Category: Department News

UTA IIE Student Chapter Holds Joint Meeting with DFW Chapter

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IIE Outstanding Senior and Junior Awards Winners
IIE Outstanding Senior, Rachel Machbitz, and Outstanding Junior, Cynthia Rodriguez, Awards Winners

As part of the Engineers Week Activities, the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) UTA Student Chapter held a joint meeting with the DFW Professional Chapter on Tuesday, February 18. Students were able to enjoy some slices of pizza and also had the opportunity to network with IE professionals. Guest speaker, Dr. Joseph Michels, presented the benefits of getting a Professional Engineering license. Dr. Michels is himself a licensed engineer who works with the international management/engineering consulting firm of Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC. Michels has extensive experience with businesses as well as non-profit and governmental organizations and is an active member of the local community. He serves as Co-Chair of the Young Engineers Committee and is a member of the Rotary Club of Fort Worth. In 2012, he was awarded the Montana Ambassador of the Year Award.

In addition to the guest speaker, winners of the annual Outstanding IIE scholarship were announced. Rachel Machbitz won for Outstanding Senior, and Cynthia Rodriguez, earned the Outstanding Junior Award. Congratulations to the both of them.

Even though the outstanding student scholarships were awarded, there are plenty of IIE events scheduled this semester. If you or anyone you know is interested in joining IIE, the professional organization for industrial engineers, you can join here.

Special Thanks to:
Marco Torres, IIE Outreach Director
for providing information and photo for this blog post

Warehouse Management System Software Certification Weekend Class

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Dr. Jones has negotiated a discount for UT Arlington students to attend training for CIS Logistics Execution Suites including WMS, Inventory and Delivery Software.  The company has also committed to selecting an intern from those at UTA who attend and pass the certification exam.  For more information on UTA’s partnership with CIS, a global Logistics execution system provider and integration services, read CIS’s press release announcing our new partnership.

1. Certification on WMS software Inbound Process will be available on Saturday, March 1st 2014.
2. Certification on WMS outbound processes will be available on Saturday, March 8th 2014.
3. To qualify for internships and job opportunities attendance and passing of exams is mandatory

The training will be held on the UTA Campus.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Donavan Wheatfall at 972.739.6054, email at dwheatfall@CISorg.com or register online at http://www.cisorg.com/Registration/Certification.cshtml

Get Involved in 2014

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Another year and another semester are upon us.  I made a New Year’s Resolution to drink more water.  In order to drink more water I need to drink less Diet Coke.  It’s day 9 of no Diet Coke and I haven’t died of dehydration, so I think that means I’m doing pretty well so far.   I’d like to challenge all of our UTA Industrial Engineering undergraduate students to make a New Semester’s Resolution.  Let’s call it “Get Involved in 2014!”

There are so many great opportunities for students to get involved in the department, at UTA, in the community and as industrial engineers.  Our student chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers is very active.  They have monthly meetings, plant tours, social outings, a student lounge in Woolf Hall, intermural teams, a newsletter, and a Facebook page just off the top of my head.  If you haven’t been active with IIE in the past, that’s an easy, fun, rewarding way to “Get Involved in 2014”.

If you want to challenge yourself even more think about taking advantage of one of the many extra opportunities that are available to IE undergraduate students.  One example is the Values and Ventures competition being sponsored by TCU and open to undergraduate student teams from UTA.  The competition involves building a business plan for “for-profit enterprises that impact society in meaningful ways.”  I know a lot of you are interested in entrepreneurship and this would be a great way to gain some experience in that arena.  You can find more information about the competition at the following website:

http://www.neeley.tcu.edu/Centers/Neeley_Entrepreneurship_Center/Values_and_Ventures/Participant_Guide.aspx

Texas A&M University is accepting applications for its 2014 Summer Undergraduate Research Program.  As part of the program, undergraduate students work closely with faculty members on current or individual research projects, attend development and GRE workshops, make a formal poster presentation of their research experience, and submit a final written report describing the results of their research.   A $5,000 scholarship, tuition and fees, housing and travel expenses are provided.  This is opportunity would be especially valuable for any student considering graduate school.  You can find eligibility requirements and details can be found here:  http://easa.tamu.edu/usrg.

There are also several opportunities to get involved with service learning in the IMSE department this coming semester.  I have an immediate opportunity to work with Mission Arlington on improving operations in their healthcare clinic.  I also have a very exciting upcoming project involving developing a healthcare app for older adults.  These opportunities would allow you to put your IE skills to use in some service environments as well as allow you to serve your community.

These are just a few opportunities. There are many, many more announced every week.  These types of activities allow you to improve your resume, network with professionals from around the world, gain valuable experience, and give back to the community.  All while improving your IE skills.  If you have any questions about any of the specific activities I’ve mentioned or want to learn how to make yourself aware of other opportunities feel free to contact me.  UTA IE undergrads, I challenge you to “Get Involved in 2014.”  If I can give up Diet Coke you can do anything!

Written by
Dr. Bonnie Boardman
IMSE Faculty

Congratulations to Fall and Summer 2013 Graduates

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The Fall semester came to a cold end as ice and snow blanketed the North Texas area, forcing the University to reschedule many final exams; but the freezing weather didn’t hang around long enough to spoil the College of Engineering Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, December 14 at College Park Center. The new University president, Dr. Vistasp Karbhari, who has a degree in engineering was the guest speaker at the ceremony which was attended by hundreds of families and friends. For all their achievements, the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Department would also like to congratulate all our graduates on this special occasion. Here is a list of our newest alumni, as published in The Shorthorn:

Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering:

  • Mohammed Al-Mansouri, Dissertation Title: A Simulation Approach to Production Line Bottleneck Analysis and Cost Justification
  • Piyush Kumar, Dissertation Title: Mathematical Approach for Land Use Planning that Limits Urban Sprawl
  • Aera LeBoulluec, Dissertation Title: Outcome and State Transition Modeling for Adaptive Interdisciplinary Pain Management
  • Clement Smartt, Dissertation Title: Optimizing the Use of Systems Engineering on Proposals
  • Paul Wilson, Dissertation Title: Eutectic Diffusion Brazing Process for Joining Aluminum Laminae with Macro- and Micro-Scale Features

Degrees Conferred Summer 2013

  • Narakorn Engsuwan, Dissertation Title: Scalar Equilibrium for n-Person Games
  • Diana Martinez Cepeda, Dissertation Title: Variants of Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS): Convex vs. Non-Convex, Piecewise-Linear vs. Smooth and Sequential Algorithms
  • Nadia Martinez Cepeda, Dissertation Title: Global Optimization of Nonconvex Piecewise Linear Regression Splines
  • Roochi Mishra, Dissertation Title: Improving Quality of Information from Multiple Sensor Sources on Mobile Platforms
  • Panita Suebvisai, Dissertation Title: Parametric Cost Estimation Model for Microchannel Bonding Process Based on Activity-Based Costing

M.S in Engineering Management

  • Patrick Alexander
  • Seyed Pooya Mirsalehi (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Farooq Mohiuddin
  • Noble Vikram Rajanayagam
  • Sai Vignesh Ramachandran
  • Nomita Sharma
  • Vishnu Sethuraman Swarna

M.S. Industrial Engineering

  • Sakthivel Arumugam
  • Wencess Kelelyoh Bett (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Nithin Chirayath Antony (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Fermin Feroshi Arun Joseph
  • Stanley Joseph
  • Nirmal Kumar Kanagasabapathy
  • Parkpoom Ketrunghiran
  • Ketan Chandrashekhar Kulkarni
  • Spoorthi Ananda Kumar (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Lin Lin (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Dmitri Mitchell
  • Tshiebe Mwamba (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Gaurav Nirwal
  • J. Dario Padilla
  • Alok Parashivamurthi (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Dhananjay Patil
  • Kukkala Prasad (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Sameer Mahesh Rabade
  • Ajinkya Rao (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Kapil Prakash Raole
  • Jose Sanchez Gonzalez
  • Arvind Walia

M.S. in Logistics

  • Anna Candia
  • Mahmoud Motaqed Larijani (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)

M.S. in Systems Engineering

  • David O. Asaolu
  • Arlyssa Jaquez
  • Christopher M. May
  • Stephen McLauchlin
  • Larry Joe Parker
  • Aaron Thomas Sherman

B.S. in Industrial Engineering

  • Ukesh Chawal
  • Midhun Abraham John
  • Aditya Kasukhela
  • Sarim Khan
  • Hyun Ki Kim
  • Indra Poudel
  • Nader Sayadi (Degree conferred in Summer 2013)
  • Shrijan Shrestha
  • Sumit Shrestha
  • Ashvin Thomas
  • Pravin Tripathi

IMSE Grants and Awarded Contracts

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Several IMSE faculty members were recently awarded research grants and contracts. Dr. Li Zeng made news for the grant she received recently from the National Science Foundation for her research titled, ” Quality Profile Modeling and Control with Applications in Tissue-engineered Scaffolds Fabrication.” The collaborative research will be conducted with Penn State and with the purpose of developing a “generic and systematic methodology for the modeling and control of quality profiles through the integration of advanced statistical techniques and expert knowledge of manufacturing processes.” Dr. Zeng was awarded a $142,223 grant that will run through 2016. For more information on this research, read the abstract on the NSF website.

In addition, the IMSE Department received a Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need, (GAANN) Grant for $534,000 that will benefit five students over the next three years.

Dr. Jay Rosenberger, Dr. Susan Ferreira, and Dr. Victoria Chen were awarded a $33,000 contract with L-3 Communications for a “Flight Test Matching Tool” to develop a method to warm start a simulator calibration process.

Additional grants that were awarded:

Richard Billo, John Priest, and Erick Jones were awarded TxMED grant “A Novel Glass Microfluidic Neuro-Sensor For High-Throughput Drug Discovery.”

Erick Jones was awarded NSF I/UCRC grant “Rf-Code Computer Rack Cooling System RFID Project.”
Erick Jones was awarded a grant from Angelica Incoroporation Evaluating RFID in Healthcare Linen” joint with SAVANT.

IMSE Welcomes New Faculty Member

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Dr. Shouyi WangThe IMSE Department welcomes new Assistant Professor, Dr. Shouyi Wang. He comes to UTA from the University of Washington where he served as a Research Scientist.

Dr. Wang has interests in data mining, machine learning, pattern recognition, multivariate process monitoring and prediction, multivariate statistics, applied operation research, and human-centered computing. He has developed mathematical theories and algorithms to frame, model and optimize complex systems, and solve large-scale data mining and knowledge discovery problems in engineering and science. He has conducted research projects on intelligent learning control systems for humanoid walking robots, personalized healthcare online monitoring and decision-making systems using multivariate physiological signals, functional and diagnostic brain imaging analysis and network modeling (fMRI), clinical recommendation system for respiratory-gated PET/CT Imaging using patient classification and statistical association, real-time prediction/detection of mental states and cognitive activities using brain-computer interfaces, and personalized healthcare information systems with wearable body sensor networks. He is also the author of several articles that have appeared in publications such as the International Journal of Data Mining and Bioinformatics, Wiley Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science, and  conference proceedings.

Dr. Wang received a Ph.D in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Rutgers in 2012. He is also a member of professional engineering organizations such as the Institute for Industrial Engineers (IIE), Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and Institute of Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

A Congratulations to Spring 2013 Graduates

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On May 12, 2013, the College of Engineering celebrated the graduating class of Spring 2013 with a commencement ceremony at College Park Center. The Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Department graduated many students, including four doctoral, twenty-one master’s, and twenty-seven undergraduates. Listed below are the names of the IMSE students who graduated in the Spring 2013. These names were published in the UT Arlington Shorthorn newspaper:

Ph.D in  Industrial Engineering:

  • Maurice Dwayne Cavitt, Dissertation Title: An Optimal Decision Model for Multi-System Process Capability Improvements Through a Personnel Environment and Integration (PEI) Framework Utilizing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technologies
  • Shernette R. Kydd, Dissertation Title: The Characterization of Texas Healthcare Facilities Impacted by the 2012 Medicare Penalties: A Framework for Self Evaluation and Systemic Preemptive Action to Reduce Hospital Readmission Rates
  • Ida Lumintu, Dissertation Title: RFID and RTLS Enhancement for Retained Surgical Instruments in the Body
  • Restu Purwaningtyas Sunarto Bussey, Dissertation Title: Evaluation of Quality and Sustainability Incentives to Optimize the Indonesian to the United States Crude Oil Supply Chain

Master of Science in Engineering Management:

  • Sanjay Bhansali
  • Jonathan Burch
  • Prabhu Muthanna Gummatira
  • Yi-Pin Lee
  • Angela Chidinma Nnadili
  • Daniel Snigier
  • Manasa Tekumalla
  • Rishitha Yarabolu

Master of Science in Industrial Engineering:

  • Majid Ahmadi
  • Rohan Harshil Annamraju
  • Soham Sudhir Bothare
  • Hamid Ghoraishi
  • Chendur Murugananthan Anand
  • Japhet Ong
  • Ajinkya Rao
  • Archit Harshadkumar Sanghvi
  • Jainil Surti
  • Md Nafeez Tanim
  • Efrain Vega

Master of Science in Logistics:

  • Charles Kilgore
  • Chenhao Mao

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering:

  • Ahmad “Adam” I. Achkantana
  • Christian Eduardo Alvarez
  • Daniel Appiah
  • Narongrit Boonthunyaluk
  • Luke Brigmon
  • Erin Michelle Celone
  • Ernesto Delgado
  • Mildred Guadalupe Godinez-Pecina
  • Carlos Miguel Guajardo
  • Christopher J. James
  • Holly Elizabeth Lane
  • Paul V. Lexington
  • David Michael Miller
  • Victor Munoz
  • Rhea J. Pak
  • Mannaneel Harim Pankaj
  • Kelsey A. Robinson
  • Juan C. Robles
  • Jairo Romero
  • Nader Sayadi
  • Mohammed A. Siddiqui
  • Ronald Bryant Slovacek
  • Adrian J. Sobalvarro
  • Carolina Soto
  • Conner H. Tynes
  • Chidebe S. Ugoji
  • Emanuel L. William.

Congratulations to all our Spring 2013 graduates!

A recap of the graduation ceremony can be found on the College of Engineering website.

Video of there graduation ceremony can be found on the UT Arlington website.

IMSE Department Celebrates First Annual Awards Banquet

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On May 2, 2013, the IMSE Department celebrated the inaugural Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Banquet by honoring graduating seniors, award winners, and scholarship recipients. Attendees included our Advisory Board members, former and current faculty members, as well as our current and former students and their families. The gala began with a reception and delicious catered dinner inside the San Saba Room at the University Center. Jim Crites, Executive Vice President for the Operations Division of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, presented the keynote address to graduating seniors. His speech urged the soon-to-be graduates to use their IE degrees to help find solutions to real-world problems. As he stated, only IEs have the gift that can be utilized to find efficiency while optimizing profit margins, citing numerous problems that industrial engineers have resolved in the airport industry. Crites explained how skills gained from an IE degree can solve real-world problems because IE are trained to think on a multi-dimensional level.

Following the keynote address, Interim Chair Dr. Tory Chen presented the endowed scholarship winners. The first scholarship awarded was the G.T. Stevens, Jr. Endowed Alumni Scholarship, which was established in 1998 to honor our Chair Emeritus. The award is given to outstanding Industrial Engineering students. This year’s recipients were Senior Luke Brigmon and Junior Anna Mai.

The next award, the Elinor Pape Endowed Scholarship, was established in 2006 to honor Dr. Pape’s service and dedication at UT Arlington as a member of the IE faculty. The Professor Emeritus was on-hand to present the scholarship to award winners Holly Lane, a senior, and Angel Decena-Guzman, a junior.

The final two scholarships that were presented were established by alumnus Keith Weiss. This year’s awardee for the Keith and Carolyn Weiss Industrial Engineering Scholarship was Harrison Armstrong. The Weiss Family Endowed Scholarship in Industrial Engineering was awarded to Ashvin Thomas.

After the scholarships were presented, Dr. Jamie Rogers presented the Industrial Engineers Outstanding Student Awards to Outstanding Senior, Adam Achkantana, and Outstanding Junior, Walter Joseph Multhur.

The last IE award presented was The Texas Industrial Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award which was created in alliance between Industrial Engineering departments at public universities that include UT Arlington, UT El Paso, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, the University of Houston, and Lamar University. These universities select awardees based on the impact of their career on society. This year’s winner was alumnus, Mr. George Pickett, for his long career as an IE and his innovations in the founding of Atlantic Southeast Airlines which was acquired by Delta Airlines in 1999 and survives today as ExpressJet,  the world’s largest regional airline carrier.

Finally, the evening was capped with a big surprise as Dr. Jamie Rogers honored Dr. Don Liles with a plaque for excellence in service for more than three decades as a faculty in the IMSE department. All the attendees gave him a well-deserved standing ovation as he received his award.  Dr. Liles served as Chair of the department from 1998 to 2012 and remains at the university as Professor and Academic Advisor for the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering programs.

The event was a wonderful success as the IMSE Department got to honor their graduating seniors and award winners for the first of what will hopefully become an annual event.

Check our 2013 IMSE Banquet Photo Album on Facebook!

Dr. Jamie Rogers Elected President of ABET

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Dr. Jamie RogersThe Board of Directors at the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) has elected Dr. Jamie Rogers for president. ABET is a “nonprofit, non-governmental organization that accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.” ABET accreditation assures that the university’s program meets the standards of quality established by the profession in the various fields of study. The IMSE Department is ABET accredited.

Dr. Rogers has been active in ABET, serving on he Board of Directors, International Activities Council, and Engineering Accreditation Commission. In addition to her election, she has been nominated for IIE Fellow and the prestigious Piper Professor Award. In 2011, she was inducted into the UTA Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She also received the UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teacher Award in recognition of her teaching excellence in 2012.

Dr. Jamie Rogers is a professor and the Associate Chair of the IMSE Department at UT Arlington.  She  also serves as the faculty advisor for the industrial engineering professional student organization, IIE.

Read the official announcement of Dr. Rogers’s election on the ABET website.

IIE Elections

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Here are the newly elected 2013-2013 IIE Officers:

From left to right,
Dr. Jamie Rogers, Kristopher Leonhardt (Historian), Ting Xiao (Secretary), Dylan Slick (Treasurer), Rachel Machbitz (Webmaster), Walter Mulflur (President), Caitlin Webb (Vice President), Vanessa Duran (Senior Chapter Liaison), and Marco Torres (Outreach).

Congratulations to these newly elected officers. We hope to have another great year for IIE!