<![CDATA[ISyE Welcomes Ashley Marshall: Corporate Relations Manager, MSA ]]> 36481

Meet Ashley Marshall, the newly appointed Corporate Relations Manager for the Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) program at Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).  

With a background in fostering relationships, talent acquisition, and program development, Ashley brings a wealth of experience to her role. In this Q&A, she shares insights into her educational journey, professional trajectory, and personal passions, offering a glimpse into her vision for enhancing student experiences and industry collaborations at Georgia Tech. 

Q: Where did you study, or specialize in?   

I graduated from Georgia Southern University with a BS in Psychology and a Minor in Criminal Justice Studies.   

Q: What is your previous experience in your field?   

Throughout my career, I have focused on building relationships with internal and external partnerships through engagement opportunities and experiential pathways. I have also been lucky enough to recruit, onboard and manage some of the best talent in the nation. I enjoy and have continued to encourage collaboration and forward movement in every position I have held. Building programs, events, resources, and partnerships excite me!   

Roles/Workplace: Director of Member Engagement @ Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, Director of Member Experience @ ClubCorp, Recruiter @ AppFolio  

Awards: Lifetime Achievement Award by ACCE 

Q: What factors influenced your decision to pursue employment at Georgia Tech? 

A: Growing up in Metro Atlanta, Georgia Tech was a name and reputation I knew well. After connecting with Ann Blasick and further walking through my potential role, I knew this team and this opportunity was the right fit for me. I was (and still am!) excited about playing a pivotal role in influencing how thousands of OMSA & MSA students transition into dynamic positions to further develop themselves (and others) as leaders who will then advance technology and improve the human condition. 

Q: Outside of work, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy that might influence or complement your approach to life? 

A: Outside of work, I enjoy spending time in the sun with my husband, toddler and two dogs! We can often be spotted at nearby parks, breweries, and playgrounds. I love researching interior design/decorating and enjoy watching documentaries. When I have time to read, I enjoy autobiographies and memoirs. My friendships are precious to me and any free time I have is spent hanging out with them! 

 

]]> nesparza7 1 1711577006 2024-03-27 22:03:26 1711577040 2024-03-27 22:04:00 0 0 news

Meet Ashley Marshall, the newly appointed Corporate Relations Manager for the Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) program at Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).   

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<![CDATA[Welcome Shirmenia Nunes to ISyE, New Operations Manager ]]> 36481

Introducing Shirmenia “Nina” Nunes, our newest Operations Manager. With a master's degree in public administration from Kennesaw State University and a wealth of experience in higher education, Nina brings a passion for supporting international students and a keen interest in utilizing data analytics for operational efficiency to our team at ISyE. 

Q: Where did you study, or specialize in?  

A: I pursued my master's degree in Public Administration with a specialization in Higher Education and Program Evaluation at Kennesaw State University.  

Q: What is your previous experience in the field?  

A: I have been working in the field of higher education since 2014. Initially, I assisted international students in finding summer internships. Following that, I worked at Kennesaw State, where I oversaw the Global Village and advised the international student association. I then transitioned to the University of Arizona, where I worked with online and international students enrolled in both admissions, reporting and retention for undergraduate and graduate programs. My role then evolved to becoming the Manager for online programs at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State.   

Roles/Workplace: Program Coordinator, Coordinator, Manager.  

Organizations: Kennesaw State, University of Arizona, Georgia State 

Q: What sparked your interest in engineering (and your research), and how did you decide to pursue it as a career? 

A: While I don't have a STEM background, my curiosity about data and a strong desire to advocate for international students in my previous institution led me to explore avenues where data could play a pivotal role. The research in operations research captures my attention. The prospect of contributing to projects that involve the application of advanced analytical techniques, such as optimization algorithms and machine learning, to solve real-world problems is both intellectually stimulating and practically impactful. 

Q: Outside of work, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy that might influence or complement your approach to life? 

A: I find great joy in exploring diverse cultures and languages. During my leisure hours, I actively participate in Zumba and occasionally attend Yoga classes, allowing me to stay present and prioritize self-focus. Throughout my time at UArizona, I delved into statistics courses and acquired basic coding skills. I take pleasure in utilizing Power BI to contribute to my department by crafting insightful dashboards and engag

]]> nesparza7 1 1711556150 2024-03-27 16:15:50 1711556244 2024-03-27 16:17:24 0 0 news

Explore the journey of Shirmenia “Nina” Nunes, the new Operations Manager at ISyE, as she brings her expertise in higher education, passion for supporting international students, and interest in data analytics to the forefront. Through diverse experiences and a commitment to excellence, Nina embodies the values of diversity, innovation, and dedication in her role at ISyE. 

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<![CDATA[Actionable Accessibility: Q&A with Maria Sotnikova, on Int’l Women’s Day]]> 36481 As March unfolds, so does the annual commemoration of Women's History Month, a time to reflect on the contributions of women throughout history and to recognize the ongoing journey toward gender equality.

Within Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), women's history takes on a special significance—a testament to resilience, innovation, and invaluable contributions in a field traditionally dominated by men.

Ensuring accessibility is crucial for fostering fairness and participation in these celebrations. In the context of International Women’s Day and Women's History Month intersecting with accessibility, Maria Sotnikova's journey highlights her deep commitment to inclusivity, sustainability, and data-driven decision-making.

Sotnikova graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2011 in Industrial Engineering from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. She then went on to complete a dual master’s degree in Environmental Policy and City Planning at Georgia Tech in 2014. Currently, she is a Data Scientist at the Atlanta Regional Commission.

In this Q&A, Sotnikova shares insights and perspectives on International Women’s Day, her career trajectory, and unwavering dedication to mentorship as a catalyst for meaningful change.

Q: Can you share some highlights of your career journey since being an ISyE graduate? How has your education influenced your career path?

A: Yes! The greatest part of my ISyE education was how holistic it was. It not only provided me with a strong mathematical and analytical foundation, but it also taught me how to apply those concepts to problems at the human scale, like sustainability. Taking ISyE 4803: Energy and Environmental Analysis led me to explore the public policy side of things by next taking PubP 3600: Sustainability, Technology, and Policy, and before I knew it I was signing up for graduate studies at Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy to pursue a dual master’s degree in Environmental Policy and City Planning. It’s this exact holistic approach to solving everyday problems that has really helped me in my current role at the Atlanta Regional Commission, where we provide local governments with the information they need for data-driven decision-making.

Q: As someone actively involved in community resource outreach, how do you see the intersection between International Women's Day and accessibility impacting the Atlanta community? Are there specific challenges or opportunities you've observed?

A: Atlanta has long sought to proclaim itself a ‘World Class City,’ and in some ways it has attained this status, but in my opinion we have yet to really celebrate International Women’s Day as fervently as citizens in other countries do. Take into consideration the diversity of residents in our region, especially from places that do celebrate International Women's Day on a grand scale. The more we celebrate this diversity, the more accessible the celebration could become. I think there’s a real opportunity there!

Q: Being from Russia, how has your cultural background shaped your perspective on accessibility, especially within the context of International Women's Day? Are there aspects of your heritage that influence your approach to your work?

A: Russia is one of the countries where International Women's Day is widely celebrated, on a level akin to Valentine’s Day in the United States. However, while my home country did a pretty good job of recognizing the many achievements of women, accessibility for women with physical disabilities like myself was more of a challenge there. When my family immigrated to America, it opened up a whole new world of opportunities for me, thanks to the hard work of United States disability rights activists to pass a monumental piece of legislation: the Americans with Disabilities Act[CE1] . It’s with gratitude towards my disabled American forefathers and aspiration towards my Russian foremothers that I approach my work today.

Q: In what ways do you believe your experiences and achievements can inspire current ISyE students and others pursuing careers in data science and community engagement?

A: Honestly, I’ve found the word “inspirational” and all its derivatives to be so overused that it’s lost most of its meaning. In the context of disability, the word “inspirational” even makes me cringe. Inspiring people requires getting people to take action. If my background or current occupation is relatable or aspirational to your readers, could we figure out a way for them to connect with me to establish actionable mentor opportunities? I think that would be the best way my experiences and achievements could actually inspire others.

Q: Can you share a particular project or initiative you've worked on that intersects with International Women's Day and accessibility? What lessons or insights have you gained from that experience?

A: During my time at Tech, I was heavily involved in the music scene and gained experience organizing music events. Shortly after graduating, I volunteered with a local arts and music festival called Ladyfest Atlanta. The festival was an intentional space where women and gender non-conforming artists of all types could share their work and speak out on local issues. My lived experience as a disabled woman and the lessons I learned organizing events at Georgia Tech then prepared me for the opportunity to be Ladyfest’s Accessibility Coordinator. It was a blast!

Q: As an alumna, how do you stay connected with the ISyE community, and do you see opportunities for alumni to contribute to discussions around International Women's Day and accessibility within the academic setting?

A: Through Alumni Spotlight interviews like this! I really hope that through me sharing my experiences, international women in ISyE and disabled students at Tech will reach out to me to connect!

Q: Looking ahead, what are your aspirations and goals in terms of promoting accessibility and gender equality, both in your professional role and within the broader community?

A: I keep stressing this, but I do genuinely want to take on more mentorship responsibilities. As a young girl, I was fortunate enough to participate in mentorship programs with international students through the YWCA and with disabled peers through the MDA. Those experiences taught me the value of leading by example, and I aspire to promote accessibility and gender equality by offering myself as a mentor.

--

By acknowledging and celebrating women's history within ISyE, we not only honor the achievements of those who came before but also pave the way for a more inclusive and equitable future. It's a reminder that diversity strengthens the fabric of engineering, and that recognizing the contributions of women is essential for fostering a culture of inclusivity and innovation within the discipline.

If you’d like to connect with Maria, reach out to her via email at: mariasot@gatech.edu

Author: Nat M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1709836667 2024-03-07 18:37:47 1711494517 2024-03-26 23:08:37 0 0 news Maria Sotnikova, a data scientist and advocate, discusses the intersection of accessibility and International Women’s Day. From leveraging her ISyE education to shaping policy at the Atlanta Regional Commission, Maria embodies the ethos of turning celebration into tangible action for a more equitable and inclusive future.

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2024-03-07T00:00:00-05:00 2024-03-07T00:00:00-05:00 2024-03-07 00:00:00 673336 673335 673336 image <![CDATA[Maria Sotnikova]]> image/png 1709837063 2024-03-07 18:44:23 1709837062 2024-03-07 18:44:22 673335 image <![CDATA[Maria Sotnikova ISyE]]> image/png 1709837019 2024-03-07 18:43:39 1709837019 2024-03-07 18:43:39
<![CDATA[ISyE Chairway to Heaven, Secure Victory in IISE Capstone Design Project Competition]]> 36284 In a triumph of student excellence, a Georgia Tech ISyE Senior Design team has emerged as the champion of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Outstanding Capstone Senior Design Project competition.  

This monumental victory, achieved against stiff competition from 13 nominated teams across the United States and Canada, is a testament to the unwavering dedication and brilliance of our students. 

The esteemed IISE Honors and Awards committee, after careful evaluation, extended invitations to the top four teams, including Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Dalhousie, and Toronto Metro, to present their remarkable capstone project posters at a conference in the vibrant city of New Orleans.  

Following this initial stage, a select few teams were further chosen to give extended presentations in front of the esteemed committee. 

It is with great pleasure that we announce the resounding victory of the Georgia Tech Team, aptly named Chairway to Heaven, as they secured the coveted 1st place position. Their exceptional project, titled "Data-Driven Supplier Selection for New Product Launches," showcased their unparalleled ingenuity and problem-solving prowess for their client Steelcase.  

The team members, Isaac Altman, Jinghan Chen, Margaret Fowler, Maxim Geller, Aila Khan, Madeleine Pollack, Justin Rickerson, and Kota Teasley, brought their collective brilliance to the forefront, leaving no doubt about their deservingness of this prestigious accolade. 

The outstanding success of our students reflects their determination and commitment to excellence that Georgia Tech upholds. It is a testament to the exceptional quality of work our students consistently produce, the strength of our curriculum, and the high standards we set for ourselves for our future leaders.  

An extended congratulations to our esteemed faculty advisor, Dr. Xin Chen. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1688594048 2023-07-05 21:54:08 1711122715 2024-03-22 15:51:55 0 0 news The Georgia Tech ISyE Senior Design team has emerged triumphant in the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Outstanding Capstone Senior Design Project competition, showcasing the unwavering dedication and brilliance of the students. The team's success highlights the commitment to excellence upheld by Georgia Tech and its esteemed faculty advisor, Dr. Xin Chen.

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2023-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-15 00:00:00 671104 671104 image <![CDATA[ISyE Sr Design Group ]]> image/png 1688593699 2023-07-05 21:48:19 1688593783 2023-07-05 21:49:43 <![CDATA[Outstanding ISE Capstone Senior Design Project]]>
<![CDATA[Kindling Innovation in Supply Chain Logistics: The SCL Amazon Scholars Program]]> 36481

The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute at Georgia Tech has partnered up with Amazon, a renowned leader in exemplary supply chain logistics and management to create the SCL Amazon Scholars program. This initiative is designed to foster innovation, encourage collaboration, and drive progress in the field of supply chain management at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  

Olivia Arneson, Ariana Garbers, Naman Kanoi, and Xilei Zhu were selected for the 2023 Amazon Supply Chain Systems Design Fellowship.  

Nidhima Grover and Katja Meuche were chosen as Ph.D. recipients, and Kya Wiggins was selected as the 2023 undergraduate BSIE scholarship recipient.  

Naman Kanoi, a committed BS/MS student in ISyE, reflects on the profound impact of the Amazon Scholars program on his ongoing academic journey.  

The SCL Amazon Scholars Program has been an extraordinary catalyst in shaping my academic journey and my vision for my future career. One standout feature of the program is the invaluable exposure it provides to the state-of-the-art supply chain facilities designed by visionaries at Amazon”, Kanoi said.  

Similarly inspired by innovative educational opportunities and impactful academic influences, Ariana Garbers, a senior in the undergraduate program, shared her motivation for joining Georgia Tech, particularly her selected concentration.  

I've always been interested in making processes and systems flow better, which is core to Industrial Engineering. From the ages of 4 to 18, I participated in the Georgia FIRST robotics program, which exposed me to many kinds of engineering and technology. Through this, I learned and was mentored by current GT students. They told me about the hands-on engineering experience and project management different organizations provided. 

During her time, she “learned the basics about supply chain optimization during ISyE 3133: Engineering Optimization and fell in love with the mathematical models that can solve complex problems scientifically. The combination of such models with the people working in the systems truly motivates me daily”. 

Katja Meusch, a dedicated Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering, was asked about the profound influence of the Amazon Scholars program on her academic journey and professional aspirations.  

“The SCL Amazon Scholars Program provided me with insights into how Amazon operates as a company and how it achieves its impressive delivery times. Even though I was already interested in industry jobs, working with Amazon has confirmed my decision to look for jobs in industry.”  

With a bachelor's degree in business administration and mechanical engineering, Meush made a significant career transition by pursuing a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at Georgia Tech.  

When asked about her choice of Georgia Tech, she explained “I applied to Georgia Tech and ISYE because of its high ratings in the field of Industrial Engineering. Since I was always fascinated by how companies make location decisions for warehouses and plants, I enrolled in the Supply Chain Track of the Industrial Engineering program. 

Xilei Zhu, also a student at ISyE, firmly believed that the SCL Amazon Scholar's program had a significant impact on his future goals and aspirations.  

Zhu asserted that, “My academic and professional experiences thus far have continuously been steering me towards a larger, more pressing goal: to combine supply chain efficiency with environmental sustainability. Companies like Amazon have already initiated steps towards reducing their carbon footprints, evident in the transition from traditional 'blue and white' plastic packaging to more eco-friendly, paper-based alternatives.  

By integrating advanced analytics, data-driven insights, and innovative design principles, Zhu aspires to design supply chain processes that are not only efficient but also environmentally benign. 

Through the SCL Amazon Scholars program, students like Naman Kanoi, Ariana Garbers, and Xilei Zhu are not only afforded the opportunity to procure the knowledge and skills required to excel in the world of supply chain logistics but are also able to foster a sense of responsibility and innovation. 

Authors: Nat M. Esparza and Atharva Anand Dave

]]> nesparza7 1 1699468157 2023-11-08 18:29:17 1711121368 2024-03-22 15:29:28 0 0 news

The collaboration between the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and Amazon has given rise to the SCL Amazon Scholars program. This initiative is driven by the goal of highlighting the achievements of outstanding students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds in the realm of supply chain logistics. For the current academic year, Olivia Arneson, Ariana Garbers, Naman Kanoi, Kya Wiggins, Katja Meuche and Xilei Zhu have been chosen as the SCL Amazon scholars.  

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<![CDATA[Chen Xu and Yao Xie, Spotlight Paper Accepted at NEURIPS 2023]]> 36284 Yao Xie, a Coca-Cola Foundation Chair and Professor in ISyE, and Chen Xu, Operations Research Ph.D. student, just had their paper "Invertible normalizing flow neural networks by JKO scheme" accepted as a spotlight paper at Thirty-seventh Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2023). 

 The conference is set to be held at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center from December 10 to 16, 2023. 

NeurIPS 2023 is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together researchers in machine learning, neuroscience, statistics, optimization, computer vision, natural language processing, life sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and other adjacent fields.  

The core focus is peer-reviewed novel research, which is presented and discussed in the general session, along with invited talks by leaders in their fields. 

The authors introduced a new computer model, JKO-iFlow, to enhance the efficiency of generating realistic data. This model belongs to a family of models known as normalizing flows, which excel in quickly creating realistic data, especially when dealing with a large amount of information. 

In contrast to other models, the authors simplified JKO-iFlow by structuring its components in a way that improves training efficiency. Drawing inspiration from the Jordan-Kinderleherer-Otto scheme, they unfolded the dynamic of the Wasserstein gradient flow. This approach facilitates better training without the need for complex calculations, making it more accessible for the computer to learn. 

Experiments with various types of data demonstrate that JKO-iFlow performs comparably to other advanced models but operates much faster and with lower computational memory requirements.  

The JKO-iFlow model not only demonstrates competitive performance in generating realistic data but also offers a streamlined and resource-efficient approach, paving the way for more effective and accessible applications in the realm of deep generative models. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1709665116 2024-03-05 18:58:36 1710962606 2024-03-20 19:23:26 0 0 news Yao Xie, Coca-Cola Foundation Chair and Professor in ISyE, and Chen Xu, Operations Research PhD, just had their paper "Invertible normalizing flow neural networks by JKO scheme" accepted as a spotlight paper at Thirty-seventh Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2023). The conference is set to be held at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center from December 10 to 16, 2023. 

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2023-12-05T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-05T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-05 00:00:00 673308 673308 image <![CDATA[Poster of Research Outline]]> image/png 1709665066 2024-03-05 18:57:46 1709665038 2024-03-05 18:57:18 <![CDATA[Project Presentation]]> <![CDATA[PDF Version of Paper]]>
<![CDATA[The Legacy of Dr. Ellis L. Johnson: A Luminary in Mathematics and Operations Research]]> 36284 Dr. Ellis L. Johnson, esteemed Professor Emeritus at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and distinguished mathematician, passed away at his residence, on the 20th of February 2024. 

Born on July 26, 1938, to Glenn Irvin and Edna Volberg Johnson, Dr. Johnson was raised on a farm near Athens, Georgia. He embarked on his academic journey at Georgia Tech, earning a B.S. in Applied Mathematics in 1960, and later, a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley in 1965, under the tutelage of George Dantzig, a luminary in the field. 

He began his professional teaching career in ISyE at Georgia Tech in 1995. Working alongside Professor George Nemhauser, he co-established and co-directed the university’s Logistics Engineering Center, which would form what is now the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute.  

He was also instrumental in the creation and early development of the elite Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization PhD program.   

Dr. Johnson, a distinguished figure in research and optimization, has been honored with several prestigious accolades, highlighting his exceptional contributions to the field.  

Notably, he received: 

His achievements have more than solidified his status as a visionary and trailblazer in the realm of optimization research.  

George Nemhauser, Institute Professor Emeritus in ISyE, reflected on Johnson’s profound influence on the industry, remarking, “Ellis Johnson was a world-renowned figure in the field of operations research and optimization... he was largely noted for his work with Ralph Gomory, on integer programming; and while at Tech, Ellis was a devoted advisor to many PhD students and a great colleague.” 

His legacy endures through his family, including his wife Crystal, their children, and grandchildren, and through his profound impact on operations research and industrial engineering. 

A commemorative service to honor his memory is scheduled for Saturday, March 23, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., taking place at the Sugar Creek Chapel within Hundred Acre Farm. This will be followed by a reception at the Red Barn. 

 

____

Author: Atharva Anand Dave
]]> chenriquez8 1 1710863227 2024-03-19 15:47:07 1710863227 2024-03-19 15:47:07 0 0 news Dr. Ellis L. Johnson, a revered Professor Emeritus at ISyE and a luminary in the field of mathematics, passed away on February 20, 2024, near Madison, Georgia. A memorial service is planned for March 23, 2024, at Hundred Acre Farm, celebrating a life of immense contribution and lasting influence.

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2024-03-15T00:00:00-04:00 2024-03-15T00:00:00-04:00 2024-03-15 00:00:00 673439 673439 image <![CDATA[Dr. Ellis Johnson]]> image/jpeg 1710863213 2024-03-19 15:46:53 1710863183 2024-03-19 15:46:23 <![CDATA[Dr. Ellis Johnson]]>
<![CDATA[Engineering Herstory: Celebrating Women in ISyE ]]> 36481

In the golden-filled Georgia Tech Alumni House, six influential women from the world of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) gathered to mark the commencement of Women’s History Month. 

Moderated by Catherine Cooper (IE ‘90), the panel included Alicia Cardillo (IE ‘03), Mitali Bidkar (IE ‘25), Kniffen Kelly (IE ‘95, MSIE ‘99), Errika Moore (IE ‘96), and Melody Mulaik (IE ‘90, MSHS ‘91), each bringing a unique perspective to the forefront of discussion. 

As Cooper set the stage for the dialogue, she emphasized the importance of representation and perseverance among women at Georgia Tech, prompting a thoughtful reflection on the challenges and opportunities faced by women in engineering. 

"Women make up less than 15% of CEOs globally; there are more men named 'John' than there are women CEOs. Enjoy being who you are; you will make it." 

ISyE isn't just about getting data from point A to point B -- Cardillo, a Financial Crimes Executive at Truist, emphasized the people-oriented nature of the field and its significance in creating efficient business processes.  

"Engineering is a male-dominated field, and I am here to help empower the next group of women leaders in engineering. You’ve got to be able to have someone to look up to that looks like you." 

Kelly, CEO of Shebang LLC, additionally reflected on her journey from large corporations to entrepreneurship, focusing on the rich connections fostered with Georgia Tech.  

"There is a certain reality that historically women have been underrepresented, but it is important to have people to look to as examples of what success could look like," Kelly remarked, highlighting the ongoing challenge of representation in engineering fields. 

Diversity in engineering encompasses more than just gender. Moore, Executive Director of the STEM Funders Network, who completed her masters in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts school of History and Sociology, shared a particularly poignant memory. 

"I was told by a professor that there was no place for Black women in engineering, and I made it my mission to walk across that graduation stage and prove him wrong."  

Moore's determination and subsequent success serve as a powerful reminder of the barriers still faced by women, and particularly women of color, in STEM fields.  

Each of these women's career paths unfolded in ways they hadn't anticipated. Mulaik offered advice that resonated with many: "Be open and willing to take what comes your way – don't worry about a clear path. Reality is, nothing works out the way you think it's going to. Let go of perfection and embrace the process."  

Mulaik’s journey from ceramic engineering to a leadership role in healthcare systems and coding strategies underscored the nonlinear paths that careers can take. In addition to the four alumnae contributing to the panel, ISyE wanted to be sure to include a student leadership perspective as well. For fourth year undergraduate student, Bidkar, voiced that switching to ISyE was driven by a desire to merge soft skills with hard analytics, offering a broader spectrum of post-graduation opportunities.  

Bidkar's participation underscored the importance of student perspectives in shaping the future of engineering education and practice.  

This kickoff panelist event was a celebration of progress, diversity, and the relentless pursuit of equality within the engineering discipline.  

As we reflect on the powerful stories shared by these remarkable women, it's clear that their contributions are not only shaping the future of engineering but are also carving out space for the next generation of women engineers to thrive.  

Many thanks to the alumnae, students, and staff who created and attended this seminal event in honor of Women’s History Month.

]]> nesparza7 1 1710262205 2024-03-12 16:50:05 1710445322 2024-03-14 19:42:02 0 0 news

Five ISyE alumna and one student leader, spoke at the inaugural women of ISyE panel event commemorating the beginning of Women’s History Month. 

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<![CDATA[Charting the waters of Sustainability: Rabab Haider's Vision]]> 36284 Embarking on a journey rooted in environmental consciousness, Rabab Haider,Fellow in H.Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), blends profound insights with practical solutions in the pursuit of a greener tomorrow.

As a dedicated power systems researcher, Haider’s work stands at the intersection of energy systems, sustainability, and advanced technologies.

Global Grids, Local Impact: Haider's Sustainable Footprint Serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the AI4OPT institute within ISyE, Haider holds a rich academic background with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto, focusing on energy systems.

"My bachelor's was really about engineering sustainability and clean energy, with a multidisciplinary approach, cross-cutting different engineering fields from the early stage.” This foundation led to further specialization with a Master's and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Haider delved into power systems and electric grids, focusing on integrating renewable resources to achieve a sustainable energy transition.

Elevating Sustainability in Power Systems

Haider's past endeavors include a range of research projects focused on systems engineering, combustion of low carbon fuels, and asset management of energy infrastructure systems.

These experiences paved a pathway for her Ph.D. research on optimizing the grid for renewable energy integration, illustrating a relentless quest for developing technologies that pave the way for a sustainable future.

At the heart of Haider's current work is the fusion of optimization techniques and machine learning with traditional power systems engineering.

At AI4OPT, she is at the forefront of tackling large-scale mixed integer problems that are pivotal for enhancing the grid's efficiency and reliability.

“My work involves a lot of stakeholder interactions to understand the specific challenges that each of them face in operating decarbonized grids with different energy mix and regional concerns. The challenges faced by grid operators are different in different regions of the world. There’s no one-size fits

all solution in solving our energy challenges, including at the engineering and operations level.” Haider said.

Her innovative approach not only aims at making renewable energy sources like wind and solar more viable but also addresses the systemic challenges of their integration into the power grid.

This work is critical for achieving up to 100% renewable penetration, a goal that once seemed unattainable but now edges closer to reality through Haider's research.

Sustainable Solidarity and Policy Powerplay

Addressing the gap between current policies and technological advancements, Haider highlights the necessity of updating operating procedures to reflect the capabilities and potential of emerging sustainable technologies.

“We need to understand how we can decarbonize, not just one industry and country, but global decarbonization.”

In addition to policy changes, Haider passionately urges future generations to cultivate a deep sense of curiosity and a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing sustainability challenges.

“By fostering a culture of inquiry and collaboration, individuals can contribute to a broader understanding and implementation of sustainable practices... we need to raise that awareness in a way where people are more conscious of the effects of their actions on this system. All of us, collectively, have to move towards sustainability, whether it's reducing energy or water use, promoting local sourcing of food and reducing plastic waste."

Haider’s work underlines the critical importance of collaborative efforts and systemic thinking in shaping a sustainable future, emphasizing that progress and environmental responsibility must advance hand in hand for the benefit of all.

Author: Atharva Anand Dave

]]> chenriquez8 1 1710434253 2024-03-14 16:37:33 1710434291 2024-03-14 16:38:11 0 0 news Rabab Haider, a Post-Doctoral Fellow at AI4OPT, shares her expertise in energy systems and sustainability. She delineates a vision for a future where technological innovation and environmental stewardship intersect, promoting collective action for global decarbonization and a sustainable, equitable world.

]]>
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<![CDATA[After 10 Successful Years, Edwin Romeijn to End Role as ISyE Chair]]> 36284 Edwin Romeijn will step down as H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair at the end of the fall semester, completing his second term as chair. During his 10 years of leadership, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) ranked No. 1 among undergraduate and graduate programs every year by U.S. News & World Report

Romeijn will return to his full-time role as professor in January 2025. 

