Category: Students

Featured Student: Clement Smartt, Ph.D. Industrial Engineering Student with a Focus on Systems Engineering

Susan Ferreira on

UTA’s Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) focuses on innovative and strategic systems engineering research. This blog entry focuses on one of the students affiliated with UTA’s SERC and his research related to real-world needs.

Clement Smartt is a Ph.D. candidate with a focus on Systems Engineering. Clement received the 2012 INCOSE Foundation Stevens Doctoral Award. This award recognizes innovative doctoral-level research related to the field of systems engineering.  His research addresses the important, but relatively unexplored topic: the use of systems engineering on proposals.  Organizations whose primary business is executing contracts must be able to capture contracts to survive.  When the contracts involve engineering complex systems, systems engineering often plays a significant role in the proposal process, sometimes leading the technical effort.  This research seeks to find an optimal use of systems engineering in proposal management to maximize the probability that a supplier organization will be awarded contracts.

Smartt suggests that a number of systems engineering related factors that can potentially be used to predict contract awards and pertain to the organization, the skill levels of employees, the competitive environment, the proposal project, the contract, and the relationship with the customer.  A survey was conducted to gather information related to these factors as well as contract award status for recent proposal efforts.  Smartt’s analysis of the survey results indicates that suppliers seeking to be awarded new contracts should: (1) keep their existing customers very satisfied with the contract work already captured, (2) invest adequate resources in systems engineering labor to understand the requirements and define a solution in support of the proposal, and (3) maintain an adequate number of face-to-face contacts with the customer during the proposal process.

A modeling framework was developed and validated to help decision makers determine an optimal use of systems engineering on their proposals.  The framework allows users to maximize the probability of a contract award given constraints such as budget and employee availability by strategically allocating resources to key systems engineering activities and employee with various skill levels. Organizations that engineer complex systems can use the findings of the survey analysis and the modeling framework to improve the chances of survival for their organizations.

Clement Smartt will be defending his dissertation on Friday, November 1, 2013 in Woolf Hall Room 200. If you are interested in learning more about systems engineering or about our M.S. Systems Engineering or Ph.D Industrial Engineering with Systems Engineering focus, please feel free to contact the IMSE Department at UT Arlington at 817-272-3092 and ask to speak to an advisor or email us with your questions at IMSEinfo@.uta.edu.

Written by Dr. Susan Ferreira, Director of Systems Engineering Research Center
IMSE Faculty

and

Clement Smartt
Ph.D. Student

Guest Post: Diana Martinez, IMSE Doctoral Student

Ann Hoang on

I am originally from Mexico; I earned my bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering at the Instituto Tecnologico de Saltillo and worked in a plastic injection company as a Manufacturing and Project Engineer for over two years. My initial desire was to come to the United States to improve the language; however, in 2007 I was awarded a 60-month scholarship from the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology to study at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).

I finished my M.S. in Industrial Engineering in Summer 2008 and pursued a PhD program in Fall 2008, joining the COSMOS (Center on Stochastic Modeling, Optimization, & Statistics) family. My research focused on the study of an advanced statistical method called Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) and the development of variants and sequential algorithms that provide more flexibility to the modeling process and facilitate the optimization routines. The case studies included an inventory forecasting problem, an air pollution problem and an automotive crash safety design problem.

During my graduate studies I was selected as a Graduate Research Assistant at TMAC, where I had the opportunity of being involved in different consulting projects for small and medium companies located in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Being part of the diverse community of UTA has been absolutely one of the most important experiences in my life not only because of the professional achievements I have earned but also because of the amazing people I have been fortunate to meet.

Written by Diana Martinez, IMSE Doctoral Student
Email: diana.martinezcepeda@mavs.uta.edu
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/diana-martinez/26/307/511

Dr. Boardman’s Conference Experience in Pittsburgh

Bonnie Boardman on

Earlier this summer I attended the First Year Engineering Experience conference at the University of Pittsburgh.  The conference afforded me an opportunity to meet with other engineering educators, discuss ideas, reflect on the topics and issues from the sessions, and chart new directions and collaborations.  I met lots of great people and was inspired by what I heard.  I’m already using many of the tips and techniques that I learned.  At the conference I presented a paper about the correlation between being good at working in teams and being successful in graduating with an engineering degree at UTA.

