The Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) hosted Dr. Gail Pesyna, Director of the Sloan Foundation Industry Studies Program and more than forty Sloan Industry Studies researchers from twenty universities across the southeastern United States on March 30, 2007 at the

Georgia Tech Global Learning Center .

Chelsea C. White III, ISyE School Chair and the Director of Georgia Tech's Trucking Industry Program welcomed the group to the Tech campus, along with Professor Pat McCarthy who is the Director of Georgia Tech's other Sloan industry studies center, the

Paper Industry Center . "We were delighted to host this first regional meeting at Georgia Tech. The meeting gave us a wonderful opportunity to showcase our research work and promote Georgia Tech and Atlanta as a global innovation center" remarked White.

In her keynote luncheon presentation, Dr Gail Pesyna focused on the growing importance of Sloan Foundation sponsored industry studies on the global economy. "Whether it is globalization of R&D or the role of tourism in regional economies, Industry Studies researchers are recognized for their thought leadership."

Following Pesyna, Professor Frank Giarrantani from the

University of Pittsburgh talked about the impact that Industry Studies Center participation has had on his career. Profressor Giarrantani stated "While I still have a strong interest in theoretical economics, my industry studies work in regional economic development is very interesting and is having a direct impact on the Pittsburgh area's economic growth."

To promoting collegiality and collaboration among meeting participants, the afternoon session was structured to promote informal information sharing and networking. Eleven ongoing industry studies projects were featured with colorful posters and informal briefings by researchers. The projects included:

• Patrick Conway, (Dept. of Economics,
  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), The North Carolina Textiles Project; Analysis of the Impact of International Competition on the Textiles Industries.
• Alan L. Erera, Mike Hewitt, Burak Karacik, and Martin Savelsbergh, (Trucking Industry Program, Institute of Technology), Driver Management for Less-than-Truckload Carriers
• Pankaj Jain, (University of Memphis ), Technology, Regulatory, and Competitive Evolution of the Stock Exchange Industry and its Spillover Effects: A Global Perspective
• Ronald Kalafsky, ( University of Tennessee , Geography Dept.), Examining the Challenges of Charlotte Manufacturers
• Pinar Keskinocak, Banu Yuksel Ozkaya, Julie Swann, (H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology), Effect of Manufacturer Rebates in the Automobile Industry
• Earl Kline and David Brinberg, (Sloan Forest Industries Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute), "Woods to Goods" Demand Driven Supply Chains
• Francine LaFontaine and Laurie Valerie Malaguzzi, (Trucking Industry Program and University of Michigan ), The Deregulation of International Trucking in the European Union: Form and Effect
• Patrick McCarthy, (Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies, Institute of Paper Science and Technology at Georgia Institute of Technology), Industry Connectivity
• Steven M. Morris, Alan L. Erera, Chelsea C. White III, (Trucking Industry Program, Institute of Technology), Impact of Using Deregulated Secure Rest Facilities on Single Lane Truck Dispatching Productivity
• Anu Nagarajan and Chelsea C. White III, (Trucking Industry Program and Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Georgia Institute of Technology), Innovation in Logistics The Drive to Business Excellence
• H. Don Ratliff, John Langley, Henrietta Chang and Mehmet Gokhan Samur, (Trucking Industry Program, Institute of Technology), New Car Delivery

This meeting was the first of several regional meetings that will be organized in the next twelve plus months. The main objective of these gatherings is to promote awareness of common interests and to build collaborative relationships among industry studies scholars. To learn more about how you can participate in these regional initiatives, email industrystudiescommittee@sloan.org.