Industrial and Systems Fall 2019 Newsletter

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Fall 2019 Newsletter

Industrial & Systems engineering

New ISE Alumni Auburn INFORMS Chapter Wins Highest Award at National Meeting Department Welcomes Two New Faculty Members Project MFG: Igniting Change in the Manufacturing Industry

Auburn ISE

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“Normal people... believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.” — Scott Adams, cartoonist & author

Front cover: Professor Richard Sesek hosted a Foosball tournament in the Shelby Center lobby in conjunction with FHWS professor Marcus Schulz (pictured with Aubie), USA Professional Table Soccer player Tom Yore and Leonhart CEO Christian Fiedler on April 1 for students to compete and discuss innovative design and manufacturing techniques.

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CONTENTS 04

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From the Chair

Project MFG

Hall of Fame Inductees

Executives in Residence

Faculty Highlight

INFORMS Aw a r d

New Faculty

Alumni of t h e Ye a r

Tiger Cage

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From the Department Chair The ISE Department completed an outstanding year and showed continuous growth, with a 7% increase in undergraduate enrollment and a 329% increase in online students over the past five years. In 2018, the department awarded 10 doctoral degrees, 77 masters, and 122 undergraduate degrees. The department’s research activities have also steadily increased. Last year, the ISE department achieved a record-breaking $2.5 million+ in new research awards. These new initiatives include awards by the U.S. Army for the manufacturing “Grand Challenge,” several new awards under the Center for Occupational Safety, Ergonomics and Injury Prevention, electronics packaging and reliability, vehicle manufacturing, and awards in the department’s data analytics research program. With the expansion in student numbers and research awards, the College of Engineering has provided several new faculty positions to ISE over the last few years. This fall, we are happy to have two new young faculty joining the ISE department. Dr. Jia (Peter) Liu is joining us from AT&T after receiving his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. Dr. Liu’s expertise is in the area of data analytics for advanced manufacturing. Also joining us is Dr. Konstantinos Mykoniatis from Wichita State University where he was serving in a research faculty position. Dr. Mykoniatis is a graduate of University of Central Florida and his area of expertise is in computer simulation and Industry 4.0. With these new additions, Auburn ISE now has 19 tenure/tenure track, research, and professional faculty. This is a 40% increase over the last four years. Last year, the department launched a new Data Analytics certificate program. This program is designed to provide graduate education to on-campus and online students in the area of data systems. Dr. Jeff Smith is coordinating this program with Dr. Jorge Valenzuela and Dr. Alice Smith. The program has the potential of significant growth and can be integrated into the masters and Ph.D. degrees as well. The INFORMS and IISE Student Chapters received national recognition for their outstanding participation and performance during the year of 2017-2018. INFORMS received the Annual Award (Summa Cum Laude). The student leader for INFORMS is Nasrin Mohabbati Kalejahi and the faculty advisor is Dr. Alex Vinel. IISE achieved the Gold status ranking. The student leader for IISE is Julie Sarasua and the faculty advisor is Dr. LuAnn Carpenter. From the Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management (TWC), which is housed in ISE, Dr. Valenzuela led a very successful study abroad program in Schweinfurt, Germany at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg- Schweinfurt. Last summer, 30 students spent six weeks in Germany working on applied industry projects with local German companies. Dr.

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Sesek, Dr. Carpenter, and Dr. Purdy also assisted with the projects in Schweinfurt. The TWC’s Business-Engineering-Technology (BET) program now exceeds 100 students, and the newly launched Master of Engineering Management now exceeds 30 students. Dr. Alice Smith has been selected as a Fulbright Specialist and will work with University of La Sabana (near Bogota, Colombia) for 2 weeks in March 2020 to assist them with their new program, curriculum and classes in data analytics for graduate students. Fulbright is the world’s largest and most diverse international educational exchange program. Dr. Smith will be among Fulbright alumni who have gone on to become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, CEOs, and university presidents, as well as leading journalists, artists, scientists, and teachers (including 60 Nobel Laureates, 86 Pulitzer Prize winners, 72 MacArthur Fellows, 16 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients.) Dr. Mark Schall was awarded a coveted NIOSH Mentored Research Scientist Development Grant (K01) of $324,000 to conduct the study, “Advancing Workplace Safety Surveillance with Ambulatory Inertial Sensors,” to develop methods of measuring the effects of physical risk factors in industries such as manufacturing, in order to minimize the occurrences of workrelated musculoskeletal disorders. The rapid growth and expansion ISE has seen requires solutions to current office and lab space constraints. Plans are in the works to renovate the OS&E Village to create space for six new faculty offices. The plans also include a next-generation graduate teaching classroom, complete with advanced teaching technologies and capabilities (AR, VR, etc.) This expansion also involves extending Auburn and ISE’s role in regional industry (automotive, aerospace, cybersecurity, military, healthcare). Growth, renovation, and expansions will culminate in an enhanced student experience by lowering the student-to-faculty ratio and redesigning teaching methods to meet the needs of the ever-evolving student.

John L. Evans Department Chair Charles D. Miller Endowed Chair


DEPARTMENT UPDATES DEPARTMENT UPDATES

The Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and the Harbert College of Business partnered in a joint Executive in Residence program that integrated distinguished alumni and executives into the colleges. Joe Forehand, ’71 industrial engineering and former Accenture CEO and chairman, and his wife, Gayle, ’70 business administration, served as the executives in residence during the six-week program from Jan. 28 to March 8. “Joe and Gayle bring a wealth of experience, knowledge, energy and passion to campus, and we are excited to welcome them as our first executives in residence,” said Christopher B. Roberts, dean of engineering. “Their commitment and steadfast dedication to both colleges, and the university as a whole, is inspiring and we hope our students and faculty will reap the rewards of having such distinguished alumni on campus for the duration of the program.”

10 d o c to ral d egree s awarded

Forehands Serve as Executives in Residence

During their time on campus, the Forehands worked with each college as

Joe and Gayle Forehand served as Executives in Residence during the Spring 2019 semester for Auburn’s Colleges of Business and Engineering.

guest lecturers and speakers; hosted roundtable lunches with students; hosted critical feedback roundtables with faculty and staff; led seminars on women in engineering and business, branding and marketing; worked with the collaborative Business-Engineering-Technology, or BET, program between the colleges; met regularly with student organizations; and hosted office hours. The Forehands also delivered a presentation titled “What you need to know to be a leader” for engineering’s Ginn Leadership Seminar. “Joe and Gayle embody the spirit of Auburn. They believe in work, hard work. And they always give back,” said Annette L. Ranft, dean of the Harbert College of Business. “We are so appreciative of the Forehands’ time and their willingness to share their wealth of knowledge with our students, faculty and staff. As executives in residence, they will inspire the next generation of Auburn graduates and prepare them to become the global business leaders of tomorrow.” Following his time at Auburn, Joe earned a master’s degree in industrial management from Purdue University in 1972, and then received an honorary doctorate in management by the institution. He served in the United States Army before beginning a 34-year career with Accenture, where he served as CEO from 19992004 and as the company’s chairman from 200106. In 2001, Joe led Accenture in its rebranding and IPO, one of the largest in U.S. history. During his term as CEO, Accenture grew from $9.6 billion in revenue and 66,000 employees to $13.7 billion in revenue and 103,000 employees. Joe is a former chair of the Auburn Industrial Engineering Alumni Advisory Committee. He was previously named Alumni of the Year by the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and received the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council’s Distinguished Engineer Award in 1999. Joe was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2002, and he has served eight years on the Auburn University Foundation Board, including four years as chairman of the Investment Committee.

