Jenna Owen, a freshman industrial and systems engineering student, was one of five in the Bagley College of Engineering (BCoE) to receive recognition as 2009 Spirit of State award winner.
Owen has many accomplishments to her name. She is president of the Freshmen Engineering Student Council, as well as a BCoE ambassador and Industrial and Systems Engineering representative. A native of Wiggins, Miss., she is also an active member of Tri Delta sorority and MSU Student Association.
Since its establishment in 2006, Spirit of State awards have served as the university’s highest student service honors. The awards recognize individuals’ exceptional contributions to student life at Mississippi State including the areas of campus involvement, service to the university and impact to the campus community. Among this year’s 22 award recipients, the BCoE representatives were William Cleveland, Anna Goblirsch, Jenna Owen, Joel Russell, and Terrance West.
The Division of Student Affairs presents the Spirit of State awards annually at a public ceremony. The recipients receive a customized gift to designate their achievement. More information about the award, including lists of all past winners, is available at www.saffairs.msstate.edu/spirit.
Glenn Dennis, Quality Manufacturing Laboratory and Manufacturing Process Improvement Manager at MSU’s CAVS Extension Center, was presented the first Engineering Service Award given by the Bagley College of Engineering (BCoE). Dennis is a 1974 graduate of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The award was established to honor those who contribute to the outreach and service missions of the BCoE. The award was given to Glenn to recognize the more than $3 billion in economic development that he has helped bring to the state.
Four Mississippi State students will face the next school year with a little less financial worry weighing them down. Each has earned a $2,000 scholarship from the world’s largest engineering honor society. Two of the students were from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
The Tau Beta Pi scholarships were each funded by different benefactors as part of the organization’s scholarship program. The award recognizes students who are in their final year of engineering study. Each recipient obtained recommendation letters and achieved academic success while maintaining extracurricular contributions and demonstrating promise towards advancing the engineering profession.
Among this year’s recipients were Industrial and Systems Engineering representatives Carl Morris, and McNeill Williford.
Morris is one of eight recipients of the national Alph Pi Mu scholarship, making this the second nationally competitive scholarship he has received in recent months. A senior in industrial engineering, he serves as president of Mississippi State’s chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and recording secretary for Tau Beta Pi. He also finds time to participate in the MSU fencing club and several musical groups, while conducting research with Dr. Mingzhou Jin. A native of Caledonia, Miss., he is the son of Thomas and Tereisa Morris.
A senior in industrial engineering, Williford has held numerous leadership positions with the University Honors Council including a recently completed term as the group’s chair. In the coming academic year, he will serve as president of the university’s chapters of both the IIE and Alphi Pi Mu, major specific honor society. Since coming to State, he has retained an academic scholarship while maintaining active membership in the Entrepreneurship Club and Phi Kappa Phi along with his other leadership activities. A native of Madison, Miss., he is the son of Elizabeth Williford.
Tau Beta Pi was founded in 1885 at Lehigh University. With its current headquarters at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the organization has more than 230 collegiate chapters and 505,000 members. Additional information can be found by visiting www.tbp.org.
In the group photo is Robin Littlejohn and Justin Warren, ISE Graduate Students and Glenda Young and Henry Leggett, ISE Undergraduate Students
More than 30 Mississippi State students and two university faculty members are 2009 spring initiates of Tau Beta Pi international engineering honor society. Out of that group four were Industrial and Systems Engineering students.
Founded in 1885 at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, the organization now is based at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Over the decades, its membership has included future Nobel laureates, astronauts, state governors, and corporate chief executive officers, among others.
Eligible undergraduate students must be in the top eighth of the junior class or top fifth of the senior class. Graduate students must be in the top fifth of their class and have completed 50 percent of their degree requirements.
Faculty selections are designated as Eminent Engineers and have achieved distinction in a specific field of the profession. Inducted for the spring semester are Dr. Roger King, director of MSU’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, and Dr. Donna Reese, associate dean of academics in the Bagley College of Engineering. King is a professor of electrical engineering; Reese, a professor of computer science and engineering.