“Edwin’s decade of leadership has established ISyE as the preeminent industrial engineering program in the nation, often redefining the field itself,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. “His vision has made the School a prominent leader in fields that include analytics, data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. I’m grateful for Edwin’s visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to ISyE and the College, and I look forward to continuing to partner with him as he serves out his term.” 

Read the full story here.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1709652852 2024-03-05 15:34:12 1709652852 2024-03-05 15:34:12 0 0 news Edwin Romeijn will step down as H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair at the end of the fall semester, completing his second term as chair.

]]>
2024-03-05T00:00:00-05:00 2024-03-05T00:00:00-05:00 2024-03-05 00:00:00 673299 673299 image <![CDATA[Edwin Romeijn]]> image/jpeg 1709652773 2024-03-05 15:32:53 1709652748 2024-03-05 15:32:28
<![CDATA[Celebrating the Achievement of PhD Candidate Ignacio Erazo]]> 27233 Ignacio Erazo recently defended his thesis titled "Efficient Two-Sample Bernoulli Confidence Intervals and Submodular Dispatching", earning his PhD in Operations Research with a minor in Machine Learning under the supervision of Professors David Goldsman and Alejandro Toriello. Erazo's research interests involve the development of efficient optimization algorithms and heuristics for intelligent decision-making as well as large-scale simulation-optimization procedures. Collaborating with Professor Goldsman, he worked on the efficient computation of Confidence Intervals (CIs) for the difference of probabilities between two populations, with applications in health care, last-mile distribution, and production scheduling. This work is useful for many practical problems such as testing new drugs, evaluating inventory policies, estimating contamination rates, or evaluating the difference in rate of adverse events between generic and brand-name drugs. What is notable about his approach is that it uses fewer observations and generates lower costs. With Professor Toriello, Ignacio focused on problems where orders or items arrive at different times and must be processed or delivered in batches (e.g., e-commerce, machine scheduling). By using mathematical models and proposing new algorithms, the team studied the fundamental trade-offs between waiting for orders and batching them, such as obtaining economies of scale, versus the idleness of resources generated by that strategy. This problem has multiple applications in same-day delivery, machine scheduling, and production environments. This work has been presented at scholarly seminars, at multiple INFORMS Annual Meetings, and at the Transportation Science and Logistics (TSL) Conference. Notably, Ignacio's work was recognized with the Best Applied Student Paper Award at Winter Simulation Conference in 2022.

Prior to his doctoral studies at Georgia Tech, Ignacio obtained his degree in industrial civil engineering from the University of Concepcion in 2019. From a very young age, he loved doing math to solve problems and enjoyed participating in math competitions. "Without even recognizing it, I would obsess over taking the 'best' or optimal approach for everything I could. When I took my first optimization class it was obvious to me that this subset of extremely applied math (optimization, but in a broader sense Operations Research) was what I wanted to do in the future, and possibly forever. Essentially, at that point I already knew I wanted to deepen my knowledge, which meant the best course of action was to do a PhD in a university with the best professors." Reflecting on his journey, Ignacio shares his admiration for Georgia Tech's leading position in Operations Research, highlighting the wealth of expertise available within the department. "While Georgia Tech is not as known as other schools in the rest of the world (i.e., Stanford, Harvard, MIT), Georgia Tech leads almost every ranking related to OR. The department is extremely large and there is a professor working in almost every topic. Specific to optimization, logistics, and supply chain, we have a very large number of researchers and professors. That is the reason why GT was one of the only four places I applied to. Knowing what I know today, GT would be second to none."

Erazo’s professional experience includes internships as an applied and research scientist at tech giants Amazon and Apple where he contributed to cutting-edge projects in supply chain management and inventory optimization. At Apple, he was part of the team that develops science-based solutions for its supply chain. In particular, he worked on inventory management for Apple Stores and on "real-time" carrier selection for Apple's supply chain. His projects involved building new methodologies to solve those problems and coding prototypes that could serve as a starting point for deployment and production.

Recently, Erazo joined Amazon Fulfillment Technologies & Robotics as a Research Scientist II. Amazon operates an extensive and intricate supply chain that constantly advances by integrating robotic tools to boost warehouse efficiency. Within this dynamic framework, the algorithmic tools that enable its warehouses to work at their best need to be continuously modified, improved, and enhanced with new capabilities and use cases. Ignacio will meet the challenge by helping create, pilot, and seamlessly deploy new performance and safety-driven algorithms for Amazon's robotic-assisted picking warehouses across its entire network.

Ignacio's dedication to problem-solving and his passion for optimization exemplify the spirit of inquiry and innovation that defines our academic community. We congratulate him on this achievement and look forward to witnessing his continued contributions to the field.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1709141001 2024-02-28 17:23:21 1709229716 2024-02-29 18:01:56 0 0 news Ignacio Erazo recently defended his thesis titled "Efficient Two-Sample Bernoulli Confidence Intervals and Submodular Dispatching", earning his PhD in Operations Research with a minor in Machine Learning under the supervision of Professors David Goldsman and Alejandro Toriello. Erazo's research interests involve the development of efficient optimization algorithms and heuristics for intelligent decision-making as well as large scale simulation-optimization procedures.

]]>
2024-02-28T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-28T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-28 00:00:00 info@scl.gatech.edu

]]>
673250 673248 673250 image <![CDATA[Recent PhD recipient Ignacio Erazo]]> image/jpeg 1709143367 2024-02-28 18:02:47 1709143367 2024-02-28 18:02:47 673248 image <![CDATA[Ignacio Erazu with PhD Defense Committee]]> From left to right

  • Dr. Mohit Singh, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Dr. Alejandro Toriello, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (co-advisor)
  • Dr. Jan Ehmke, Department of Business Decisions and Analytics, University of Vienna
  • Dr. David Goldsman, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (co-advisor)
  • Dr. Yajun Mei, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

]]> image/jpeg 1709142818 2024-02-28 17:53:38 1709142817 2024-02-28 17:53:37
<![CDATA[Akron to Atlanta: James Turneur's Celebration of BHM]]> 36284 James Turneur, an Academic Advisor at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), brings a variety of experience and a deep commitment to student success to his role. Through his journey from Akron to Atlanta, James demonstrates a passion for education and culture.  

In this interview, James shares his thoughts on cultural differences, the importance of acknowledging Black history, and advocating for diversity and inclusion within the workplace of ISyE. 

1. Moving from Ohio to Atlanta, have you seen a difference in culture? How does being able to have experienced both sides influence your perspective? 

A: Yes, there is a noticeable cultural difference between Akron and Atlanta. Though Akron has a diverse population, Atlanta's has a more diverse population culturally overall, larger Black population, and offers a broader and more distinct cultural experience.  

James highlights the unique culture of Atlanta, including its culinary diversity and the presence of Black culture. He draws attention to the significance of observing the migration of Black individuals from rural areas in the South to urban and suburban centers in the North during the Great Migration on how Black individuals are mainly in urbanized areas in the Midwest versus in the South where you can also find Black population concentrated in rural areas also. 

 

2. How do you believe acknowledging Black history and celebrating Black History Month contributes to diversity and inclusion here at ISyE? 

A: James underscores the importance of acknowledging Black history and celebrating Black History Month as crucial parts of fostering diversity and inclusion within ISyE. He states that such recognition appears in many programs and student groups, enhancing cross-cultural understanding and collaboration. James advocates for increased efforts within ISyE to acknowledge and celebrate Black history, suggesting that it would lead to a more inclusive and supportive environment for all students. 

 

3. Do your clothes/style represent your culture or what you express? 

A: For James, clothing and style show him to express personal identity and cultural heritage. He states that his clothing choices often reflect his cultural background and experiences. Additionally, James discusses how certain cultural influences, such as rap and hip-hop, form many fashion trends and expressions of identity within the Black community. He adds that he enjoys supporting smaller vendors and promoting cultural diversity through clothing choices. 

 

4. Could you share a story or experience about Black History Month that has had an impact on you? 

A: James recalls a significant experience attending an African festival in Ohio, where he encountered various aspects of Black culture and history. This event helped inspire a sense of pride and curiosity about his cultural heritage, prompting him to delve deeper into African history and challenge stereotypes. James emphasizes the importance of celebrating Black history and dispelling misinformation, highlighting the need for accurate representation and recognition of diverse narratives. 

 

5. What are some ways we can advocate more for black history and represent it here at ISyE? 

A: James noted many strategies for advocating for Black history and promoting representation at ISyE, such as having open discussion, planning events and having public speakers share their insight and experiences. Marcus Garvey was an activist that James has personally researched stating he, and others, did not get as much light compared to big figures such as Marthin Luther King and Malcolm X, these are examples of the people we should be advocating for and educating others to give a more in-depth insight on the culture and importance of Black History Month. 

 

------

Author: Tomas Galeas Mora, Cristo Rey & ISyE Student Assistant

 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1709214658 2024-02-29 13:50:58 1709214658 2024-02-29 13:50:58 0 0 news In this interview, James shares his thoughts on cultural differences, the importance of acknowledging Black history, and advocating for diversity and inclusion within the workplace of ISyE.

]]>
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<![CDATA[Welcome Murali Rajagopalan to ISyE, New CHMI Program Manager]]> 36481

Introducing Dr. Murali Rajagopalan, the new CHMI Program Manager at ISyE, renowned for his expertise in polymers and leadership roles within the Society of Plastics Engineers, with a passion for innovation and teaching. 

Q: Please share some information about your background. Where did you study, or specialize in?  

A: I received my doctoral degree in polymer science from McGill University, focusing on functional materials involving ion-containing polymers and high-temperature fuel cell membranes under the supervision of the late Professor Adi Eisenberg. 

Q: What is your previous experience in the field?  

A: I have extensive experience in the polymer industry, having worked at BF Goodrich in PVC ionomers, TPU, PVC/CPVC, and PVC composites for applications in computer housing, telecommunications, medical devices, and wire and cable. Later, I served as the Director of Golf Ball R&D's Materials Research group and Quality Assurance at Titleist Acushnet company for 28 years, contributing significantly to the research, development, and commercial launch of numerous golf balls. 

Roles/Workplace:  

A: My roles have spanned from research and development to leadership positions in various organizations, including BF Goodrich and Titleist Acushnet. I have also served as a board member for the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) since 1990 and held leadership positions within the organization. 

Organizations:  

A: I have been actively involved in the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), serving in leadership capacities such as past EPSDIV Board Chair, Co-TPC chair, and board member. Additionally, I have been engaged with the National Textile Committee, UMass Dartmouth’s Textiles/Materials Science department as an Adjunct Professor, and Illinois Institute of Technology’s Biological and Chemical Sciences department as an Advisory Board Member. 

Awards:  

A: I am honored to have received the Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE)'s prestigious 2010 Research and Engineering Technology Award and was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers in 2006. Furthermore, I am a solo or co-inventor of over 250 US Patents related to materials and design useful in various applications. 

Q: Tell us about the current position you’re in, & interest areas you’ll be focusing on: 

Research topics: A: Currently, I am actively involved in supporting the Industry-Mentor program, MSE-EAB activities, MSE – Open House, Senior Design Capstone projects, and teaching a graduate course in Polymer Communications. My research expertise lies in functional polymers, ionomers, soft materials, reactive alloys and blends, polymer composites, and thermoplastic and thermoset elastomers. 

Additional roles at GT: A: In addition to my research activities, I am also engaged in various activities within the MSE department at Georgia Tech, including supporting the Industry-Mentor program and teaching graduate courses. 

Q: What sparked your interest in engineering (and your research), and how did you decide to pursue it as a career? 

A: My interest in engineering and research stemmed from a fascination with materials and their applications. During my doctoral studies at McGill University, I was inspired by the potential of functional materials to solve real-world problems. This passion drove me to pursue a career in the polymer industry, where I could apply my expertise to develop innovative solutions across various sectors. 

Q: Outside of work, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy that might influence or complement your approach to life? 

A: Outside of work, I enjoy golfing, which not only provides relaxation but also serves as a source of inspiration for my research. The precision, materials, and engineering involved in golf ball design resonate with my professional interests and often provide valuable insights into my work.

Author: Nat M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1708969798 2024-02-26 17:49:58 1709048923 2024-02-27 15:48:43 0 0 news

Introducing Dr. Murali Rajagopalan, the new CHMI Program Manager at ISyE, renowned for his expertise in polymers and leadership roles within the Society of Plastics Engineers, with a passion for innovation and teaching. 

]]>
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<![CDATA[ISyE Welcomes Mandy Turnipseed, Financial Admin]]> 36284 Welcome Mandy Turnipseed, who joined ISyE on February 12th, 2024, where she assumed the role as a Financial Administrator III. Mandy will work with faculty and staff to develop, prepare, audit and reconcile financial data related to proposals, grants, contracts, general appropriations, endowments and other funds.  

Q: Tell us about the current position you’re in, & interest areas you’ll be focusing on: 

A: I am new to GT and look forward to growing my career in the accounting/finance field within the ISyE college. 

Q: Outside of work, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy that might influence or complement your approach to life? 

A: I want to LIVE life to the fullest and enjoy every moment! I enjoy spending time with my son, boyfriend, and other friends and family.   

Prior to joining ISyE, Mandy worked for the Douglas County School System for over 12 years where she performed as a Financial Analyst and Supervising Payroll Accountant for over 3600 employees county-wide. Mandy earned her B.S in Finance from the University of West Georgia.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1708975796 2024-02-26 19:29:56 1708975795 2024-02-26 19:29:55 0 0 news Welcome Mandy Turnipseed, who joined ISyE on February 12th, 2024, where she assumed the role as a Financial Administrator III. Mandy will work with faculty and staff to develop, prepare, audit and reconcile financial data related to proposals, grants, contracts, general appropriations, endowments and other funds.  

]]>
2024-02-26T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-26T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-26 00:00:00 673213 673213 image <![CDATA[Mandy Turnipseed]]> image/jpeg 1708975758 2024-02-26 19:29:18 1708975734 2024-02-26 19:28:54
<![CDATA[Welcome Katundu Imasiku to ISyE, New Postdoctoral Fellow ]]> 36481

Introducing Dr. Katundu Imasiku, an expert in renewable energy and engineering, joining the ISyE team at Georgia Tech. With a Ph.D. in Renewable Energy and a wealth of experience in renewable energy and climate science, Imasiku brings invaluable insights to the forefront of net zero freight systems research at Georgia Tech.

Q: Where did you study, or what do you specialize in? 

A: I hold several certifications in Micro-Grid and Smart Grids, Solar Systems, Arc GIS, OnSSET, Power Factory and Risk Management.

With a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical / Electronics, from the Copperbelt University in Zambia, 2001. Additionally, he’s obtained a master's degree in business administration at Business School Netherlands, in the Netherlands, 2017; followed by a Ph.D. in Renewable Energy, University of Rwanda, 2020.

Q: What is your previous experience in the field? 

A: Team Lead – Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen at SASSCAL (Southern African Science Service Center for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management)

Before coming to GT, Katundu worked for the SASSCAL, Namibia (2020 – 2023); Postdoctoral Fellow – University of Cape Town, 2022.

Other key positions he’s held are Project Engineer, Protection and Design Engineer, Network Development Planner, Substation Design Engineer in South Africa (2004-2008), Projects Manager and Telecommunications Engineer, Zambia (2009 – 2012).  

Awards:  

  1. JUAMI Fellow, 2018 

  1. ARUA Fundraising Chairperson for Rwanda, 2018 

  1. Nuffic Scholarship Fellow in Netherlands, 2015  

  1. Best Energy Research Article at the 2nd IOEM Conference, 2020

Q: Tell us about the current position you’re in, & interest areas you’ll be focusing on: 

A: Postdoctoral Fellow – Net Zero Freight System Program with focus on reducing freight system greenhouse gas emissions, electric vehicles and non-carbon fuels and clean fuels.

Q: What sparked your interest in engineering (and your research), and how did you decide to pursue it as a career?  

A: I wanted to be part of the Net Zero Freight Systems Program and contribute to the development of sustainable pathways for a resilient freight system with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and lower environmental impacts and mitigate climate change for greater societal benefits in USA and the World at large.

Q: Outside of work, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy that might influence or complement your approach to life? 

A: I like fitness workouts, hiking, playing ping pong, cooking and reading books.

Q: Can you recount a heartwarming moment that captures the essence of your mentor-mentee relationship within the Georgia Tech community? 

A: So far, I appreciate the warm welcome and support received by all staff members in all GT departments, especially from the HR department which has been supporting me to settle in Atlanta and in my job. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza 

]]> nesparza7 1 1708969609 2024-02-26 17:46:49 1708969631 2024-02-26 17:47:11 0 0 news

Dr. Katundu Imasiku, a highly qualified expert in renewable energy and engineering, shares insights into his academic journey, professional experience, current role in net zero freight systems research at Georgia Tech's ISyE, and personal interests. 

]]>
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<![CDATA[ISyE Welcomes New Managing Director of SCL, Alumnus Chris Gaffney]]> 36284 We’re excited to announce the addition of alumnus, Chris Gaffney (BSIE ’85, MSIE ’86) to the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL), as his addition solidifies the new leadership team.

Chris Gaffney joins as the Managing Director of the SCL and will hold a dual appointment as Academic Program Director in Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE) - Edenfield Executive-in-Residence and a Professor of the Practice.

Gaffney joins the SCL team with Dr. Benoit Montreuil, Coca-Cola Material Handling & Distribution Chair and Professor and Director, Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, and Dr. Alejandro Toriello, Scientific Director for SCL and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).

Dr. Alejandro Toriello was appointed Scientific Director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL), on December 1, 2023. As a professor in ISyE, Dr. Toriello brings expertise in the theory and applications of supply chain management, logistics, and transportation, as well as a deep understanding of optimization methodologies.

Dr. Toriello is a two-time ISyE alum (BS ‘03, Ph.D. ‘10), and was the 2023 President of the INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society and is on the editorial boards of Transportation Science and Transportation Research Part B, two leading journals in the SCL space.

Dr. Benoit Montreuil joined Georgia Tech in 2015 and has played a leadership role in SCL since that time. He also serves as Director of the Physical Internet Center and Executive Director of SCL. Dr. Montreuil leads the International Physical Internet Initiative, engaging academic, industry, and government leaders worldwide in research and innovation projects on smart, hyperconnected sustainable logistics, supply chains, transportation, and more.

Gaffney will be managing the execution of the team, nurturing and developing the business ecosystem, and being accountable for SCL training, education curriculum, and delivery.

Toriello will lead in nurturing and developing faculty membership, interdisciplinary competency, and engagement in line with strategic orientation. He will also lead strategic planning, and action relative to scientific programming, and steering the development and realization of major scientific/academic research projects led by SCL.

Benoit will continue to drive the SCL strategic planning and action with Gaffney and Toriello. He will also guide the development and growth of research and innovation partnerships, as well as major projects and consortiums with industry partners.

As we tap into the new year, Chris Gaffney’s return to Georgia Tech welcomes fresh methods and inspiration to enhance the program's supply chain operations. Having earned both his degrees from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), Gaffney's journey intertwines deeply with the institution’s growth and impact.

Throughout the years, Gaffney was involved in the community serving on the ISyE Advisory Board, Supply Chain and Logistics Industry Advisory Board, and the MentIEs Program at Georgia Tech.

In his new role, Chris wants to continue driving cross-collaboration with SCL partnerships, “Georgia Tech is on the leading edge of the advancements in supply chain and logistics, so I'm hopeful that part of what we could do more of in SCL is help companies access more of that, faster.”

Additionally, Gaffney believes there’s an increasing urgency to advancing and “bringing people the type of learning in a way that they can grow their own professional capabilities [and become more multidisciplinary].”

Gaffney's professional journey began at Frito-Lay, where he navigated operational intricacies as a logistics analyst, later advancing to operations manager. Subsequently, he honed his expertise in international logistics and strategic supply chain management at AJC International and the Coca-Cola Company.

Gaffney's tenure at Coca-Cola, spanning over two decades as the Director of National Distribution, and then VP of Transportation for US Coke, epitomizes his commitment to collaboration and innovation. He also served in positions as President of Coca-Cola Supply, and as the President of the National Product Supplied Group, for the US Bottlers.

Chris met his wife Ellen while attending Georgia Tech and has been married for over 30 years; with four adult children, including one being a GT graduate in the field of Supply Chain.

Even in hardship, Gaffney’s family is passionate about doing all they can, including relentlessly supporting one of their own as a childhood cancer survivor. They’re heavily involved

philanthropically, specifically in raising money for research on childhood cancer, “we believe that we have a responsibility to do what we can.”

As Gaffney shared his final thoughts, he leaves us with a hopeful view, channeling the moments where it all first started – on Georgia Tech campus.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1708028647 2024-02-15 20:24:07 1708033579 2024-02-15 21:46:19 0 0 news ISyE alumnus, Chris Gaffney, returns as Managing Director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL), and leads with charge after 25 years at the Coca-Cola Company. As he embarks on this new chapter, Gaffney's excitement is toward a more interconnected and innovative future.

]]>
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<![CDATA[Sudie P. Davis, Elected to NACADA Region 4 Steering Committee ]]> 36481

Sudie P. Davis, an Academic Advisor II at ISyE, has been elected as the Georgia Liaison to the Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA) Region 4 Steering Committee, a significant achievement for our advising community.  

Over the next two years, Davis will play a vital role in shaping strategic goals for the region, administering the regional awards program, and representing Georgia's membership within NACADA. 

NACADA serves as the premier professional organization for higher education academic advisors, covering Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and the Caribbean Islands within Region 4. 

Established in 1979, NACADA provides various professional development and networking opportunities for its members. The association also supports student success at the institutional level through consulting services, surveys, and the Excellence in Academic Advising program. 

Before joining Georgia Tech, she advised students in diverse fields at Kennesaw State University and Georgia State University. She holds a bachelor's degree from Georgia Southern University and a master's degree from Georgia State University, focusing her research on inequities in higher education. 

Congratulations to Davis on her well-deserved election, and we look forward to her continued contributions to our advising community! 

Author Nat M. Esparza 

]]> nesparza7 1 1707925721 2024-02-14 15:48:41 1707936884 2024-02-14 18:54:44 0 0 news

Sudie P. Davis, an Academic Advisor II at ISyE, has been elected as the Georgia Liaison to the NACADA Region 4 Steering Committee, a significant achievement for our advising community. Over the next two years, Davis will play a vital role in shaping strategic goals for the region, administering the regional awards program, and representing Georgia's membership within NACADA. 

]]>
2024-02-14T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-14T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-14 00:00:00 673080 673080 image <![CDATA[Sudie P. Davis]]> image/png 1707925615 2024-02-14 15:46:55 1707925615 2024-02-14 15:46:55
<![CDATA[IE Ramblin’ Companions: Meredith and Jason Linscott]]> 36481

From a chance meeting at a fraternity house to exploring Europe together during their GT study abroad program, the Linscott's bond, rooted in engineering ingenuity, highlights a journey towards enduring affection amidst the academic challenges they faced.

Meredith Linscott, IE 2000, is a Senior Engineering Consultant and Director of Legal Affairs at the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE). She holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgia State University College of Law. 

Jason Linscott, IE 2000, serves as Principal at Stein Investment Group, specializing in real estate development and acquisition. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech. 

Q: How did you first connect with your Georgia Tech "love"? 

A: While they both noticed each other around campus, Jason thought of Meredith as a mystery girl that he couldn’t seem to locate until she randomly showed up with a friend at Jason’s fraternity house! After there was a connection, they had their first date the following week at Café Intermezzo. Jason was headed to Texas to co-op for M&M/Mars in a few weeks, so Meredith thought surely this would not turn into anything long term. That was 1995, so she is happy to admit this is one time she was wrong!  

Q: Can you share a memorable moment that defines your relationship within the Georgia Tech community? 

A: Both of us participated in Tech’s study-abroad program at Worcester College - Oxford. The program was amazing, providing us with an opportunity to travel throughout Europe and experience different cultures. It also allowed us to branch out and meet new friends. It’s easy to fall into routines while on campus but studying abroad helped mix things up. The Tech friends we became close with while abroad made our memories from that time even sweeter. 

Q: In what ways has this connection positively impacted your Georgia Tech experience or life journey? 

A: Tech has meant so much to our family. We have the most incredible experiences and memories from our time on campus and we credit Tech with our relationship and many wonderful friendships that we maintain today. Our children refer to many of our Tech friends as aunts and uncles and we can both draw direct lines with our professional success back to our time at Tech. 

Q: What’s one facet of your relationship that’s special between the two of you?  

A: When we decided to start a family, we ended up with triplets… for two Georgia Tech ISyE graduates, that was the most efficient path to a full familyWe also both love a good spreadsheet; there are only a few things that a spreadsheet can’t help organize or fix! 

Q: What advice would you give to others seeking meaningful connections within the Georgia Tech community? 

A: Tech is an incredible community with a diverse group of exceptional, bright students possessing significant potential. Put your energy into friendships and relationships while at Tech… these relationships will enhance your education and expand your mind; they will also be meaningful, personal friendships that will last a lifetime. 

-- 

IE Ramblin' Companions is a captivating Q&A series created by Nat M. Esparza showcasing the love stories of couples who discovered their special connection within the world of Industrial Engineering at Georgia Tech. Through insightful interviews, personal anecdotes and candid conversations it illuminates the diverse paths and heartfelt experiences of these couples, celebrating the intersection of love and academia in the GA Tech community. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1707845394 2024-02-13 17:29:54 1707917467 2024-02-14 13:31:07 0 0 news Join Meredith and Jason on an inspiring journey of love and engineering excellence, where their bond as Georgia Tech students blossomed into a partnership enriched by shared experiences, culminating in the delightful challenge of raising triplets, proving that with love, determination, and a touch of Tech spirit, every obstacle can be overcome.

]]>
2024-02-14T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-14T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-14 00:00:00 673064 673067 673068 673064 image <![CDATA[The Linscott's - Before]]> image/png 1707842759 2024-02-13 16:45:59 1707842889 2024-02-13 16:48:09 673067 image <![CDATA[The Linscott's - Now]]> image/jpeg 1707844256 2024-02-13 17:10:56 1707844290 2024-02-13 17:11:30 673068 image <![CDATA[The Linscott's Family]]> image/jpeg 1707844303 2024-02-13 17:11:43 1707844333 2024-02-13 17:12:13
<![CDATA[Growing Together: The Evolution of the MentIE Program ]]> 36481

The rooftop of the CODA building came alive with the shared enthusiasm of ISyE students and alumni embarking on a transformative journey together as mentors and mentees. They had signed up to participate in the ISyE MentIE program, a mentorship initiative inspired by the principles of Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. 

The MentIE program was initiated with 20 members of its advisory board, each mentoring three undergraduate students.  

Against the backdrop of downtown Atlanta, attendees enjoyed the spectacular view enhanced by the soft glow of string lights, adding a touch of magic to the evening. 

Rooted in the mission to forge meaningful connections, nurture professional growth, and guide students in making informed career choices, the MentIE program has burgeoned, boasting 79 mentors and 163 students – 141 first-year and 22 second-year participants. 

The format was as engaging as the setting, with a cocktail-style spread that encouraged students to move freely from table to table, mingling with alumni mentors.  

This dynamic setup facilitated one-on-one interactions, allowing students to ask questions, seek advice, and gain insights from professionals in their chosen field. 

Leading the MentIE program is Valarie McConico, the Program and Operations Manager for the Center for Academics, Success, & Equity (CASE), who shares her commitment to bringing structure and proactivity to the program.  

"For the first time, we have 40 confirmed mentoring alumni workshops. So, a lot of MentIEs who aren’t sure what they want to do can learn a wide variety of opportunities, she said. 

Two active MentIE participants, Lorette Leone (IE, ‘25) and Anna Park (IE ‘25), echo diverse experiences within the program. 

Anna Park, a third year ISyE student, has played an instrumental role in the conception and flourishing success of the MentIE program. Since its inception, Anna has been an unwavering force as the Program Lead and Manager for the MentIE program, actively participating in the program's first and second phases, contributing significantly to its initiation and subsequent momentum 

"When you come from high school to college, you don’t know much about professionalism because it is a big jump, and we want to connect them with alumni to facilitate the academic and professionalism culture." 

