Get Involved in 2014

Bonnie Boardman on

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

Ann Hoang on

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

RAID Labs’s Recent Activities and Upcoming Events

Ann Hoang on

The RFID and Auto ID (RAID) Labs is the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department’s newest lab. It was established in 2011 by Dr. Erick Jones and quickly proved to be the favored lab where experiments could be run by both undergraduates and PhD students alike. The lab focuses on supply chain logistics, engineering management-productivity, and RFID in the mechanical contracting industry-asset tracking development with current projects focused on areas of healthcare, factory lines, and phone apps to help identify RFID tags. RAID Labs has been very active this semester.

Recently, three topics have been started as themes for research, “RFID and automatic inventory control in the oil and gas industry,” “RFID medical devices used in vivo (inside the body),” and “RFID uses that promote Homeland Security.”  The lab has also had three papers accepted for publication this Fall that include two undergraduate students who have made author-level contributions, Harrison Armstrong and Walter Mulflur. These papers will be made available by pdf after final publication. Finally, RAID Labs staff promotions and lab shirts were recently distributed. Those Lab students who reached the E3 status received t-shirts; those who reached M2 status received blue shirts, and top level MI3 (manager and innovator 3) received black shirts.

Also, there will be an upcoming RFID Certification training and exam in December. The certification is backed by the International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA), the leading RFID certification in the country. The ISCEA RFIDSCM will be hosted by RAID Labs on December 6th – 8th, 2013. For those interested, UT Arlington IMSE students can receive a discount. Please follow-up with Harrison Armstrong, RAID Labs Center Manager.

If this type of research and experimentation interests you, you’re in luck! RAID Labs will be taking applications for the two-week training/evaluation process for working in the Labs for Spring 2014. There are only ten E1 positions available. Please ask any RAID Lab person where you can apply. RAID Labs is located at 411 Woolf Hall.

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

Dr. Corley’s Recent Activities

Herbert Corley on

As this entry goes online, I will be in Minneapolis at the annual INFORMS conference presenting a paper entitled “A Cooperative Dual for the Nash Equilibrium.” The gist of this research is that people can often fare better in competitive situations if they cooperate. However, the more profound implication of the work is that complete cooperation is guaranteed to be possible only between two competitors, not three or more. In other words, there is a mathematical limit to complete cooperation. Apparently, three’s a crowd, like we all knew already. In addition, I will be attending the conference “Learning and the Brain” at Harvard in  November. At the INFORMS conference, I will also be working on a Systems Engineering research proposal with Dr. Ferreira.

Dr. Rosenberger, a recent IMSE Ph.D. graduate,  and I submitted in August a paper entitled “Constraint Optimal Selection Techniques (COSTs) for Nonnegative Linear Programming Problems”  to Optimization Methods and Software about an approach to solve huge, currently unsolvable linear programming problems quickly, as demanded by today’s high-speed, high-tech, ever-accelerating world. Linear programming, as you may remember, is the most widely used computational model in the business and scientific worlds. The method was also the basis of a recently issued patent entitled “System, Method and Apparatus for Allocating Resources by Constraint Selection.”

Finally, I will be headed abroad over the winter break and stop thinking about all this heady stuff. Enjoy your semester.

Written by Dr. Bill Corley
IMSE Faculty

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

IMSE Grants and Awarded Contracts

Ann Hoang on

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

Ann Hoang on

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

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.