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES Gayle worked as a staff accountant at Purdue, chief accountant at Emory University and assistant controller at Emory University Clinic.

published in several top tier journals, such as IISE Transactions, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and one publication is featured in the January 2019 issue of ISE Magazine. He also has practical work experience in different industries, such as energy, manufacturing, and media, applying big data analytics and operations research to support critical business decisions in production and operation.

The Forehands are members of the College of Engineering’s Strategic Leadership Team, in addition to philanthropic memberships in the university’s 1856 and Petrie societies, as well as engineering’s Ginn Society. Joe previously established the Forehand/Accenture Distinguished Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering, which is held by Alice Smith, while Gayle’s benevolence directly reaches the classrooms at Lowder Hall, where Supply Chain Management Professor Beth Davis-Sramek holds the Gayle Parks Forehand Professorship.

ISE Welcomes Two New Faculty Members The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering has completed their search for additional faculty to join the department beginning fall 2019. The selected faculty, Jia (Peter) Liu and Konstantinos Mykoniatis, come to us with experience in industry and academia. Jia (Peter) Liu graduated from Virginia Tech with a Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering and an M.S. in statistics. He also received a B.S. and an M.S. in electrical engineering from China’s Zhejiang University. His research interests include data-driven modeling and quality control for additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence in advanced manufacturing, industrial IoT and big data analytics, and robotics. His work has been

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77 m a ste r ’s de gre e s con fer red

In addition to their support of students and faculty in the Ginn College of Engineering and the Harbert College of Business, Joe and Gayle served as campaign co-chairs during Auburn University’s $1.2 billion Because This is Auburn — A Campaign for Auburn University.

Konstantinos Mykoniatis has a B.S. in production engineering and management from Technical University of Crete and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in modeling and simulation from University of Central Florida. Prior to joining Auburn University, Mykoniatis worked as an assistant professor at Wichita State University and as a simulation instructor at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems at UCF. In addition to his academic positions, Mykoniatis has held professional engineering positions as a modeling and simulation professional in the Business Analytics and Industrial Engineering division of

Peter Liu brings his wealth of knowledge in data-driven modeling and quality control, AI, and robotics.


DEPARTMENT UPDATES Universal Orlando Parks and Resorts, the Institute for Simulation and Training, the Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering, and the Public Power Corporation S.A Hellas. He has a noteworthy record of national and international honors and awards, peer reviewed publications and book chapters. Mykoniatis has contributed to research projects funded by the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance, among others, and he is a recipient of three National Science Foundation awards. His research work has covered a wide variety of topics, including modeling and simulation applications, virtual interactive environments, and mechatronics and autonomous robotic applications. His primary research interests are in the areas of multi-paradigm modeling and simulation, robotics and automation, innovation and serious games for training.

Modeling for Data Analytics and Operations graduate certificate officially launched The modeling for data analytics and operations graduate certificate was officially approved by the Board of Trustees on June 7, 2019. Jeff Smith, Alice Smith and Jorge Valenzuela have worked to build the program from the ground up and the first course for the program was taught in fall 2018.

Konstantinos Mykoniatis brings his experience in modeling and simulation, virtual reality, and mechatronics.

Modeling for Data Analytics and Operations G R A D U AT E C E R T I F I C AT E

aub.ie/datacert

The certificate aims to familiarize students with data analysis tools such as Python, R, Jupyter and other data visualization tools. The certificate requires four classes to complete and the only math prerequisite is undergraduate probability and statistics. Data visualization is becoming an even more important and desired skill set as the world progresses toward a more digitally savvy workforce. The program is offered online or on campus. Auburn ISE

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES

The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering is home to several graduate certificate programs, one of which is the top-performing occupational safety and ergonomics graduate certificate.

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Over the past 10 years, the OSE certificate program has graduated 130 new Auburn alumni. Former students of the program have gone on to work in significant EHS positions in organizations such as Bank of America, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Gulfstream, NASA, and numerous others. The certificate program’s lead faculty member, Jerry Davis, says “Time and time again, we hear that it is the graduate coursework in tandem with the experiences students have in our program(s) that open up these doors for them, and provide them an advantage in accelerating their careers.”

27 O SE ce r ti f ic ates awa rd ed

Graduate certificate in Occupational Safety & Ergonomics turns ten

years

Courses on topics such as environmental hazards, human factors, and occupational safety and ergonomics are offered. Students who complete the 15 credit-hour certificate leave with a holistic understanding of the processes and cautionary steps taken to ensure a safe and productive workplace. The program is recognized by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).

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Auburn ISE


DEPARTMENT UPDATES

Auburn’s Master of Engineering Management degree, launched in fall 2018, continues to see increased interest. With students currently distributed between the systems, occupational safety and ergonomics, and manufacturing options, and a new class set to join us this fall, the Thomas Walter Center is abuzz with activity. The product innovation option is anticipated to be fully operational beginning in fall 2020.

Online Master of Industrial and Systems Engineering jumps in ranking

$2.5 million s pent o n res earc h

Master of Engineering Management continues to grow

OSE/IP Center website under construction The Center for Occupational Safety, Ergonomics, and Injury Prevention was established in the fall of 2017. Since then, the center has been working to compile research, courses, grants, and events all under one digital roof. Keep a lookout for the new center website to be debuted by January 2020.

Auburn’s Online Master of Industrial and Systems Engineering is ranked No. 6, and the Online Master of Engineering Management is ranked No. 5 nationally according to bestcollegereviews.org.

Dr. Tülin Arslan joins us from Germany Visiting scholar Dr. Tülin Arslan joined the department for the spring 2019 semester to teach INSY 4970 – Design of International Ventures. Arslan guided students through the ins and outs of conducting business across borders. This included taking her students to Schmidt Automotive in Auburn to study globalization and how international companies enter the US market.

Tülin Arslan

Auburn ISE

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eng.auburn.edu/mem

be

MEM orable

master of engineering management

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Auburn ISE


DEPARTMENT UPDATES

Tech updates to Lego Lab made possible by Omron The Lego Manufacturing Lab has received equipment updates including a new flat screen 55-inch monitor for broadcasting throughput and first-pass yield during production runs and a new tabletop CNC machine. Auburn is partnered with Omron in this venture, who has promised to match up to $8,000 in equipment investments for the lab.

Department accountant retires ISE’s accountant, Linda Pitchford, retired in January 2019 after working with the department for 23 years.

Linda Pitchford

Senior Tigers, Junior Tigers and Women in Engineering camp attendees utilized the Lego Lab and its new updates.

Former beloved faculty member’s father dies David E. Carnahan, the father of beloved member of Auburn’s ISE faculty Brian Carnahan who passed away in 2005, passed away the morning of March 17, 2019. In lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made to the Dr. Brian J. Carnahan Memorial Endowment. Additional memorial donations to the fund may be made by visiting aub.ie/carnahanscholarship.