As she looks towards her expected graduation in 2025, Anna Park stands as an inspiring figure, showcasing the transformative impact dedicated students can have on the academic and professional growth of their peers. 

Lorette Leone, an international student from Tanzania, is a dynamic presence at Georgia Tech, engaging in a range of academic and cultural activities. As a representative for the Georgia Tech Student Ambassadors and Secretary of the African Students' Association (ASA), she contributes to the campus community.  

Leone also serves as an ambassador for Industrial and Systems Engineering, promotes diversity as a member and Secretary of the National Society of Black Engineers and Black Industrial Engineers at Tech, and guides fellow students as an OMED Edge Mentor 

She views Tech as a gateway to a versatile career, with the MentIE program being a pivotal recommendation from Dr. Myles.  

Leone shares, "I learned about Georgia Tech through a scholarship program at my high school in Singapore. As an international student from Tanzania, I see the opportunity to study analytical subjects at Tech as a pathway to a versatile career. The MentIE program specifically was recommended by Dr. Nicoly Myles, the Director of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE)." 

ISyE's goal is to extend the MentIE program, supporting the professional advancement of participants while also providing the next generation of industrial engineers with the tools to make well-considered decisions about their careers. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza 

Alumni involvement is integral to the ISyE MentIEs program's success. Dr. Myles and Valarie McConico extend an invitation to alumni interested in contributing to the program's growth. For more information, please contact Dr. Myles here. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1701873204 2023-12-06 14:33:24 1707855571 2024-02-13 20:19:31 0 0 news

The rooftop of the CODA building came alive with the shared enthusiasm of ISyE students and alumni embarking on a transformative journey together as mentors and mentees. They had signed up to participate in the ISyE MentIEs program, a mentorship initiative inspired by the principles of Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. 

]]>
2023-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-06 00:00:00 672513 672514 672515 672518 672519 672517 672516 672513 image <![CDATA[MentIEs Program 1]]> image/png 1701872561 2023-12-06 14:22:41 1701872626 2023-12-06 14:23:46 672514 image <![CDATA[MentIE Kickoff - Anna Park]]> image/jpeg 1701872647 2023-12-06 14:24:07 1701873054 2023-12-06 14:30:54 672515 image <![CDATA[MentIE Kickoff - Lorette Leone]]> image/jpeg 1701873067 2023-12-06 14:31:07 1701873100 2023-12-06 14:31:40 672518 image <![CDATA[MentIE Kickoff - Event 2]]> image/jpeg 1701873813 2023-12-06 14:43:33 1701873845 2023-12-06 14:44:05 672519 image <![CDATA[MentIE Kickoff - Event 3]]> image/jpeg 1701873871 2023-12-06 14:44:31 1701873905 2023-12-06 14:45:05 672517 image <![CDATA[MentIE Kickoff - Event 1]]> image/jpeg 1701873312 2023-12-06 14:35:12 1701873357 2023-12-06 14:35:57 672516 image <![CDATA[MentIE Kickoff - Group Photo]]> image/jpeg 1701873259 2023-12-06 14:34:19 1701873301 2023-12-06 14:35:01
<![CDATA[IE Ramblin’ Companions: Marie and Ken Klaer ]]> 36481

 

Ken Klaer’s journey through Georgia Tech not only shaped his career but also led to a lifelong connection that began within the Institute’s vibrant community.

It was during his time at Georgia Tech that Ken first crossed paths with his future wife, Marie, at the Chi Phi fraternity house. Their relationship blossomed amidst the backdrop of football games and shared academic pursuits, laying the foundation for a love story that has endured over four decades.

Klaer, IE 1981, is chair of the ISyE Advisory Board, executive vice president of Comcast Cable, and president of Comcast Technology Solutions. He shared some recollections about his on-campus romance with Marie.

Q: How did you first connect with your Georgia Tech "love"? 

A: We first crossed paths at the Chi Phi fraternity house where Marie held the title of sweetheart and was dating an older fraternity brother. 

Q: Can you share a memorable moment that defines your relationship within the Georgia Tech community? 

A: One significant memory stands out when I managed to secure flash card seats, convincing Marie to join me at a Jackets football game. These seats were prime, right on the 50-yard line, the envy of every student. Initially hesitant, Marie reluctantly agreed, thinking of it as just a friendly outing. But as they say, the rest is history. 

Q: In what ways has this connection positively impacted your Georgia Tech experience or life journey? 

A: Our bond formed at Georgia Tech has been the cornerstone of our lives. Celebrating 43+ years of marriage, we cherish the memories of falling in love during our time at GT. Without this connection, our paths might never have crossed. 

Q: Are there any unique or quirky aspects of your relationship that you'd like to highlight? 

A: I happily admit to marrying someone much smarter than myself—Marie's academic achievements certainly surpassed mine. Her guidance and proactive nature redirected my career path during our college days. Despite having accepted a job in the auto parts industry, a call from Scientific-Atlanta prompted Marie to encourage me to reconsider. This decision led me into a fulfilling career in the telecommunications sector. 

Q: What advice would you give to others seeking meaningful connections within the Georgia Tech community? 

A: Our advice echoes the principle of paying it forward. Georgia Tech provided the foundation for much of our success, and we strive to stay connected and involved. Serving on advisory boards and participating in mentorship programs like MentIE allows us to contribute while continuing to learn and grow. 

-- 

IE Ramblin' Companions is a captivating Q&A series created by Nat M. Esparza showcasing the love stories of couples who discovered their special connection within the world of Industrial Engineering at Georgia Tech. Through insightful interviews, personal anecdotes and candid conversations it illuminates the diverse paths and heartfelt experiences of these couples, celebrating the intersection of love and academia in the Institute's community. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza 

]]> nesparza7 1 1707333264 2024-02-07 19:14:24 1707845140 2024-02-13 17:25:40 0 0 news

Ken Klaer's journey through Georgia Tech not only shaped his career but also led to a lifelong connection that began within the university's vibrant community. It was during his time at Georgia Tech that Ken first crossed paths with his future wife, Marie, at the Chi Phi fraternity house where she held the title of sweetheart. 

]]>
2024-02-07T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-07T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-07 00:00:00 673002 673002 image <![CDATA[The Klaer's]]> image/png 1707333164 2024-02-07 19:12:44 1707333215 2024-02-07 19:13:35
<![CDATA[Gavin Stewart: From Field Goals to Formulas in the MSA Program]]> 36284 On the vibrant fields of Bobby Dodd Stadium, Gavin Stewart (MSA ‘24), a kicker for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets merges athletic dynamism with academic rigor.  

Stewart graduated from Tech with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration while making a name for himself on the Football Team. 

Transitioning from his Bachelor’s degree to a Master's in Analytics at the H.Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Stewart experienced the thrilling challenge of embracing a more technical curriculum.  

His educational path is characterized by a rich fusion of strategic business understanding and newly acquired technical skills in coding and data analytics, providing him with a distinct viewpoint on how business operations and technological progress intersect. 

Balancing Academics and Athletics 

In his journey towards achieving academic and athletic excellence at Tech, Stewart highlights the influential role Dr. Joel Sokol played in steering him towards the Master's in Analytics program at Georgia Tech.  

He highly values Dr. Sokol's comprehensive briefing on the curriculum, which equipped him for the academic challenges ahead and shed light on its potential career advantages.  

Moreover, Stewart appreciates the invaluable guidance from his kicking coach, Ryan Longwell, a seasoned NFL player, whose mentorship significantly impacted his development both as an athlete and as an individual.  

Stewart, balancing his roles as both a student and athlete, has pinpointed effective time management as a key challenge.  

"You have to figure out how to manage your time to get everything done. You have to learn the material outside of the classroom and do more work than just coming to lectures.”   

He stressed the importance of balancing demanding schedules between the two, along with personal time. 

Reflecting on his journey, Stewart emphasizes the invaluable lessons in teamwork and leadership gained from team sports.  

These experiences have not only honed his communication skills but also prepared him for professional environments where teamwork and leadership are key. 

Kicking Off Excellence 

Stewart has emerged as a key player for the Yellow Jackets in his role as the kickoff specialist. His remarkable precision and formidable strength were evident on the field, with a remarkable 60% of his kickoffs resulting in touchbacks in the 2021 season.[1]  

In 2022, Stewart took over as Georgia Tech’s primary place-kicker in a high-stakes game against Pittsburg. In challenging conditions, he showcased remarkable poise and accuracy, nailing 4-of-4 field goal attempts, including a career-long 40-yarder, contributing significantly to Tech’s upset over the 24th-ranked Pittsburg Panthers. [2] 

This game not only highlighted Stewart’s athletic prowess but also symbolized his resilience and adaptability - traits equally applicable in his rigorous ISyE studies. His record-breaking .923 field goal percentage not only topped Tech’s charts but also ranked him 10th nationally. [2] 

Prior to his notable collegiate achievements, Stewart refined his diverse talents at Benedictine Military School, where he displayed his versatility by adeptly taking on the roles of wide receiver, safety, and kicker.  

His impeccable record in high school – successfully executing every field goal and extra point – was a clear early indicator of the athletic success he would later achieve at Georgia Tech. [1] 

Plans for Superbowl 2024 

Stewart is filled with excitement for the upcoming Superbowl 2024, eagerly looking forward to cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs alongside his friends.  

He has plans to soak in the game's thrilling atmosphere by visiting the renowned Rocky Mountain Pizza, making it a memorable experience. 

Stewart, appreciating the challenge of staying at the top in sports, sees a parallel in the Chiefs' resilience and the performance of their players, including former Georgia Tech kicker Harrison Butker

Charting the Future 

Stewart is focused on a professional football career and wishes to pursue Analytics parallelly. He's excited about his upcoming Accenture internship and is considering IT sector roles, particularly in cybersecurity. 

As he continues to score points, both on and off the football field, Stewart sets a high standard and serves as an inspiration for other student-athletes at Georgia Tech.  

Stewart's guidance for upcoming student-athletes at Georgia Tech is “Just know that it can be done. I know going to a school like Georgia Tech, pursue sports and maintain your academics can get rigorous and quite hard sometimes, but if you just work hard, it will work out.” 

Author: Atharva Anand Dave 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1707674073 2024-02-11 17:54:33 1707675902 2024-02-11 18:25:02 0 0 news Gavin Stewart, a student-athlete in the Master of Science in Analytics program at ISyE, has seamlessly blended his prowess on the football field as a standout kicker for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets with a robust academic journey, exemplifying both athletic and academic excellence at Georgia Tech.

]]>
2024-02-11T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-11T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-11 00:00:00 References: 

  1. Sandor, L. (2022, June 10). Georgia Tech Impact Player: Gavin Stewart. From the Rumble Seat. Retrieved from https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com 

  1. Gavin Stewart. (2023, July 25). Retrieved from https://ramblinwreck.com/roster/gavin-stewart/ 

  1. Gavin Stewart - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Place Kicker - ESPN. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/4691736/gavin-stewart 

]]>
673038 673038 image <![CDATA[Gavin Stewart]]> image/jpeg 1707674690 2024-02-11 18:04:50 1707674690 2024-02-11 18:04:50 <![CDATA[Gavin Stewart]]> <![CDATA[From the Rumble Seat]]>
<![CDATA[Open to Growth: Nat M. Esparza]]> 36481

Nat M. Esparza, a skilled wordsmith and communications officer at Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), offers a unique mix of creativity and reliability. This essay explores Nat's career path, endless curiosity, and her unique method of personal development and resolutions. 

Q: What is your New Year's resolution?

A: I don't have a traditional resolution, instead, I focuse on a word for the year. My 2024 words are "Embodied" and "Intentional." "Embodied" means checking in with myself more, avoiding others' expectations, staying present, and being aware. For "Intentional," it's about controlling how I live my life, staying organized, and being more productive.

Q: Is having a New Year's resolution important, and has it been a tradition for you?

A: Yes, having a New Year's resolution is important for me. Four years ago, I started the tradition of using words instead of goals. This practice allows me to have a more general focus throughout the year, as opposed to concentrating on a single area for improvement.

Q: Have you found purpose in your resolution, and has it improved your life? If so, what are some examples?

A: I have found purpose in these words, which serve as guiding principles for my life.

The overarching purpose is curiosity, driving her continuous learning and creative mind. This has helped her step out of her comfort zone and explore new areas of learning both in and outside of work.

Q: When did you realize this was your purpose?

A: I saw a significant transformation in the year 2020. I realized that pursuing a master's degree wasn't my calling. Instead, I embraced my curiosity, sparking a turning point that helped her define her mission and publish a book.

Q: What is something you would like to say about being open to growth?

A: Georgia Tech has provided me with the opportunity to grow and discover myself. Sometimes, taking a step back is not always negative; it is also a form of growth. I intentionally transitioned from a manager to a lower position, which, in my eyes, wasn't a setback but a part of my growth. 

Nat M. Esparza's journey from orchestrating communications at Kennesaw State University to her current role at ISyE, showcases her commitment to learning, creativity, and the power of words 

Through the unique tradition of choosing words of the year, Nat has found purpose and growth, embodying the spirit of curiosity that fuels her impactful communication in the field of engineering.

Author: Cristo Rey Student Assistant, Tomas Galeas Mora

]]> nesparza7 1 1707330932 2024-02-07 18:35:32 1707331683 2024-02-07 18:48:03 0 0 news

Nat M. Esparza provides a unique approach to New Year's resolutions, opting to use resolution words. Esparza offers her distinctive perspective on achieving personal ambitions, reflecting her commitment to curiosity and continuous learning. This commitment influences her career and communication in engineering. 

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2024-02-07T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-07T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-07 00:00:00 673001 673001 image <![CDATA[Nat Esparza]]> image/png 1707330879 2024-02-07 18:34:39 1707330906 2024-02-07 18:35:06
<![CDATA[Dima Nazzal Elected as Chair of Georgia Tech's Faculty Executive Board]]> 36284 Dima Nazzal, director of professional practice and principal academic professional in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been elected as the new chair of the Faculty Executive Board

Nazzal's election follows years of service and leadership within the Georgia Tech community. A distinguished alumna, she earned her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2006. After Nazzal's return to campus as faculty, she quickly became known for her instructional excellence and received the Curriculum Innovation Award in 2021. In addition to her commitment to student success, Nazzal is known as an advocate for faculty, as demonstrated by her work as part of the campus Covid-19 Taskforce. As chair of the Faculty Executive Board, Nazzal leads the faculty in governance of itself, the curriculum, and Georgia Tech students. 

"Dima's election comes at a pivotal time for our academic community,” said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Steve McLaughlin. “The charge of faculty governance is to represent the faculty’s interests and to work hand-in-hand with our administration to make Tech a better place for everyone. Her wealth of experience and commitment to faculty and academic success positions her well to lead the Faculty Executive Board as they seek to address the most pressing issues.”

Read the whole story here.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1707249470 2024-02-06 19:57:50 1707310719 2024-02-07 12:58:39 0 0 news Dima Nazzal, director of professional practice and principal academic professional in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been elected as the new chair of the Faculty Executive Board

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2024-02-06T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-06T00:00:00-05:00 2024-02-06 00:00:00 672990 672990 image <![CDATA[Dima Nazzal]]> image/jpeg 1707255824 2024-02-06 21:43:44 1707255824 2024-02-06 21:43:44
<![CDATA[Pascal Van Hentenryck Assumes Role of Associate Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship]]> 28766 The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) announced that A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck has assumed the role of associate chair for innovation and entrepreneurship (ACIE). This is a new position within ISyE’s leadership structure.

As ACIE, Van Hentenryck will lead the development of “blue sky” initiatives, foster and nurture a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, facilitate translational research, and build strategic partnerships.

“I am happy that Pascal has agreed to serve as ACIE. In this role, he will be responsible for stimulating strategic thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship within ISyE,” said School Chair Edwin Romeijn. “Pascal has the energy and drive needed for this role, and he will provide tremendous value to ISyE. I look forward to working with him in this capacity.”

Van Hentenryck’s own research complements this new position. His work centers on artificial intelligence, data science, and operations research. His current focus is to develop methodologies, algorithms, and systems for addressing challenging problems in mobility, energy systems, resilience, and privacy. In the past, his research focused on optimization and the design and implementation of innovative optimization systems, including the CHIP programming system (a Cosytec product), the foundation of all modern constraint programming systems, and the optimization programming language OPL (now an IBM Product).

“I am deeply honored – and also delighted – to take on this new role. There is a convergence of technologies at the union of AI and OR that promises to fundamentally change industrial and systems engineering, and even engineering as a whole,” said Van Hentenryck. “ISyE is ideally positioned to pursue these opportunities, given its strength in methodologies and its domain expertise in a number of disciplines. It is an exciting time, and I look forward to working with the faculty to pursue them.”

Van Hentenryck’s tenure as ACIE began in early October.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1571939393 2019-10-24 17:49:53 1706727878 2024-01-31 19:04:38 0 0 news As ACIE, Van Hentenryck will, among other responsibilities, lead the development of “blue sky” initiatives and build strategic partnerships.

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2019-10-24T00:00:00-04:00 2019-10-24T00:00:00-04:00 2019-10-24 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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628049 628049 image <![CDATA[A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck will serve as ISyE's new associate chair for innovation and entrepreneurship. ]]> image/jpeg 1571939013 2019-10-24 17:43:33 1571939013 2019-10-24 17:43:33
<![CDATA[ISyE Hosts Third Georgia Tech Workshop on Energy Systems and Optimization]]> 34760 There are many challenges facing current electrical distribution grids in the U.S., including the market demand for renewable energy sources and the rapid deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. To address these and other issues within the energy industry, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) created the Workshop on Energy Systems and Optimization in 2017.

The original workshop was such a success that it has now become an annual event. This year it was held on November 14 and 15 at Georgia Tech and was attended by more than 80 participants from Europe, Canada, and across the U.S. The goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers, practitioners, and students from electric energy systems and operations research — typically separated communities — to have focused discussions on the nation’s electric systems. The conference was organized by ISyE Anderson-Interface Early Career Professor and Associate Professor Andy Sun and featured more than 20 speakers from industry, academia, and research labs.

“It is encouraging to see the enthusiasm from the attendees of the past three workshops,” said Sun. “We need a focused platform to bring together power engineering and optimization experts to help solve these problems. I think that’s why we see people coming back every year from practical day-to-day operations of power markets and the most prestigious academic institutes.”

ISyE Associate Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck welcomed the group and reiterated the significance of a multidisciplinary approach to solve problems. Van Hentenryck also noted the importance of the informal discussions and networking that takes place during the workshop, in addition to the formal talks.

Workshop themes included the challenges in operations of large-scale electricity markets; new approaches for managing risks and stochasticity in electric markets; contingency analysis, probabilistic operation, and machine learning; recent advancements in optimal power flow control and computation; distributed energy resources and storage; and dealing with uncertainty, contingency, and health considerations in power grids.

“The most gratifying response is from students who attended and presented posters of their extremely high-quality research,” added Sun. “We hope that the students are as inspired as we are about the future of research in energy systems.”

Following the workshop, Professor Warren Powell from Princeton University, who was also one of the speakers, praised the event. “Fabulous workshop,” said Powell. “I think you have established this event as the best energy systems workshop in the country.”

The 2019 Workshop on Energy Systems and Optimization was made possible by the generous support of sponsors, including ISyE, the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute, and the ISyE Anderson-Interface Chair. The team plans to host the workshop again in 2020.

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1575313208 2019-12-02 19:00:08 1706727864 2024-01-31 19:04:24 0 0 news To address the many challenges within the energy industry, ISyE created the Workshop on Energy Systems and Optimization.

]]>
2019-12-02T00:00:00-05:00 2019-12-02T00:00:00-05:00 2019-12-02 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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629557 629557 image <![CDATA[Participants in the Third Georgia Tech Workshop on Energy Systems and Optimization]]> image/png 1575312864 2019-12-02 18:54:24 1575312864 2019-12-02 18:54:24
<![CDATA[Introducing Computational and Data Science to the Next Generation of Engineers]]> 28766 Increasing awareness of industrial engineering and operations research among high school students is a top priority for both A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck and Merrill Bonder, president of the Seth Bonder Foundation. Together they created the Seth Bonder Camp in Computational and Data Science for Engineering to help students better understand the careers and opportunities available in these fields.

“When most people think about engineering, they think of mechanical or civil, but they don’t know — until they are already in college — that they can use industrial engineering and operations research tools to analyze and solve scientific, real-world problems,” explained Bonder. “We want to introduce high school students to the field and its many applications early, so they know it is a future career option.”

Big data and data science are growing fields; and while people may have heard these terms, they typically don’t fully understand their many applications.

“Data science is the idea of using computation to transform data into information, knowledge, insights, and decisions,” explained Van Hentenryck. “Data scientists are changing the world every day, and we want to help develop the next generation.”

This summer, 30 high school students gathered at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering on July 22 to participate in the Seth Bonder Camp in Computational and Data Science for Engineering. The five-day camp, led by Van Hentenryck, teaches basic programming and computer science skills to participants with little or no prior experience in these areas.

Each day began with an interactive lecture from Van Hentenryck, followed by an afternoon in the lab getting hands-on experience to implement the concepts learned. The camp uses Snap!, a visual programming language designed to teach basic programming concepts without the mathematical component. The lessons built on these ideas to show how data science is changing social science, machine learning, medicine, biology, and engineering. The campers even learned how to create a program to solve Sudoku in seconds.

“Pascal does a wonderful job taking a difficult concept and breaking it down so the students can understand it,” said Bonder. “He makes it fun and lighthearted, which makes it more appealing to the students who may be considering industrial engineering or operations research as a career choice.”

Van Hentenryck thoroughly enjoyed his time working on the camp. “It is an opportunity to go back in time and rediscover the awe I felt when I realized how to use computing for solving complex engineering problems,” he reflected. “I try to give them the confidence to dive into the field and build solutions.”

At the conclusion of the camp, several students told Van Hentenryck that they wanted to become engineers and asked to keep in touch. A few even asked him to serve as a mentor for high school research projects in the coming year.

To further their mission of increased awareness of data science and operations research among as many high school students as possible, Van Hentenryck and Bonder hope to eventually create a free online version of the course that will be open to anyone interested in learning more about this growing field.

 

Seth Bonder (1932-2011) was the founder and CEO of Vector Research, an operations research consulting firm. He served as faculty, and then adjunct faculty, in the industrial engineering department at the University of Michigan and as the 27th president of the Operations Research Society of America. Bonder won numerous awards throughout his career and was an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Ohio State University.

 

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1565795813 2019-08-14 15:16:53 1706727831 2024-01-31 19:03:51 0 0 news A. Russell Chandler III Chair Pascal Van Hentenryck hosts a week-long summer camp for high school students that teaches the basics of programming and computer science.

]]>
2019-08-14T00:00:00-04:00 2019-08-14T00:00:00-04:00 2019-08-14 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

]]>
624488 624489 624488 image <![CDATA[High school students attending the Seth Bonder Camp in Computational and Data Science for Engineering]]> image/png 1565795454 2019-08-14 15:10:54 1565795454 2019-08-14 15:10:54 624489 image <![CDATA[A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck instructing the campers]]> image/jpeg 1565795532 2019-08-14 15:12:12 1565795532 2019-08-14 15:12:12 <![CDATA[2019 Seth Bonder Camp]]>
<![CDATA[MARTA, Mobility and Mass Transit ]]> 28766 In recent years, Atlanta’s transit agency has shored up its budget, expanded to new parts of the region, and garnered almost unprecedented support from Georgia’s policymakers.

Yet, ridership has been falling, and the system — known as MARTA, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority — hasn’t grown as quickly as the population it serves. After Amazon decided to build new headquarters operations in D.C. and New York City, some speculated Atlanta’s comparatively limited public transportation system might have been a factor.

Pascal Van Hentenryck, A. Russell Chandler III Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech, has a few ideas as to why MARTA has problems:

“The public system here is not as developed as in other cities,” said Van Hentenryck, a Belgium native. “It only has a few train lines, which were originally developed for other purposes. So, you’re really not connecting people to where they want to go. The necessary connections are just not there for low-ridership areas. But, thanks to new technologies and mobility models, MARTA has tremendous opportunities to change this.”

In the summer of 2018, Van Hentenryck left the University of Michigan to join ISyE and has already started working with MARTA and the Atlanta Regional Commission. His plan is to look at the transit system holistically and consider how it can scale. In addition to MARTA, that means bike lanes, walking paths, roads — all the ways people get where they’re going.

Van Hentenryck’s lab is working on optimization and machine learning algorithms that take into account congestion, driving behaviors and data collected from MARTA to create a simulation of mobility in Atlanta that can help local, regional and state policymakers.

You can read the rest of this article on the Georgia Tech College of Engineering website: https://b.gatech.edu/2XsZ9Lp.

 

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1551213114 2019-02-26 20:31:54 1706727807 2024-01-31 19:03:27 0 0 news

ISyE's Pascal Van Hentenryck is solving transportation issues through powerful algorithms. 

]]>
2019-02-26T00:00:00-05:00 2019-02-26T00:00:00-05:00 2019-02-26 00:00:00 Georgia Parmalee

College of Engineering

]]>
618497 618496 618497 image <![CDATA[Rush hour traffic in Atlanta]]> image/jpeg 1551212623 2019-02-26 20:23:43 1551212623 2019-02-26 20:23:43 618496 image <![CDATA[A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck]]> image/jpeg 1551212568 2019-02-26 20:22:48 1551212568 2019-02-26 20:22:48 <![CDATA[ISyE Welcomes Pascal Van Hentenryck]]>
<![CDATA[Dr. Alejandro Toriello Appointed Scientific Director of Georgia Tech's Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL) ]]> 36481

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Alejandro Toriello has been appointed as the Scientific Director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL), on December 1, 2023.  

In this role, Dr. Toriello will serve as a member of the Executive Leadership Team of SCL. In collaboration with the other two members of this team he will share responsibility for driving overall SCL strategic planning. 

His specific responsibilities will include: 

  1. Building SCL’s interdisciplinary scientific capabilities (knowledge, expertise, skills) by attracting campus-wide teams of faculty, staff, student research assistants, and international scientific collaborators to SCL activities and initiatives 

  1. Fostering and supporting SCL members in developing creative, disruptive, and game-changing scientific research and education projects in line with SCL’s core mission, including collaborative projects with other institutions and stakeholders 

  1. Shaping SCL’s leading-edge scientific vision and priority threads across disciplines. 

As a distinguished professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, Dr. Toriello brings a wealth of expertise in the theory and application of supply chain management, logistics, and transportation, as well as a deep understanding of optimization methodologies.  

His exemplary work and commitment to advancing the field have been evident throughout his career, culminating in this well-deserved appointment to a leadership role.  

We congratulate Dr. Toriello on this significant achievement and look forward to witnessing the continued impact of his leadership in advancing the field of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1704914993 2024-01-10 19:29:53 1706548147 2024-01-29 17:09:07 0 0 news

In his new role, Dr. Toriello will lead strategic planning efforts, build interdisciplinary scientific capabilities, foster innovative research projects, and shape the cutting-edge scientific vision of the institute. 

]]>
2024-01-10T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-10T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-10 00:00:00 672726 672726 image <![CDATA[Alejandro Toriello]]> image/png 1704915412 2024-01-10 19:36:52 1704915537 2024-01-10 19:38:57
<![CDATA[2024 SCL Day: Justin Betancourt's Journey from APICS to Aviation]]> 36284 At the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), alongside the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, the excitement is palpable as January 2024 continues.  

To honor this event, Justin Betancourt, an alumnus of the Master’s in Supply Chain program and former VP of Operations and Finance at the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS), offered a treasure trove of insights and reflections about his impactful journey that started at ISyE. 

Currently, Betancourt works at Delta Air Lines as a Project Manager in Workforce Planning and Analytics, where he applies his supply chain expertise from ISyE in a distinctive manner. 

Automating the Aviation Workforce 

“I like to think of my role as managing the supply chain of manpower. My job revolves around staffing at various airports, ensuring we maintain a harmoniously balanced staffing system throughout the country”. 