New student members of MSU’s Tau Beta Pi chapter include: (by hometown)
ADDIS, La.–Senior computer engineering major Austin J. Lee, formerly of Louisville [Miss.].
BELDEN–Senior computer engineering major Jacob A. Bowen.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.–Junior aerospace engineering major Travis A. Cope.
BYRAM–Junior electrical engineering major Cody R. Griffin.
CANTON–Senior mechanical engineering major Edward S. Guerry.
CLINTON–Senior chemical engineering majors Benjamin J. Craft and Paul W. Davis, and senior software engineering major Lona L. Smith.
COLUMBIA–Senior civil engineering major Brock B. White.
COLUMBUS–Senior civil engineering major Joshua W. McCool.
CORDOVA, Tenn.–Junior biological engineering major Samuel B. Latham II.
DECATUR, Ala.–Junior chemical engineering major Robert C. Foster.
ELK RIVER, Minn.–Paul G. Allison, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering.
GREENWOOD–Senior biological engineering major Jason F. Moss.
GULFPORT–Civil engineering major Stephen M. Dix and mechanical engineering major Jacob W. Spigener. Both are seniors.
JACKSON, Mo.–Junior chemical engineering major Jasen T. Price.
LOUISVILLE–(See ADDIS, La.)
LUCEDALE–Junior computer engineering major Timothy M. Pitts.
McHENRY–Senior software engineering major James A. Pettitt.
MADISON, Ala.–Electrical engineering major Michael Helmbrecht and software engineering major Nathan P. Lewis. Both are juniors.
MARY ESTHER, Fla.–Senior electrical engineering major Ashley N. Stockbridge.
MIDDLETOWN, Del.–Robin A. Littlejohn, a doctoral student in industrial engineering.
MONTGOMERY, Ala.–Junior biological engineering major Katherine Bryan.
RIDGELAND–Justin M. Warren, a graduate student in industrial engineering.
STARKVILLE–John J. Ramirez Avila, a doctoral student in civil engineering, and senior industrial engineering major Glenda D. Young.
TEXARKANA, Texas–Junior biological engineering major Nathan M. Johnson.
VICKSBURG–Senior electrical engineering major Steven Price and junior biological engineering major Jada M. Selma.
WEST POINT–Junior biological engineering major Anna J. Hood.
WIGGINS–Senior industrial engineering major Henry D. Leggett.
For more information about Tau Beta Pi visit the organization’s Web site at www.tbp.org.
Brooks Davis persevered and survived. He is a college transfer success story. At 18 years old, he enrolled in college right out of high school. The stressors he felt were not atypical of most college freshmen. Every year, more than 380,000 students drop out of college because of a multitude of stressors, including juggling finances, grades, work, relationships, as well as community service and extracurricular commitments.
Davis began his college career in Texas. Like most freshmen his age, he began college with a very unclear idea of who he was or what he wanted to do in life; as a result he became disenchanted and lost. With so many distractions and stressors, Davis was headed in the direction of becoming another college dropout statistic, that is, until his dad intervened.
“Dad believed in me and knew I was capable, but I think he thought I needed a little ‘tough love’ encouragement, so during summer break he told me, ‘Figure out what you want to do or you’re on your own.’ He got my attention,” said Davis. “The college in Texas has a career exploration office. I spent many hours that summer in that office reading everything, trying to figure out what I wanted to do.”
The then-psychology major scanned every article and when he came across an industrial systems and engineering (ISE) professional publication he almost overlooked it, because he had heard his peers say, “Engineering is so boring.” However, the prior motivator Davis received from his dad persuaded him to pick it up.
“I read and I loved it. It wasn’t boring at all. I always thought I had an engineering type mindset, but nothing caught my attention as far as the traditional engineering majors like chemical, electrical and mechanical,” explained Davis. “I’m really people oriented. I’ve always loved figuring how to make things run more efficiently and easily; just making things better for people. I always wondered, ‘Who does that?’ I discovered that the industrial systems engineers are the people who bring the creative problem-solving and the science/technical worlds together.”