David Carnahan with son and former Auburn faculty, Brian Carnahan

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES

The ISE Advisory Council was formed in May 2000 with the purpose to act as the primary source for both alumni and industry input to the activities and plans of the ISE Department. They provide feedback on curriculum offerings, serve as role models for students, and help to increase the department’s profile among alumni and industry. They serve in an advisory capacity with information flowing directly from the Council to the Department. Council members represent a broad spectrum of graduation years, ages, employment backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities as well as geographic variety. They are experienced in academics, manufacturing, health care, consulting, research and government. Advisory Council members are asked to attend two all-day meetings per year (Spring and Fall) and typically serve for a four year period. They tend to rotate 3-4 new members per year to develop fresh ideas and provide an opportunity for more Alumni to participate. If you have an interest in working with the council, please contact Larry Davis ‘74, Advisory Council Chair at larry.davis1951@gmail.com.

For more information about the Auburn ISE Alumni Council, please visit aub.ie/isecouncil

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Alumni Advisory Council seeking membership applicants

Assistantship established in honor of Dr. Sa’d Maghsoodloo Hopefully, you recently received an email request to consider contributing to this program in support of the Department. This has been an initiative of the Alumni Council both to honor a man who has been an integral part of ISE at Auburn for over 50 years, and to help ensure we continue to support ISE going forward. The Maghsoodloo Graduate Assistantship provides funding for one or more graduate teaching assistants who are pursuing a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering. It is flexible enough that the Department Chair can award one or more Assistantships per year depending on current demands. To quickly get this program started, members of the Alumni Council made personal pledges and the first Assistantship was awarded in 2018. The Department will soon make an award for 2019. We are looking for our Alumni to get behind this program. All donations are greatly appreciated and tax deductible! You can give a one time gift or make a multiyear pledge. Whether you graduated many years ago, or just recently, our experience with the staff and faculty of the Auburn ISE Department has impacted who we are today. Give today through our secure giving link , AuburnGiving.org/ISE We sincerely thank you for your generosity! - Larry Davis ‘74, Alumni Council Chair

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES

In Memory Of It is with great sadness that we report the loss of a beloved professor, J T. Black. He died peacefully on the morning of May 16, 2019. He was preceded in death by his wife of more than 51 years, Carol Strom Black. Black retired from Auburn University in 1998 and remained part of the industrial and systems engineering program as professor emeritus until his passing. A fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineering, the American Society of Mechanical Engineering and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Black was a highly respected expert in his field. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1969, a master’s from West Virginia University in 1963 and a bachelor’s from Lehigh University in 1960. Prior to his tenure with Auburn University, Black taught at West Virginia University, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, University of Vermont, University of Rhode Island, Ohio State University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. After retirement, Black was honored with an Education Award from the Society of Mechanical Engineers and a “Lean Teacher of the Year” award by the Institute of Industrial Engineers in 2004. He enjoyed poetry, music, tennis and showing his pugs in national dog shows. The J T. Black Lean Engineering Student of the Year award was established to honor one student each year that exemplifies Lean Manufacturing leadership. Black was a nationally recognized Lean Manufacturing expert. Black and his wife were great supporters of students. Carol was known to ISE students as “Grandmatonto.” The Blacks funded the Carol Strom and J T. Black Endowed Scholarship in ISE in 2012. The scholarship is for incoming freshman awarded a Spirit of Auburn Scholarship and enrolled in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering with a declared major in industrial and systems engineering. The Blacks also made regular donations to the mechanical engineering program as well as men’s and women’s tennis. Donations to the Blacks’ Scholarship fund may be made by visiting AuburnGiving.org/JT.

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES

igniting change in the manufacturing industry Greg Harris led Auburn University’s participation in the first ever Department of Defense-funded Project MFG. Project MFG aims to ignite change by promoting the value of a career in the manufacturing trades and accelerating new entrants into the workforce, elevating the prestige of these careers, and aligning industry and defense requirements, educational programs, and commercial capabilities and capacities through privatepublic partnerships. The Department of Defense Project MFG announced the launch of the Next Generation Manufacturing Challenge to address the No. 1 crisis facing the U.S. manufacturing industry – a critical shortage of skilled workers. American companies are expected to be short 2.4 million skilled workers over the next 10 years, unless the industry is able to attract young people to replace an aging workforce, in which 2.7 million manufacturing professionals are preparing to retire. The challenge is a series of event-based competitive skills tasks in which teams comprised of a mentor paired with student machinists and welders compete in 5-axis machining and welding skills. The first round of competition was held at Auburn University on April 26-27, 2019. The winning team, Calhoun Community College, was crowned Alabama State Champion and awarded a cash prize of $5,000. “Auburn University is proud to have hosted the first Next Generation Manufacturing Challenge. Auburn, with our partners in the Alabama Community College System and Industry, are committed to developing the best and most skilled manufacturing workforce in the country and this Challenge is a tool to help push the limits on advanced manufacturing capability in Alabama,” Harris said. Project MFG: Next Generation Manufacturing Challenge is a collaboration of industry, academic and defense partners from around the U.S. The challenge will culminate in a national competition at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September 2020.

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES

The Project MFG Regional Competition trophy

NIMS Executive Director, Montez King (right) explaining the contest rules and discussing the contest parts with Competition Partner, Haas Automation executive Peter Zierhut (left)

Calhoun Community College team with their $5,000 grand prize

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FACULT Y ACCOLADES

Mark Schall joined Auburn’s ISE department in fall of 2015 as an assistant professor. He holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa. Dr. Schall was recently awarded a coveted NIOSH Mentored Research Scientist Development Grant (K01) of $324,000 to conduct the study, “Advancing Workplace Safety Surveillance with Ambulatory Inertial Sensors,” to develop methods of measuring the effects of physical risk factors in industries such as manufacturing, in order to minimize the occurrences of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Faculty Highlight Q&A with Mark >>

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FACULT Y ACCOLADES What brought you to Auburn?

What are your current research interests?

The faculty and administration exhibited a tremendous amount of excitement regarding the future of Auburn when I interviewed. The environment, particularly in my area of research, felt very collaborative, and I was looking for an opportunity to engage in a community of researchers interested in sharing ideas and working together toward a greater goal. Ultimately, my initial interactions with the faculty made me feel like Auburn was an atmosphere where I could succeed and work happily.

My research agenda aims to improve the performance, health, and safety of today’s workers who find themselves in a new era of “smart”, digital systems commonly referred to as “Industry 4.0”. Students in my lab study innovative technologies such as wearable sensors and exoskeletons. They develop and evaluate displays and ergonomics assessment tools designed to inform operational decision-making while considering issues such as the desire for data privacy and potential adversarial cyber threats. Ultimately, my research group aims to help people work safer and healthier so that they can enjoy their time away from work.

What’s been your favorite experience since you began teaching here?

Tell me about your teaching philosophy. What makes your style different from the rest of the department? I am motivated to be an effective instructor and mentor as I believe that educating the engineers of tomorrow will be my most important contribution to society. My teaching philosophy is that students learn best when they engage in learning for the sake of learning. My goal, therefore, is to try to help students recognize that their education is more than just a means to a degree. Often, this means that students in my classes and research group will engage in hands-on projects that incorporate practical skills developed throughout a course. The focus is on skill development and appropriate application, not how much can be memorized for a short duration.

How do you involve your students in your research?

271 ma s te r ’s st ud e nts en ro lled

I enjoy working with students on projects that help them attain challenging goals. One undergraduate student that had a dream of working for NASA approached me with an interest in gaining relevant experience in the field of Human Factors. After joining my lab and contributing to some projects in the area, this student was able to secure an internship at NASA. Now, she is an Engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center working on payload displays. I’d like to think those initial experiences working in my lab helped her “get her foot in the door” at NASA!

