Dr. Jane Ammons received the prestigious Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Industrial Engineering Award at the IIE Conference in Montreal on June 2, 2014.  This award is one of the highest and most esteemed honor bestowed by IIE. It recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves through contributions to the welfare of mankind in the field of industrial engineering. The contributions are of the highest caliber and nationally or internationally recognized.  Ammons is the second woman to win this award, the first being Lillian Gilbreth. Of ISyE's seven school chairs/directors, Ammons and Frank Groseclose, known as the "father of IE," are the only two to have received this award.  

The citation reads:

Since Lillian Gilbreth received the initial Gilbreth Award in 1962, it has gone to many of the giants of our profession; all men…until tonight. Tonight, we would like to honor Jane Ammons. Jane serves as the H. Milton and Carolyn Stewart School Chair and Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. For over 38 years, Jane has been an active industrial engineering practitioner, award-winning teacher and researcher, and leader, including service as president and as secretary of the IIE Board of Trustees. During this time, she and her husband Ricky have been blessed with two sons, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson. Her areas of expertise include supply chain engineering with a special interest in developing closed-loop, environmentally sustainable systems. Jane received her Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Tech, and she is a registered professional engineer in the state of Georgia. Jane’s work is well-published, and she and her students have won several research awards. At Georgia Tech, she has been honored with eight teaching/faculty awards. She also served as the NSF ADVANCE Professor of Engineering from 2002-2006 working to advance the career success of women engineering faculty. Jane has provided national and international leadership and service on several boards and advisory panels, including the technical committee for the Uganda: Millennium Science Initiative Project co-financed by the World Bank and the U.S. National Science Foundation Engineering Advisory Committee. She is a program evaluator for ABET, an IIE fellow and a member of SME, INFORMS and ASEE.

Dr. Ammons is a leader in the overall field of industrial and systems engineering.  She is also a pioneer of engineering for women and a supporter of enhancing educational opportunities for underrepresented minorities. 

Dr. Ammons contributions have been vast and her tenure at Georgia Tech has been marked by my many successes and firsts. She was the first female ISyE Ph.D. recipient (1982) and the first female ISyE faculty member. She previously served as associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Engineering, and in 2011, was appointed to hold the H. Milton Stewart and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair in ISyE, becoming the first female school chair in the College of Engineering.

In addition to her institutional service, Dr. Ammons has had a strong impact in the external field of industrial and systems engineering. She is a past-president of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and has chaired the National Science Foundation Engineering Advisory Committee. She has also served as a member of the Technical Committee for the Uganda: Millennium Science Initiative Project co-financed by the World Bank and has served as a Program Evaluator for ABET, the engineering education accreditation organization.