Following his eureka moment, Davis again ran into yet another barrier—finding a college in Texas that offered an ISE program. Noticing his son’s frustration, Davis’ dad offered a suggestion.
“Dad earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Mississippi State and he mentioned that maybe I should check it out. I had visited the campus several times with my dad, but I never looked at it seriously. It was my dad’s college,” explained Davis. “Then dad asked me to visit the Bagley College of Engineering with him during E-day.”
Usually held in October, the BCoE’s E-day is a chance for alumni and prospective students to interact with engineering faculty, become familiar with departmental programs and classroom environments, as well as to observe student research demonstrations.
Before father and son traveled from Houston, Texas, to Starkville, Davis sent an e-mail to Prentice McKibben, undergraduate coordinator and instructor for the ISE program.
“Mr. McKibben must have forwarded my e-mail to Dr. Royce Bowden. Dr. Bowden sent me and my dad an e-mail inviting us to meet with him, but we didn’t receive it before we left for Mississippi State,” said Davis.
Consequently, when Bowden found them at the BCoE E-day, Davis and his dad didn’t know him.
“We were not really sure who we were talking to, except that this extremely nice guy, who was from industrial and systems engineering, was willing to work with me one-on-one to determine what classes from Texas would transfer and to create a class schedule for spring semester,” said Davis. “Then he gave us a personal tour of the whole campus, which included the ISE classrooms and research labs.”
Contemplating how to discretely figure out how Dr. Bowden knew them, Davis and his dad finally asked for Bowden’s card.
“We were walking back to the Drill Field and Dr. Bowden told us he didn’t have any on him and invited us to his office,” explained Davis. I looked at the name on the office door and it said, ‘Dr Royce Bowden, director of the ISE department.’ I looked at my dad and we both were astonished that a guy at his level would take the time to help me.”
As Davis would say, “The rest is history.” He transferred to Mississippi State.
“When we got back, dad read the e-mail and said,‘Whoa, he was planning to help us all along.’ You know I was really lost and MSU has really helped me find myself and let me start with a clean slate. It’s been so liberating. I love it here. I love the campus and the people. In Mr. Prentice’s engineering economics class, I got a 103 on my last test,” smiled Davis. “I’m pretty proud of that, there are very few students who earned a score that high.”
When Dr. Bowden heard that Davis was surprised that a department head would help a struggling, prospective transfer student his reply was,
“That’s just how we are at Mississippi State.”
by: Diane Godwin
Industrial and Systems Engineering students have claimed two of this year’s eight Alpha Pi Mu National Awards of Excellence that recognize academic achievement, leadership and well-rounded interests.
Seniors Carl Morris and Martha “Missie” Smith have both maintained perfect 4.0 grade-point averages while balancing a full slate of extracurricular activities.
“People are shocked to learn that an engineering major has maintained a 4.0 because it’s so easy to slip somewhere along the line,” Morris said. “I attribute a lot of my academic success to time management. Often I have to shuffle my activities, but I always put classes first and try to keep time to myself. However, I would rather be doing too much than too little.”
Currently, Morris serves as president of Mississippi State’s chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and recording secretary for Tau Beta Pi. He also finds time to participate in the MSU fencing club and several musical groups, while conducting research with MSU’s Alpha Pi Mu advisor, Dr. Mingzhou Jin.
“I am working with Dr. Jin to create and run a mathematical model to maintain hospitals’ inventories, which will allow them to share stock and reduce waste from expired items,” Morris explained. “One of the reasons I like my major is because industrial engineers continually strive to improve everything they do. They always strive to find the next best thing.”
Smith, who maintains membership in IIE and the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Tau beta Pi, serves as vice president of the Society of Women Engineers. She fulfills her desire to research by working with Dr. Kari Babski-Reeves to study human factors and ergonomics.
“I love the idea of working with people to accomplish a common goal that is going to make a difference in people’s lives,” Smith said. “Industrial engineering is a versatile major and I know I can go anywhere after college.” Currently completing her third cooperative education semester at Eaton Aerospace in Jackson, Smith explains that her secret to success stems from finding her place at MSU.