Research is a collaborative process and I am fortunate to advise many talented Auburn students who have great ideas for solving challenging problems. Students and I work together to develop study designs that address those problems, collect meaningful data in the field from participants, and run appropriate statistical analyses in the laboratory. We write papers, respond to peer reviews, and disseminate our results to the broader community. The best way for a student to learn, in my opinion, is by doing. With that in mind, I try to engage my students in as many experiences related to the scientific process as possible. What’s impacted you the most personally since you’ve been at Auburn? I have been very fortunate to receive excellent support from all levels of the Auburn family since I arrived on campus. Whether simply needing a question answered or someone to help me repair a deck on a hot summer day, I have not had to look hard for assistance at Auburn. I’ve learned a great deal from my mentors who have provided me with the space to explore research topics and instructional methods that interest me. Any success that I have had at Auburn is a reflection of the tremendous community that the good people of Auburn have created. And I’m very grateful to be a part of that community!

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FACULT Y ACCOLADES

Faculty receive Toyota research grant Assistant professor Daniel Silva and professor Alice Smith received a more than $200,000 grant from Toyota Material Handling North America to develop models and algorithms to optimally dispatch medicines and medical supplies to vulnerable populations in a rural setting, using a coordinated fleet of trucks and unmanned aerial drones. The grant award was announced at ProMat 2019 in Chicago by Brett Wood, CEO of TMHNA.

The Toyota grant award was announced at ProMat 2019 in Chicago by Brett Wood, CEO of (TMHNA), pictured here with Dr. Silva.

Art + Engineering (Original article by Jeremy Henderson)

The brainchild of Edmon Perkins, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, a multimedia exhibit titled “Engineering as Art” was hosted in the second-floor foyer of the newly renovated Gavin Engineering Research Laboratory during the spring 2019 semester. Perkins, along with fellow organizers and College of Engineering faculty members Vinamra Agrawal, Brendan Higgins, Tae-Sik Oh, Marta Miletić, Bo Liu, Jason Clark, Daniel Silva, Aleksandr Vinel and Pengyu Chen, hosted the open house event for the show on May 3. “Engineering is a creative endeavor, but we often do not emphasize this creative aspect,” said Perkins, a recent recipient of the Office of Naval Research’s Young Investigator Award. “Recently, there have been a number of ‘science as art’ initiatives that try to include the arts in STEM. While science, technology, engineering and mathematics are all intricately entwined, this particular art show is meant to highlight engineering.” Pieces in the exhibit included an intricate algorithm-derived image of Auburn’s iconic Samford Hall rendered in a single continuous

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An intricate half-tone image of Auburn’s iconic Samford Hall rendered in a single continuous line produced by Daniel Silva and Alexander Vinel, assistant professors in industrial and systems engineering. The computational tools used to create the image are both widely used operation research algorithms with applications in numerous fields of engineering and science.

line produced by ISE assistant professors Daniel Silva and Alex Vinel, a video of an aluminum foil ball undergoing levitation melting, and a 3-D printed, macro-scale reproduction of two milliseconds worth of the Temptations’ 1976 track “Glasshouse.” “I have been interested in record grooves for a while because I learned that they are actually recording information at a very small scale — nanoscale before it was a word,” said Robert Jackson, professor of mechanical engineering, who produced “Musical Nano Surfaces” along with Perkins. “Edmon was putting together the art show and I thought it would be a cool way to show people what a record groove really looks like. Edmon had a 3-D printer and helped setting up the model.”


FACULT Y ACCOLADES Other microscopic masterpieces included in the exhibit were two critically-acclaimed works by materials engineering doctoral student Armin Vahid Mohammadi. Both “Nano Nemo on the Water” and “Nano Lord Voldemort” have placed first at the Materials Research Society’s highly competitive Science as Art competition. “I’m really grateful to Associate Deans Steve Duke and Steve Taylor for their help in securing a venue for the exhibit,” Perkins said. “The expectation is that ‘Engineering as Art’ will be an annual showcase held in the spring semester. Moving forward, there is a plan to add an art competition, a website describing the pieces and a long-term exhibition of key artwork.”

Gallagher honored as society fellow Sean Gallagher has been named a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Gallagher’s research focuses on identification of the causes of musculoskeletal disorders. These disorders are the most common cause of long-term pain and physical disability in people and affect hundreds of millions around the world. In the U.S., there are more than 16 million strain and sprain injuries treated on an annual basis, at a cost of more than $125 billion a year.

Sean Gallagher

Smith selected as Fulbright Specialist Alice Smith has been selected as a Fulbright Specialist and will work with University of La Sabana (near Bogota, Colombia) for two weeks in March 2020 to assist them with their new program, curriculum and classes in data analytics for graduate students. Fulbright is the world’s largest and most diverse international educational exchange program. Smith will be among Fulbright alumni who have gone on to become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, CEOs, and university presidents, as well as leading journalists, artists, scientists, and teachers (including 60 Nobel Laureates, 86 Pulitzer Prize winners, 72 MacArthur Fellows, 16 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients.)

Alice Smith

Auburn ISE

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FACULT Y ACCOLADES

Assistant professor Gregory Purdy and associate professor Gregory Harris are working on a project to create the foundation for the development of a distributive manufacturing network at Auburn University, funded by NIST. While large scale manufacturers are able to continually invest in the equipment and infrastructure of their manufacturing systems, small and medium size manufacturers are more financially constrained. These smaller organizations are slower to invest in new systems with digital capabilities. Small and medium manufacturers, or SMMs, commonly have different generations of CNC machines with varying levels of digital capability. Many SMMs still own and operate fully manual legacy machines. This research investigates how to provide digital manufacturing capabilities to manual legacy machines. Three different price points of sensor suites are investigated to monitor legacy manual machines for quality, operator training and predictive maintenance.

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Distributive manufacturing network funded by NIST in the works

Reynolds takes on new role at Kaiser Permanente In his new role as director of AIS Advanced Analytics, instructor Rick Reynolds will be responsible for enabling the HPPSA organization to leverage data science and machine learning techniques to analyze, optimize and automate business processes, empowering people to work at the top of their license. Reynolds will seek to automate and enhance decision making to solve complex problems and answer questions faster. He will provide intelligence to business process automation to enable the automation of more complex tasks, and augment and enhance the consumer experience. Reynolds has more than 30 years of comprehensive experience in consulting and operations leadership with a diverse background that includes plant management, engineering, purchasing, financial analysis and advanced quality methodologies.

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Seseks engage students and faculty with interesting workshops Associate professor Richard Sesek and his brother Robert Sesek taught a “Workshop on Invention, Creativity, and Capturing Intellectual Property” in April. The workshop was attended by faculty and students from different departments and colleges. Several promising ideas were captured and the Seseks have submitted invention disclosures to Auburn’s Office of Innovation Advancement and Commercialization that resulted from the workshop’s activities. Sesek also collaborated with Markus Schulz (FHWS University in Schweinfurt, Germany) to conduct another workshop, “Workshop on Faculty Collaboration Among Faculty Across Disciplines.” The workshop included faculty from across Auburn and resulted in commitments from Drs. Sesek and Schulz to incorporate each other’s students in collaborative class projects in fall 2019. This workshop used foosball as a focal point to stimulate ideas and collaboration. Christian Fiedler, CEO of Leonhart, donated a professional grade Table Soccer (Foosball) Table for the event. The event also included Tom Yore, Team USA Foosball professional, who provided informal workshops and challenged students and faculty to “play a pro” (he was undefeated). The event was successful and the table will be incorporated into Dr. Sesek’s BUSI 3520/ENGR 3520 class projects this fall. Dr. Sesek was also nominated for 3 teaching awards, and won the ISE Outstanding Faculty Award.