Each semester a new batch of engineering students join one of UTA’s six departments offering an undergraduate degree in engineering.  They all sign up for an interdisciplinary Introduction to Engineering course.   Students in the class are assigned by the instructors to interdisciplinary teams of six students each.  At the end of the semester, each student is required to submit a peer evaluation of each of his or her teammates as well as evaluate their own participation and contribution to the team’s activities. The instructors read each of the team members’ evaluations and note when a student consistently earns low marks from his or her peers.  Those students rated low enough in peer evaluations for the instructors to reduce their project score are defined as “team underachievers.”  Dr. Peterson and I hypothesized that there was a correlation between team performance in this first semester interdisciplinary group work effort and ultimate success in the College of Engineering.  For this analysis we identified team underachievers from the Fall 2008 semester and tracked their academic career at UTA.

We compared the number of team underachievers in each of the categories to a randomly-selected group of students from the same peer group who were not deemed team underachievers to look for significant differences in their educational path.  A chi-square test for association was performed to see if there was a relationship between team achievement in the Introduction to Engineering class and the current educational status of students who took the class in the fall 2008 semester.  The results showed that the null hypothesis was rejected and there is a relationship between team achievement in the Introduction to Engineering class and educational status of the student population sampled.

These results suggest that while it not is necessary to be good at team work to be successful in university level education it is necessary to be successful in engineering education.  So work on your teamwork skills students.  It will be important to you now and later!

If you are interested in seeing the complete statistical analysis feel free to email me (boardman@uta.edu) for a copy of the paper presented.

Written by Dr. Bonnie Boardman
IMSE Faculty

A Congratulations to Spring 2013 Graduates

Ann Hoang on

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.

IIE Elections

Ann Hoang on

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!

Guest Post: Nadia Martinez, IMSE Doctoral Student

Ann Hoang on

My name is Nadia Martinez and I am an international student at the University of Texas at Arlington. I came to the United States on January 2007 to enrich my education by accomplishing a master’s degree and pursuing a doctorate degree program. I obtained my master’s degree in fall 2008 and am currently working on my Ph.D. at the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department.

I belong to the Center On Stochastic, Modeling, Optimization, and Statistics (COSMOS) where the main objective is to design and model complex real-world systems. My research is focused on developing a deterministic global optimization method based on mixed integer linear programming to solve a piecewise linear function generated by a flexible statistical model subject to constraints that include both linear regression models and piecewise linear models. One of the main applications of this method is on the safety system design of automotive vehicles, with a special interest in crash-worthiness. This type of systems is considered computationally complex. I have also worked as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) at TMAC, which is a research center of the College of Engineering at UTA, where I have participated in different projects related to my Industrial Engineering career. The opportunity I have had of being a GRA has definitely increased my vision about how to deal with real-life problems.

Through my experiences at UTA, I have learned and realized that I was not only fulfilling a dream but I was also becoming part of a big and great family. Although being away from your beloved ones is not an easy thing, being around with such an amazing people like students, professors, co-workers and friends have made of this experience an amazing journey. Sharing cultures, beliefs and ways of life is an incredible opportunity to mature and expand your horizons.

Written By Nadia Martinez, IMSE Doctoral Student
Email: nadia.martinezcepeda@mavs.uta.edu
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nadia-martinez/4a/243/670

Fall 2012 Graduates

Ann Hoang on

On Sunday, December 16, 2012, the College of Engineering conducted its commencement ceremony at UTA’s College Park Center to recognize students who had completed their degrees during the Fall and Summer semesters. The Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Department graduated eleven undergraduate, twenty-eight master’s, and six doctoral students. We want to take a moment to congratulate all our graduates on their achievement. Below is the list of our Fall 2012 Graduates, as listed in UTA’s student newspaper, The Shorthorn:

Ph.D. Industrial Engineering:

Bancha Ariyajunya, Dissertation Title: Solving Approximate Dynamic Programming Problems With High-Dimensional Multicollinear State Spaces

Sree Bhupathiraju, Dissertation Title: The Art of Micro-Channel Manufacturing in Glass

Poovich Phaladiganon, Dissertation Title: Data Mining Based Threshold Development for Novelty Detection

[Below had degrees confirmed Summer 2012]

Vasileios M. Drakonakis, Dissertation Title: Featherweight Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites Design and Manufacturing – Interlayer Enabling Systems Focusing on Lighter CFRP Structures with Higher-Strength Utilizing Nanotechnology

Andrea Graham, Dissertation Title: Using AHP and ANP Models for Freight Transport Networks Selection

Pin Kung, Dissertation Title: Multivariate Modeling for a Multiple Stage, Multiple Objective Green Building Framework

M.E. Industrial Engineering:

Mohammad Saiful Islam

M.S. Engineering Management: 

Thomas W. Hawkins

Kelly Murillo

Jirachaya Namboonmee

Kehinde F. Osiyoye

Jaime Cardona [Degree conferred Summer 212]

M.S. Industrial Engineering:

Salman Ahmad

Majid Ahmadi

Chinmay M. Aney

Md Mejbauddin Chowdhury

Riddham Maheshbhai Desai

Hamid Ghoraishi

William Karashin

Harshad Khonalkar

Aditya Krishnan Narasimham

Wei-Te Niou

Rahul Ravi

Krunal Nikhilbhai Shah

Bharat Venugopal

Ahmad Nahhas [Degree conferred Summer 2012]

Kalyn Taylor Panizo [Degree conferred Summer 2012]

M.S. Logistics:

Yu Xiang

Songhee Hong Gardner [Degree conferred Summer 2012]

Jiahong Ma [Degree conferred Summer 2012]

Danielle Wilson [Degree conferred Summer 2012]

M.S. Systems Engineering:

Trevor Jay Bakker

Russell Elliot

Cynthia Mounce

Congratulations to all our graduates!

Video and Photos of the College of Engineering commencement ceremony can be found at: https://www.uta.edu/commencement/photos-videos/index.php.

 

A COSMOS Ph.D. Dissertation Defense

Ann Hoang on

On November 16th, COSMOS Ph.D. student Bancha Ariyajunya successfully defended his dissertation, entitled “Adaptive Dynamic Programming for High-Dimensional, Multicollinear State Spaces.” His dissertation committee included COSMOS faculty Dr. Victoria Chen, Dr. Jay Rosenberger, and Dr. Li Zeng. His dissertation addressed the problem of correlated variables in a dynamic programming state space. His methodology was originally motivated by airport deicing activities and was tested on an ozone pollution control optimization. In airport deicing, the state of the system considers the environmental impact of deicing, and the environmental variables are highly correlated. In ozone pollution, the state of the system considers ozone concentrations in the air, and these are highly correlated over time and space. Bancha’s research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. His current research interest is in the area of statistical modeling and data mining.

Featured Student: Misagh Faezipour, Ph.D. Industrial Engineering Candidate With a Focus in Systems Engineering

Ann Hoang on

The IMSE Department at UT Arlington offers degrees in Industrial Engineering at the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. levels plus Masters degrees in Logistics, Engineering Management, and Systems Engineering. Since we only offer a doctoral degree in Industrial Engineering, students can focus their degree in areas of expertise such as Systems Engineering. In this blog, I’ll be focusing on one of those students and how she plans to apply her research to real-world needs.

Misagh Faezipour is a Ph.D. candidate at the Industrial Engineering department with a focus in Systems Engineering. She is also affiliated with the System Engineering Research Center (SERC). She has worked as a graduate research assistant on multiple projects in the SERC and is currently a graduate teaching assistant at the IE department. Her research interests lie in the areas of engineering complex systems, healthcare, sustainability, simulation, systems thinking & systems dynamics. The focus of her current research is in Systems Engineering with an emphasis on sustainability related to Systems Engineering and applied to the healthcare domain. Her dissertation is related to addressing water sustainability in hospitals. System dynamics is applied as a modeling approach to provide a better understanding of the water sustainability considerations & model key factors and interrelationships involved in hospitals. A simulator is being developed that simulates the interactions of the key factors from the model. The simulator will help decision makers realize the impacts of their decisions made related to some key factors and also help then make informed decisions. The hospitals are the main stakeholder in this research, and the goal is to help them with their water management process and support them to make informed decisions.

Time for Dissertation Defenses!

Ann Hoang on

On October 18, COSMOS Ph.D. student Poovich Phaladiganon successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Data Mining Based Threshold Development for Novelty Detection.” His dissertation committee included COSMOS faculty Victoria Chen, Li Zeng, Bill Corley, and Korea University Professor Seoung Bum Kim, who made a special trip to UTA for Poovich’s defense. In addition to Poovich’s Ph.D., he has an M.S. degree also in Industrial Engineering from UTA and has worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. His current research interests are multivariate statistical process control and novelty detection. Upon defending his dissertation, Poovich said, “It is a great experience to be a part of the COSMOS society. I have learned about both academics and life along my road to a doctorate.”
Poovich with his Defense Committee