Highlighting the significant improvements in efficiency brought about by automation, Betancourt believes that removing repetitive and manual tasks from the equation streamlines processes and substantially lowers the chances of human error. 

This change allows staff to engage in more meaningful work, thereby enhancing overall operational efficiency. 

Betancourt shared his insights on the transformative impact of data analytics and automation. "Sometimes, the airline industry is perceived as slow to adapt due to its complexity and regulatory environment, but what's truly revolutionizing our sector is the investment in data analytics and automation." 

In his vision, the future of the aviation industry, and indeed many other sectors, lies in the harmonious integration of automation with human ingenuity.  

Betancourt’s insights into APICS 

As a founding member of APICS at Georgia Tech, Betancourt's contributions were instrumental in shaping the then-nascent organization.  

While reflecting on his motivation for joining the organization, Betancourt reminisced, “I wanted to be involved in APICS to get people in the same room and get them talking about what they're learning in school, challenge each other and grow together by networking.” 

Faced with the unforeseen challenges posed by COVID-19, Betancourt and his team demonstrated remarkable resilience and ingenuity by combining virtual and in-person engagements to adapt to the new circumstances. 

During his time at APICS, Betancourt was notably involved in strategic collaborations, particularly with the Supply Chain Institute and its director Tim Brown, under whom he also served as a teaching assistant.  

Their synergy facilitated a series of insightful seminars and discussions, enriching the learning experience for students. APICS capitalized on these opportunities, ensuring students had access to cutting-edge knowledge in supply chain advancements and research. 

Betancourt fondly recalls a key event during his APICS tenure: hosting the founder of the Project Management Institute. This seminar, primarily a success due to the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and Tim Brown, highlighted crucial project management principles  

Beyond academic enrichment, these initiatives served as dynamic platforms for student networking, connecting them with industry leaders, faculty, and fellow students, thereby nurturing a community dedicated to collective learning and development. 

SCL Career Fair’s Networking Power 

Betancourt recalls the SCL Career Fair, as a standout event for networking, especially for those pursuing careers in supply chain management.  

“The SCL Career fair is probably the best opportunity to network with Industry professionals. Since it’s specific to supply chain roles and companies, it feels a lot more unique and intimate” Betancourt said.  

Giving thought on his journey, Betancourt shares how the career fair's specialized focus on supply chain allowed for engaging, in-depth discussions with company delegates. He credits the fair for facilitating valuable professional relationships, which notably played a role in his eventual position at Delta. 

Regarding guidance for students aspiring to careers in supply chain management, Betancourt stresses the necessity of being forward-thinking and adaptable. He asserts, "Plan ahead, think critically, and stay resilient. These qualities are indispensable in navigating the complexities of supply chain logistics." 

_______

Author: Atharva Anand Dave 

References: 

Justin Betancourt, PMP - Procter & Gamble | LinkedIn. (n.d.). https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinbetancourt 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1706202049 2024-01-25 17:00:49 1706547696 2024-01-29 17:01:36 0 0 news Justin Betancourt, an ISyE graduate, brought valuable insights to the 2024 SCL Day, delving deep into the intricacies of supply chain management. He highlighted the significance of innovation and resilience, drawing from his experiences with APICS and Delta Airlines, underscoring the importance of robust networking within the field. 

]]>
2024-01-24T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-24T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-24 00:00:00 672866 672866 image <![CDATA[Justin Betancourt]]> image/png 1706202058 2024-01-25 17:00:58 1706202058 2024-01-25 17:00:58
<![CDATA[Beyond the Barcode: ISyE Senior Design Winners Cut Home Depot's Self-Checkout Shrinkage ]]> 36481

The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) is pleased to acknowledge the achievements of six Senior Design finalist teams. Recognized for their exceptional work in project complexity, methodological execution, and potential impact, these teams showcase the pinnacle of academic and practical excellence. Join us in exploring the noteworthy accomplishments of these ISyE teams as they address real-world challenges with innovative solutions.  

This milestone event introduced three distinct project categories: Senior Design Finalists, KS2 Technologies Design with Impact Awards, and Featured Create-X interdisciplinary projects. 

Senior Design in ISyE involves completing ISYE 4106, a team-based engineering project addressing a real-world problem for a client, serving as a mentored experience that facilitates the transition from academic study to practical engineering application. 

Within the Senior Design Finalists category, one team stood out: Less Shrinking More Doing. That's the Power of the Home Depot. They earned recognition as the winning team, presenting a project focused on enhancing the security of the self-checkout process.  

The team is comprised of Eva Hobson, Lindsey Jerome, Audrey Johnson, Maddy Mazurik, Alexandra Rachman, Grace Saad, Adam Mualem, and Alex Varghese. Under the leadership of client contact Jonathan Horowitz and advisor Dr. Siva Theja Maguluri, this dedicated team excelled in their efforts.  

Their innovative approach involves prioritizing transactions based on riskiness and triggering employee interventions, ultimately reducing self-checkout shrinkage. This method, which included developing a visual representation in Python and a groundbreaking risky transaction algorithm, garnered praise for its dedication and problem-solving ingenuity. 

Dr. Maguluri, reflecting on his first-time experience as a faculty advisor, shared his surprise at witnessing theoretical concepts come to life 

"I've taught about Simson’s paradox, but for me, it was a theoretical example. We saw it in real life. Anytime there is this paradox, the confounding factor is extremely challenging to figure out. One of my students poured through data and was able to figure it out manually – it was incredibly impressive to witness." 

Additionally, Audrey Johnson highlighted the uniqueness of their project, emphasizing the hyper-technical nature of their solution 

I’ve never seen a project like this where our entire solution is technical as opposed to a physical solution. So, my favorite part of all this was writing about 3,000 lines of code which really aligns with what type of work I'd like to do after graduation. 

Horowitz expressed his admiration, stating, "I would hire every single person on this team if we had the roles." 

The ISyE Senior Design Showcase also featured remarkable projects from other finalist teams. The American Airlines team, Cargo Big or Cargo Home, guided by Dr. John Vande Vate, focused on optimizing cargo versus passenger baggage, promising significant system and revenue growth. 

The Coca-Cola team, Simply Chill, under the guidance of client sponsor Saeed Siddiqi and advisor Dr. Alejandro Toriello, significantly impacted inventory management, aiming for a 15% reduction in inventory costs. 

The Buzzin Dumpster Divers worked with GT Dining Services and was recognized with the KS2 Technologies Design with Impact Award and worked on optimizing waste systems under the guidance of client contact Malte Weiland and Faculty advisors Dr. Craig Tovey and Dr. Valerie Thomas. 

Steelcase's team proposed proactive usage-based fixes to predict repairs before critical errors, offering a new approach in Operation Predict-Prescribe-Profit, collaborating with client contact Edward Vander Bilt and advisor Dr. Anton Kleywegt. 

Additionally, the event showcased the featured ISyE Create-X projects, including SNOOZE led by Dr. John Vande Vate and RealTalk under the guidance of Dr. Craig Tovey, highlighting innovative approaches in addressing contemporary challenges. 

The ISyE Senior Design Showcase celebrated the dedication, professionalism, and innovative solutions of these teams to real-world challenges. These projects not only exemplified academic excellence but also offered practical and impactful contributions to their respective industries. As the event continues to evolve, it promises a platform for future ISyE teams to shine and make significant contributions to the field. 

_____ 

All Teams:  

Senior Design Finalists: 

Client: American Airlines 

  • Project Title: Cargo Big or Cargo Home 

  • Team members: Dylan Allister | Brandon Griffin | Taylor Hunter | Allanda (Lonnie) Kriener | Colleen Molton | Parker Neithercut | Emma Prol | Katherine Wehrenberg

  • Client Contact: Roman Shevchuk Advisor: Dr. John Vande Vate

Client: Coca Cola 

  • Project Title: Coca-Cola Chilled Warehousing Network 

  • Team Members: Caleb Becker | Ariana Garbers | Rakshanda Khan | Pablo Martin Jimenez | Tram Anh Nguyen | Thao Phan | Thi Tran | Rachel Wewengkang 

  • Client Sponsor: Saeed Siddiqi

  • Advisor: Dr. Alejandro Toriello

Client: The Home Depot 

  • Project Title: Less Shrinking More Doing.

  • Team Members: Eva Hobson | Lindsey Jerome | Audrey Johnson | Maddy Mazurik | Alexandra Rachman | Grace Saad | Adam Mualem | Alex Varghese

  • Client Contact: Jonathan Horowitz

  • Advisor: Dr. Siva Theja Maguluri

Design with Implementation and Impact, sponsored by KS2 Technologies 

Client: GT Dining Services/GT Sustainability 

  • Project Title: Recycling Revamp: A Comprehensive Redesign of Georgia Tech Dining’s Waste Systems 

  • Team Members: Ashling Devins | Yuting Gu | Rachel Kneeburg | Juliana Markham | Alejandro Porcella | Eva Reiling | Amber Seaberg | Jiaxi Yu 

  • Client Contact: Malte Weiland 

  • Faculty Advisors: Dr. Craig Tovey and Dr. Valerie Thomas  

Client: Steelcase 

  • Project Title: Operation Predict-Prescribe- Profit 

  • Team Members: Neal Austensen | Nicholas Broadway | Alexander Buckelew | Craig Cassidy | Luke Eckenrod | Jackson Fisher | Justin Kaplin | Matthew Mazzacano

  • Client Contact: Edward Vander Bilt 

  • Advisor: Dr. Anton Kleywegt

Featured ISyE Create-X projects 

Project Title: SNOOZE  

  • Team Members: Emily Bell, Michael Boling, Mia Ferro, Olivia Lawson, Tyler Michael, Scott Rostick

  • Advisor: Dr. John Vande Vate

Project Title: Real Talk 

  • Team Members: Shane Cooper, Ben Crane, Claudia Dwortz, Z. Serra Koker, Alex Lee, Cassandra Marshall

  • Advisor: Dr. Craig Tovey

______ 

Author: Nat M. Esparza 

 

]]> nesparza7 1 1702584038 2023-12-14 20:00:38 1706544570 2024-01-29 16:09:30 0 0 news

ISyE acknowledges six Senior Design finalist teams for their exceptional work. Recognized in project complexity, methodological execution, and potential impact, these teams epitomize academic and practical excellence. Explore their noteworthy accomplishments addressing real-world challenges with innovative solutions. The event featured three project categories: Senior Design Finalists, KS2 Technologies Design with Impact Awards, and Featured Create-X interdisciplinary projects. 

]]>
2023-12-14T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-14T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-14 00:00:00 672587 672589 672590 672587 image <![CDATA[The Home Depot - Less Shrinking, More Doing]]> Team Members: Eva Hobson | Lindsey Jerome | Audrey Johnson | Maddy Mazurik | Alexandra Rachman | Grace Saad | Adam Mualem | Alex Varghese

Advisor: Dr. Siva Theja Maguluri

]]> image/jpeg 1702586061 2023-12-14 20:34:21 1702586123 2023-12-14 20:35:23
672589 image <![CDATA[American Airlines - Cargo Big or Cargo Home]]> image/jpeg 1702586191 2023-12-14 20:36:31 1702586216 2023-12-14 20:36:56 672590 image <![CDATA[Coca Cola - Chilled Warehouse]]> image/jpeg 1702586294 2023-12-14 20:38:14 1702586316 2023-12-14 20:38:36
<![CDATA[College Adds, Reimagines AI Courses for Undergraduates]]> 36284 In response to demand from its students, initiatives within faculty research, and increasing needs from industry, Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering is creating new courses and reimagining others to strengthen its artificial intelligence and machine learning education.

Six undergraduate courses launch this spring semester, after another six began this past fall (two courses from fall are repeated this spring). They span six of the College’s eight schools. Topics range from AI in smart cities to machine learning fundamentals to online decision making as the College expands its initiatives to innovate education.

“AI and machine learning have been around since the 1950s, but only recently has the computational power existed — and been cheap enough — for the average company to make it a part of its business,” said Mitchell Walker, who led the effort on behalf of the College as associate dean for academic affairs. “These companies need our graduates to understand how the technology works and educate their existing workforce.”

Read more about which courses are being offered in IE.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1706206673 2024-01-25 18:17:53 1706206780 2024-01-25 18:19:40 0 0 news In response to demand from its students, initiatives within faculty research, and increasing needs from industry, Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering is creating new courses and reimagining others to strengthen its artificial intelligence and machine learning education.

]]>
2024-01-22T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-22T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-22 00:00:00 672872 672872 image <![CDATA[ECE-Computer-Vision-Course-2.jpeg]]> image/jpeg 1706206742 2024-01-25 18:19:02 1706206742 2024-01-25 18:19:02
<![CDATA[Beyond Green Ethos: Dr. Constance Crozier's Sustainable Solutions in ISyE ]]> 36481

Beyond the conventional "green" ethos, Georgia Tech embraces a collective responsibility to champion choices that prioritize the health, security, and well-being of both present and future society  

This commitment is deeply ingrained in the institution's DNA, progressively integrating academic excellence, groundbreaking research, and sustainable campus operations to chart a course towards a future defined by sustainability. 

In the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), some of our students, faculty and alumni foster a greener future by refining systems and processes for enhanced environmental impact. 

Dr. Constance Crozier, Assistant Professor at ISyE, conducts research that delves into the intricate balance needed for transitioning both electricity and transport networks toward sustainability.  

"My research aims to accomplish two things: understanding the impact of significant changes to electricity usage and identifying mechanisms for improvement; and developing better methods for operating electricity systems, optimizing the use of renewable resources." 

Dr. Crozier's decision to join ISyE stems from a passion for tackling large-scale challenges.  

The department's diverse faculty, spanning theoretical to applied expertise, grants her the freedom to explore and adapt to the evolving global energy and policy landscape. 

Electric vehicles stand out as a beacon for sustainable transportation in Dr. Crozier's expertise. Yet, the intermittent nature of renewable energy adds complexity to achieving a reliable electric grid, prompting her to explore innovative solutions. 

"Unlike other energy sources, electricity offers a clear path to decarbonization, making electrified transport an increasingly popular sustainable alternative." 

Navigating the challenges and opportunities presented by electrified devices, Dr. Crozier envisions a future where real-time coordination of consumer devices could revolutionize control mechanisms, offering a significant impact on sustainability. 

Looking forward, Dr. Crozier expressed a keen interest in the modernization and automation of power system operation, exploring the role of machine learning-accelerated optimization.  

As an actively recruiting faculty member, Dr. Crozier welcomes engagement and collaboration. You can reach out to her at ccrozier8@gatech.edu, and she encourages prospective PhD students to join her in shaping the future of sustainable power systems. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza 

]]> nesparza7 1 1706199136 2024-01-25 16:12:16 1706206742 2024-01-25 18:19:02 0 0 news

Beyond the conventional "green" ethos, Georgia Tech embraces a collective responsibility to champion choices that prioritize the health, security, and well-being of both present and future society. Dr. Constance Crozier, Assistant Professor at ISyE, conducts research that delves into the intricate balance needed for transitioning both electricity and transport networks toward sustainability.   

]]>
2024-01-25T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-25T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-25 00:00:00 672871 672871 image <![CDATA[Dr. Crozier]]> image/png 1706206554 2024-01-25 18:15:54 1706206611 2024-01-25 18:16:51
<![CDATA[ ISyE Inspires HS Math Mavericks in AP Stat Competition]]> 36284 The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, renowned for fostering innovation in mathematics, statistics, and engineering, highlights its commitment through the acclaimed ISyE AP Statistics High School Competition, a cornerstone initiative shaping future industry leaders, specifically from underrepresented backgrounds.  

In Spring 2022, ISyE expanded its reach by offering its first probability and statistics competition for high school students.  

With 40 finalists participating in a full day of competition, workshops, guest speakers, and networking, the event marked a milestone in fostering academic excellence. 

As explained by Dr. Tuba Ketenci, Director of Educational Outreach and a key organizer of the event, the competition is much more than a contest; it's a gateway for high school students, hailing from diverse backgrounds, to the realms of applied mathematics and engineering. 

Dr. Ketenci sheds light on the collaborative effort involving Ph.D. students, postdocs, the communications department, and math teachers from various counties, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of organizing such an event.  

The competition unfolds in two dynamic stages, beginning with an online round tailored for nationwide accessibility, ensuring inclusivity for students across the country – and globally. 

Scheduled for January 26, 2024, the initial round is meticulously crafted by ISyE's current Ph.D. students, who delve into the high school statistics curriculum to develop a challenging set of multiple-choice questions.  

Following this, the top 40 standout performers from the first round earn the prestigious opportunity to advance to the second round, further showcasing their statistical acumen. 

The second stage elevates the experience for the top contenders by bringing them to the Georgia Tech campus for a lively, in-person competition on April 19, 2024.  

This round extends beyond the contest, offering hands-on activities, a comprehensive campus tour, and the decisive final competition. The event concludes with an awards ceremony, celebrating the exceptional talents of these young statisticians. 

Dr. Ketenci emphasizes the significance of aligning the competition questions with the high school AP statistics curriculum. “We take the AP stat book and we look at the content that teachers are planning to cover by January and create the questions for the first round. By mid-april, most chapters are covered which allows us to create questions from the entire book”. 

The competition awards not only monetary prizes but also medals and certificates to acknowledge outstanding achievements. From cash prizes for the top three performers to medals for school winners and those on the National Honor Roll, the event strives to recognize and celebrate excellence at various levels. 

Plans for the future include addressing diverse challenges by adding more content to the competition and potentially incorporating advanced classes to attract a broader participant base. 

As the competition evolves, its impact is poised to extend further, inspiring a new generation of talent and contributing to the academic landscape. The vision is clear: to embed the competition into high school curriculums, make it a recognized and anticipated event nationwide. 

______

Authors: Atharva Anand Dave, Natalie Esparza  

]]> chenriquez8 1 1706205195 2024-01-25 17:53:15 1706205230 2024-01-25 17:53:50 0 0 news Launched in Spring 2022, the AP Statistics High School Competition by ISyE is a trailblazer in nurturing future math and engineering talents, focusing on students from underrepresented backgrounds. It's a dynamic blend of competition, learning, and networking, revolutionizing high school curricula nationwide with its emphasis on diversity and academic excellence.

]]>
2024-01-25T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-25T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-25 00:00:00 672870 672870 image <![CDATA[AP Stats Competition]]> image/jpeg 1706205201 2024-01-25 17:53:21 1706205201 2024-01-25 17:53:21
<![CDATA[ISyE’s Valerie Thomas and Team Win Judges’ Choice Award from MIT’S Climate CoLab]]> 28766 Suriya Arulselvan (MSCE 2015) and Valerie Thomas, a professor in Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE), have been awarded the Judges’ Choice Award for the 2016 Aviation contest from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Climate CoLab. They accepted the award and presented their research at the MIT Climate CoLab's Crowds & Climate Conference, September 28-29, 2016, on MIT’s campus.

The pair submitted their proposal, “Strategic Investment to Scale-up Aviation Biofuel,” to the Climate CoLab’s Aviation contest category. They proposed that one large country (the U.S., China, or Brazil) or coordinated region (e.g., the EU) intensely ramp up aviation biofuel production, along with associated coproducts such as diesel fuel, to a level of about 120 million tons of biomass by the year 2030. They specifically focused on the feasibility of China to contribute to this initiative.

Emphasizing technology development for aviation biofuel within a particular country would result in gaining expertise in the most efficient pathway. Plausible ways to develop a stable supply and demand for biofuel include the following:

Arulselvan and Thomas’s proposal was particularly commended by the contest judges for its potential impact to considerably reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

To learn more about the pair’s proposal, read here: http://bit.ly/2cJQPjU.

Watch a video about the pair’s work here: https://youtu.be/un9Ve3V5w8M.

About Valerie Thomas and Suriya Arulselvan

Suriya Arulselvan is a process modeling engineer at Aspen Technology in Bedford, MA. She has a Master of Science in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech, and a Bachelor of Technology in chemical engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchipappalli.

Valerie Thomas is the Anderson Interface Professor of Natural Systems in ISyE, with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy. Her research interests are energy and materials efficiency, sustainability, industrial ecology, technology assessment, international security, and science and technology policy. Current research projects include the environmental impacts of biofuels and electricity system policy and planning.

About the Climate CoLab

The goal of the Climate CoLab is to harness the collective intelligence of thousands of people from all around the world to address global climate change.

Inspired by systems like Wikipedia and Linux, the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence has developed this crowdsourcing platform where people work with experts and each other to create, analyze, and select detailed proposals for what to do about climate change.

By constructively engaging a broad range of scientists, policy makers, business people, investors, and concerned citizens, the hope is that the Climate CoLab will help to develop, and gain support for, climate change plans that are better than any that would have otherwise been developed.

Anyone can join the Climate CoLab community and participate. Community members are invited to submit and comment on proposals outlining ideas for what they think should be done about climate change. In some contests, members create proposals for specific kinds of actions such as generating electric power with fewer emissions or changing social attitudes about climate change. In other contests, members combine ideas from many other proposals to create integrated climate action plans for a country, a group of countries, or the whole world. Experts evaluate the entries and pick finalists, and then both experts and community members select the most promising proposals.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1475158917 2016-09-29 14:21:57 1705959621 2024-01-22 21:40:21 0 0 news Suriya Arulselvan (MSCE 2015) and Valerie Thomas, a professor in Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE), have been awarded the Judges’ Choice Award for the 2016 Aviation contest from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Climate CoLab.

]]>
2016-09-29T00:00:00-04:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00-04:00 2016-09-29 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering

404.385.4745

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581862 581863 581862 image <![CDATA[Valerie Thomas]]> image/jpeg 1475155087 2016-09-29 13:18:07 1475155087 2016-09-29 13:18:07 581863 image <![CDATA[Suriya Arulselvan]]> image/jpeg 1475155195 2016-09-29 13:19:55 1475155195 2016-09-29 13:19:55
<![CDATA[Making Waves: McKenzie Campbell’s Excellence in Academia and Athletics ]]> 36284 McKenzie Campbell makes a splash at Georgia Tech, as a pivotal member of the GT Swimming and Diving team, while seamlessly navigating academic hurdles. 

Her athletic journey at Georgia Tech began successfully during her freshman year, where she established herself as one of the institution’s top swimmers by clocking the fifth-fastest 400 IM and ninth-fastest 200 IM at the Georgia Tech Invitational.[1] 

Her exceptional organizational prowess played a pivotal role in harmonizing her intense training schedule with her academic commitments. 

Currently, Campbell is diving into the depths of the MS in Analytics program at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).  

When asked about her motivation to pursue a master’s degree, Campbell said “I decided to do my master's because I had two internship experiences. One is Supply chain analytics [at Georgia Pacific LLC] and one in financial data analytics [at UPS] ... I had an interest in analytics and data science, and I wanted to enhance those skills.” 

Campbell’s Swim Towards Excellence 

Campbell's day starts early with morning swim practice, beginning before dawn. This early session sets the tone for her day, filled with back-to-back classes that demanded her keen academic focus. 

Navigating the rigorous demands of being a student-athlete, Campbell showcased her skill in the 100 and 200 fly, securing second-fastest team times for the season. Her first-place finishes in the 200 fly against Florida State, Georgia Southern, and SCAD further cemented her status as a formidable competitor in collegiate swimming. [1] 

In her sophomore year, she shattered Georgia Tech records in the 200 fly and 400 IM, and secured top-ten times in the 500 free and 100 fly. She further showcased her versatility at the NCAA and ACC Championships, recording personal bests in the 500 free, 200 fly, and 400 IM. [1] 

By her junior year, Campbell further solidified her reputation as a NCAA qualifier by breaking records in the 200 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM[2]. Campbell also clinched first place in the 200 free at the Gardner-Webb meet. [1] 

Every path has its obstacles, and during the isolating times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Campbell found strength in routine, focusing intently on swimming and academics.  

This period, while testing her resilience, unexpectedly led to one of her best swim seasons and personal growth in adversity. 

Georgia Tech’s Guiding Influence 

Campbell credits much of her success to her mentors and coaches at Georgia Tech.  

“My coach right now is Chico Rego, and I’ve been swimming with him for like 3 years now. During my first two years, I swam with Bill Koppelman, and he did his Masters in analytics from here and he suggested that I should look into IE if I like math and statistics” Campbell said.  

Her academic advisor, Dr. Goldsman, also played a crucial role in guiding her through the challenges of her Industrial Engineering and Analytics courses, fostering in her a deep appreciation for the field. 

When asked to share guidance for upcoming student-athletes at Tech, Campbell emphasized, "Balancing time is key" advising those to harness the Athletic Association's robust support, lean on dependable teammates, and smartly plan their course schedules, including summer classes. 

Currently, Campbell is making the most of her fifth year by continuing to compete on the varsity swim team.  

As Campbell progresses further in her master's program, she looks forward to a future where she can blend her passion for analytics with her experiences in supply chain management.  

____

Author: Atharva Anand Dave 

References: 

  1. https://ramblinwreck.com/. (2023, September 13). McKenzie Campbell. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. https://ramblinwreck.com/sports/c-swim/roster/season/2023-24/mckenzie-campbell/ 

  1. https://ramblinwreck.com/campbell-qualifies-for-ncaa-championships/  

]]> chenriquez8 1 1705938046 2024-01-22 15:40:46 1705938120 2024-01-22 15:42:00 0 0 news McKenzie Campbell, a proud alumnus of the Bachelor's program in Industrial Engineering and a current master's student in Analytics at ISyE, has distinguished herself by seamlessly navigating the academic currents while making waves as a pivotal member of the Georgia Tech Swimming and Diving team.

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<![CDATA[Georgia Tech IISE: Welcomes President Mitali Bidkar and Board Members ]]> 36481

Winds of change are sweeping through the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) at Georgia Tech as it eagerly anticipates the leadership of its newly elected president, third year, Mitali Bidkar.   

With a steadfast commitment to student development, industry collaboration, and innovative events, the IISE chapter is poised to build upon its successes and usher in a year of fresh ideas to engage its ever-growing community.

"A lot of people don’t even know what industrial engineering is, so joining the club can give a lot of great insight into the field." She also acknowledges the increased responsibility in her new role, noting, "I may not know the answer to every question posed to me, but it is my job to figure out the next steps when they arise." 

Under Mitali's leadership, the organization is structured with three vice presidents: Internal/External Affairs, Professional Development, and Student Development. 

  • The Internal/External Affairs team focuses on outreach to partners for collaborative projects, philanthropy, and marketing.  

  • The Professional Development team encompasses info sessions, career fairs, and two directors overseeing various aspects.  

  • The Student Development team works to tailor experiences like social outings and workshops for each student's growth. 

Third year, Ridha Sohani, leading Student Development, reflects on the challenges and opportunities of her position, stating, "I think what makes ISyE so unique is that it is a blend of soft skills and hard skills."  

Sohani adds, "The transition has been challenging because we had a lot of our senior members graduate and a lot of fresh faces join, but that also means we have a lot of new ideas to help shape the future of the organization." 

As the IISE Georgia Tech Chapter welcomes President Bidkar, the organization stands at the cusp of exciting developments. With a blend of experienced leaders and fresh faces, the chapter is poised to shape the future of industrial and systems engineering through innovative events, community engagement, and a commitment to both professional and personal development.  

The upcoming year promises to be a transformative journey, and the IISE community eagerly anticipates the positive impact that these new ideas will have on the organization.  

By Nat Esparza 

]]> nesparza7 1 1705686803 2024-01-19 17:53:23 1705695750 2024-01-19 20:22:30 0 0 news

The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) at Georgia Tech is entering a new era under the dynamic leadership of its incoming president, Mitali Bidkar. Additionally, delving into the structure of the organization, highlighting the roles of the three vice presidents and their focus areas: Internal/External Affairs, Professional Development, and Student Development. 