FACULT Y ACCOLADES

Senior Design Projects Almost all department faculty members worked with a team of students on their Senior Design Projects. Each project was conducted in collaboration with an industry partner to solve a real problem. The judges were Honda executives/plant managers from several different locations. 6 of the 14 projects were sponsored by Honda.

1st

Space restriction on Honda’s exterior 01 line will not allow incorporation of new products for future models. The system responsible for material cart deliver of empty containers was sub optimized. The team’s project proposed a new system involving controls to minimize excess empties arriving in the area that were cluttering the line. A second solution involving “kitting” of material specific to the vehicle requirements was developed. The proposed solution would greatly reduce excess empties as the precise requirement for the specific vehicle by sequence would be delivered, rather than a batch of various types that must be held line side and selected as required.

2nd

Honda is experiencing higher ergonomic risks in Line 2 Sealer taillight and UBC than in other areas. This is a result of high rework costs for sealer application. The team proposed a system of tools that include a back-of-hand mirror to reduce bending when inspecting sealer, improved sealer brush design and vision inspection in weld prior to sealer for feedback where the problem of missing sealer originates.

3rd

Due to fluctuations in market trends, Pharmavite’s demand forecasting and components ordering requires optimization. An effective plan was developed by the team to improve the demand forecast by minimizing space consumed by bottles and caps inventory through optimizing component ordering process, thus reducing

Auburn ISE

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qualities.

ALUMNI NEWS ALUMNI NEWS Lester Howard Killebrew is chairman of SunSouth LLC, a John Deere dealership with 21 locations serving areas in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. SunSouth has been named in the top 5 dealers in the nation with John Deere Managers Club more than 5 times. Killebrew has been in the John Deere business since 1969. His father Lester Herndon Killebrew was in business as a Ferguson Dealer from 1953 to 1971. He graduated from Auburn University in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and is a member of Alpha Pi Mu Engineering Honorary.

I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all. I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all. I believe in my Country, because it is a land of

Alumni

Killebrew is a member of Abbeville United Methodist Church where he is past chairman of the Administrative Board. He has served on numerous civic and industry association boards including, the State of Alabama Board of Ag and Industries, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Auburn University National Alumni Board. He also serves as the chairman of the Alabama Agriculture Museum and is on the Board of Directors of Federated Insurance Companies. Killebrew is past president of the Abbeville Chamber of Commerce, past chairman of the North American Equipment Dealers Association and past national director of the Southern Equipment Dealers Association. Killebrew and his wife, Catherine, have three children Howard, Charles and Kate. Lester, Catherine and the children are all graduates of Auburn University.

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of the I believe that this is a

practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

Year

I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully. I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which

Auburn ISE


ALUMNI NEWS

#82, Pete Berryman

Joe Abulhassan

Former Student Wins Teaching Award Dr. Joe Abulhassan, a former student and graduate of Auburn University’s industrial and systems engineering Ph.D. program, was selected to receive the 2019 Board of Regents Award for Teaching Excellence at Murray State University.

“Who do we go for?” Pete Berryman’s parents moved from Canada to the US in 1990. After bouncing around to a few different towns, they finally planted their roots in a cozy suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. One afternoon, little Pete came home from kindergarten and asked his mom, Cynthia, a traditional southern coming-of-age question: “Who do we go for?” Quickly realizing they couldn’t go without picking a side, the subject was discussed among the family members. Pete’s father, Tim, worked in industry with several Auburn alumni and had noticed that they often stood out from the crowd as enjoyable coworkers. So just like that, the Berrymans became an Auburn family. When it came to choosing a school to pursue his undergraduate degree, Pete had an easy decision to make. He entered Auburn’s Harbert School of Business as a freshman on a Presidential Scholarship. Sports had always been a part of Pete’s life growing up, but he decided to put that aside to focus on school and enjoy his time living the Auburn experience. Pete volunteered at a local horse farm, taught an LSAT prep course, and acted as overnight tailgate security when he wasn’t studying or hanging out with his friends. Soon though, Pete found himself needing even more excitement, so he started hitting the gym, and kept it up over the Christmas break. What he didn’t tell anyone was that his goal was to try out for the football team in the spring. “We didn’t even know he was training,” Cynthia said. “We were just like, ‘good for you for doing something over winter break to keep in shape!’” When spring semester rolled around, Pete accomplished his goal and shocked everyone when he walked on to the team in spring 2016 as a wide receiver. Auburn ISE

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ALUMNI NEWS Still craving even more of a challenge, Pete decided to switch majors and pursue industrial and systems engineering, since it incorporated a bit more of his natural math savvy. He graduated in May 2018 and credits much of his success in the department to one of his TAs, Grant Romine. After ending his Auburn football career in a tight end position, the Berrymans thought a natural next step for Pete was to join the Canadian Football League. After putting in as a last minute “unknown” draft entry, he was picked up later in the supplemental draft by the Edmonton Eskimos. His CFL career was unfortunately short-lived due to an early preseason ankle injury. Upon returning to the States, Pete’s life settled down a bit—although his mother still describes him as a “non-stop” kind of person. He got married and began his job search, capitalizing on the connections and relationships he made while at Auburn. He landed a job with SAS in Raleigh, NC in January 2019.

Tim Cook Donates to Bramblett Family Auburn ISE alumnus and current Apple CEO Tim Cook made a $25,000 donation to the GoFundMe account set up for the family of Rod and Paula Bramblett following their tragic deaths in a car crash on May 25. Rod was better known as “The Voice of the Auburn Tigers.”

State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame inducts Class of 2019 The State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame inducted eight individuals, including three Auburn alumni and one long-time donor, and

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Auburn ISE

Dean Christopher B. Roberts with Class of 2019 inductees Zeke Smith, Carl Register, Norm Tew and Davidson Technologies President Joe Green, representing Dorothy Davidson.

honored a project during a ceremony in February at the Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge. Two of the inductees were ISE alumni. This year’s inductees include Dorothy Davidson, CEO of Davidson Technologies, benefactor of the Broun Hall Davidson Pavilion and widow of Julian Davidson, ’50 electrical engineering; Carl Register, ’63 industrial management and president of Carco Mineral Resources; Zeke Smith, ’82 industrial engineering and vice president of external affairs at Alabama Power; and Norm Tew, ’82 and ’84 electrical engineering and vice president and general manager for the missile weapons system division for Boeing Defense, Space and Security.


STUDENT NEWS

One of the things I have learned at Auburn is that it’s not about how smart you are, but it’s about how dedicated you are.

