Jianjun Shi, the Carolyn J. Stewart Chair at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and core faculty member in the newly formed System Informatics and Control group, was invited to give two keynote addresses - one in Beijing and one in the UK.

Addressing the First International Conference on the Interface Between Statistics and Engineering in Beijing in July, Professor Shi delivered a keynote speech on "System Informatics and Control for Manufacturing Systems." The Conference on the Interface Between Statistics and Engineering focused on innovative creation, development, and dissemination of collaborative interface between statistics and engineering for the support of complex system design and operation, quality and reliability improvement, and optimal proactive decision making.

In September, Professor Shi delivered a keynote speech on "Stream of Variation Theory for
Multistage Systems" at the 7th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR) in Warwick, UK. For over two decades, ICMR has been the main manufacturing research conference organized within the UK, successfully bringing researchers, academics and industrialists together to share their knowledge and experiences. The conference is organized by the Consortium of UK Manufacturing Engineering Heads, an independent body established in 1978 with the main aim of promoting manufacturing engineering education, training and research.