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2024-01-19T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-19T00:00:00-05:00 2024-01-19 00:00:00 672822 672818 672819 672820 672821 672822 image <![CDATA[Mitali Bidkar]]> image/jpeg 1705687131 2024-01-19 17:58:51 1705687160 2024-01-19 17:59:20 672818 image <![CDATA[IISE 1]]> image/jpeg 1705686839 2024-01-19 17:53:59 1705686887 2024-01-19 17:54:47 672819 image <![CDATA[IISE 2024]]> image/jpeg 1705686906 2024-01-19 17:55:06 1705686935 2024-01-19 17:55:35 672820 image <![CDATA[IISE 2024]]> image/jpeg 1705687006 2024-01-19 17:56:46 1705687049 2024-01-19 17:57:29 672821 image <![CDATA[IISE 2024]]> image/jpeg 1705687058 2024-01-19 17:57:38 1705687085 2024-01-19 17:58:05
<![CDATA[Welcoming Dr. Ying (Laura) Li to ISyE at Georgia Tech! ]]> 36481

We are thrilled to announce the newest addition to the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) faculty at Georgia Tech— Dr. Ying (Laura) Li . With a distinctive academic journey and a commitment to innovative teaching, Dr. Li brings a fresh perspective to our community.  

Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in academia, and how does your background relate to your current role? 

A: "My parents were college professors. When I was a kid, I saw how much respect they were getting from their students. My family background and personal experiences both inspire me to pursue a career in academia." 

Q: Can you share your main teaching objectives and what you hope your students will gain from your courses? 

A: "I embed critical thinking into my teaching materials. I encourage students to understand the drivers for and insights from mathematical solutions and explore practical implications. I hope students can gain problem-solving skills and critical thinking abilities from my courses." 

Q: Are there specific teaching methods or tools you're enthusiastic about implementing in your classes? 

A: "I believe in letting students take responsibility for their own learning. My courses are constructed to encourage active learning. Students become active seekers of information, more engaged, and better able to retain relevant information." 

Q: How can we support you in your professional development and in achieving your academic goals? 

A: "My academic goal is to be an excellent instructor and a caring mentor. I hope ISyE can support me in exploring new and more effective ways to teach, including experimenting with new teaching software and applications." 

Q: Any extracurricular or research activities you're planning to engage in that you'd like to share? 

A: "My main responsibility is teaching, and I look forward to helping students apply textbook knowledge to real-world projects. My research involves capacity, technology, and inventory management, healthcare operations management, and data modeling for decision-making." 

ISyE at Georgia Tech is excited to welcome Dr. Laura Ying Li, anticipating the unique perspectives and contributions she will bring to our academic community. Welcome, Dr. Li! 

]]> nesparza7 1 1700578946 2023-11-21 15:02:26 1704914161 2024-01-10 19:16:01 0 0 news We are thrilled to announce the newest addition to the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) faculty at Georgia Tech—Dr. Ying (Laura) Li. With a distinctive academic journey and a commitment to innovative teaching, Dr. Li brings a fresh perspective to our community.  

]]>
2023-11-21T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-21T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-21 00:00:00 672423 672423 image <![CDATA[Laura Li 2]]> image/png 1700578281 2023-11-21 14:51:21 1700578300 2023-11-21 14:51:40
<![CDATA[First Job, First Paycheck: Yesh Ashok Shah, Innovation Design Engineer ]]> 36284 Yesh Ashok Shah (MSSCE ’22), a graduate of the MS in Supply Chain Engineering (MSSCE) program at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), reflects on his journey from the academic corridors to the vibrant realm of professional life.  

In sharing his perspective, he seeks to guide recent graduates on the realities of experiencing their first job postgraduation.  

Originating from India, Shah embarked on his academic journey in Mechanical Engineering at the Vellore Institute of Technology. After dedicating four and a half years to honing his skills in Supply Chain and Network Design he made a strategic decision to further his expertise by pursuing a master’s degree from Georgia Tech. 

Following graduation, Shah embarked on a career at Amazon, where he is currently flourishing as an Innovation and Design Engineer.  

His journey at Amazon began with an internship through the SCL Amazon Scholars Program, a pivotal experience that laid the groundwork for his transition to a full-time role.  

Shah offers the following tips, tricks and insights on how recent graduates can make the most out of their first job: 

When prompted for insights into prudent financial strategies, Shah recommends: 

Finally, when inquired about her networking strategies, Shah suggests: 

__________

Author: Atharva A. Dave

]]> chenriquez8 1 1701123231 2023-11-27 22:13:51 1703871995 2023-12-29 17:46:35 0 0 news Yesh Ashok Shah, currently thriving as an Innovation Design Engineer at Amazon and a recent graduate of the MS in Supply Chain Engineering, offers enlightening reflections and vital mentorship for new graduates stepping into the dynamic landscape of the professional world. 

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<![CDATA[ Conquering the Impossible ]]> 36481 Learn about the remarkable way, Matt Parzych, a Georgia Tech OMS Analytics student defied the odds after suffering from a severe traumatic brain injury.

Want to read more? Check out his story here. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1703193494 2023-12-21 21:18:14 1703193502 2023-12-21 21:18:22 0 0 news When software engineer Matt Parzych applied to Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Analytics (OMS Analytics) program, his wife Erin had just reached the five-year mark of being cancer free. He had wanted to earn a master’s degree for some time, but his wife’s battle with breast cancer – and beating stage-one melanoma himself – helped shape how he would use the skills he’d gain.

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2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-21 00:00:00 672642 672642 image <![CDATA[Matt Parzych]]> image/png 1703193344 2023-12-21 21:15:44 1703193365 2023-12-21 21:16:05 <![CDATA[Full Article: Conquering the Impossible ]]>
<![CDATA[ The Origins of Georgia Tech's Mechanical Mascot]]> 36481 Some call it the Wreck. Others say it’s the Reck. Regardless, Georgia Tech’s official mechanical mascot — a Ford Model A Sport Coupe — will be 94 years old in 2024.

ISyE student Omar Khan has been responsible for maintaining the Wreck this year as the elected driver.

The Ford Model A represents Tech’s reputation of superb engineering because the car was an engineering marvel itself. The vehicle that drives around campus and leads the football team onto the field before every home game initially rolled off Ford’s manufacturing line in 1930. It was one of a staggering 4.9 million Model A’s produced from 1927 to 1932 — one every two minutes. Unprecedented for its time, that volume was possible because the car was designed from the beginning with manufacturability in mind.

Read the full article here.

]]> nesparza7 1 1703192286 2023-12-21 20:58:06 1703192512 2023-12-21 21:01:52 0 0 news Some call it the Wreck. Others say it’s the Reck. Regardless, Georgia Tech’s official mechanical mascot — a Ford Model A Sport Coupe — will be 94 years old in 2024.

]]>
2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-21 00:00:00 672641 672641 image <![CDATA[Omar Khan]]> image/png 1703192044 2023-12-21 20:54:04 1703192079 2023-12-21 20:54:39 <![CDATA[ Omar Khan is on a Mission to Spread Smiles on Campus]]> <![CDATA[Full Article]]>
<![CDATA[Cool Calculations at Capstone Design Expo, Coca-Cola Team “Simply Chill” Awarded Best ISyE Team ]]> 36481

McCamish Pavilion housed 129 innovative engineering projects during the Fall Senior Design Expo that captivated a bustling crowd of students, faculty, staff, parents and judges 

In this buzzing atmosphere there were three standout ISyE teams, showcasing their innovative solutions and problem-solving expertise. From enhancing Coca-Cola's chilled juice network to tackling sustainability in dining and reshaping critical systems for social impact, these teams left a lasting impression. 

Best ISyE Team: Simply Chill, Coca-Cola Chilled Warehousing  

Celebrating the standout achievements at Georgia Tech's Senior Design Expo, one team, in particular, takes the spotlight in the Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) category.  

Team #9, known as "Simply Chill," took on the challenge of enhancing operational fluidity within the Coca-Cola North America Operating Unit’s chilled warehousing. Team members, including Caleb Becker, Ariana Garbers, Rakshanda Khan, Pablo Martin Jimenez, Tram Anh Nguyen, Thao Phan, Thi Tran, and Rachel Wewengkang, collaborated under the expert guidance of their faculty advisor, Dr. Alejandro Toriello. Their objective was to dismantle logistical bottlenecks and propose effective solutions. 

I’ve been interested in improving systems since I was in high school, so working on this project really gave me and the rest of my team hands on experience on how to analyze data to make important operations decisions,” said Becker (ISyE ‘23). 

Coca-Cola's exponential growth and pervasive influence in pop culture present a dynamic landscape that demands constant innovation and strategic systems management. Simply Chill’s approach involved implementing safety stock pooling strategies and optimizing transportation assignments. The result? A projected 56% decrease in safety stock quantity, leading to a 14% reduction in inventory costs.  

Furthermore, potential savings of 7.6% in transportation costs showcased the team's impact on operational efficiency. 

In a world that requires seamless systems, Simply Chill’s triumph wasn't just a win for Coca-Cola but stood as a testament to ISyE's capacity to engineer solutions that resonate far beyond the expo floor. Their project aims to help Coca-Cola continue to grow and evolve its logistical backbone so it can remain as robust and iconic as the beverages it delivers to millions worldwide. 

Honorable Mentions 

Buzzin’ Dumpster Divers and Mediflow earned honorable mentions for their contributions to ISyE innovation.  

Buzzin’ Dumpster Divers aimed to help Georgia Tech Dining reduce its landfill diversion rate and bring it closer to Georgia Tech’s 2050 Zero Waste goal, while Mediflow worked with UPS Healthcare to build a business intelligence tool to quickly map feasible routes for the transport of shipments. 

Their projects reflected a blend of analytical thinking, strategic planning, and a commitment to making a positive impact on the world. 

Explore all the winners from Capstone Expo here. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1701896841 2023-12-06 21:07:21 1702910064 2023-12-18 14:34:24 0 0 news

At Georgia Tech's Senior Design Expo, Team #9, 'Simply Chill,' showcased ISyE prowess, achieving a 56% decrease in safety stock for Coca-Cola's chilled juice network. Honorable mentions include Buzzin’ Dumpster Divers, addressing Georgia Tech Dining's landfill diversion, and Mediflow, building a business intelligence tool to quickly map feasible routes for the transport of shipments. 

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2023-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-12-06 00:00:00 672524 672525 672526 672527 672524 image <![CDATA[ISyE Senior Design Winners]]> image/png 1701896776 2023-12-06 21:06:16 1701896831 2023-12-06 21:07:11 672525 image <![CDATA[Simply Chill - Poster]]> image/png 1701897091 2023-12-06 21:11:31 1701897127 2023-12-06 21:12:07 672526 image <![CDATA[Senior Design - Recycling Revamp]]> image/jpeg 1701897388 2023-12-06 21:16:28 1701897424 2023-12-06 21:17:04 672527 image <![CDATA[Senior Design - UPS Healthcare]]> image/jpeg 1701897436 2023-12-06 21:17:16 1701897466 2023-12-06 21:17:46 <![CDATA[View More Event Photos]]> <![CDATA[Main Senior Design Expo Story]]>
<![CDATA[Celebrating George Lan's Appointment as the A. Russell Chandler III Chair ]]> 36481

Congratulations to George Lan on his appointment as the esteemed A. Russell Chandler III Chair, effective July 1, 2023!  

The search committee recognized George for his outstanding contributions to scholarship and research leadership in the fields of optimization and machine learning. His impressive track record, including his trajectory of impactful scholarship, successful acquisition of research funding, and numerous prestigious awards, such as the INFORMS Computing Society Prize, set him apart. 
 
Dr. Lan's research interests lie in the theory, algorithms, and applications of stochastic optimization and nonlinear programming. His current focus involves developing efficient algorithms with robust theoretical performance guarantees and exceptional practical performance to solve complex optimization problems.  

Furthermore, he actively explores the application of stochastic and nonlinear optimization models and algorithms in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

We congratulate George Lan on this well-deserved appointment and look forward to witnessing his continued impact and contributions to the fields of optimization, machine learning, and beyond. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1689255438 2023-07-13 13:37:18 1701799096 2023-12-05 17:58:16 0 0 news

George Lan assumes the A. Russell Chandler III Chair at Georgia Tech, demonstrating his expertise in stochastic optimization and nonlinear programming. 

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2023-07-13T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-13T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-13 00:00:00 Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

]]>
645934 645934 image <![CDATA[George Lan]]> image/jpeg 1617198672 2021-03-31 13:51:12 1617198672 2021-03-31 13:51:12 <![CDATA[Lan's ISyE Profile]]> <![CDATA[Lan on Google Scholar]]>
<![CDATA["Meet the Firms," More than a Conventional Job Fair]]> 36481

A sincere thank you to all the companies and students who made "Meet the Firms" a resounding success for our Master of Analytics (MSA) program, in the Klaus Advanced Computing Building.  

This effort connects students with potential employers, fostering meaningful connections and setting the stage for future collaborations. Twenty different companies participated including Best Buy, Honeywell, Inspire Brands, Macy’s and Home Depot. 

Our students and industry partners’ enthusiasm showcase the intersection of academia and industry, a convergence that defines the spirit of Georgia Tech. 

"Meet the Firms" is more than a conventional job fair; it's a comprehensive platform where students gain insights into diverse career opportunities. With interactive networking sessions, we prepare our students for success in their chosen fields, emphasizing a unique approach that goes beyond traditional methods. 

The success of the program is rooted in Georgia Tech's robust partnerships with external companies. Beyond academic excellence, this collaboration ensures that our students are equipped to navigate the dynamic demands of the professional world. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1700577701 2023-11-21 14:41:41 1701466341 2023-12-01 21:32:21 0 0 news A sincere thank you to all the companies and students who made "Meet the Firms" a resounding success for our Master of Analytics (MSA) program, in the Klaus Advanced Computing Building.  

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<![CDATA[Mission Possible: Unlocking Potential ]]> 36481

Each year, in Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech, the unit goes above and beyond to ignite the passion for industrial engineering among high school students. This initiative is none other than Mission Possible, a week-long summer program tailored for students incoming high school students.  

Mission Possible is a dynamic experience that not only introduces young minds to the world of industrial and systems engineering but also demonstrates its real-world applications through engaging activities such as field trips, competitive games, and enlightening lectures.  

Collaborating with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), this program aims to inspire and enrich K-12 STEM education.  

Slay Rowe (IE ‘13), Supply Chain Consultant at The Coca-Cola Company, reflecting on his involvement as a tour guide in the program, shared, "Anjana and I volunteered to meet the prospective students, help them get registered for their visit, and guide them through Coca-Cola’s campus before our presentation. It was fun showcasing the amenities on campus and the historical exhibits and displays. A highlight for me was having the students ask really engaging questions throughout the day, which was nice to see such high levels of participation and enthusiasm." 

Rowe, who changed his major to Industrial & Systems Engineering during his undergraduate years, acknowledges the immense support he received from Tech's ISyE academic advising staff. He's now paying it forward by sharing how the ISyE program has prepared him for a successful career, saying, "The wide range of courses required by the ISyE program was valuable to be successful in the internships I had as a student as well as throughout my career after graduating." 

Justin Haffad (IE ‘15), Senior Manager of Business Operations and Strategy at Warner Bros Discovery Sports, and passionate alumni tour guide highlighted the memorable moments of his experience, stating, "There were a few highlights that stood out to me. First, an Executive Producer from Inside the NBA greeted the students in one of the studios to describe his journey, his current role, and how they leverage data/research on the show. Next, it was great to showcase the various brands and content produced under the Warner Bros Discovery umbrella outside of sports." 

Haffad attributes his strong problem-solving skills and analytical foundation to his IE background, remarking, "My IE background played a big role in preparing me for my current role by providing me with strong problem-solving skills and a robust analytical foundation." 

Both Rowe and Haffad, inspired by the impact of mentorship and guidance in their own journeys, understand the importance of introducing students to diverse career prospects within the field of industrial engineering. Their willingness to volunteer and share their expertise serves as a testament to the power of paying it forward. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1699628736 2023-11-10 15:05:36 1701382320 2023-11-30 22:12:00 0 0 news

"Mission Possible," an annual program by ISyE, sparks the curiosity of high school students, introducing them to the world of industrial engineering through engaging activities, while volunteers like Slay Rowe and Justin Haffad share their experiences and inspire the next generation of engineers. 

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2023-11-10T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-10T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-10 00:00:00 672483 672374 672375 672314 672315 672483 image <![CDATA[Mission Possible 1]]> image/jpeg 1701382248 2023-11-30 22:10:48 1701382248 2023-11-30 22:10:48 672374 image <![CDATA[Mission Possible 2]]> image/jpeg 1699971761 2023-11-14 14:22:41 1699971808 2023-11-14 14:23:28 672375 image <![CDATA[Mission Possible 3]]> image/jpeg 1699971820 2023-11-14 14:23:40 1699971856 2023-11-14 14:24:16 672314 image <![CDATA[Slay Rowe]]> image/png 1699472739 2023-11-08 19:45:39 1699472766 2023-11-08 19:46:06 672315 image <![CDATA[Justin Haffad]]> image/png 1699472774 2023-11-08 19:46:14 1699472791 2023-11-08 19:46:31
<![CDATA[Fostering Empathy in Diverse Team Interactions: A TTL Initiative]]> 36481

The Transformative Teaching and Learning (TTL) Strategic Initiative calls us to: 'Promote innovation in teaching and learning practices by providing faculty support to innovate and scale transformative teaching practices and creating conditions for all students to engage in meaningful experiential learning.' 

In support of the Transformative Teaching and Learning strategic plan initiative, instructors were invited to apply for the 2023 TTL Innovation Incubator grant to receive financial and programmatic support to plan, implement, and evaluate a transformative teaching project. The pilot round identified 11 projects that feature transformative course redesign through the integration of experiential learning and high-impact practices.

One of the projects that was selected is co-led by Dima Nazzal from ISyE and Kyla Ross from BME and the Provost’s Office. Nazzal is the primary faculty instructor for the ISyE Senior Design, a capstone design course, and Ross is the Assistant Vice Provost for Advocacy and Conflict Resolution and teaches a BME course in Systems Physiology.

Student success in both senior design and systems physiology - and many others - relies on team collaborationsHowever, conflicts that arise within teams negatively impacting student motivation, creativity, and productivity, often leaving students with lasting negative impacts that may bias future group interactions in the classroom and beyond.

After attending the TTL kick-off workshop in the summer, Nazzal and Ross decided to join forces to investigate ways in which they can equip students enrolled in their courses with strategies for effective and empathetic interactions within diverse teams. This skill  is essential for creating a positive learning environment, particularly for those students from underrepresented minority groups. “As one of 11 High Impact Practices, collaborative assignments have the potential to transform students’ ability to solve problems and learn from peers with different life experiences and perspectives. This project investigates several key levers to enhance the group project experience”, says Kate Williams, Interim Director of Transformative Teaching and Learning Faculty Initiatives.

In ISYE 4106 Senior Design and BMED 3100 Systems Physiology, Nazzal and Ross are implementing a unique learning experience to assess the effectiveness of two team-based approaches: providing short videos with helpful tips for handling difficult conversations and introducing a 360-degree feedback tool that encourages peer evaluations with guided questionsThe goal of these enhancements is to provide students with the language and emotional maturity for constructive feedback, which is at the core of all transformative teaching and learning frameworks.. By empowering our students to engage in and reflect on tough conversations in a psychologically safe way, we have the potential to maximize their learning and instill transferable and transformative skills for years to come.

“Our goal is to create an environment where students feel confident in constructive discussions, conflict resolution, and offering valuable feedback. These skills are increasingly important in today's diverse and collaborative world,” Nazzal and Ross wrote in their grant proposal.

Through this project, they anticipate seeing improved teamwork, reduced conflicts, and higher satisfaction with team dynamics. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting project as they work towards fostering a positive learning environment and instilling essential skills in our students. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1700076912 2023-11-15 19:35:12 1701115320 2023-11-27 20:02:00 0 0 news

The Transformative Teaching and Learning (TTL) Strategic Initiative calls us to: 'Promote innovation in teaching and learning practices by providing faculty support to innovate and scale transformative teaching practices and creating conditions for all students to engage in meaningful experiential learning.' 

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2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-15 00:00:00 672395 672395 image <![CDATA[Kyla Turpin Ross and Dima Nazzel]]> image/png 1700076582 2023-11-15 19:29:42 1700076690 2023-11-15 19:31:30
<![CDATA[Professionals from Multiple Industries Answered Questions from ISyE Students ]]> 36481

On October 25, IE's senior design class engaged with alumni at the Senior Design Executive Panel. ISyE 4106 Senior Design, a requirement for BSIE graduates, involves intense, team-based projects addressing real-world challenges.  

This year's panelists were Rita Breen (PSY ‘90, MS IE ‘92), R. Scott Herren (IE ‘84), Jocelyn Stargel (IE 82, MS IE 86), and Saeed Siddiqi (IE ‘16). 

Breen is the Charitable Giving Executive Director at Georgia Power. With over $40M annual investments in philanthropy, Rita leads strategic programs and foundation operations. Her extensive career spans financial services, change management consulting, and various leadership roles at Georgia Power. 

Herren currently serves as Executive Vice President & CFO at Cisco. With a focus on financial strategy and a recurring revenue model, he played a pivotal role in Autodesk's business transformation.  

He also contributes to boards such as Rubrik and the Technology Association of Georgia, showcasing his commitment to shaping the industry. 

Stargel is the Managing Partner at Stargel Consulting, specializing in IT and Risk Management. With a wealth of experience at Southern Company Services, she managed the Business Assurance program and held various leadership roles.  

Her active involvement at Georgia Tech includes chairing the College of Engineering Advisory Board and serving as a Trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation. 

Siddiqi is a ddirector in the Coca-Cola Company's North American Operating Unit's E2E planning team. Leading the optimization capability at Coca-Cola, Siddiqi is responsible for supply chain modeling and transition planning. His career journey includes roles as a management consultant at AT Kearney and FTI Consulting. 

During the panel discussion, the alumni shared insights, answered student questions, and emphasized the importance of finding mentors in their careers. The diverse journeys of these accomplished alumni not only offered invaluable insights into the professional landscape but also ignited a sense of determination and purpose. 

Author: Nat. M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1699902390 2023-11-13 19:06:30 1699971471 2023-11-14 14:17:51 0 0 news

On October 25, IE's senior design class engaged with alumni at the Senior Design Executive Panel. ISYE 4106 Senior Design, a requirement for BSIE graduates, involves intense, team-based projects addressing real-world challenges. This year's panelists were Rita Breen (PSY ‘90, MS IE ‘92), R. Scott Herren (IE ‘84), Jocelyn Stargel (IE 82, MS IE 86), and Saeed Siddiqi (IE ‘16). 

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2023-11-13T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-13T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-13 00:00:00 672368 672370 672372 672368 image <![CDATA[Senior Design Panel 1]]> image/jpeg 1699897227 2023-11-13 17:40:27 1699897252 2023-11-13 17:40:52 672370 image <![CDATA[Senior Design 2]]> image/jpeg 1699897279 2023-11-13 17:41:19 1699902223 2023-11-13 19:03:43 672372 image <![CDATA[2023 Senior Design Panel]]> image/png 1699971375 2023-11-14 14:16:15 1699971419 2023-11-14 14:16:59
<![CDATA[Tally Rocket Faire to IISE: Jawad Khan’s Impactful Event Leadership Journey]]> 36481

Jawad Khan, a transfer student at ISyE, has learned to seamlessly integrated his creative and analytical sides in the heart of his academic whirlwind and currently serves as the Vice President of professional development for Georgia Tech chapter for the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) 

Khan isn't just a student; he's an impassioned ambassador and case manager of the MentIE program, playing a pivotal role in meticulously engineering large-scale events such as the IISE career fair. In his hands, these events are not mere gatherings, but vibrant, dynamic experiences that bridge the gap between academia and the professional world. 

Khan's profound journey into the realm of large-scale event management unveiled itself when he was a high school student and orchestrated a momentous gathering in his hometown, Tallahassee, aptly named "Tally Rocket Faire which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.  

The event left an indelible mark on his heart as it became a way for him to enrich his hometown and give back to his cherished community.  

The event prompted Khan to connect with faculty and leadership members from the University of Florida, who graced the occasion and imparted invaluable knowledge to young minds, enlightening them about the fundamental principles of space exploration and science.  

Utilizing Multifaceted Experiences 

In the nascent stage of his academic journey, Khan didn't embark on the path of Industrial Engineering (IE). Instead, he initially chose to pursue Mechanical Engineering (ME). This decision was rooted in his previous work experience, which had afforded him ample hands-on exposure to machinery. 

“I am a huge fan of arts and culture; when I was originally considering what to study, I was considering doing a degree in industrial design or arts. Then I landed on ME because I loved working with my hands. I worked at a cabinetry shop and was an armature woodworker and a handyman for the county commissioner in my hometown. I figured it would give me the ability to be creative.” 

He transitioned from ME to IE because he perceived mechanical engineering as being predominantly analytical with a primary focus on quantitative critical thinking. Khan, on the other hand, aspired to enter a profession that harmonized both quantitative and qualitative modes of thinking, allowing for a creative dimension in his work.  

Building Connections and Career Fairs 

Khan utilized the organizational skills honed through his experience in community events to enhance the efficiency of planning the career fair. He and his dedicated team set out on a strategic outreach mission. 

Their purpose is to establish a robust connection with roughly 16K contacts to gauge their interest in attending the upcoming career fair. The intricate planning of the event begins six months in advance. 

Executing an occasion of such magnitude and significance, such as the IISE career fair, demands intricate planning, tremendous foresight, and exceptional organizational skills as this is Khan’s fourth time organizing it.  

This latest iteration of the fair hosted more than 50 professional organizations, all poised to recruit exceptional talent at ISyE. Khan and his team aimed draw a minimum of 700 students, with the ambition of securing internship opportunities for 80% of the attendees. 

In pursuit of enhanced organizational efficiency, Khan employs management tools such as timelines and Gantt charts 

These insights assist Khan in evaluating the need for increased investment in the upcoming career fair based on companies' responses. 

Another factor crucial to Khan, is ensuring employee satisfaction.  

This year the job market was challenging, so as a result we have a decrease in interested employers who wanted to participate in the career fair. Since I can’t necessarily expand my efforts, I made sure to maintain strong relationships with the connections we did have because employer satisfaction is important to me, so they come back next year.” 

One of Khan’s favorite aspects about organizing the career fair is that he gets the opportunity to host an informal interaction with the recruiters. This approach, combined with his diligent efforts, has been instrumental in Khan successfully securing interviews with prominent large-scale corporations, including Tesla 

Even though organizing events can be high pressure and a tedious process, it is really fulfilling to have it all come together.” 

The deep sense of gratification he obtains from fostering authentic relationships with recruiters stands as a testament to Khan's unwavering commitment, dedication, and sincerity in his role. 

Author: Nat M. Esparza

]]> nesparza7 1 1699626834 2023-11-10 14:33:54 1699895659 2023-11-13 17:14:19 0 0 news

Jawad Khan, a final-year transfer student at ISyE, graciously opens the door to his captivating journey, driven by a profound passion for the art of event management. As the orchestrator of the IISE Career Fair, Khan offers a unique window into his strategic objectives and navigational challenges for the career fair. 

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<![CDATA[Army Veteran and Faculty Member Ronald Johnson is Writing His Next Chapter]]> 36284 A few weeks ago, Ronald Johnson was in the throes of an experience common to many graduate students. He was making final preparations for his dissertation defense after years of research and study.

The difference between him and his peers was that Johnson wasn’t at the beginning of his career. Rather, he’s developing the third, or maybe fourth, chapter of his story after serving three decades in the U.S. Army and helping the NBA spin up its referee operations department.

For the last 10 years, he’s been at Georgia Tech, where he earned a master’s degree in operations research in 1985. Johnson is a professor of the practice in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and also was managing director of the Tennenbaum Institute for Enterprise Transformation. He teaches Statistics and Applications for engineering and computer science students, advises student groups like the Sports Business Club, and works with the Georgia Tech ROTC.

You can read more about his story here.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1699654661 2023-11-10 22:17:41 1699654936 2023-11-10 22:22:16 0 0 news The ISyE alumnus and professor of the practice served for 32 years, worked for the NBA, and just finished his doctorate.