- Anna Wilson

Auburn ISE

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ALUMNI NEWS When Auburn University students cross the stage at Auburn Arena during graduation, they normally do so with their support group of family and friends cheering them on. Industrial and systems engineering senior Anna Wilson is no exception; the only difference is that her mother crossed the stage with her, just as she had been by Anna’s side throughout her entire college journey. Anna is a quadriplegic, but she has never let her disability hold her back. Even as a wheelchair user, she has enjoyed activities such as scuba diving and zip lining. A native of Clanton, Alabama, Anna was accidentally shot by one of her siblings 15 years ago. The bullet went through her skull, barely missing her eye, and lodged in the C2 and C3 vertebrae. Even when faced with life’s most difficult challenges, Anna remains optimistic and is appreciative of the opportunities she has been afforded. “What keeps me going is that there is someone always worse off than I am,” she said. “So thinking small and considering what I have in life, there is nothing to complain about. I have my days where it is like ‘poor pitiful me,’ but I have so much to be grateful for. I’m just always looking forward to the next day and try to live life to the fullest.” Since the accident, Carla Wilson has been by her daughter’s side and was with Anna all through her Auburn experience. Along with assisting Anna in all her dayto-day needs and pushing her wheelchair around campus, Carla also functioned as Anna’s note-taker in class. “I am really glad the professors were supportive of me going in and taking her notes because I really enjoyed some of those classes,” Carla said. “I may not have understood it all, but I liked experiencing the different atmospheres and teaching

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Auburn ISE

33 l ean engineer ing si x si gma green b el t cer t ific ates awa rded

(Original story by Sylvia Masango)

styles.” Graduation held extra special meaning for the Wilson family as Anna was the first one in the family to graduate from a university. “I am so proud of her and I can’t wait to see what the next adventure holds,” Carla said. When it comes to her time here at Auburn, Anna said it was much smoother than she had expected, as everyone has been so accommodating and friendly. “I was not expecting this journey to be so easy with a disability,” she said. “All my professors and the Office of Accessibility made it really easy when it came to doing schoolwork, taking tests and other things. That was one of the main reasons why I had chosen Auburn in the first place.” Thinking back to some of her favorite courses and moments in the classroom, Anna highlights her newfound passion for lean engineering. She said her favorite classes were Lean Production with Tom Devall because of her experience in the Tiger Motors Manufacturing Lab, as well as Safety Engineering with Richard Sesek. “I have really enjoyed the program. These past two semesters I have taken classes focused around lean engineering,” she said. “I have come to enjoy those fields, as they break down industrial engineering to more problem solving and continuous improvement.” Anna is working toward a career in health care with a research focus on lean engineering. “I want to go into health care and lean is a newer field that has been used within health care over the past 10 years so it has solidified my interest in the field and the direction I would like to go in,” she said. Beyond the classroom, Anna has


STUDENT NEWS also been active around campus during her time at Auburn. She is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and served on its cabinet as an awards director. Anna has also been involved with Auburn’s chapter of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers and helped start the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 2016. She is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers and two other honor societies. Reflecting back on some on her fondest memories with her daughter, Carla mentioned that being inducted as an alumna member of Kappa Alpha Theta, participating in her Spanish Study Partners class and developing lifelong relationships with people of the Auburn Family was most memorable.

INFORMS: First row: Samira Shirzaei, Qiong Hu, Nasrin Mohabbati Kalejahi, Eliana M. Pena Tibaduiza Second row: Armin Khayyer, Dr. Aleksandr Vinel, Grant Romine, Bekircan Kirkici Third row: Behnam Rasoolian, Oguz Toragay, Armir Mehdizadfeh

“I have really enjoyed going to the Office of Accessibility with Anna and just meeting everyone there. One person I am grateful I had an opportunity to meet was Scott Renner,” Carla said of the former assistant director of accessibility, a fellow quadriplegic who passed away in 2018. “Another professor I really enjoyed was Dan Savu in Calculus III. I really loved how much he cared about the students.” Anna plans to attend graduate school at Auburn. After completing her master’s degree, her goal is find a job relating to health care in industrial and systems engineering where she can ultimately pave the way forward and help others the way people have helped her throughout her life. “I’ve always told Anna that money isn’t everything,” Carla said. “I want her to find a job that she is going to enjoy, that makes her happy and proud to get out of bed every day.” As Anna steps into the next chapter of her life, she is thankful for all the people who have helped her along the way—from her family and friends to the supportive faculty members. “One of the things I have learned at Auburn is that it’s not about how smart you are, but it’s about how dedicated you are,” Anna said.

INFORMS wins national award INFORMS, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, is the world’s largest professional society for researchers in the fields of operations research, management sciences and advanced analytics. The Auburn University INFORMS student chapter promotes interest in the areas of OR/ MS, fosters a sense of community among students in these disciplines and promotes the exchange of ideas, mentoring students and connections between students and professionals in industry and academia. The AU student chapter kicked off the fall 2018 semester with collaborating on a social barbeque event on campus and continued the semester with holding a seminar to introduce how students can use library resources efficiently by inviting Andrew Wohrley, Auburn’s engineering librarian. The students who presented at the 2018 INFORMS Annual Meeting had a chance to share their work with the students in the department during the chapter’s social presentations event. The chapter also provided five travel grants to ISE students to attend 2018 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. During spring 2019, industrial engineer Joe W. Forehand was a guest speaker because of his Auburn ISE

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STUDENT NEWS outstanding career as chairman and CEO of Accenture. He shared with graduate students his opinion about the link between industry and academia, as well as his experience as an employee, entrepreneur and consultant. A Microsoft Excel workshop was also held with engineering undergraduate students. Finally, a group of graduate and undergraduate students visited the Kia manufacturing plant in Georgia. The INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Awards recognize the achievements of student chapters nationwide. All the U.S. universities with an active INFORMS student chapter are competing for this award each year. Auburn University Chapter received this prestigious award with the highest honor (Summa Cum Laude) at the 2018 INFORMS National Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona for its outstanding participation and performance during the year of 2017. The photo shows former and current officers and faculty advisor Alex Vinel, who have worked tirelessly for this achievement.

Two students awarded Tim Cook Scholarships Emma McManus and Madison Evans were chosen as this year’s recipients of the Tim Cook Annual Leadership Scholarships.

Emma McManus

Madison Evans

“I’m from Huntsville, Alabama, although I moved there my sophomore year of high school. Originally I’m from a small town in California. I chose industrial & systems engineering because I love the fact that it’s all about making people and systems more efficient. I think industrial engineering can be summed up in one phrase – “work smarter, not harder,” and that’s something I live by, even outside of school. In my free time I’m very involved with the Catholic Student Organization, as well as with the Society of Women Engineers. I also enjoy running and being outdoors on Auburn’s campus. Within ISE I’m interested in occupational health & safety research. I’m currently interning for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Marietta, GA as a production operations intern and ast summer I worked for the Army Research Laboratory as a human factors research assistant.” - Emma McManus, Tim Cook Scholarship Recipient 2019

The Tim Cook Annual Leadership Scholarship is aimed for students in financial need, who have demonstrated academic excellence as well as being actively involved in extra-curricular activities and leadership.

“I’m from Canton, Georgia (which is a suburb of Atlanta). I liked the diversity of career options the ISE major provided. I also love the idea of making things work better and more efficiently. I sat in my friend’s safety class in order to decide if I wanted to switch to ISE.

Tim Cook is a 1982 Auburn University BIE alumnus, founding Chair of the ISE Alumni Council and sponsor of the Tim Cook Annual Leadership Scholarship for undergraduate students.