“I have a wide variety of interests and toyed with the idea of several different majors before deciding on industrial engineering,” Smith said. “Mississippi State feels like home to me, and I have found my classes to be interesting. If I care about something, I want to learn everything I can about it and, luckily, I care about industrial engineering.”
For more information about industrial and systems engineering at MSU, email department head Dr. Royce Bowden at bowden@ise.msstate.edu.
The “Best Major on Campus” for the second consecutive year is ISE! During the E-Week competitions, ISE dominated several events. It was great fun for everyone.
Congratulations, ISE students…..you are the best!
Huseyin Tunc, Dr. Mingzhou Jin, Ambarish Acharya, Arash Salehi, Dr. Burak Eksioglu, Chris Magee
Congratulations to the Industrial and Systems Engineering 2009 J. Ron Walsh Outstanding Award winners:
Chris Magee – Outstanding Industrial and Systems Engineering Senior Award
Arash Salehi – Outstanding Industrial and Systems Engineering M.S. Student Award
Ambarish Acharya – Outstanding Industrial and Systems Engineering Ph.D. Student Award
Huseyin Tunc – Outstanding Student Research Paper Award
Dr. Mingzhou Jin and Dr. Burak Eksioglu – Outstanding Faculty Research Paper Award
Dr. Kari Babski-Reeves, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been inducted into the Bagley College of Engineering Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She was selected for the honor by a committee of engineering faculty and students based on the following selection criteria:
–Outstanding teachers engage students in the learning process and motivate students to succeed in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom.
–Outstanding teachers seek to use a variety of teaching methods to reach students regardless of their individual learning styles.
–Outstanding teachers are demanding but fair, clearly communicating their expectations for students and hold students to these expectations.
–Outstanding teachers challenge students at all levels in their classrooms and encourage collaborative learning among their students.
–Outstanding teachers engage in active assessment of the learning of their students and seek to improve their teaching to ensure even greater student learning in the future.
Dr. Babski-Reeves is a true teaching scholar. She inspires students, and she values sharing her methods and discussing them with her colleagues. One student reported after completing her course, “It was truly my pleasure having the opportunity to take your class. It was very evident that you put forth much more than required by the syllabus. Your balanced blend of professionalism, integrity, support, and unwavering commitment to academic excellence is inspiring.” Dr. Babski-Reeves is most deserving of membership in the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and we are fortunate to have her as a member of the ISE faculty.
Frederick William Hamilton received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering at Mississippi State University in 1988. Originally from Carthage, Miss., Fred Hamilton has lived in Newton and Meridian, Miss., for the last 30 years. As founder and president of K&S Custom Warehousing, Inc. in Meridian, he has established a niche in the transportation industry in east Mississippi. He founded K&S in 1993 to facilitate the unloading and palletization of cartons from sea containers for delivery to local manufacturing firms. Since then, K&S has evolved into a third party logistics firm providing collaborative supply chain solutions where raw material inventory is held on consignment from suppliers and delivered to the manufacturer on a daily, just-in-time basis. In 1999, K&S became the first company in Mississippi to provide home delivery and return to the warehouse of storage pods.
A nontraditional college student, Hamilton entered the industrial engineering program at the age of 28 after several years of working as a trackman with the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. Following graduation and prior to starting K&S, he worked as an industrial engineering quality manger, engineering manger and general manger for several firms in east Mississippi, including Saunders, a manufacturer of office products.
While at Saunders, Hamilton designed and developed the first clipboard made of recycled plastics for Wal-Mart, and modified manufacturing equipment for use by handicapped employees. He holds two U.S. patents including one for a trucking industry tool and another for a repairable, composite pallet.
Hamilton serves his community as chairman of the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation’s Transportation Committee. He has personally funded community transportation studies in support of local economic development. His philanthropy also extends to East Central Community College and Mississippi State where he annually funds scholarships.
Hamilton has one daughter, Heather Hamilton Carr, and two grandchildren, William Hamilton Carr and David Andrew Carr.