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2023-11-10T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-10T00:00:00-05:00 2023-11-10 00:00:00 672357 672357 image <![CDATA[General Ronald Johnson]]> image/jpeg 1699654819 2023-11-10 22:20:19 1699654819 2023-11-10 22:20:19
<![CDATA[Yuming Sun, Awarded Seth Bonder Scholarship for Outstanding Research in Health Services]]> 36284

Yuming Sun, a Ph.D. student studying Operations Research at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been honored with the 2023 Seth Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Health Services.

The Seth Bonder scholarship is a prestigious student award in the INFORMS Health Applications Society, that promotes the development and application of process modeling and operations research analysis to healthcare design, delivery, and operations.

Officially unveiled on Sunday, October 15th at the INFORMS Annual Meeting Awards Banquet, Sun was recognized for his exceptional research addressing the urgent need to focus on the threats posed by “circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus” (cVDPV).

Pioneering Solutions in Polio Eradication

Sun’s research proposal emphasized the ongoing challenges in reducing polio transmission on a global scale and mitigating vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks -- offering hope for a polio-free world.

His work consists of modeling the spread of poliovirus in high-risk spaces, while investigating cost-effective options to stop, prevent, and end polio outbreaks.

“Vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks are a result of the live-attenuated viruses used in the oral polio vaccine (OPV) reverting to cVDPV in under-vaccinated communities. cVDPV leads to poliovirus transmission and potentially paralysis among infected individuals.”

A Visionary Collaboration

With his research advancement, Sun emerges as a trailblazer, potentially being the first ISyE student in over two decades to receive this revered award.

Under the guidance of his advisors, Pinar Keskinocak and Lauren Steimle, Sun has “closely collaborated with researchers in the Global Immunization Division at the CDC, and regularly incorporates their feedback into his models.”

The invaluable feedback from the CDC team has enriched the impact, positioning Yuming at the forefront of this critical research.

 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1697726843 2023-10-19 14:47:23 1698259406 2023-10-25 18:43:26 0 0 news

Yuming Sun, a Ph.D. student studying Operations Research at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been honored with the 2023 Seth Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Health Services.

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2023-10-19T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-19T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-19 00:00:00 672102 672103 672102 image <![CDATA[Yuming Sun]]> image/jpeg 1697726849 2023-10-19 14:47:29 1697726849 2023-10-19 14:47:29 672103 image <![CDATA[Yuming Sun Receiving Award]]> image/jpeg 1697726984 2023-10-19 14:49:44 1697726984 2023-10-19 14:49:44
<![CDATA[First job, First Paycheck: Ana Melissa Avila, Business Operations Analyst]]> 36481 Ana Avila (IE ‘23), a trailblazer and a proud scholar of the MS in Supply Chain Engineering (MSSCE) program at H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) shares her experiences regarding her first job and provides some insight for fresh graduates on accustoming to the new work environment, managing personal finances and expectations.

Hailing from Panama, Avila pursued her Bachelor of Science in Logistics and Supply chain at the Technological University of Panama. Along this remarkable path, she nurtured her skills and expertise through invaluable experiences at renowned organizations like GlaxoSmithKline and Grainger.

Avila currently shines as a Business Operations Analyst in the Global Production Planning department at Dell Technologies, contributing her talents to shape the future of supply chain operations.

Avila’s dedication towards academia was further bolstered when she was awarded a scholarship to pursue her master's degree at Georgia Tech. Like many of her peers, Avila navigated the intricate path of securing her inaugural job with unwavering determination.

Avila shares some tips, tricks and insights on how recent graduates can make the most out of their first job:

When prompted for insights into prudent financial strategies tailored for recent graduates, Avila recommends:

Finally, when inquired about her networking strategies, Avila suggests:

]]> nesparza7 1 1697653672 2023-10-18 18:27:52 1698258110 2023-10-25 18:21:50 0 0 news Ana Melissa Avila, presently employed as a Business Operations Analyst at Dell and a recent MSC in Supply Chain program graduate, recounts her initial job and first paycheck experiences. Her intention is to offer essential advice to recent graduates, facilitating their transition from academia to the professional realm. 

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2023-10-18T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-18T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-18 00:00:00 Author: Atharva Anand Dave, Writing Assistant

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672089 672089 image <![CDATA[Ana Avila - First Job, First Paycheck]]> image/jpeg 1697651622 2023-10-18 17:53:42 1697652154 2023-10-18 18:02:34
<![CDATA[DiscovORing Tomorrow's Innovators: An Operations Research Adventure ]]> 36481

DiscovOR, launched this past academic year, was initiated by Dr. Eunhye Song, the Coca-Cola Foundation Early Career Professor and Assistant Professor at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. 

The primary goal of the DiscovOR program is to provide students with an overview idea of what operations research is and familiarize them with key concepts, such as randomness in real-world decision-making, queuing systems, and simulation. By doing so, the program seeks to spark students' imagination and instill a passion for STEM fields, paving the way for the future generation of problem solvers. There were about twenty students in total that participated from FCS Innovation Academy at Alpharetta. 

ISyE students Angelique Andimarala, Leann Ayesh, John Binek, Julianna Mannarelli, Erin E Prusener, and Yichen Ma, all played pivotal roles in leading the program. Their eagerness to share their knowledge and passion for teaching has contributed significantly to the program’s inaugural success. 

The DiscovOR program employs innovative strategies and methodologies to make learning interactive and engaging. In Binek's class, the students are instructed to physically line up for a service and they could observe with high variability in service time, even with the same mean, the line builds up longer on average than when there is little variability.  

Binek describes their approach stating, "We conducted in-class activities to demonstrate queuing systems and their dynamics. Additionally, we utilized simulation software called Simio, allowing students to visualize complex server systems." 

These types of modules not only made the learning process enjoyable but also enabled students to comprehend the practical applications of operations research. With each iteration, the program will aim to inspire more students, nurture their passion for STEM, and contribute to a brighter future driven by problem-solving and innovation. 

"The students had a great time participating in both the physical queuing system and the simulation software activities. It was inspiring to see their enthusiasm and engagement." says Andimarala. 

The DiscovOR program represents the power of educational initiatives in shaping young minds, fostering a love for learning, and propelling students towards impactful careers in operations research. 

Yichen Ma shared his hopes for the program, stating, "Not many other universities have an industrial engineering program like Georgia Tech. ISyE is considered the top program in the nation, and I want high school students to know it is an option to consider." 

Dr. Song plans to expand the program by annually recruiting ISyE undergrads to develop and teach learning modules. The aim is to establish a database of these modules, allowing high school teachers in the Atlanta area to easily integrate them into their engineering classes for teaching operations research. While this year's program was a pilot, the goal is to reach more local high schools and fulfill the community's need for early STEM education. 

DiscovOR is supported by the National Science Foundation CAREER Grant CMMI-2045400.

]]> nesparza7 1 1695402869 2023-09-22 17:14:29 1698070339 2023-10-23 14:12:19 0 0 news

DiscovOR is a captivating STEM outreach program that introduces high school students to the exciting world of operations research and problem-solving. 

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2023-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-22 00:00:00

Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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<![CDATA[Georgia Statistics Day 2023: A Confluence of Minds in Statistics and Data Science]]> 36284 This October, the Exhibition Hall of Georgia Tech resonated with the bustling energy of over 150 statisticians and data scientists gathered for the Georgia Statistics Day (GSD) 2023, an annual symposium initiated in 2015 by Prof. Jeff Wu, with the vision of promoting interdisciplinary statistics research among Georgia's flagship academic institutions.

His foresight in nurturing junior researchers and stimulating practically relevant research has been pivotal in shaping the event's objectives. This year's symposium, hosted by Georgia Tech, marked an exceptional turnout, surpassing recent year attendance records and underscoring the growing enthusiasm in this field.

The event kicked off with a warm welcome remark by event organizing committee member Prof. Shihao Yang, ISyE School Chair Prof. Edwin Romeijn, and Chair Professor Roshan Joseph, emphasizing the collective efforts of the three pivotal institutions: The University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University.

The highlight of the opening was the keynote address by Professor Samuel Kou from Harvard University, who captivated the audience with insights on 'Catalytic Prior Distributions for Bayesian Inference'.

GSD 2023 was remarkable not just for its record attendance but also for the diversity of its participants. Attendees ranged from undergraduate students to seasoned faculty members, representing various universities and stages in their academic and professional journeys. What was particularly noteworthy was the breadth of research presented: 12 oral presentations and 30 poster presentations provided a platform for a rich exchange of ideas and the latest advancements in statistics and data science.

The event wasn’t just about presentations; it also recognized the hard work and talent of its participants, with an award ceremony celebrating outstanding student contributions, where the best poster award was presented to ISyE PhD candidate Tianjiao Li.

This emphasis on mentorship and recognition is a testament to the supportive academic culture we nurture here at Georgia Tech.

This remarkable gathering was made possible through the generous support of several sponsors from within our institution, including the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the College of Engineering Dean’s Office, the Office of Undergraduate Research, and the Provost’s Office, along with external sponsors such as Wells Fargo, the ASA GA Chapter, and Georgia CTSA.

As GSD 2023 concluded, it was clear that the symposium had not only celebrated current achievements but had also laid a path of intellectual rigor and collaborative spirit for the years ahead. With GSD 2024 slated to be at Emory University and GSD 2025 at the University of Georgia, the anticipation is palpable.

We are confident that the tradition of excellence will continue, and we wholeheartedly pass the baton, excited to see how these peer institutions will further enrich this vibrant academic dialogue. Our collective success is a shared one, and we look forward to contributing to and celebrating future achievements in our field, together.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1697829752 2023-10-20 19:22:32 1698069814 2023-10-23 14:03:34 0 0 news This October, the Exhibition Hall of Georgia Tech resonated with the bustling energy of over 150 statisticians and data scientists gathered for the Georgia Statistics Day (GSD) 2023, an annual symposium initiated in 2015 by Prof. Jeff Wu, with the vision of promoting interdisciplinary statistics research among Georgia's flagship academic institutions. 

]]>
2023-10-18T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-18T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-18 00:00:00 Peisen Zhao for the keynote speaker photo; Patrick Tangente for the poster presentation photo; Shancong Mou for the oral presentation photo.

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Shihao Yang
Assistant Professor
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering

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672119 672119 image <![CDATA[Samuel Kou, Keynote Speaker]]> image/jpeg 1697829759 2023-10-20 19:22:39 1697829759 2023-10-20 19:22:39
<![CDATA[Harnessing Simulation for a Resilient Future: Exploring DOE Energy Management ]]> 36284 On September 28, Ann Dunkin delivered the 2023 LeeAnn and Walter Muller Distinguished Lecture. Dunkin currently serves as Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Energy, and gave the following presentation: “Modeling for Energy Resilience: How DOE uses simulation to model and manage everything from the power grid to the strategic petroleum reserve.” 

Dunkin's career is a testament to her unwavering commitment to technological progress and innovation. Prior to her current role, she served as the Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and held key positions at Dell Technologies, the County of Santa Clara, CA, Palo Alto Unified School District, and Hewlett Packard.   

She is also a published author, a sought-after speaker, and a recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the 2022 Capital CIO Large Enterprise ORBIE Award. Her accolades include recognition as one of DC's Top 50 Women in Technology and inclusion in ComputerWorld's Premier 100 Technology Leaders

]]> chenriquez8 1 1697402630 2023-10-15 20:43:50 1697402688 2023-10-15 20:44:48 0 0 news Ann Dunkin, the Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Energy, leverages innovation, simulation, and collaboration to shape a sustainable energy future, as highlighted in her recent lecture and celebrated career.

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2023-10-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-15 00:00:00 Natalie Esparza, Communications Officer II

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672052 672051 672050 672052 image <![CDATA[Ann Dunkin]]> image/jpeg 1697402071 2023-10-15 20:34:31 1697402071 2023-10-15 20:34:31 672051 image <![CDATA[Lecture]]> image/jpeg 1697402071 2023-10-15 20:34:31 1697402071 2023-10-15 20:34:31 672050 image <![CDATA[Ann Dunkin & Edwin Romeijn with Mentees]]> image/jpeg 1697401876 2023-10-15 20:31:16 1697401876 2023-10-15 20:31:16
<![CDATA[Brian Shelton: The Remarkable Journey from Tennis Star to Coaching Legend ]]> 36481

In the world of collegiate tennis, few stories rival that of Brian Shelton. A distinguished alumnus of Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), Shelton is a celebrated leader with an impressive legacy including being the first African-American alumnus male head coach at Georgia Tech 

From Alabama to A-town: A Tennis Star's Ascent 

From his early days as a rising tennis star in Huntsville, Alabama, to his stellar collegiate career at Georgia Tech, and now as a celebrated coach, Shelton’s journey is nothing short of inspiring.  

Shelton joined the Yellow Jackets men's tennis team from 1985 to 1988. Throughout his four years at Georgia Tech, Shelton achieved remarkable success, becoming the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) singles champion in 1985.  

Smashing Success 

With a racquet in hand and a heart aflame with determination, each swing brought him closer to an astonishing destiny. His partnership with Richy Gilbert also secured the ACC doubles championship in 1986. Shelton was named an All-American in 1988. As a testament to his excellence, Shelton graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering in 1989, and he was later inducted into the Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993.  

Shelton climbed as high as 55th in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles rankings and played in seven U.S. Opens, six Australian Opens and four French Opens while posting victories against the likes of Andre Agassi, Thomas Muster, Richard Krajicek and Todd Martin.  

Shelton was not only an inspirational player, but also a record-breaking coach. After retiring from the tour, Shelton coached MaliVai Washington, a 1996 Wimbledon finalist, until being named a United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Coach.  

With the USTA, Shelton assisted with the development of some of the top juniors in the Southeast, covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. His son is in the Semifinals of the US Open and he is coaching him. 

Coach Shelton: Forging Champions 

In 2000, Shelton returned to his alma mater, Georgia Tech, this time as the head coach of the women's tennis team. Under Shelton's guidance, the women's tennis program saw a remarkable transformation. He is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) coach to win an NCAA Women's Championship at Georgia Tech.  

The 2005 team accomplished multiple "firsts" for the program; prior to his coaching tenure, the Georgia Tech women's tennis team had never qualified for the NCAA tournament. Shelton's winning percentage at Georgia Tech was nothing short of remarkable, and he recruited top talent to the Institute, including the first All-American and Academic All-American in the program's history. 

Shelton's coaching prowess shone as he led the Yellow Jackets to unprecedented success. His teams made seven consecutive NCAA appearances, captured two ACC Championships, and produced several top-ranked players.  

At the ACC Championships, his teams earned back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006. In 2005 and 2006, Georgia Tech made its deepest NCAA Championship runs in program history, reaching the Sweet-16 both years. As a result, Shelton was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Coach of the Year in 2007.  

Shelton's journey from a rising tennis star in Huntsville, Alabama, to his remarkable collegiate career at Georgia Tech, and his subsequent success as a celebrated coach, is a testament to Georgia Tech's excellence in academia and athletics. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1697125172 2023-10-12 15:39:32 1697126558 2023-10-12 16:02:38 0 0 news

In the world of collegiate tennis, few stories rival that of Brian Shelton. Shelton, a distinguished alumnus of Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is a celebrated coach with a legacy that continues to grow. 

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2023-10-12T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-12T00:00:00-04:00 2023-10-12 00:00:00 Nat M. Esparza

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<![CDATA[Insights on the Summer in Asia program: Shanru Xu’s perspective ]]> 36481

Shanru Xu, a fourth-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), recently got the opportunity to participate in ISyE’s Summer in Asia program.  

Xu embarked on a journey that had her visit several South Asian countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Her itinerary encompassed visits to well-known destinations such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, as well as exploration of cities with substantial historical and cultural significance. 

The Summer in Asia program facilitated Xu to form closer connections with some of her classmates. Traveling to new countries, living there, attending classes, and exploring empowered Xu to experience a different lifestyle. She gained perspective about the variances in the lifestyles of individuals in the Southeast Asia region, further enriching her international education experience. 

Asia’s Allure 

When asked about her decision to choose Asia, Xu explained, “Most people, when they opt to study abroad in college choose Europe, and Asia is a less popular destination. Seeing different places in Asia was eye-opening to me; it was intriguing to see how differently people live. I think that was a really big thing for me and added to what I learned throughout the summer”. 

From Classroom to Homeland 

Xu took a total of four classes during the Summer in Asia program. With her roots tracing back to China, Xu had taken a course titled “Asia in the Modern World” under the guidance of Professor Hanchao Lu 

This course dived deep into the rich history, culture, and heritage of Asia. Upon completion of the program, Xu decided to visit her family in China. During her visit, she astutely recognized and appreciated the subtle nuances and facts about China that were unbeknownst to her prior to the class.    

Data Analysis of Singapore’s economy 

The second class titled “Financial Data Analysis” instructed by Professor Xiaoming Huo, drove Xu’s perspective into Financial Analysis. This class enabled her to correlate theoretical knowledge with practical experience.  

Another takeaway from the class that Xu found particularly fascinating was the professor’s capacity to draw connections between financial analysis and more technical concepts such as machine learning or algorithms.  

Indoctrination into Sustainability 

Xu's interest was notably sparked by the "Energy and Green Economy" course, which was conducted by Professor Ang Beng Wah. This academic endeavor held a special allure as it was taught by a seasoned professional.  

The course involved extensive research concerning cars in Singapore, revealing how government regulations have made car ownership a luxury within the country. Additionally, the class provoked Xu to think about the differences between Singapore and the United States  

Analyzing and Mitigating Risks 

"Decision Model & Risk Analysis” led by Professor Kim Leng Poh was Xu’s final course in her Summer in Asia program. This course centered around concepts of Risk Analysis and Mitigation, where Xu gained a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental concepts of Risk Assessment and Decision Modeling within projects.  

She fondly recalls this class as her favorite, thanks to its pragmatic and realistic approach to risk management for various projects. 

Cultural Immersion 

Throughout her trip, Xu had several unique experiences. One of the highlights was her visit to Angkor Wat. Upon visiting, Xu was immediately struck with the ambiance difference of Angkor Wat in comparison to the other cities she had traveled to.  

While other destinations resembled a hustling and bustling metropolis, Angkor Wat provided a serene atmosphere and a sense of calm. The highlight of the trip was witnessing the sunrise over the ancient Buddhist temples, casting a golden glow on their unforgettable journey.  

Vietnam holds a special significance for Xu as it was where she had her inaugural experience with motorbikes. I think that was cool and interesting to see because there are more motorbikes than cars there, so it was super chaotic. It was also exciting because the motorbikes would squeeze in between the cars and go on the sidewalk sometimes.” Xu said.  

While exploring Kaula Lumpur, Xu recalls her experience at a street food market. Contrasting significantly with American street food scenes, the market in Kuala Lumpur not only showcased diverse culinary delights but had a unique methodology for on-street advertising and marketing  

The promoters of the establishments had a knack for distinguishing the tourists from the locals and employed attention-grabbing techniques like shoulder taps or spontaneously handing menus to prospective customers, enticing them to indulge in the local flavors 

Program’s Transformative impact 

When asked about the impact of the Summer in Asia program on her post-graduation aspirations, Xu professed her desire to obtain some practical experience by working in one of the countries she visited during the program. 

In the future, Xu hopes that more students at ISyE will elect Asia as their preferred destination for the international program. She believes Singapore is an excellent location for students to enrich themselves with a new culture and way of thinking.  

Furthermore, studying in Vietnam offers a unique and distinctly contrasting experience from studying in the United States. Students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Vietnam’s rich culture and embrace a lifestyle that is vastly different from the one in the U.S. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1695827743 2023-09-27 15:15:43 1695914774 2023-09-28 15:26:14 0 0 news

Shanru Xu, a fourth-year student at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) recently participated in the school’s Summer in Asia program. The program allowed Xu to unveil the rich culture of Southeast Asia and broaden her horizons by exploring topics such as risk mitigation and sustainable economy practices.  

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2023-09-27T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-27T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-27 00:00:00

Author: Atharva Anand Dave, Writing Assistant

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671878 671878 image <![CDATA[Shanru Xu Headshot]]> image/jpeg 1695913759 2023-09-28 15:09:19 1695913783 2023-09-28 15:09:43
<![CDATA[Kya Wiggins’ Dedication to Systems Engineering and Social Impact ]]> 36481

Kya Wiggins, a transfer student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, is passionate about improving systems and ensuring access to resources, especially considering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains. To some, this goal might seem daunting, but Wiggins thrives when exploring difficult problems.  

“I was that kid who loved math puzzles and Sudoku and was always looking for a little thing to solve, so I’ve always liked a challenge.” Through her insatiable curiosity she developed a fascination with business, communication, mathematics, analytics, computer science, and technology.  

These diverse interests led her to discover a passion for industrial engineering and supply chain management. Once she discovered what she wanted to study, Wiggins knew selecting *Georgia Tech would allow her to tap into the best networking opportunities, research, and internships available.  

Buzzing with Potential  

Prior to her Georgia Tech arrival, Wiggins studied Applied Physics and Mathematics at Berry College. She was the general manager for Viking Tutoring Services, which pairs Berry students with kids from local middle and high schools. She credits the administrative role with teaching her a lot about solving problems and communicating with faculty, parents and students, and effective methods for setting schedules and handling finances. Throughout this journey at her first college, Wiggins received a lot of support from her family.  

“My parents pushed me to do the things I wanted no matter what obstacles came in my way. Or sometimes even things I didn’t want to do. I learned that once you overcome a small challenge it is much easier to believe you can overcome larger ones.”  

As someone who is focused on making an impact, she felt that going to school at Georgia Tech would best prepare her for this goal.  

“It was always the plan to transfer [from Berry to Georgia Tech]– I liked what they were doing but I wanted to start at a smaller school first. But you always hear about different things the students are carrying out and I wanted to join that community.”  

Creating Bonds and Finding Belonging at Georgia Tech  

Even though transferring to Georgia Tech to get a degree in dual degree Industrial Engineering was always the plan, getting adjusted to a much larger school took some time. To find community, Wiggins joined the influential Black Industrial Engineers connecting with like-minded individuals and pushing her own boundaries. 

“One of the ways I coped with being a young black female was going to clubs to find others who are likeminded. It helped me to make those kinds of connections to not feel so alone not just in ISyE but Georgia Tech as a whole.” 

Wiggins appreciates the collaborative environment of the club and the role models she found there. Additionally, she's actively involved in the Alumni Association and has plans to get involved with paper & clay. 

I’m most proud of all the different opportunities I’ve taken advantage of during my time as a dual degree student. I’ve done undergraduate research in physics and psychology. I’ve been a part of some data analytics project teams. I’ve worked at the Alumni Association and the Tech Square Research Building. And I’m currently getting my honors thesis published as an article in Physics Review E."

Wiggins’ honors thesis, Transition in eigenvalue statistics due to tunneling in a simple quantum system, is about how the arrangement of energy levels in a quantum system changes when the system's behavior shifts from being orderly to chaotic. In simple terms, when a system's behavior changes from being very predictable to more random, the pattern of energy levels also changes.  

After finishing her first four years of school, she knew her Zell scholarship would no longer cover her tuition and she needed to find another solution to help offset the cost of education.  

Empowered by the Amazon Scholars Program 

As Wiggins completed her first four years of school, she faced the realization that her Zell scholarship would no longer cover her tuition expenses. Determined to find a solution, she turned to the Amazon Scholars Program, a scholarship opportunity her mother had shared with her. Amazon scholarships support and encourage under-represented students to consider careers in the transportation, supply chain management and logistics fields. Wiggins received a financial award of $5,000, to be split over two semesters, for tuition. Wiggins admires Amazon's commitment to process improvement and distribution efficiency, making the scholarship a perfect fit.  

"This scholarship helped me achieve more of a work-life balance to complete my degree instead of worrying about the financial burden that comes with education," Wiggins emphasizes.  

Fueled by her interest in analytics and her involvement in the Society of Physics Students, Wiggins aspires to enhance scientific understanding and solve real-world problems. She envisions a career as a supply chain or process engineer working for an innovative company. Wiggins’ journey exemplifies the power of nurturing one's passion, embracing community, and shaping a future filled with potential.  

]]> nesparza7 1 1695237832 2023-09-20 19:23:52 1695668788 2023-09-25 19:06:28 0 0 news

Kya Wiggins, a transfer student at Georgia Tech, is dedicated to enhancing systems, promoting access to resources, and has evolved into a culturally responsible engineer. Her pursuits are fueled by support like the Amazon Scholars Program. 

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2023-09-20T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-20T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-20 00:00:00

Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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671771 671771 image <![CDATA[Kya Wiggins]]> image/png 1695237420 2023-09-20 19:17:00 1695237448 2023-09-20 19:17:28
<![CDATA[Student Alumni Association Speaker Series Featured Ronald Allen, CEO of Delta Airlines ]]> 36481

The Georgia Tech Student Alumni Association (SAA) hosted an exclusive info session on Monday, Sep 18, 2023, with ISyE Alumni and director at Coca Cola, Ronald Allen. 

Ronald Allen has been a trailblazer in the Atlanta industry since graduating with a degree from the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1964.  

Allen’s journey to success began with a humble internship at Delta Airlines, where he embarked on a remarkable ascent through the corporate ranks.  

In 1987, he reached the pinnacle of his career, becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Delta Airlines, a position he held with distinction until 1997. In his most recent endeavor, Ronald Allen served as the CEO of Aarons Inc. from 2012 to 2014, further solidifying his reputation as an industry leader. 

At this informative session, students discovered everything they needed to know about SAA membership requirements, mentorship programs, and a range of exclusive events designed to help them connect with Georgia Tech alumni. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1695662127 2023-09-25 17:15:27 1695662172 2023-09-25 17:16:12 0 0 news

The GA Tech Student Alumni Association (SAA) hosted an exclusive info session on Monday, Sep 18, 2023, with ISyE Alumni and director at Coca Cola, Ronald Allen. 

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2023-09-25T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-25T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-25 00:00:00

Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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671818 671818 image <![CDATA[Ronald Allen]]> image/png 1695661853 2023-09-25 17:10:53 1695662062 2023-09-25 17:14:22
<![CDATA[Exploring Mutation's Brewscape: Dan Caudle's Transition from Classroom to Craft ]]> 36481

Dan Caudle (IE ‘12) deeply respects beer's ancient history. It's among humanity's earliest and dearest creations. Some scholars link it to the rise of civilization, saying it boosted progress and innovation alongside bread. 

Guiding the creative reins at Mutation Brewing Company, Caudle stands as the head brewer, steering the ship of innovation in the realm of craft beer. He is determined to craft unique, high-quality brews that pay homage to the past while embracing the present. 

With each brew concocted under Caudle’s expertise, Mutation Brewing Company becomes a living tribute to the ancient art of brewing. Through Dan's hands, the echoes of time blend seamlessly with modern techniques, resulting in beers that not only tantalize the taste buds but also carry the essence of tradition  

From Classroom to Craft Beers 

When selecting his major, Caudle was drawn to the multidisciplinary education offered by Georgia Tech's Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) program. The curriculum covered everything from machine learning to manufacturing, capturing Caudle’s diverse interests. 

Caudle discovered the art of homebrewing with his friends and through these hands-on experiences he fell in love with the process of creating unique and flavorful beers. Fondly recalling those brewing sessions, Caudle mentioned, "Every time my friends and I would brew, we would usually name the new beer after the movie we were watching that night." 

He really credits his career change to a brewing supply chain project specifically assigned by Damon P. Williams, College of Engineering’s first associate dean for inclusive excellence and chief diversity officer. 

“Before that class, I didn’t recognize brewing as an option. It didn’t seem like an obvious path forward with the degree that I chose... I feel like I got insight [at Tech] about the importance of experiencing internships and co-ops, to get a foot in the door at the beginning of my career.” 

After Caudle graduated, he worked in manufacturing consulting. However, he always felt like something was missing. He attended The American Brewers Guild in 2016 which included an internship that led to his first job in the brewing industry. 

Caudle's profession in craft beer took a significant leap when he became Head Brewer at Mutation Brewing Company in September 2021. Overcoming construction delays and supply chain obstacles, he played an instrumental role in shaping the brewery's vision. "I got to implement process improvements that no one else knew, and I was able to prove to myself that I do know what I am talking about.” 

Brewing Love 

Georgia Tech not only shaped Caudle's career but also left a lasting mark on his love story. In the midst of a GT football game, unknowingly Caudle met his future wife, Merry Hunter Caudle (Public Policy ‘13, MBA ‘21), through some mutual friends.  

They didn’t meet when they were students, but after graduation. They hit it off and started going on beer tours and other GT Athletic events together. Eventually, Caudle decided that the campus had such an intrinsic part of their lives he wanted to propose at Tech Tower.  

The two celebrated their engagement by driving around in the classic Ramblin’ Reck. Naturally, they exchanged vows at the Academy of Medicine. 

Today, Merry Hunter contributes to Georgia Tech's economic development in the Office of Institute Relations, as the Associate Director. With their home adorned in Tech colors and sports games on their calendar, they truly embody the spirit of a proud yellow jacket couple. 

Crafting the Unknown 

Looking to the future, Caudle’s passion extends beyond the brew kettle, as he continuously seeks to evolve and adapt in the dynamic craft beer industry.  

His dedication to continuous improvement includes listening to industry podcasts, exploring generative AI for efficient practices, and pursuing a certification to become a cicerone, which is akin to a sommelier for beer.  

While he knows about the art of creating beer, as a cicerone he will be working to acquire knowledge in five areas: keeping and serving beer, beer styles, beer flavor and evaluation, beer ingredients and brewing processes, and lastly pairing beer with food. 

With each sip of his creations, we're reminded of the extraordinary possibilities that arise when passion, education, and innovation mutate together in a pint of finely

]]> nesparza7 1 1695311843 2023-09-21 15:57:23 1695402186 2023-09-22 17:03:06 0 0 news

Caudle exemplifies the fusion of artistry and engineering; he approaches brewing with the precision and problem-solving mindset of an industrial engineer, crafting beers that not only tantalize the taste buds but also embody the spirit of Georgia Tech's ingenuity. 

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2023-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-21 00:00:00

Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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671780 671780 image <![CDATA[Dan Caudle]]> image/png 1695311626 2023-09-21 15:53:46 1695311664 2023-09-21 15:54:24
<![CDATA[Turning Ideas into Action: Sam Millson's Mission to Save Local Businesses]]> 36481

Students in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering had a unique chance to explore their enterprising potential through the inaugural ISyE Entrepreneurial Competition, established by ISyE alumnus Sam Millson.

As the Founder of The Millson Group, a consulting and investing firm specializing in assisting small to medium-sized businesses in achieving growth and efficiency, Millson is motivated to community expansion and business enhancement. Beyond mere profit margins, his mission is to aid entrepreneurs in overcoming challenges and enhancing their operations for sustainable success.

Seeking New Routes

When Milson was a student, he thoroughly enjoyed his time at Georgia Tech, as he was an active member of the Cross Country and Track and Field teams. As he embraced the challenges of both athletics, Millson's passion for innovation continued to grow. In his final semester, he and his team secured victory in the ISyE Spring Senior Design project, collaborating with Textron's manufacturing. Despite his academic and athletic accomplishments, his desire to create new opportunities to explore entrepreneurship had begun to take root.

"While it was a challenging four years, the experience was ultimately rewarding, equipping us with comprehensive knowledge of Industrial Engineering and its associated practices," Millson recalled. “But I noticed a lack of support for ISyE-specific entrepreneurs, and it became an important way for me to give back to the community.”

Navigating the Consulting World

After graduation, Millson joined Smith and Nephew Medical Device Company, a medical device firm located in Memphis, TN. Over approximately two years, he held various roles, culminating in his position as Manager for Global Operations Data Analytics. However, despite the valuable experience gained, he sensed an unfulfilled aspect within himself.

"The pandemic highlighted to me that smaller companies often struggle with significant gaps that I believe I could help bridge. Witnessing local restaurants gradually close during the pandemic in Memphis, where I reside, prompted me to start my own company to make a substantial difference," Millson explained.

Becoming the Third Generation of Millson Entrepreneurs

In September 2020, he took the leap and founded The Millson Group, where he operates today.

Nonetheless, his journey was not without challenges. The transition was initially disorienting. "I moved from a role where I was constantly inundated with tasks to a position where I was in charge. I distinctly remember my first day sitting at my computer, realizing that my workload was relatively light. It was a steep learning curve, but I set a personal goal to reach out to at least two potential clients every week," he said.

“I'm the third generation of Millson entrepreneurs, and we don’t get really creative with our naming conventions either. My grandfather ran Millson Enterprises, an art store. My father used Millson James, combining his name and his mother's maiden name, for his consulting practice in HR.”

Millson conceived the competition in October 2022, and with help from the community, they got it up and running in nearly 2-3 months. The goal is to kindle students enthusiasm for applying their academic knowledge and innate curiosity to the realm of entrepreneurship using industrial engineering principles.

Students worked collaboratively to develop comprehensive business plans with the potential to attract future investments.

The competition was comprised of two core components: entrepreneurial workshops and final presentations. Throughout the workshops, Millson adeptly guided teams in creating robust business models, formulating strategic budgets, and devising effective differentiation strategies. The overarching goal was to equip teams with the requisite skills and knowledge to realize viable and executable business plans.

"The biggest challenge students faced during the competition was letting go of the belief that their status as college students limited their ability to create meaningful ventures," Millson shared. "Those who excelled demonstrated their capacity to leverage their industry knowledge, however limited, to solve real-world problems. This is the lesson I hope to teach future generations."

The winning team, consisting of Chris Kontomaris, Sydney Mudd, and Jada Wilson, received a collective prize of $7,500 for their project, ADU-IQ. This innovative project aims to revolutionize the home-building industry by providing builders with a streamlined solution to assess customers' eligibility, by simplifying the screening process and eliminating upfront costs.

"What sets this competition apart is its long-term focus, involving multiple workshops throughout the semester. This allows like-minded entrepreneurial industrial engineering students to connect. Coupled with the emphasis on IE principles and direct interaction with Millson, the experience is empowering for real-world opportunities," noted Chris Kontomaris.

Georgia Tech encourages the entrepreneurial spirit in students, as it is an essential part of a nation’s ability to succeed in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive global marketplace. To cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit, Georgia Tech provides spaces and opportunities for students to learn, innovate, and create. Millson's journey exemplifies the fusion of passion, community support, and commitment to local businesses. His positive impact on Memphis and its entrepreneurs resonates, leaving a lasting legacy. As The Millson Group continues its trajectory, Millson's commitment to empowering others ensures his influence will endure for generations.

To amplify the competition's impact, Millson is seeking new judges for the next competition in Spring 2024. Prominent entrepreneurs and alumni interested in participating are encouraged to express their interest via email at info@millson-group.com.

]]> nesparza7 1 1695391605 2023-09-22 14:06:45 1695402130 2023-09-22 17:02:10 0 0 news

The interview with Sam Millson, founder of The Millson Group, reveals his journey from data analytics to entrepreneurship, including his role in starting the inaugural ISyE Entrepreneurship Competition at Georgia Tech.

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2023-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-22 00:00:00

Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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<![CDATA[ISyE Welcomes Cristo Rey Students]]> 36284 The ISyE team is abuzz with excitement as they prepare to welcome two new student assistants through a partnership with Cristo Rey High School's Corporate Work Study Program. They are set to embark on a journey that promises to be both professionally enriching and personally rewarding.  

Star Harris will join the C.A.S.E. team under the guidance of Manager Nicoly Y. Myles. Tomas Galeas Mora will join the Communications team, under the management of Manager Camille C. Henriquez

These bright and motivated individuals will be joining us starting this September and will be working with us the entire academic school year. Together, these two students are not just becoming a part of the ISyE team; they're embarking on the next step of their professional journey. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1695277548 2023-09-21 06:25:48 1695277776 2023-09-21 06:29:36 0 0 news The ISyE team is buzzing with excitement as they prepare to welcome two new student assistants. Through a partnership with Cristo Rey High School's Corporate Work Study Program, they are set to embark on a journey that promises to be both professionally enriching and personally rewarding. 

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2023-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-21 00:00:00 671776 671776 image <![CDATA[ISyE Squares_Cristo Rey Students.png]]> image/png 1695277574 2023-09-21 06:26:14 1695277574 2023-09-21 06:26:14 <![CDATA[Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School]]>
<![CDATA[Daan Rutten, Finalist for Nicholson Student Paper Competition ]]> 36481

Daan Rutten, a Ph.D. student in Operations Research at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, was selected as a finalist in the Nicholson Student Paper Competition.  

The George Nicholson Committee Competition is held each year to identify and honor outstanding papers in the field of operations research and management sciences written by a student. This year they received a record number of 139 submissions and only six were selected as finalists.  

All finalists are invited to present their papers in the Nicholson Student Paper special sessions at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. The winner(s) will be announced at the Awards Ceremony at the Annual Meeting. 

The paper, “Mean-field Analysis for Load Balancing on Spatial Graphs,” solves a long-standing open problem in load balancing, which dates back to the 90s. The paper introduces a novel approach to establish a mean-field approximation for systems which have data locality constraints between tasks and servers. The paper extends the applicability of mean-field analysis far beyond traditional assumptions. 

Daan received his B.S. in Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and his M.S. in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from Eindhoven, University of Technology. His Ph.D. research focuses on the performance of large-scale systems and the optimization thereof by incorporating machine learning algorithms and making smart design decisions.  

His previous work has studied how to structure cloud networks in the presence of task-server constraints, how to implement machine learning predictions while maintaining robustness and how to learn optimal decision policies in dynamic environments. He is a recipient of the Stewart Fellowship, the ARC-TRIAD Fellowship, a finalist for the Alice and John Jarvis Ph.D. Student Research Award and the INFORMS Junior Faculty Paper Award and has been awarded the ACM SIGMETRICS Best Paper Award.

]]> nesparza7 1 1695230131 2023-09-20 17:15:31 1695271894 2023-09-21 04:51:34 0 0 news

Daan Rutten, a Ph.D. student in Operations Research at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, was selected as a finalist in the Nicholson Student Paper Competition.   

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2023-09-20T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-20T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-20 00:00:00 Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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671766 671766 image <![CDATA[Daan Rutten]]> image/png 1695224361 2023-09-20 15:39:21 1695224725 2023-09-20 15:45:25 <![CDATA[Daan Rutten ISyE Profile]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE and SCL Announce the First Four Amazon Fellowship Recipients]]> 28766 Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) and the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL) are proud to announce that the first four students have been selected as Amazon Master of Science in Supply Chain Engineering Supply Chain Systems Design Track Fellows. The awarded fellowships are for the amount of $12,000 each. The four students are Gil Malengreaux, Angela Moore, Kiara Moore, and Krithika Srinivasan. In addition to the fellowship, the students receive priority for paid summer internships.

Preference for the fellowships is given to students choosing the new Systems Design track, which incorporates two courses from mechanical engineering – robotics and mechatronics, in addition to a new ISyE course on supply chain systems design. The purpose of the track is to prepare students for roles in supply chain facilities’ engineering and design, as well as a broader range of supply chain systems design roles.

Priority is also given to underrepresented minorities and female students. Amazon is supporting ISyE and the SCL to reach out to students in transfer programs with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or schools that are otherwise are majority minority.

About the Fellowship Recipients

Gil Malengreaux, who hails from Belgium, did both his undergraduate – in electromechanical engineering – and master’s work – in industrial engineering and operations research (IEOR) – at Ghent University. He is in ISyE’s in the Master of Supply Chain Engineering (MS SCE) program on a Fulbright scholarship to the U.S.

Malengreaux said that he chose the supply chain engineering program because ISyE has one of the top programs internationally. “With a generic, broad master’s degree in IEOR, I wanted to learn how I can apply these techniques within a supply chain setting,” he explained. “My IEOR background provides me a multidisciplinary view on businesses and industry, but I believe that there’s so much exciting innovation in the world of logistics and fulfilment, that highly specialized profiles are indispensable to optimize these systems, and make them more efficient, durable, and sustainable. The sustainability aspect is what really interests me.”

Angela Moore completed her bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

“I'm fascinated by the interconnectivity of complex systems within the global supply chain,” Moore said. “From my experience in production, inventory management, system implementation, and procurement, I've seen how a small decision in one department can have a large impact on the entire system. I'd like to use my industry experience with the supply chain engineering curriculum to help strategically plan out future supply chain systems.

“When I graduate from the MS SCE program, I want design innovative supply chain systems that reduce waste while being agile and responsive. I'd like to work with a group of people that are interested in challenging current processes.”

Kiara Moore received her bachelor’s degree in computer science with a mathematics minor from Atlanta, GA’s Spelman College. Spelman is an all-women’s college and the No. 1-ranked HBCU.

She selected Georgia Tech for her master’s degree because “it has been a dream school for me. Georgia Tech is known for educating some of the top professionals in the industry. Not only is Tech ranked highly for engineering, ISyE is the No. 1 school in its field.

“Further,” she noted, “ISyE offers programs that partner with different companies to provide real-world experience. Without hesitation I knew Tech and ISyE would be the best choice for me.”

Following this dream education experience, Moore’s dream job will be working on the business side of supply chain engineering.

Krithika Srinivasan comes to ISyE from India, where she received her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). Srinivasan said that “VIT is known worldwide for its cosmopolitan atmosphere and its beautiful campus. I enjoyed my four years there, where I made the best of friends and worked with some of the best faculty.

“I believe supply chain engineering plays an important role in any industry, as it involves optimization of processes, customer satisfaction, and employee welfare,” she explained. “It is central to the holistic development of a company, as well as the idea that a small, seemingly insignificant change can change the fortunes of a company. Also, any supply chain connects people around the world, giving it a global reach that enriches numerous cultures.”

Her dream job, she says, “is one that would let me be creative and provide solutions to problems that would result in the satisfaction of the end user. Supply chain engineering brings together my passion for engineering as well as my problem solving skills, and I hope to help as many people as I can.”

For more information on ISyE’s MS SCE program, visit https://www.isye.gatech.edu/academics/masters/supply-chain-engineering.

For questions or if you are interested in applying for an Amazon Fellowship, visit https://www.scl.gatech.edu/outreach/amazonfellow.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1473684441 2016-09-12 12:47:21 1695138210 2023-09-19 15:43:30 0 0 news ISyE and the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute  are proud to announce that the first four students have been selected as Amazon Masters of Science in Supply Chain Engineering Supply Chain Systems Design Track Fellows. The awarded fellowships are for the amount of $12,000 each.

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2016-09-12T00:00:00-04:00 2016-09-12T00:00:00-04:00 2016-09-12 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering

404.385.4745

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575331 575341 575351 575371 575331 image <![CDATA[Gil Malengreaux]]> image/jpeg 1473698093 2016-09-12 16:34:53 1481810427 2016-12-15 14:00:27 575341 image <![CDATA[Angela Moore]]> image/jpeg 1473698279 2016-09-12 16:37:59 1475895386 2016-10-08 02:56:26 575351 image <![CDATA[Kiara Moore]]> image/jpeg 1473698351 2016-09-12 16:39:11 1475895386 2016-10-08 02:56:26 575371 image <![CDATA[Krithika Srinivasan]]> image/jpeg 1473698463 2016-09-12 16:41:03 1475895386 2016-10-08 02:56:26 <![CDATA[ISyE’s MS SCE program]]> <![CDATA[For questions and to apply]]> <![CDATA[Georgia Tech and Amazon Joins Forces]]>
<![CDATA[Dr. Arkadi Nemirovski selected for the 2023 World Laureates Association (WLA) Prize ]]> 36284 Dr. Arkadi Nemirovski, the John P. Hunter, Jr. Chair Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, will be honored with the 2023 WLA Prize along with Professor Yurii Nesterov, Professor Emeritus and Senior Scientific Researcher, at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium in recognition of their remarkable contributions to the field of Computer Science or Mathematics.  

This recognition is a result of their ground-breaking "for their seminal work in convex optimization theory, including the theory of self-concordant functions and interior-point methods, a complexity theory of optimization, accelerated gradient methods, and methodological advances in robust optimization."  

The World Laureates Association (WLA) bestows this international academic prize, which was established in 2021. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place on the 6th of November in Shanghai and is dedicated to fostering advancements in the fields of technology and science, specifically in “Computer Science or Mathematics” and “Life Science or Medicine”.  

Generously sponsored by HongShan, the WLA prize aims to recognize researchers and technocrats who have made significant strides in their research objectives and aim to improve the quality of life through their work in technology. Recipients of the prize are awarded a sum of RMB 10 million, which is distributed equally among all the laureates.  

Dr. Nemirovski’s research interest centers on Optimization Theory and Algorithms. Renowned for his expertise in creating highly efficient algorithms, Dr. Nemirovski aims to explore the intricate complexities of nonlinear convex programs. Some other fields of scholarly pursuits include nonparametric statistics and optimization in engineering.  

Throughout his career, Dr. Nemirovski has been adorned with several distinguished accolades and honors. His work with convex optimization earned him the Fulkerson Prize in 1982. Some other notable awards include the Dantzig Prize in 1991 and the John von Neumann Theory Prize in 2003.  

Dr. Nemirovski is a distinguished member of several scientific institutions and academies including the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAA&S), and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). 

Associated with ISyE since 2005, Dr. Nemirovski is driven by his unwavering desire to propel his research forward and continues to make substantial contributions in the field of continuous optimization and non-parametric statistics. His impactful research and academic endeavors at the ISyE serve as an inspirational beacon for budding academicians in their pursuit of excellence. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1694810170 2023-09-15 20:36:10 1694810460 2023-09-15 20:41:00 0 0 news Dr. Arkadi Nemirovski, the John P. Hunter, Jr. Chair Professor at ISyE, will be honored with the 2023 WLA Prize. The prestigious accolade with be jointly bestowed upon him and Prof. Yurii Nesterov for their exceptional research contribution in the field of convex optimizations, self-concordant functions, interior-points method, accelerated gradient methods and methodological advances in robust optimization. Their groundbreaking research work has gained widespread recognition and acclaim, making them the deserving recipients of this illustrious award.  

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2023-09-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-15 00:00:00 Atharva Anand Dave

ISyE Writing Student Assistant

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671722 671722 image <![CDATA[Arkadi Nemirovski]]> image/png 1694805133 2023-09-15 19:12:13 1694806164 2023-09-15 19:29:24 <![CDATA[Dr. Arkadi Nemirovski]]> <![CDATA[WLA Prize]]>
<![CDATA[Dr. Benoit Montreuil selected as Keynote Speaker at 2024 IISE Conference and Expo]]> 36284 Dr. Benoit Montreuil, the Coca-Cola Material Handling and Distribution Chair Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, has been announced as the keynote speaker for the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) 2024 Conference and Expo.  

The annual event is scheduled to be held from the 18th to the 21st of May in Montreal, Canada.  

Widely considered the largest industrial and systems Engineering event of the year, it attracts the participation of leading industry professionals.  

With various paper presentations from reputable teaching institutions worldwide, the IISE Conference is popular among students and faculty eager to present their research work. 

In conjunction with his role as the chair professor, Dr. Montreuil holds pivotal positions as the Director of the Physical Internet Center and Co-director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute at ISyE. 

Dr. Montreuil’s prolific research endeavors center around the formulation of techniques, methodologies, and concepts for optimizing, transforming, and enabling businesses, supply chains, and value creation networks to excel in our dynamically evolving hyperconnected global landscape. 

Throughout his four decades of research, Dr. Montreuil is credited with introducing a set of paradigm-challenging leading-edge contributions that have and continue to reform the industrial engineering industry.  

Having contributed to and published more than 250 scientific publications and communications, Dr. Montreuil is a renowned industry professional, academician, and researcher who continues to transform and nurture the aspirations of future scholars and industry professionals. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1693956860 2023-09-05 23:34:20 1694539500 2023-09-12 17:25:00 0 0 news Dr. Benoit Montreuil, the distinguished Coca-Cola Material Handling and Distribution Chair Professor at ISyE, has been chosen as a keynote speaker for the esteemed IISE 2024 conference due to his remarkable research accomplishments in industrial and systems engineering, logistics, supply chain management, and sustainability science. 

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2023-09-05T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-05T00:00:00-04:00 2023-09-05 00:00:00 Atharva Anand Dave

ISyE Communications Writing Student Assistant

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671608 671608 image <![CDATA[Benoit Montreuil]]> image/png 1693957177 2023-09-05 23:39:37 1693957177 2023-09-05 23:39:37 <![CDATA[Dr. Benoit Montreuil Profile]]> <![CDATA[IISE Annual Conference]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE Faculty Experts Attend International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)]]> 36284 Georgia Tech’s experts and larger research community are invested in a future where artificial intelligence (AI) solutions can benefit individuals and communities across our planet. Meet the four industrial and systems engineers among other maestros on their work at the International Conference on Machine Learning — July 23-29, 2023, in Honolulu — and learn about their work. 

Yao Xie

Sequential Predictive Conformal Inference for Time Series | Chen Xu, Yao Xie

We present a new distribution-free conformal prediction algorithm for sequential data (e.g., time series), called the \textit{sequential predictive conformal inference} (\texttt{SPCI}). We specifically account for the nature that time series data are non-exchangeable, and thus many existing conformal prediction algorithms are not applicable. The main idea is to adaptively re-estimate the conditional quantile of non-conformity scores (e.g., prediction residuals), upon exploiting the temporal dependence among them. More precisely, we cast the problem of conformal prediction interval as predicting the quantile of a future residual, given a user-specified point prediction algorithm. Theoretically, we establish asymptotic valid conditional coverage upon extending consistency analyses in quantile regression. Using simulation and real-data experiments, we demonstrate a significant reduction in interval width of \texttt{SPCI} compared to other existing methods under the desired empirical coverage.

 

Xiaoming Huo

Conformalization of Sparse Generalized Linear Models | Etash Guha, Eugene Ndiaye, Xiaoming Huo

Given a sequence of observable variables $(x_1, y_1), \ldots, (x_n, y_n)$, the conformal prediction method estimates a confidence set for $y_{n+1}$ given $x_{n+1}$ that is valid for any finite sample size by merely assuming that the distribution is permutation invariant. Although attractive, computing such a set is infeasible in most regression problems. Indeed, in these cases, the unknown variable $y_{n+1}$ can take an infinite number of possible values, and generating conformal sets requires retraining a predictive model for each of them. In this paper, we focus on a sparse model with only a subset of variables for prediction, and we leverage numerical continuation techniques to efficiently approximate the solution path. The key property we exploit is that the set of selected variables is invariant under a small perturbation of the input data. Therefore, it is sufficient to enumerate and refit the model only at the change points of the set of active features and smoothly interpolate the rest of the solution via a predictor-corrector mechanism. We show how our path-following algorithm accurately approximates conformal prediction sets and illustrate its performance using synthetic and real data examples.

 

Tuo Zhao

Effective Minkowski Dimension of Deep Nonparametric Regression: Function Approximation and Statistical Theories | Zixuan Zhang, Minshuo Chen, Mengdi Wang, Wenjing Liao, Tuo Zhao

Existing theories on deep nonparametric regression have shown that when the input data lie on a low-dimensional manifold, deep neural networks can adapt to the intrinsic data structures. In real world applications, such an assumption of data lying exactly on a low dimensional manifold is stringent. This paper introduces a relaxed assumption that the input data are concentrated around a subset of $\RR^d$ denoted by $\cS$, and the intrinsic dimension of $\cS$ can be characterized by a new complexity notation — effective Minkowski dimension. We prove that, the sample complexity of deep nonparametric regression only depends on the effective Minkowski dimension of $\cS$ denoted by $p$. We further illustrate our theoretical findings by considering nonparametric regression with an anisotropic Gaussian random design $N(0,\Sigma)$, where $\Sigma$ is full rank. When the eigenvalues of $\Sigma$ have an exponential or polynomial decay, the effective Minkowski dimension of such an Gaussian random design is $p=\cO(\sqrt{\log n})$ or $p=\cO(n^\gamma)$, respectively, where $n$ is the sample size and $\gamma\in(0,1)$ is a small constant depending on the polynomial decay rate. Our theory shows that, when the manifold assumption does not hold, deep neural networks can still adapt to the effective Minkowski dimension of the data, and circumvent the curse of the ambient dimensionality for moderate sample sizes.

 

Less is More: Task-aware Layer-wise Distillation for Language Model Compression | Chen Liang, Simiao Zuo, Qingru Zhang, Pengcheng He, Weizhu Chen, Tuo Zhao

Layer-wise distillation is a powerful tool to compress large models (i.e. teacher models) into small ones (i.e., student models). The student distills knowledge from the teacher by mimicking the hidden representations of the teacher at every intermediate layer. However, layer-wise distillation is difficult. Since the student has a smaller model capacity than the teacher, it is often under-fitted. Furthermore, the hidden representations of the teacher contain redundant information that the student does not necessarily need for the target task’s learning. To address these challenges, we propose a novel Task-aware layEr-wise Distillation (TED). TED designs task-aware filters to align the hidden representations of the student and the teacher at each layer. The filters select the knowledge that is useful for the target task from the hidden representations. As such, TED reduces the knowledge gap between the two models and helps the student to fit better on the target task. We evaluate TED in two scenarios: continual pre-training and fine-tuning. TED demonstrates significant and consistent improvements over existing distillation methods in both scenarios.

 

 

LoSparse: Structured Compression of Large Language Models based on Low-Rank and Sparse Approximation | Yixiao Li, Yifan Yu, Qingru Zhang, Chen Liang, Pengcheng He, Weizhu Chen, Tuo Zhao

Transformer models have achieved remarkable results in various natural language tasks, but they are often prohibitively large, requiring massive memories and computational resources. To re- duce the size and complexity of these models, we propose LoSparse (Low-Rank and Sparse ap- proximation), a novel model compression tech- nique that approximates a weight matrix by the sum of a low-rank matrix and a sparse matrix. Our method combines the advantages of both low- rank approximations and pruning, while avoid- ing their limitations. Low-rank approximation compresses the coherent and expressive parts in neurons, while pruning removes the incoherent and non-expressive parts in neurons. Pruning enhances the diversity of low-rank approxima- tions, and low-rank approximation prevents prun- ing from losing too many expressive neurons. We evaluate our method on natural language under- standing, question answering, and natural lan- guage generation tasks. We show that it signif- icantly outperforms existing compression meth- ods. Our code is publicly available at https: //github.com/yxli2123/LoSparse

 

Machine Learning Force Fields with Data Cost-Aware Training | Alexander Bukharin, Tianyi Liu, Shengjie Wang, Simiao Zuo, Weihao Gao, Wen Yan, Tuo Zhao

Machine learning force fields (MLFF) have been proposed to accelerate molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, which finds widespread applications in chemistry and biomedical research. Even for the most data-efficient MLFFs, reaching chemical accuracy can require hundreds of frames of force and energy labels generated by expensive quantum mechanical algorithms, which may scale as $O(n^3)$ to $O(n^7)$, with $n$ proportional to the number of basis functions.To address this issue, we propose a multi-stage computational framework — ASTEROID, which lowers the data cost of MLFFs by leveraging a combination of cheap inaccurate data and expensive accurate data. The motivation behind ASTEROID is that inaccurate data, though incurring large bias, can help capture the sophisticated structures of the underlying force field. Therefore, we first train a MLFF model on a large amount of inaccurate training data, employing a bias-aware loss function to prevent the model from overfitting the potential bias of this data. We then fine-tune the obtained model using a small amount of accurate training data, which preserves the knowledge learned from the inaccurate training data while significantly improving the model’s accuracy. Moreover, we propose a variant of ASTEROID based on score matching for the setting where the inaccurate training data are unlabeled. Extensive experiments on MD datasets and downstream tasks validate the efficacy of ASTEROID.Our code and data are available at \url{https://github.com/abukharin3/asteroid}.

 

Score Approximation, Estimation and Distribution Recovery of Diffusion Models on Low-Dimensional Data | Minshuo Chen, Kaixuan Huang, Tuo Zhao, Mengdi Wang

Diffusion models achieve state-of-the-art performance in various generation tasks. However, their theoretical foundations fall far behind. This paper studies score approximation, estimation, and distribution recovery of diffusion models, when data are supported on an unknown low-dimensional linear subspace. Our result provides sample complexity bounds for distribution estimation using diffusion models. We show that with a properly chosen neural network architecture, the score function can be both accurately approximated and efficiently estimated. Further, the generated distribution based on the estimated score function captures the data geometric structures and converges to a close vicinity of the data distribution. The convergence rate depends on subspace dimension, implying that diffusion models can circumvent the curse of data ambient dimensionality.

 

SMURF-THP: Score Matching-based UnceRtainty quantiFication for Transformer Hawkes Process | Zichong Li, Yanbo Xu, Simiao Zuo, Haoming Jiang, Chao Zhang, Tuo Zhao, Hongyuan Zha

Transformer Hawkes process models have shown to be successful in modeling event sequence data. However, most of the existing training methods rely on maximizing the likelihood of event sequences, which involves calculating some intractable integral. Moreover, the existing methods fail to provide uncertainty quantification for model predictions, e.g., confidence interval for the predicted event’s arrival time. To address these issues, we propose SMURF-THP, a score-based method for learning Transformer Hawkes process and quantifying prediction uncertainty. Specifically, SMURF-THP learns the score function of the event’s arrival time based on a score-matching objective that avoids the intractable computation. With such a learnt score function, we can sample the arrival time of events from the predictive distribution. This naturally allows for the quantification of uncertainty by computing confidence intervals over the generated samples. We conduct extensive experiments in both event type prediction and uncertainty quantification on time of arrival. In all the experiments, SMURF-THP outperforms existing likelihood-based methods in confidence calibration while exhibiting comparable prediction accuracy.

 

Juba Ziani

Sequential Strategic Screening | Lee Cohen, Saeed Sharifi-Malvajerdi, Kevin Stangl, Ali Vakilian, Juba Ziani

We initiate the study of strategic behavior in screening processes with multiple classifiers. We focus on two contrasting settings: a “conjunctive” setting in which an individual must satisfy all classifiers simultaneously, and a sequential setting in which an individual to succeed must satisfy classifiers one at a time. In other words, we introduce the combination of strategic classification}with screening processes. We show that sequential screening pipelines exhibit new and surprising behavior where individuals can exploit the sequential ordering of the tests to “zig-zag” between classifiers without having to simultaneously satisfy all of them. We demonstrate an individual can obtain a positive outcome using a limited manipulation budget even when far from the intersection of the positive regions of every classifier. Finally, we consider a learner whose goal is to design a sequential screening process that is robust to such manipulations and provide a construction for the learner that optimizes a natural objective.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1690220797 2023-07-24 17:46:37 1692020399 2023-08-14 13:39:59 0 0 news Georgia Tech’s experts and larger research community are invested in a future where artificial intelligence (AI) solutions can benefit individuals and communities across our planet. Meet the machine learning maestros among Georgia Tech’s faculty at the International Conference on Machine Learning — July 23-29, 2023, in Honolulu — and learn about their work. 

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<![CDATA[Celebrating Remarkable ISyE Appointments at Georgia Tech]]> 36284 Congratulations to the latest ISyE appointments at Georgia Tech! 

Santanu Dey | Anderson-Interface Professor 

As the accomplished A. Russell Chandler III Professor and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, Dr. Santanu Dey was appointed to the endowed professorship position as ISyE’s next Anderson-Interface Professor. Dey brings an extensive amount of knowledge in the area of non-convex optimization, and in particular mixed integer linear and nonlinear programming. 

Xiaoming Huo | A. Russell Chandler III Professor 

Dr. Xiaoming Huo is an admired professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and also serves as the Associate Director for Research in the Institute for Data Science and Engineering (IDEaS). Huo has recently been appointed the professorship and will continue his research work spanning statistical theory, statistical computing, and data analytics, with significant contributions in areas like sparse representation, wavelets, and statistical problems in detectability. 

Mohit Singh | Coca-Cola Foundation Professor 

As an Associate Professor and Director of the Algorithms and Randomness Center (ARC), Dr. Mohit Singh was appointed to the professorship as a Coca-Cola Foundation Professor. He brings expertise in discrete optimization, approximation algorithms, and convex optimization. His research focuses on optimizing cloud computing, logistics, network design, and machine learning. 

Kamran Paynabar | Fouts Family Professor 

Dr. Kamran Paynabar has become the Fouts Family Professor and Associate Professor at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. His research interests lie in the integration of applied and theoretical aspects of data mining and statistical modeling. Prior to this appointment, Paynabar was the Fouts Family Early Career Professor from 2018 to 2023.  

Joel Sokol | Harold E. Smalley Professor 

Professor Joel Sokol is renowned for his work in sports analytics and applied operations research, as the next Harold E. Smalley Professor. Additionally, he serves as the Director of Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary Master of Science in Analytics degree program (MSA). His LRMC method for predictive modeling in the NCAA basketball tournament is widely recognized, and his non-sports research has received prestigious accolades. 

We extend our warmest congratulations to these exceptional individuals on their well-deserved appointments and look forward to their continued contributions to the field of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1691685445 2023-08-10 16:37:25 1692020385 2023-08-14 13:39:45 0 0 news Meet the esteemed individuals appointed as Anderson-Interface Professor, A. Russell Chandler III Professor, Coca-Cola Foundation Professor, Fouts Family Professor, and Harold E. Smalley Professor, and discover their impressive research interests. 

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<![CDATA[Graduate Student Leaders Take Action on Mental Health Support]]> 36284 When Miguel Campos began his ISyE graduate studies in August 2018, he expected the experience to be exciting and challenging — particularly because, as an international student from Colombia, he was coming to the U.S. for the first time.

Describing himself as “a usually happy person,” he didn’t anticipate one of those challenges being his mental health. When the fall semester began, Campos plunged into his studies.

As anticipated, they were demanding. Then he began noticing that he was having memory issues. He booked an appointment at Georgia Tech’s Counseling Center, which offers free mental health counseling and resources to students. But before his first session, Campos began suffering from both fatigue and sleeplessness, an inability to focus and a lack of appetite. He eventually saw a counselor who recommended group therapy, meditation, and exercise. While he followed her advice, his mental state didn’t improve. 

The First Diagnosis

Then, a few months later, the situation became dire. “I was in China working on a research project, and I had a really bad episode,” Campos remembered. “I just couldn’t take it anymore.” He ended up being taken to a hospital in Hong Kong, and a few days later, Campos was back in Atlanta, still struggling. That was when ISyE Director of Student Services Dawn Strickland got involved.

“Because of what happened in China, because it was part of my studies, the incident was reported to her, and she asked me to come see her,” Campos said.

Strickland made a phone call to Stamps Health Services and was able to get Campos an appointment with the psychiatrist for two days later. “The doctor listened to me for 10 minutes, told me I was chronically depressed, and that she was prescribing an antidepressant,” he said. “That was the end of November. A month later I was fine.”

As the spring semester began, Campos found himself feeling happy and appreciating life. His Ph.D. studies were going well. Everything else in his life was too. A couple of months later, Campos felt energized. Sleep was less of a necessity. He noticed a change in his spending habits, parting with money recklessly. While his girlfriend, friends, and professors all noticed Campos’ increasingly bizarre behavior, they weren’t sure what was going on.

The Second Diagnosis

Campos was in China once again for an ISyE project when he had another major mental health incident — this time, a psychotic break characterized by delusions and a partial loss of his connection with reality. He was hospitalized for 13 days in Hong Kong before his family flew him back to Bogotá, where he was hospitalized for 15 more days.

There, a psychiatrist finally recognized an error. Campos, they said, had been misdiagnosed with depression. Instead, it was much more likely that it was bipolar disorder. The antidepressant he was on was contributing to Campos’ mania, a common occurrence when bipolar disorder is incorrectly treated.

Americans are typically familiar with depression and anxiety as common mental health issues. They may be less familiar with bipolar disorder, except for depictions in movies or TV that show a character experiencing wildly elevated moods (mania) or debilitating low moods (depression). These are indeed characteristics of the disorder, but a range of symptoms accompany it.

Around 5.7 million Americans are affected by the condition. In 2019, the World Health Organization estimated that globally 970 million people, or 1 person out of 8, suffered from a mental health condition. This included 40 million with bipolar disorder.

It was a relief for Campos to finally have the correct diagnosis and to be prescribed the right medication for it, although he had to pause his studies for a full year as part of the process. “I have a very good specialist back home, and he got me on the right medication,” he said. “I’ve had mild episodes since, like hypomania, but I treat them with medication.” His psychiatrist also encouraged him to stop eating sugar, which can artificially heighten the highs and lows of mood swings.

He has a sanguine outlook on his diagnosis and everything that happened to him leading up to it. “So, it’s a chronic disease,” he said. “This is what happened to me.”

Sharing His Story

This perspective has led Campos to openly share his story with fellow Georgia Tech students.

In that crucial conversation he had with Strickland, she told him she had similarly grappled with mental health issues while studying for her ISyE doctorate. She mentioned that she knew of numerous other ISyE students who felt isolated with their mental health challenges.

Once Campos’ moods stabilized and he was back in school, he and several other students began considering how to share their personal mental health stories as a way of providing information to and connection for the rest of the ISyE graduate students.

“Our initial idea was to do an information session for first-year ISyE Ph.D. students,” he said. “They have a mandatory seminar they have to attend every week, so we attended one of those sessions as an initial point of contact.” Then they developed a broader event and invited all doctoral students and faculty.

That created an opportunity to discuss the mental health resources provided by the Institute. “We also shared our own stories, so everyone would know mental health issues are normal, they need to be discussed, and they’re nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. Over 50 people attended the event. 

Creating the ISyE Bee Well Group

In addition to presenting to the ISyE Ph.D. community, Campos and some members of the School’s Graduate Student Advisory Council put together the Bee Well Group in Spring 2022. Strickland and Graduate Programs Manager Amanda Ford, who had also recognized the need for such a group, serve as its advisors.

“The group came about partly because of my own experience as a grad student, as well as seeing how some of our students struggle,” Strickland said. In the spring, the group met occasionally for breakfast, inviting any students who needed support to attend.

They also organized a few walks around campus as a way of highlighting how important physical activity is for mental health. Campos and the other leaders plan to expand the Bee Well group activities in the fall.

In the meantime, several students have reached out to them to affirm their interest in the group and to share their own personal struggles. Campos sees this as a success. “The idea of the group is that when they hear our stories, they will know they can make it through this,” Campos said. “I’m in my fourth year already, and I got sick in my first semester. So, it’s going to work out, but you would never believe that if it wasn’t coming from someone who has been there already.

“Every time I talk to someone about this, I tell them it’s an illness. It’s like you have diabetes. And I ask if they would apologize for having diabetes or try to hide it.

Diabetes is a chronic disease, you will have it all your life, and you need to take your medication because if you don’t, you'll get sick. It's the same exact thing with mental health.”

]]> chenriquez8 1 1689007494 2023-07-10 16:44:54 1691072750 2023-08-03 14:25:50 0 0 news Campos, who has bipolar disorder, wants other graduate students who may also have mental health issues to know they are not alone. Together with several other ISyE graduate student leaders, Campos founded the ISyE Bee Well group for mental health support. 

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2023-06-30T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-30T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-30 00:00:00 “Every time I talk to someone about this, I tell them it’s an illness. It’s like you have diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic disease, you will have it all your life, and you need to take your medication because if you don’t, you'll get sick. It's the same exact thing with mental health.” - Miguel Campos

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If you are a Georgia Tech student and need mental health support and assistance, please visit the CARE homepage. For information about the ISyE Bee Well Group, contact Dawn Strickland and Amanda Ford. 

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671310 671310 image <![CDATA[Campos.jpg]]> image/jpeg 1691072684 2023-08-03 14:24:44 1691072684 2023-08-03 14:24:44 <![CDATA[Miguel Campos]]>
<![CDATA[6 ISyE Alumnus Recognized in GT 40 under 40, Class of 2023]]> 36284 Congratulations to our six alumni members from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), for being celebrated in honor of 40 under 40, class of 2023.

Karan Agrawal, Chris Carter, Jing Li, Kaibo Liu, Kendall Tyson, and Tuba Yilmaz Gozbasi were all recognized for their great achievements. This annual program showcases how Georgia Tech alumni impact every field worldwide and work to improve the way we live through their diligence and expertise from an early age.
 

Karan Agrawal, IE 19
Senior Manager, Supply Chain | Peloton Interactive


An award-winning supply chain practitioner and thought leader with four years of experience across the U.S., U.K., and Canada in Fortune 500 companies and tech startups, Karan Agrawal currently serves as senior manager, supply chain at Peloton. He has led multiple strategic supply chain initiatives, focused primarily on manufacturing and sourcing with multimillion-dollar scale and impact. Prior to Peloton, he worked at Dell, where he played a critical role in its supply chain digital transformation journey and strengthened the corporate brand through numerous external academic and industry partnerships. Passionate about building diverse communities from the ground up, Agrawal initiated the American Production and Inventory Control Society, or APICS, at Georgia Tech, launched an innovative TED-like storytelling platform at Dell called “Talks @ Dell,” and recently founded Toronto’s first supply chain community.

Favorite Tech Memory: Emceeing the largest cultural show on campus in front of 1,200 attendees at the Ferst Center for the Arts.

 

Chris Carter, IE 07
Chief Engineer, Executive GM | Toyota Motor North America (HQ)


Chris Carter has 15 years of experience in portfolio management, leadership, instruction, team building, and people development worldwide. Through Georgia Tech Professional Education, he became a Project Management Professional (PMP) & Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP). As chief engineer for Toyota Motor North America, Connected Technologies division, Carter is responsible for portfolio management for all Toyota and Lexus new model infotainment systems, including various technology life cycle management activities. He facilitates a team, leading tech strategy, market research, and global tech life cycle planning. During his tenure, he also worked abroad in Japan for Lexus International, leading midsize segments model years for RX, NX, and ES. Carter is also the academic program director over Project Management and Professor of the Practice candidate at Georgia Tech.

Favorite Tech Memory: Junior’s Grill. I used to have the French Toast Special and chicken finger basket every week.

 

Jing Li, IE 10
Product Management Sr. Principal | Accenture


With a non-traditional journey from Peace Corps Ukraine to product innovation, Jing Li blends her unique skills and experiences to lay the foundation for the next generation of leaders through education, technology, sustainability, and diversity. She founded the nonprofit Project Ollie to provide Ukrainian educators and learners with humanitarian support and tools to thrive. She helped reduce food waste through IoT sensors, and she advocates for inclusion and diversity in the workplace as well as in the open water swimming community. She was a four-year letterwinner in swimming at Georgia Tech and the former president of the NorCal GT Alumni network.

Favorite Tech Memory: Standing on the 50-yard line as a finalist for Ms. Georgia Tech in fall 2009.

 

Kaibo Liu, MS Stat 11, PhD IE 13
Professor | University of Wisconsin–Madison


Kaibo Liu is a professor at UW–Madison’s ISyE department and associate director of UW-Madison IoT systems research center. He received a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and a master’s in statistics and PhD in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech. His research focuses on system informatics and industrial big data analytics for quality improvement in complex engineering systems. He has won prestigious career awards, including the Innovations in Education Award and the Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Favorite Tech Memory: I cherish having earned two degrees in four years and having my first child during my Georgia Tech PhD program.

 

Kendall Tyson, IE 11
SVP, Finance and Business Intelligence | Seattle Kraken


Kendall Tyson is the senior vice president of finance and business intelligence for the Seattle Kraken, the city’s professional ice hockey team. She oversees the strategic planning, data management, and financial affairs of the Kraken and its affiliates. Before joining the Kraken, Tyson led corporate development at Topgolf, where she evaluated mobile apps, entertainment venues, and golf technology. Earlier in her career, she advised state government agencies on business transformations as a management consultant at Accenture. In addition to her degree from Georgia Tech, Kendall holds a bachelor’s from Emory University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and two children.

Favorite Tech Memory: Walking on the Great Wall of China while studying abroad in Beijing and Singapore.

 

Tuba Yilmaz Gozbasi, MS OR 11, PhD IE 13
COO & Cofounder | Optiyol


Tuba Yilmaz Gozbasi worked as an operations research consultant at Solvoyo and an assistant professor of operations management at Özyeğin University Faculty of Business. She is currently cofounder and COO of Optiyol, a delivery management SaaS, offering a route optimization engine and a mobile driver app with live tracking capabilities to increase delivery efficiency and improve customer service.

Favorite Tech Memory: I started dating my husband (and partner at Optiyol) while studying for a comprehensive exam in the grad lab.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1690211721 2023-07-24 15:15:21 1690907984 2023-08-01 16:39:44 0 0 news The Georgia Tech Alumni Association is thrilled to announce the 2023 class of 40 Under 40. This annual program showcases how Tech alumni impact every field worldwide and work to improve the way we live through their diligence and expertise from an early age.
 

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<![CDATA[Chuck Zhang Appointed to Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. Chair]]> 36481

Chuck Zhang has been appointed as the Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. Chair for the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, starting on July 1, 2023. This prestigious appointment recognizes Zhang's exceptional achievements and leadership in the field of advanced manufacturing. 

The selection committee praised Zhang for his remarkable accomplishments, including his role as Director of the NSF IUCRC "Composite and Hybrid Materials Interfacing."

They also commended the significant growth of his research program, his substantial funding from federal agencies and industry, and his numerous patent awards. 

Zhang brings a wealth of experience, having previously served as a Professor and Chair in the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering at the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, and as the Deputy Director of the High-Performance Materials Institute at the Florida State University.  

His research endeavors have received significant recognition, with over 60 projects funded by esteemed sources such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Defense.

Additionally, he has received support from notable industrial companies and foundations. 

Zhang holds an impressive educational background, including a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa, an MS degree in Industrial Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and both a BS and an MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China.  

His research interests encompass various areas, including additive manufacturing, scalable bio-/nano-manufacturing, advanced composite structures manufacturing and maintenance, and manufacturing cybersecurity.

Notably, Zhang leads a collaborative effort among three universities in the NSF CHMI IUCRC Center, focusing on the development of advanced materials and techniques for joining and repairing composite and hybrid materials. 

Chuck Zhang's appointment as the Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. Chair solidifies his position as a leader in mechanical engineering. With his exceptional research, leadership, and accolades, Zhang's contribution will undoubtedly drive the continued success and advancement of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1689021256 2023-07-10 20:34:16 1689104416 2023-07-11 19:40:16 0 0 news

Chuck Zhang's appointment as Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. Chair signifies his exceptional scholarship and leadership in advanced manufacturing, showcasing his impressive research accomplishments, his transition from directorship to a prestigious chair position, and his contribution to fueling innovation in the field. 

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Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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671139 671139 image <![CDATA[Chuck Zhang ]]> image/png 1689021111 2023-07-10 20:31:51 1689021158 2023-07-10 20:32:38 <![CDATA[Chuck Zhang's Profile]]>
<![CDATA[Yao Xie: Driving Data Science Innovation as Coca-Cola Foundation Chair]]> 36481

Yao Xie has been appointed as the Coca-Cola Foundation Chair, effective May 15, 2023, recognizing her exceptional research and leadership at the intersection of statistics, optimization, and machine learning in data science.  

Praised for her applied research program and mentorship of successful doctoral students, Xie brings a wealth of expertise as a Professor and Associate Director of Machine Learning and Data Science at Georgia Tech. Her work focuses on developing efficient and powerful methods to address real-world challenges using statistical and computational techniques.  

With editorial roles in prestigious journals and previous experience as a Research Scientist at Duke University, Xie's appointment as Coca-Cola Foundation Chair highlights her outstanding contributions to the field. 

The Coca-Cola Foundation, as a leading philanthropic organization, supports local and global initiatives in areas where The Coca-Cola Company operates. With a focus on sustainable access to water, a circular economy, climate resilience, economic empowerment, and community causes, the foundation has awarded over $1.5 billion in grants worldwide.  

Yao Xie's appointment aligns with the foundation's commitment to fostering excellence and innovation. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1689019942 2023-07-10 20:12:22 1689104408 2023-07-11 19:40:08 0 0 news

Yao Xie has been appointed as the Coca-Cola Foundation Chair, recognizing her outstanding research and leadership at the intersection of statistics, optimization, and machine learning. 

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Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

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671138 671138 image <![CDATA[Yao Xie]]> Yao Xie

]]> image/png 1689020029 2023-07-10 20:13:49 1689020067 2023-07-10 20:14:27
<![CDATA[SCL Profile]]> <![CDATA[Google Scholar Page]]> <![CDATA[What is the Coca-Cola Foundation?]]>
<![CDATA[Unveiling the Power of Semidefinite Relaxations: Dr. Diego Cifuentes Receives Esteemed Award ]]> 36481

Diego Cifuentes, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been awarded the prestigious 2023 SIAM Activity Group on Algebraic Geometry Early Career Prize for his significant contributions to polynomial optimization theory.  

His research focuses on developing mathematical optimization methods and applying them to various engineering areas such as machine learning, robotics, and computer vision. Dr. Cifuentes's work centers on semidefinite relaxations, which approximate complex optimization problems with simpler ones.  

His findings shed light on the conditions under which these relaxations solve the original problems exactly, particularly in denoising applications. His work has the potential to impact a wide range of fields and improve technological tools such as artificial intelligence and power systems.  

As a member of SIAM, Dr. Cifuentes values the community of applied mathematicians and appreciates the platform it provides for sharing his research. 

Dr. Cifuentes expresses his excitement about receiving the award, stating, "I am deeply honored to receive the SIAM Activity Group on AG Early Career Prize. Algebraic geometry is a mature mathematical field, which many members in the optimization community are not aware of. I firmly believe in its potential to advance optimization and to contribute to applied mathematics as a whole. This award serves as a tremendous source of motivation and reinvigorates my energy." 

]]> nesparza7 1 1689099984 2023-07-11 18:26:24 1689100367 2023-07-11 18:32:47 0 0 news

Diego Cifuentes, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been awarded the prestigious 2023 SIAM Activity Group on Algebraic Geometry Early Career Prize for his significant contributions to polynomial optimization theory. Paving the way for tackling intricate challenges in various domains, including artificial intelligence, robotics, and power systems. 

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2023-07-11T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-11T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-11 00:00:00 Nat M. Esparza, Communications Officer II

]]>
671149 671149 image <![CDATA[Diego Cifuentes]]> image/jpeg 1689099848 2023-07-11 18:24:08 1689099901 2023-07-11 18:25:01 <![CDATA[SIAM News July Prize Spotlight]]> <![CDATA[Deigo Cifuentes Research Profile]]> <![CDATA[Diego Cifuentes on Google Scholar]]>
<![CDATA[NSF Fellowship Awardees' Research: Advancing Machine Learning for Healthcare, Supply Chain Optimization, and Manufacturing Systems]]> 36284 Jacob Aguirre is a recipient of the NSF award titled "Equitable and Comprehensible Machine Learning for Expert-in-the-loop Decisions in Medicine." His research focuses on developing computationally efficient optimization algorithms and data-driven heuristics for Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics.

Aguirre’s primary interests revolve around tackling challenges in the domains of Causal Inference, Personalized Medicine, and Medical Decision-Making. He is grateful to be advised by Dr. Turgay Ayer and Dr. Gian-Gabriel Garcia, and his work aims to advance the field of machine learning in healthcare.

Joseph Boone, a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award, is interested in game theoretic optimization, logistics in contested environments, supply chain and infrastructure network resiliency, and applied statistics and simulation for risk-aware system design.

His primary research goals involve developing methods to solve complex, multilevel optimization problems that arise in optimizing supply chain and infrastructure networks against worst-case or adversarial disruptions. Joseph aspires to apply these methods in various fields, including military logistics, equity in healthcare, and disaster relief efforts.

Alina Gorbunova, a recipient of the NSF GRFP, focuses her research on systems monitoring, diagnostics, and prognostics using high-dimensional and high-variety data with machine learning and data analytics techniques.

Her research interests lie in creating a scalable causation-based quality improvement framework. This framework aims to monitor, diagnose, and control multistage manufacturing systems by leveraging high-dimensional and high-variety data. Gorbunova's work contributes to advancing the field of quality improvement in manufacturing systems through the application of machine learning and data analytics.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1688575412 2023-07-05 16:43:32 1688644271 2023-07-06 11:51:11 0 0 news Jacob Aguirre focuses on efficient optimization algorithms for healthcare analytics, Joseph Boone aims to optimize supply chain networks in various sectors, and Alina Gorbunova advances quality improvement in manufacturing systems using machine learning and data analytics techniques.

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2023-05-30T00:00:00-04:00 2023-05-30T00:00:00-04:00 2023-05-30 00:00:00 671100 671100 image <![CDATA[NSF GRFP Awardees]]> image/png 1688577083 2023-07-05 17:11:23 1688577140 2023-07-05 17:12:20 <![CDATA[J. Haden Boone]]>
<![CDATA[Santosh Vempala Selected as Simons Investigator for 2024]]> 36284 We are thrilled to announce that Santosh Vempala, the Frederick G. Storey Chair II in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, has been selected as a Simons Investigator for this year.

Dr. Vempala's remarkable contributions as an adjunct professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, as well as his directorship of the Algorithms and Randomness Center and ThinkTank at Georgia Tech, exemplify his dedication to advancing theoretical computer science.

The foundation has awarded him with this term, which will commence on January 1, 2024. With expertise in algorithms, randomized algorithms, computational geometry, and computational learning theory, Dr. Vempala's research has made a significant impact in the field.

A Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. graduate under the guidance of Professor Avrim Blum, Dr. Vempala further honed his skills as a Miller Fellow at Berkeley and later served as a Professor at MIT in the Mathematics Department before joining Georgia Tech in 2006.

Throughout his career, Dr. Vempala has garnered numerous prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Sloan Fellowship, and recognition in Georgia Trend's 40 under 40.

His passion for unraveling complexity and discovering simplicity in intricate phenomena continues to fuel his remarkable achievements.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Santosh Vempala on this well-deserved recognition as an Investigator. His exceptional contributions and expertise will undoubtedly enrich the field of theoretical computer science.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1688598264 2023-07-05 23:04:24 1688598325 2023-07-05 23:05:25 0 0 news We are delighted to announce that Santosh Vempala, an esteemed professor and the Frederick G. Storey Chair II in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, has been selected as a Simons Investigator for this year. Dr. Vempala's remarkable contributions as an adjunct professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, along with his directorship of the Algorithms and Randomness Center and ThinkTank at Georgia Tech, exemplify his dedication to advancing theoretical computer science.

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2023-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-15 00:00:00 Elizabeth Roy, Senior Manager, Programs and Administration for MPS, at mps@simonsfoundation.org.

 

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671106 671106 image <![CDATA[Santosh Vempala]]> image/png 1688598104 2023-07-05 23:01:44 1688598158 2023-07-05 23:02:38 <![CDATA[Simons Investigators ]]>
<![CDATA[Student-Engineered Competitive Vehicles on Exhibit at the Savoy Automobile Museum]]> 36284 The Savoy Automobile Museum proudly features Car 70, among other exhibits, as part of the Georgia Tech Student Competition Center (GTSCC) showcase.

This exhibition not only highlights the talents and skills of student engineers from GTMS, Georgia Tech Off-Road, Wreck Racing, HyTech Racing, and GT Solar Racing but also offers a glimpse into the future of the automotive industry.

At the forefront of hyper-efficient vehicle technology is GT Solar Racing, led by Ariana Garbers, a fourth-year industrial engineering student. Passionate about pushing the boundaries of sustainable travel, GT Solar Racing strives to explore new possibilities and contribute to the cutting edge of vehicle technology.

Read more about the full story here.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1688595831 2023-07-05 22:23:51 1688596005 2023-07-05 22:26:45 0 0 news Five teams from the Student Competition Center will be displayed alongside a replica Ramblin’ Wreck this summer.

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2023-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-15 00:00:00 671105 671105 image <![CDATA[Student-Engineered Vehicles at Savoy Automobile Museum ]]> image/jpeg 1688595841 2023-07-05 22:24:01 1688595841 2023-07-05 22:24:01
<![CDATA[ISyE Inducts 8 New Advisory Board Members and New Chair and Vice Chair]]> 36284 Jeff Anderson, Ciera Gillis, Peyton Johnston, Ken Klaer, Sam Millson, Evren Ozkaya, Elena Padilla, Arjun Patra, Esha Patra, and Bob Robertson will be joining Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) