Geoma Tech's School oflliM student pursues a rigorous program of study that includes coursework in operations research, probability and statistics, production and distribution, human-machine systems, economics, computer simulation and case methodology. "We try to give our students problemsolving skills that come through an engineering experience," he says. "Our students graduate with a good technical background, rounded out with good managerial skills. The result is a well-educated, broad-based engineer."
Michael Thomas, now executive vice president at Tech, followed Bob Lehrer as ISyE's third director. "Each director built upon the work of his predecessor. Each moved us to the next level. That's the Tech tradition."
GM of Industrial Engineering All Thumbs, Same Purposes
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he early years were exciting years, full of daring initiative and bold accomplishment with Tech at the forefront of the new university movement in industrial engineering. In 1949, the Georgia Tech chapter of Alpha Pi Mu—a national Industrial Engineering honorary society—was officially formed. Later that same year, the prestigious Journal of Industrial Engineering was begun on campus. Groseclose served as the journal's first editor, followed by Bob Lehrer and Johnson. "Industrial engineering at Tech is a body of knowledge, philosophy and technology based on the fundamentals of science, mathematics and humanities," Groseclose editorialized in the early 1960s. "Thumbprints are different, but all thumbs serve the same purposes. That is, courses are required that are general and basic ... under as many different professors as possible, to make a well-rounded engineer capable of developing in any area." That sa-Sie philosophy holds true today, says Johnson. A '90s industrial engineering
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n the early days, it was Groseclose who shaped Tech's Industrial Engineering program, says Johnson. That legacy has carried up to the present, through successive directors Bob Lehrer, Michael Thomas and John J. Jarvis. The progression has been steady and consistent. "Each director built upon the work of his predecessor," says Johnson. "They didn't tear down what had been done before. Instead, each man picked up on where we were, and moved us to the next level. That, too, is a Tech tradition." Johnson is proud of the school's phenomenal growth and success over the past 50 years. "We've sort of been the General Motors of industrial engineering," he says. "We've made a helluva lot of Industrial Engineers, and we've made very good ones. "But, we can not pause," he cautions. "Tomorrow is fast approaching, and the industrial engineering model must keep the basics while adapting to the needs of eontemporary life and moving technology." •
James E. Kloeppel is an Atlanta-based freelance ivriter.