Congratulations to Dr. Lesley Strawderman for being awarded Diplomate status in the Society for Health Systems (SHS). Diplomate status provides professional credentialing, and recognizes SHS members for significant contributions to the field of health systems engineering, as well as a history of volunteering with the society. SHS is a society of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). The society’s mission is to contribute to the improvement of healthcare processes through systems engineering, analysis, and process improvement methods. Of the society’s membership, less than 10% have earned this recognition.
STARKVILLE, Miss. – An associate professor of industrial engineering in the Bagley College of Engineering has assumed a leadership role in a worldwide professional organization.
Sandra Eksioglu has been chosen to serve as the vice chair of the Railway Application Section (RAS) of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). In November, she will assume the role of chair for the following year.
Having attended almost every annual meeting, both national and international, since she joined the organization in 1999, Eksioglu credits this election to her dedication and involvement in INFORMS. In fact, the only time she missed a meeting was when her family gained a new member.
“I had a baby on Dec. 2,” Eksioglu said. “The meeting was in late November, so I couldn’t go. Otherwise, my students and I have attended and contributed to every annual meeting.”
Eksioglu currently serves the vice president of the Mississippi region and secretary of the Deep South chapter of INFORMS. At Mississippi State University, she is the faculty adviser for the student chapter of this association.
Last year, Eksioglu was the chair of the organizing committee for the RAS problem solving competition and a member of the organizing committee of the analytics research workshop for her chapter. She also served on the board of directors for women in operations research and management science forum of INFORMS for two years. In 2010, she received the INFORMS Moving Spirit Award in appreciation of her service to the MSU student chapter.
The members of the Railway Application Section of INFORMS took note of Eksioglu’s involvement in the organization and recognized the benefit of having her in a leadership position. She said that most members of her section are industry practitioners and that involving students and professors helps promote the exchange of ideas throughout the field.
“My personal goal when I joined the leadership of this section was to reach out to students and make them aware of the research opportunities that exist in this industry,” Eksioglu said. “I want to get them excited about joining the railway workforce.”
As vice chair, Eksioglu will assist in the planning of the RAS business meeting and other activities of the INFORMS annual meeting in San Francisco by booking speakers and scheduling presentations for the railway applications section. She will also be involved in the preparation for the problem solving and the paper competitions.
After the meeting, Eksioglu’s responsibilities with these events will increase when she becomes chair of this section. Although this task may seem daunting, she views the experience as an opportunity to improve her research in the field of transportation systems analysis and supply chain management.
“Having a good understanding of the business rules and problems faced by railway companies will help us conduct high-quality research,” Eksioglu said. “Getting involved with this section also helps expose us to interesting problems and establish contacts.”
The railway application section was founded in 1994 to facilitate productivity improvements and growth in the rail industry through appropriate application of management science techniques. INFORMS is the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research, management science and analytics.
For more information about INFORMS, visit www.informs.org.
The Bagley College of Engineering is online at www.bagley.msstate.edu.
By: Erin Boozer
Congratulations to Sandra, Lesley, and Hugh on their award associated with the cross-college grant program.
• Sandra Eksioglu, industrial and systems engineering, “Year 2: Energy Institute Working Group.”
• Lesley Strawderman, industrial and systems engineering, “Transportation Safety.”
• Hugh Medal, industrial and systems engineering, “Mitigating the Effects of Wildfires by Efficiently Allocating Fuels Treatment Resources.”
STARKVILLE, Miss. – After completing his first semester in the Bagley College of Engineering, an assistant professor in the industrial and systems engineering department has big plans for his first semester of teaching.
Linkan Bian joined the Mississippi State University family in August 2013. He spent his first semester focusing on his research with process monitoring and quality improvement in 3-D printing.
“3-D printing has promising applications ranging from aerospace to dentistry,” Bian said. “However, a key challenge related to 3-D printing is the low repeatability and poor part quality. I’m working with my collaborators on monitoring the fabrication process and improving product quality using the methods of data mining.”
This semester will be Bian’s first semester to teach as a faculty member, but he is no stranger to facing a classroom of students. While earning a doctoral and master’s degrees, he taught undergraduate courses similar to what he will be teaching this semester at MSU—Engineering Statistics 1. He said he hopes to include more than just the basic material of the class by giving the students a sense of engineering.
“I hope my students don’t just memorize equations from the textbook,” Bian said. “What is much more important is to understand how this can be useful in the applications of engineering, and communicate the engineering knowledge clearly to people without an engineering background.”
Bian choose to come to at Mississippi State because of the work environment and career opportunities the university offers its faculty members.
“The university and the department have very good working conditions, especially for collaborations. Faculty who share research interests are encouraged to work as a team,” Bian said. “My colleagues are extremely supportive and helpful. This is really healthy for the junior faculty to develop their career paths.”
Bian earned a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering in 2013 from Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a master’s degree in statistics and mathematics from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s in applied mathematics from Beijing University.
For more information on Bian or the Bagley College of Engineering visit www.bagley.msstate.edu.
In June, Dr. Allen Greenwood, P.E., Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering was the invited keynote speaker and simulation project judge at the 4th Annual “Logistics Gala,” at Poznan Institute of Technology, Poznan, Poland. Over 300 students, faculty, and representatives from industry attended the event. In addition to Dr. Greenwood’s presentation, the event featured brief video presentations of each student team’s simulation project, as well as a ceremony honoring awardees in various categories. Through the simulation projects, which are a part of a course in the university’s Logistics Engineering program, students address real industry problems with such companies as Bridgestone, Pratt & Whitney, and Volkswagen. The event also featured the newly released Polish version of Applied Simulation: Modeling and Analysis Using FlexSim, co-authored by Dr. Greenwood. In addition to the university, FlexSim Software Products helped support the event.
Dr. Greenwood was invited by Dr. Pawel Pawlewski, a member of the Faculty of Engineering Management and managing director of the Simulation and Optimization Center in Logistics and Production Processes, at Poznan Institute of Technology. Drs. Greenwood and Pawlewski are collaborating on simulation and optimization research and are developing an international simulation competition. This Fall, Dr. Greenwood will implement competitive student projects in his simulation course and Dr. Pawlewski is an invited speaker and judge.
Congratulations to Kari for being one of sixteen Mississippi State faculty members selected for the competitive 2013-2014 Hugh Critz Faculty Leadership Program.
Dr. Lesley Strawderman was awarded the first Bagley College of Engineering Online Education Award
ISE is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. We invite you to complete a short survey updating us on your location and if you may be able to attend the event. It is planned to be held Super Bulldog Weekend and we are in the process of developing a web page to provide additional details on the event. The survey should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. We hope to receive your response and see you at the Anniversary Celebration.