the season to bring a victory against University of Virginia on Senior Day (April 30). Her picture from the Senior Day game was on the cover of the Hokie Sports weekly issued on May 3, 2016.

Kelsey was also a recipient of 2016 Top Female Scholar Athlete for VT, an honor that goes to those with the highest GPA in the 2015 calendar year. She was also the winner of the 2015 Skelton Award for Academic Excellence in Athletics. The award is the highest designation handed out by the Tech athletics department.

Navid Ghaffarzadegan and Kimberly Ellis received COE Dean’s Awards for Excellence

(May 11, 2016)  Two ISE faculty members received 2016 College of Engineering Dean’s Awards for Excellence at the 19^th Annual Dean’s Awards Reception. 

Assistant Professor Dr. Navid Ghaffarzadegan was awarded outstanding new professor at the May 3, 2016 College of Engineering Dean’s Awards. The prestigious award was given to those at Assistant Faculty rank with an aptitude for “teaching innovation, research, service, and outreach.  Navid served as a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT before joining the department in 2013 as an assistant professor. Navid works in the area of management systems, but he specializes in organizational and behavioral modeling in complex settings with a particular focus on system dynamics modeling.  Of the 15 journal articles he has published, 5 of them appear in System Dynamics Review journal.  A 2014 paper on the topic of PhD graduates in science, which was published in Systems Research and Behavioral Science journal, has been featured in Discover magazine and in Cosmos magazine. Navid has participated in externally funded grants totaling almost $10 million, with a personal share of almost $1 million. He receives high evaluations from his students and is a highly regarded graduate advisor as well.

Associate Professor Dr. Kimberly Ellis is a recipient of the College’s faculty fellow award, which carries a annual $5,000 account for the next three fiscal years to support her research. Kimberly,  of industrial and systems engineering, has published 19 journal articles, 3 book chapters, 17 conference papers, 21 technical reports to sponsors, and has earned 2 ‘Best Paper’ awards.  Kimberly has obtained 40 externally funded projects totaling over $8 million, with her share almost $2 million.  She has served as advisor for 5 PhD students and 10 master’s students. In collaboration with her peers, Kimberly has served on 17 graduate committees and a staggering 122 master’s project committees over the years. She is also the Director of the Center for Excellence in Logistics and Distribution -- one of the largest NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers, and the Director of the industrial and systems engineering’s Dover Manufacturing Systems Integration Laboratory. Kimberly has been selected for participation in several leadership development programs including the university’s prestigious Executive Development Institute.

For more information, please visit the news page "Engineering faculty receive 2016 dean's awards for excellence" on the College of Engineering website.

Joyce Vest nominated for the CASE Exemplary Employee Award

(May 4, 2016)  ISE Undergraduate Academic Advisor Joyce Vest was nominated for the 2016 College Association for Staff in Engineering (CASE) Exemplary Employee Award in the administrative category for her contributions to the ISE department. The award nominees and winner were announced at the annual CASE luncheon, which serves to enhance morale in the College of Engineering (COE) by recognizing staff for their outstanding contributions to both the college and the university at large. 

Patrick Acker recognized as 2016 Keystone Fellow

(May 3, 2016)  ISE senior Patrick Acker was recognized as one of the 2016 Keystone Fellows by the Virginia Tech Division of Student Affairs (DSA). The Keystone Fellows are the inaugural cohort who embody the Aspirations for Student Learning that the Keystone Experience helps students explore, practice and live in a holistic sense. Patrick was one of the 15 Keystone Fellows this year who were inducted on April 19, in a ceremony with President Tim Sands, Provost Thanassis Rikakis, and Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Perillo.

For more information about Patrick and his service contributions, please visit his bio page “Patrick Acker – Ut Prosim” on the Division of Student Affairs - Our Aspirations for Student Learning site.

For more information about the 2016 Keystone Fellows inductees, please visit “Inaugural cohort of Keystone Fellows announced” on the Virginia Tech News.

Greg Purdy won Outstanding Graduate Student Leader award

(April 29, 2016)  ISE Ph.D. student Greg Purdy received the 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student Leader award, given by Virginia Tech Student Centers and Activities. The award was conferred at the annual University Student Leadership Awards ceremony on April 28.  According to the award description, selection for the Outstanding Graduate Student Leader is based upon academic achievement and overall leadership and service within the Virginia Tech community. Purdy has had various leadership roles and position during his time at VT, including serving as the president of Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) last year. 

Dr. Joel Nachlas honored with emeritus status

(April 28, 2016)  Dr. Joel A. Nachlas, who retired from his Associate Professor position last month, has been conferred the title of “Associate Professor Emeritus” by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. He joins the department’s emeritus faculty which has more than 15 members.

For more information, please go to the full story “Joel A. Nachlas honored with emeritus status” on the Virginia Tech News.

Related news: “Dr. Joel Nachlas to retire in March” (March 2, 2016)

In Memoriam: Sandy Dalton, course management and outreach secretary

(April 27, 2016) Sandra “Sandy” G. Dalton, the course management and outreach secretary for the ISE department, passed away on April 22. She worked at Virginia Tech for 38 years, and in the ISE department this past 31 years.

For more information, please go to the full story, “In memoriam: Sandra G. Dalton, course management and outreach secretary of industrial systems engineering” on the Virginia Tech News.

2016 Senior Design Award winning teams and Undergraduate Research Award recipients announced

(April 27, 2016) The Senior Symposium & Undergraduate Research Poster Session was held at the Inn at Virginia Tech & Skelton Conference Center in Blacksburg, VA on April 26, 2016. The winning teams of the Senior Design Awards as well as the recipients of the undergraduate research awards were announced during the reception of the Symposium. Pictures of these award recipients and teams can be found on the 2016 ISE Senior Symposium: Awards and Reception page.

ISE Department Undergraduate Award recipients announced

(April 26, 2016)  The recipients of the ISE Department Undergraduate Awards were announced during the 2016 Academy of Distinguished Alumni Banquet on April 25, 2016. Pictures of those award recipients, as well as the Leadership Award nominees are posted on the 2016 ISE Dept. Undergraduate Award Winners page.

The Robert D. Dryden Outstanding Senior Award: Morgan Sannes

The Robert P. Davis Outstanding Junior Award: Kaitlin Roelofs and Abigail Smith

The Don Taylor Leadership Award: Meg Carper
 

Meg Carper Received Paul Givens Scholarship Award

(April 19, 2016)  ISE undergraduate student Meg Carper recently received the Paul Givens Scholarship Award from the Alpha Pi Mu. This is one of only four scholarship awards from the national office of Alpha Pi Mu.

Meg is a senior majoring in ISE with a minor in leadership and social change. She has served in various leadership roles and positions throughout her time at Virginia Tech, including as president of Virginia Tech Chapter of Alpha Pi Mu this year.

For more information, please go to the Alpha Pi Mu Award page.

2015-2016 ISE Outstanding Faculty and GTAs Award Winners Announced

(April 18, 2016)  Alpha Pi Mu is pleased to announce the following Outstanding Faculty and GTA Award winners. The recipients were selected by students for their outstanding teaching efforts this year. ISE Department Head Dr. Don Taylor recognized those winners at the ISE Spring Fiesta event on April 16.

Outstanding Faculty Award Winners: Dr. Natalie Cherbaka, Dr. Barbara Fraticelli

Outstanding GTA Award Winners: Babak Barazanandeh, Laura (Peveler) Savage (two years in a row!)

Academy of Distinguished Alumni to honor four individuals at upcoming banquet

(April 14, 2016)  The ISE Department announced the following people will be inducted into the ISE Academy of Distinguished Alumni:

Mr. John Montague, Class of 1967, President of John W. Montague Jr. Inc. (retired)

Dr. Janis Terpenny, Class of 1981 and 1996, Department Head of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Pennsylvania State University

Mr. Don Wittke (honorary alumnus), Director of Industrial Engineering at United Parcel Service

In addition to the new academy inductees, the following alumnus will receive the Marvin H. Agee Distinguished Alumni Award:

Dr. John A. White, Jr., Class of 1966, former Chancellor of University of Arkansas and Distinguished Professor of Department of Industrial Engineering at University of Arkansas

The awards will be presented during the 2016 Academy of Distinguished Alumni banquet in Blacksburg, Virginia on April 25, 2016.

ISE undergraduate program presentations and exhibit at Engineering Open House

(April 11, 2016)  ISE representatives will present at the on-campus Engineering Open House on Monday, April 18, 2016. The presenters include: Department Head Dr. Don Taylor, Associate Department Head and Undergraduate Program director Dr. Eileen Van Aken, Academic/Career Advisor Joyce Vest, and Academic/Program Advisor Paula Van Curen. Several ISE undergraduate students will also present on their experiences with coops/internships, senior design projects, study abroad, and undergraduate research projects during the “Student Activities within ISE” session in the afternoon.

ISE will have a display booth in Squire Student Center from 11am, as well as a tour of the Manufacturing Processes Laboratories in Durham Hall at 11am.

The Engineering Open House is for prospective students, juniors and seniors in high school.

Krissy Cantin Receives 2016 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

(April 7, 2016)  ISE graduate student Kristine “Krissy” Cantin have been selected to receive a prestigious and highly-competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship this year. According to the NSF GRFP website, she was one of eight fellowship recipients at Virginia Tech, and one of 2000 awardees among approximately 17,000 applicants of the GRFP in 2016.

Krissy has been a Ph.D. student in ISE since the Fall of 2014 with advisor Dr. Maury Nussbaum. Her research interests include: behavioral monitoring, disabilities and progression, gait and measures of variability, data analytics and machine learning (specifically as applied to physical disabilities), and rehabilitation.

ISE exhibit at Systems Engineering Conference in Northern Virginia

(March 24, 2016)  Prof. Ken Harmon, Associate Professor and Director of the Systems Engineering Program at Virginia Tech, has announced that the Virginia Tech Systems Engineering Program will sponsor an exhibit at the SEDC 2016 Conference from March 31 to April 1, 2016 at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles in Chantilly, Virginia.  SEDC 2016 will be one of the largest systems engineering conferences in the United States this year - ISE faculty and students will represent Virginia Tech at one of the several exhibition booths (B-1 on the map of the Sponsors page).

If you are attending the conference or in the area on March 31^st, please stop by the Virginia Tech booth at SEDC 2016 to learn more about systems engineering, Virginia Tech’s popular MS degree program in systems engineering, and various areas where systems engineering is now being applied. We look forward to seeing you there!

Dr. John G. Casali wins the 2016 Safe-in-Sound Innovation Award from NIOSH and NHCA

(Update on June 3, 2016) This story was featured under the title "Virginia Tech laboratory to receive Safe-in-Sound Innovation Award" on the Virginia Tech News.

(March 18, 2016) Virginia Tech's John Grado Professor Dr. John G. Casali has won the Safe-in-Sound Award for Innovation in Hearing Conservation, which is considered to be a top U.S. Award in hearing/hearing conservation given jointly by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA). The award is given based on a rigorous committee review by both NIOSH and NHCA. The 2016 award also recognizes the many contributions of ISE’s Auditory Systems Laboratory, founded by Dr. Casali in 1983 and of which he currently serves as Director, as well as the efforts of Dr. Kichol Lee, Research Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

The award was presented at the 41^st Annual Conference of the National Hearing Conservation Association in San Diego, CA on February 19, 2016. NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard, M.D., came from Washington, DC to present the award in person to Dr. Casali and the other recipient, 3M Abrasive Systems Division. The Safe-in-Sound award has primarily been given to corporations or government agencies, as well as two university educational programs in music and audio engineering. However, the Auditory Systems Laboratory at VT is the first academic research laboratory to receive the award for Innovation. In making the award presentation, Dr. Howard stated that 

"The work of the Auditory Systems Laboratory is unique in that it combines human factors engineering with acoustics and audiology to solve research questions in many aspects of auditory perception and hearing health. ... Their initiatives to study the user's ability to hear, perceive, and respond to important auditory stimuli in their environments -- that is, the ability to maintain "Auditory Situation Awareness," are recognized as innovative and broad reaching, and are considered critical to the improvement of hearing protection devices and the safety of their wearers. The ultimate beneficiaries of this work are primarily military personnel, but also workers in jobs which impose hazards that stem from not being able to hear important signals and communications. John Casali’s example and leadership instills a culture of scientific rigor, precision, and attention to detail that contributes to practical solutions in the real world of hazardous noise exposures."

Over the past two years, Drs. Casali and Lee developed a comprehensive, objective test battery for the U.S. Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence, and delivered it in November, 2015. This test battery, inclusive of psychophysical instrumentation and human subject protocols, enables formal evaluation of hearing protectors and tactical headsets as to their impacts on a soldier's auditory situation awareness. It is known as the Virginia Tech "DRILCOM" test, in view that it evaluates 4 elements of hearing-related situation awareness: Detection, Recognition/Identification, Localization, and COMmunications. This test battery comprised one of the innovations that led to the Safe-in-Sound award, along with several patents and seminal publications.

Former ISE Faculty Dr. Smith-Jackson Joins Advisory Board

(March 16, 2015) Please welcome Dr. Tonya Smith-Jackson to the ISE Advisory Board! Dr. Smith-Jackson is currently the Chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (NC A&T) State University in Greensboro, NC. She spent 14 years at Virginia Tech as a faculty member in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and has worked with students and other faculty members within and outside the department. She will be the 18th member of the current ISE Advisory Board, and will attend the next Board meeting in April 2016. 

Please go to her bio page for more information about Dr. Smith-Jackson. 

Welcome [back] to VT ISE, Dr. Smith-Jackson!

Dr. James Kong as Co-Chair of ISERC at 2016 IIE Annual Conference & Expo

(March 11, 2016)  Associate Professor Dr. Zhenyu “James” Kong is serving as one of the co-chairs of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference (ISERC) at the IIE Annual Conference and Expo this year. The ISERC is one of the most popular conferences to attend for ISE students and faculty, and it has been a great networking event with the ISE alumni as well as people from other universities and organizations. The conference this year will be held from May 21-24 at Disneyland Resort Hotel in Anaheim, California.

Feel free to contact Dr. Kong (email) for any questions about the 2016 ISERC, especially about the NSF Student Travel Grants (due Sunday, March 20, 2016).

Dr. Joel Nachlas to retire in March 2016

(March 2, 2016)  Associate Professor Dr. Joel A. Nachlas retired from his position on March 1, 2016. He was a VT ISE faculty member for the last 41 years.

After earning his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Nachlas earned his MS and PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. He was briefly an instructor there, and joined the ISE department (then called IEOR) at Virginia Tech in 1974.

During his tenure in ISE, he made quite a name for himself in the Reliability and Quality Control research community. He has written three books and has produced many high-quality publications in his field. He served as Associate Editor for the IIE Transactions on Quality and Reliability, and for many years has served as Editor for the proceedings of the annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS). He has won numerous awards based on the quality of his contributions, and he is a Fellow of two societies; the Society of Reliability Engineers (SRE) and the American Society for Quality (ASQ).

Dr. Nachlas has also been a strong advocate for international programs within the COE, and has completed three different sabbatical leaves in France; first at the University of Angers and then twice more at the University of Nice. He has been a true leader in developing and maintaining the relationship between ISE and Ecole des Mines de Nantes, including our dual MS degree program.

Dr. Nachlas is also an accomplished athlete and coach. At Johns Hopkins, he played as a mid-fielder on a National Championship Lacrosse team. After joining Virginia Tech, he served as coach of the men's lacrosse team for more than 30 years. He was as dedicated to his student athletes as he was to his students in the classroom, and he led his team to many victories. He won a number of coaching awards, including the prestigious US Lacrosse National Coach of the Year award in 2001.

Dr. Nachlas will be greatly missed after he retires for many reasons, especially his service orientation to the students and constant contributions to the department missions. The ISE department wishes him all the best during his very well-deserved retirement.

Related news: “Dr. Joel Nachlas honored with emeritus status” (April 28, 2016)

Dr. Eileen Van Aken will be the keynote speaker at the Lean Government Conference

(February 25, 2016)  Professor and Associate Department Head Dr. Eileen Van Aken will be the speaker for the keynote address at the “Implementing Lean: Operational Excellence for Local Government” conference in Roanoke, Virginia. Her speech is titled “The Critical Role of Continuous Improvement Projects in Lean Transformation,” and she will present lessons learned and best practices based on years of applied research and experience in conducting Continuous Improvement Projects (CIPs) across many types of organizations.

Dr. Van Aken’s keynote address is scheduled at 8:30am on Friday, March 4, 2016 at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. Please go to the conference web page for more information.

Drs. Douglas Bish and Ebru Bish received 2016 Best Applications Paper Award in IIE Transactions: Operations Engineering and Analytics

(February 17, 2016)  The paper "Going beyond ‘same-for-all’ testing of infectious agents in donated blood" by Associate Professors Drs. Douglas Bish and Ebru Bish has been selected as the Best Applications Paper in the IIE Transactions Focused Issue on Operations Engineering and Analytics for 2016. This paper is part of an NSF-funded collaborative research project between Drs. Bish of Virginia Tech's ISE department and Dr. Susan Stramer from the American Red Cross.

Bish, D.R., Bish, E.K., Xie, S.R., and Stramer, S.L., (2014). Going beyond ``same-for-all" testing of infectious agents in donated blood. IIE Transactions Special Issue: Operations Engineering and Analytics, 46(11):1147-1168.

Dr. Navid Ghaffarzadegan appointed as Associate Editor of System Dynamics Review

(February 15, 2016)  Assistant Professor Dr. Navid Ghaffarzadegan was recently appointed as an Associate Editor of System Dynamics Review. The Review is a leading journal in the fields of Systems Sciences, Systems Thinking, and System Dynamics.

Dr. Subhash Sarin won Best Paper Award at ISDSI International Conference

(February 11, 2016)  Paul T. Norton Endowed Professor Dr. Subhash Sarin won a Best Paper Award for his paper “Lot Streaming” that he presented at the 9th Indian Subcontinent Decision Sciences Institute (ISDSI) International Conference held in Goa, India in January 2-4, 2016.

Lot streaming has typically been applied to the flow shop environment. In the awarded paper, Dr. Sarin and his colleagues presented the results of its application to a new configuration of a two-stage assembly system. Closed-form solutions and optimum seeking methods are presented for various versions of this problem.

Dr. Don Taylor named interim dean of College of Engineering

(February 10, 2016)  ISE Department Head and Charles O. Gordon Professor Dr. G. Don Taylor has been chosen as the interim dean of the College of Engineering (COE). He will become a member of the leadership transition team in the COE this month and will serve as interim dean when the current dean Dr. Richard Benson departs for his new position as president of University of Texas at Dallas.

For more information, please go to the full story “Don Taylor to be interim dean of College of Engineering” on the Virginia Tech News.

Dr. Alejandro Salado Recognized as "Teacher of the Week" by VT Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research

(February 5, 2016)  Assistant Professor Dr. Alejandro Salado has been recognized as "Teacher of the Week" by Virginia Tech Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research (CIDER). He was recognized for his teaching methods which involve of embedding uncertainty in all aspects of a course so that students embrace decision-making, bounding theory with real-world constraints. This process helps students understand how basic concepts can be affected by or affect actual situations beyond school, as well as foster critical thinking.

For more information, please go to the full story “Virginia Tech Teacher of the Week: Aljejandro Salado” on the CIDER website.

Dr. James Kong received Honorable Mention in Best Applications Paper Competition of IIE Transactions: Quality and Reliability Engineering

(January 27, 2016)  Associate Professor Dr. Zhenyu "James" Kong’s paper has been given a honorable mention designation in the 2016 Best Applications Paper Award Competition of the IIE Transactions Focused Issue on Quality and Reliability Engineering. The paper, “High-dimensional Process Monitoring and Change Point Detection Using Embedding Distributions in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS),” was co-authored by Dr. Shuai Huang from the University of Washington-Seattle, and Dr. Wenzhen Huang from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

Dr. Kong and his co-authors have been invited to present their paper as a part of the IIE Transactions Best Papers session at the ISERC (Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference), which will be held at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, CA, May 21- 24, 2016.

Huang, S., Kong, Z. and Huang W. (2014). “High-dimensional Process Monitoring and Change Point Detection Using Embedding Distributions in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS),” IIE Transactions Special Issue: Quality and Reliability Engineering, Vol. 46, No. 10, pp. 999-1016.

Hadi El-Amine was a Finalist for the Pierskalla Award for the Best Paper at INFORMS 2015

(January 20, 2016)  The paper, "Robust Post-donation Blood Screening under Prevalence Rate Uncertainty", co-authored by ISE PhD student Hadi El-Amine and his advisors, Dr. Ebru Bish and Dr. Douglas Bish, was selected a finalist for the Pierskalla Award for the Best Paper in Healthcare at the 2015 INFORMS Conference in Philadelphia, PA.

The paper studies the problem of determining a robust testing scheme for screening the donated blood for transfusion-transmittable infections, including, among others, HIV, hepatitis B and C viruses, babesiosis, and West Nile virus, considering that infection prevalence rates in the population are not known with certainty and need to be estimated via surveillance studies. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States requires all blood donations to be tested for certain infections, it does not dictate which particular tests should be used by blood collection centers. Multiple FDA-licensed blood screening tests are available for each infection, and screening tests are imperfectly reliable and have different costs. This work characterizes structural properties of robust testing schemes and develops efficient and exact algorithms. A case study of the United States provides important insight on public policy.

ISE Alumnus Allen Campbell Named Senior Director in VT’s Enterprise Systems

(January 13, 2016) Allen Campbell, ISE alumnus (MS in Operations Research) has been appointed as a Senior Director of Application Architecture and Planning in Enterprise Systems (e.g., Banner, MyVT, HokieMart), a unit of Information Technology at Virginia Tech. He will facilitate the planning and delivery of enterprise-level services, and coordinate the project portfolio for Enterprise Systems. He will also serve as deputy to the Associate Vice President, providing overall leadership for the Enterprise Systems organization.

For more information, please go to the full story, “Allen Campbell named senior director of application architecture and planning” in the Virginia Tech News.

ISE Welcomes Two New Faculty in Spring 2016

(January 8, 2015)  The ISE Department would like to welcome two new faculty in Spring 2016: Dr. Niyousha Hosseinichimeh in Management Systems Engineering, and Dr. Divya Srinivasan in Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics.

Dr. Niyousha Hosseinichimeh joined the ISE faculty as an Assistant Professor in January 2016. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Iran, and a Master’s degree as well as a PhD in Public Administration and Policy from SUNY-Albany. During the past two years, she has served as a Postdoctoral Associate in our department, working under the direction of Dr. Hazhir Rahmandad.

Dr. Hosseinichimeh’s project with Dr. Rahmandad focused on a systems approach to the dynamic modeling of a major human health problem: adult depression. In this work, she developed data-informed models which work as platforms for simulation-based policy analysis of major depressive disorders. Most of her employment history and many of her current publications are in the field of healthcare, but she has also contributed to projects related to the potential privatization of public assets. Her most recent publications are in the field of system dynamics.

Dr. Divya Srinivasan also started working as an Assistant Professor in the ISE department in January 2016. Dr. Srinivasan brings expertise in human factors engineering and ergonomics, and more specifically she has recently been working on various aspects of human health and performance in occupational settings with a goal to help in designing more sustainable jobs. She will be teaching ISE 5614: Human Physical Capabilities this spring semester.

Dr. Srinivasan holds a BSEE Degree from Anna University in Chennai, India and has two MS Degrees from the University of Michigan; one in Industrial Engineering and one in Biomedical Engineering. She also has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Prior to coming to VT, she was an EU Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Musculoskeletal Research at the University of Gävle, in Sweden.