I hang out with friends, go to Auburn sporting events, and read in my free time. I am also very active with my non-panhellenic sorority and my church. I would like to do research in operations, systems, and manufacturing.” - Madison Evans, Tim Cook Scholarship Recipient 2019

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Auburn ISE


STUDENT NEWS

Students awarded Forehand Scholarships

“I have two main reasons for majoring in industrial and systems engineering. First, because ISE-related professions enable me to have a direct positive impact on the lives of large, diverse groups of people. Secondly, because the ISE field is rapidly advancing. This fast-paced change will keep me engaged and challenged throughout my career. Some hobbies I like to enjoy in my free time include cycling, reading, puzzles, woodworking, and trying new coffee shops. My ideal Saturday would probably be a lengthy bike ride to a new coffee shop where I could enjoy a good book. I am particularly interested in the Operations Research fields of industrial and systems engineering. I enjoying taking known OR principles and applying them to new situations to better understand how those situations work and can be optimized.” - Justin Rist, Forehand Scholarship Recipient 2019

Alpha Pi Mu induction ceremony

122 b a c h e lo r ’s d e gre e s co n fer red

Justin Rist and Savannah Maples were awarded Joe W. Forehand Leadership Scholarships. Through a generous endowed gift from Mr. Joe W. Forehand, Auburn University BIE 1971, the Forehand Leadership Scholarships were established. These scholarships recognize current Auburn University Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) students who have demonstrated academic excellence along with strong evidence of leadership accomplishments and potential. Requirements include students a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25/4.0 and strong evidence of leadership capabilities.

Alpha Pi Mu Honor Society elects new officials and inducts new members The Alpha Pi Mu Honor Society inducted 13 new members this year. Alpha Pi Mu was the brainchild of James T. French who in 1949 was a senior industrial engineering student at Georgia Tech. Nine men chosen through their affiliation with the Georgia Tech Chapter of Tau Beta Pi constituted the original membership of Alpha Pi Mu. Alpha Pi Mu is the only nationally accepted industrial engineering honor society. The Georgia Tech engineers who led the initial developmental work wanted an organization to provide a common ground on which their outstanding young engineers could exchange ideas, and to provide experiences which could help their future professional development. Current Officers:

President - Grant Romine Vice President - William Allee Secretary - Cameron Ogden Treasurer - Hannah Curie E-Council Representative - Mohammed Abueed

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STUDENT NEWS

ISE students survive the Tiger Cage Two of the four teams to advance to the Tiger Cage finals had ISE students on board. Tiger Cage rewards the best early-stage products, services or business concepts that emerge from Auburn University students. This year, $50,000 in prize money was distributed. The teams advanced after a competitive semi-final round that included 8 teams, 6 of which contained ISE and/or BET (Business Engineering Technology) students. Precision Performance Insoles, the product pitched by ISE alumnus Mo Badawy and mechanical engineering student Jordan Coker, sought to create rehabilitative orthotics to strengthen muscles for reduced pain, improved posture, and increased performance. Their team finished second overall and walked away with $10,000 in funding. ParaSky Synthetic Vision Systems, headed up by ISE students Dan O’Leary, Fehmi Capanoglu, and electrical engineering professor Baha Yakupoglu, aimed to eliminate aviation accidents caused by spatial disorientation. ParaSky’s augmented reality glasses and proprietary software detect and prevent the onset of SD in pilots. ParaSky came in third place and won $6,000 in funding.

For more information about the Tiger Cage Competition visit aub.ie/tigercage | 30 |

Auburn ISE


STUDENT NEWS

J T. Black Student of the Year Named

ISE students share their love for OSE

The J T. Black Lean Engineering Student of The Year exemplifies leadership by demonstrating a deep desire to learn, respect for people and commitment to continuous improvement. This year’s recipient is Dalton McCardle.

The Summer Institute is offered by the Deep South Center for Occupational Health and Safety yearly and invites undergraduate students to participate in a week of activities that preview advanced degrees in occupational safety and health including industrial hygiene, occupational safety and ergonomics, occupational health nursing and allied professions. Two of our ISE students, Ajay Bandekar and Connor Lusk, shared ergonomics and safety examples with the prospective students at the event on May 15.

International Students of the Year Honored Dalton McCardle

Two students, Wanqi Li and Mohamed (Wally) Belhadi, were nominated for International Student of the Year to be presented at the International Student Banquet. Wanqi Li is an undergraduate student and in addition to being a member of the ISE honor society Alpha Pi Mu, Ms. Li is also a member of Auburn University’s Honor College, and currently does undergraduate research in Healthcare Engineering. Wanqi hopes to finish her undergraduate degree in 2020 and pursue her graduate studies in Industrial Engineering. Wally Belhadi is a Fulbright Scholar. He has worked on a project in our Lego Lab involving PLC programming supporting an Andon control system to enhance the teaching capabilities of the manufacturing system. He has also served as a research assistant on high reliability solder joints, analyzed Microstructure Evolution of Solder Materials in Realistic Applications and assessed mechanical properties using Nano-indentation and shear test on different doped solder alloys.

Auburn ISE

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STUDENT NEWS CUPOLA ENGINEERING AMBASSADORS FROM ISE Madeline Ellison Sara Haynes Greyson Malone Paige Maxwell During the winter of 1995, a group of engineering students came up with the idea of forming an organization whose members would serve as ambassadors for the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. They approached the Engineering Student Council and a task force was created to address this issue and other topics concerning the college. The group developed a proposal and presented it to William Walker, then dean of engineering, and later president of the university who expressed wholehearted support for the plan. In the fall of 1995, 18 high-performing undergraduate engineering students were selected to develop the guidelines for the new organization. Their first job was to select a name for the organization. After hours of debate they reached consensus. The organization would be named after the official symbol of the College of Engineering — the cupola. Since then, the Cupola Engineering Society has developed into an established part of Auburn University’s College of Engineering. Its members work closely with the dean’s office on a wide variety of projects. Cupola students interface with alumni, give tours to prospective students and their parents, and help with special projects such as E-Day and the BEST robotics competition.

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Auburn ISE

cupola noun cu·​po·​la | \ ˈkyüpə-lə : a rounded vault resting on a usually circular base and forming a roof or a ceiling : the official symbol of Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Student athlete recognized for academics Will Macoy, a junior in industrial and systems engineering and guard on the Auburn Tigers basketball team, has been named to the 2018-19 National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court. The Honors Court recognizes basketball student-athletes who excelled in the classroom the previous season. Macoy is a three-year member of the Auburn Tigers basketball team and appeared in the Tigers’ 97-80 Sweet 16 victory over North Carolina en route to the Final Four in 2019. Previously a walk-on, Macoy was awarded a basketball scholarship at the beginning of 2019, along with electrical engineering senior Cole Blackstock. In order to be named to the Honors Court, student-athletes must meet the following criteria: • Academically a junior or senior and a varsity player. • Cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2018-19 academic year. • Students must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution. • Member of a NCAA Division I, II, III, or NAIA Division I or II institution with a NABC member coach.


STUDENT NEWS

Globe Trotters This past year, ISE has taken 56 students on study abroad trips to Schweinfurt, Germany. During these trips, students have had the opportunity not only to engage in a different culture and explore the globe, but to participate in real-world business-technology research. Study abroad students have partnered with companies like Jopp, FSYS, Bosch and others to collaborate on industry problem-solving projects.

s tu dy a b ro a d s tud ents

30

In addition to the study abroad program, Auburn ISE partners with FHWS (University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt) for a student exchange program. We had three of their students join us in spring 2019 and look forward to having an additional four students join us in fall 2019. The first Auburn student to participate in the program just returned after five months abroad and he had this to say about the program:

“5 months ago, I stepped out of my comfort zone and set off across the world by myself to live and study in a completely new and unfamiliar place. After a few days back in the U.S.A. to reflect on my time in Schweinfurt, Germany, I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to grow both personally and academically in more ways than I could’ve imagined. My time there was challenging, rewarding, frustrating, exhilarating, eye opening and many more things. Thank you to Auburn University Industrial and Systems Engineering and Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften Würzburg-Schweinfurt [FHWS] for providing these opportunities to students like myself. I can’t say enough about the lifelong impact this experience has had and will continue to have!” - Brent Moore, Industrial & Systems Engineering ‘20 Auburn ISE

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STUDENT NEWS

Doctoral Degrees Conferred Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Summer 2019 (Advisors Listed in Parentheses)

Robert Granzow, (Schall)

Seth Gordon, (Evans)

Mohamed Badawy, (Schall)

Sharath Sridhar, (Evans)

Ebrahim Mortaz, (Valenzuela)

Rong Huangfu, (Gallagher)

Zahra Maman, (Megahed)

Tianqi Gao Smith, (Gallagher)

Gabriel Proano, (Carrano)

Leslie Alan Gunter, (Davis)

Mohammad Ali Alamadar Yazdi, (Megahed)

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Auburn ISE


THANK YOU for your financial contribution to our department May 2018 - April 2019 Nike Inc. and Affiliates Mrs. Sonya Turner Alfonso ‘77 Mr. Rafael E. Alfonso ‘73 Mr. Justin Paul Allred ‘05 Mr. Mark Harold Arnold ‘89 Ms. Charlene Hunter Balko ‘19 Mrs. Terrie S. Bramlett ‘88 Mr. Donald H. Bravaldo Jr. ‘56 Mr. John W. Brodak Mrs. Anna Marie Bury Mr. William J. Bury Mr. Rodney W. Byard ‘69 LtCol Charles M. Canon III ‘66 Mrs. Ann Day Carey ‘88 Mr. Patrick Joseph Carey ‘89 Mrs. Mary J. Carnahan Dr. LuAnn Sims Carpenter ‘11 Mr. Hudson Thomas Carr ‘17 Mr. Thomas Eugene Chandler ‘80 Dr. Chia Lin Chen ‘82 Mr. Pedro Piercie Cherry ‘93 Mrs. Sylvia Coats Comer Foundation Mr. Timothy Donald Cook ‘82 Mr. Frank V. Couch III ‘80 Mr. Charles S. Cowart ‘74 Dr. Gerard Albert Davis ‘96 Mr. Brandon Michael Deihl ‘09 Mrs. Kathleen E. Deihl ‘09 Mrs. Michelle L. Delrocco Mr. Taylor Andrew Denard ‘18 Mrs. Kimberly Hayes Denard Mrs. Margaret L. Devall Mr. Tom L. Devall Mr. Steven James McDonough ‘84 Mrs. Jerry Lynn Dorris Dr. Nathan T. Dorris ‘04 Mr. Eric Ross Dudley ‘89 Mr. George Robert Dunlap Jr. ‘49 Mr. Blake Ryan Evans Exxon Mobil Corporation Ms. Paula Ann Falocco ‘85 Ms. Taylor Brianne Feagin ‘19 Mr. Edward B. Fischer ‘67 Mrs. Deborah D. Flint ‘85 Mr. Frank R. Fryer ‘66

Mr. Richard F. Fullerton ‘55 Mrs. Kathryn H. Fullerton ‘55 Mr. Sam E. Gagliano Jr. ‘66 Dr. Sean Gallagher Mr. Richard M. Garwood ‘67 Mr. Bill Gnan Mrs. Roberta Perry Gnan ‘85 Mr. Gary Wayne Gray ‘69 Mrs. Jo Evelyn Gray Mr. Donald W. Griffis ‘61 Mrs. Linda Vanstrum Griggs ‘75 Mrs. Margaret Fuller Haack ‘83 Mr. Robert Otto Haack Jr. ‘83 Mr. Gene A. Harvard ‘63 Mr. John H. Hessey V ‘74 Mr. Patrick D. Higginbotham ‘81 Mr. Thomas L. Hollingsworth ‘59 Mr. Keith F. Hornbuckle ‘80 IBM Matching Grants Program Dr. Leticia Jacinto Mr. Blake A. Jacobs ‘16 Mr. Mark Dilworth Jacobs ‘81 Mrs. Beth Ann Jamison Mr. Jay Jamison Mrs. Eileen Jamison Mrs. Carol Anne Jenkins ‘81 Dr. Ellen Marie Kraft ‘97 Mr. Michael Todd Lanier ‘15 Mrs. Jaime Strickland Lightfoot ‘04 Mr. Kyle E. MacDonald ‘09 Mrs. Siobhan Mary MacDonald ‘10 Mr. Elon W. Maddox, Jr. ‘73 Ms. Diana Mains Mr. Charles F. Manfre ‘60 Mrs. Esther T. Markwood Mr. Ronald J. Markwood Mrs. Joy J. Martin ‘88 Mr. Gary Wayne Melton ‘82 Mr. Jasen Alan Miller ‘03 Mr. David Jackson Moore ‘82 Mrs. Rosann James Moore Mr. Kenneth Stefan Morar ‘13 Mr. Charles W. Nelson ‘62 Dr. John M. Olson ‘03 Mr. James P. Orr Mr. Elwyn E. Palmer Jr. ‘63

Mrs. Martha Faye Palmer ‘66 Penna Flame Industries Mr. Tim J. Pittman ‘85 Mr. Joseph S. Pitts ‘70 Mr. C. Winfred Powell ‘60 LtCol George C. Prueitt ‘90 Mr. David I. Rach ‘69 Mrs. Patricia Byrd Rach Mr. Mathew S. Reed ‘18 LT Celeste D. Renoewick ‘09 Mr. Roy A. Richardson ‘57 Mr. Carl Rogers Mrs. Laurie Rogers Dr. Gokhan Sarpkaya ‘09 Mr. Jack Scalo Mr. Thomas B. Schueck Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc Mr. Robert H. Scott ‘71 Mr. Thomas D. Senkbeil ‘71 Mrs. Alisa Walker Shivers ‘75 Dr. Charles Herbert Shivers ‘75 Mr. Terry Allen Sibley Dr. Alice E. Smith Dr. Jeffrey Scott Smith ‘86 Southern Company Services Ms. Patricia Stern Mr. Christopher D. Taylor ‘00 Dr. Sheng-Hsien Teng ‘89 The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation Mr. Clyde E. Wills Jr. ‘68 Mrs. Sue H. Wills Dr. Robert E. Thomas Jr. Mr. Greg M. Tidemann ‘70 Mr. Michael Vuckovich Mrs. Ruth Vuckovich Wealthpointe Financial LLC Mr. Billy F. West ‘67 Mr. Perry L. Wilder III ‘65 Ms. Sylvia Wilke Mr. Randy Craig Williams ‘82 Ms. Jacqualyn Williams Mr. Edward Prue Wilson ‘52 Mr. Richard Winstead, Jr. Ms. Helen E. Witt Ms. Helen M. Witt

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Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering 3301 Shelby Center 1161 W. Samford Ave., Building 8 Auburn, AL 36849-0001 www.auburn.edu

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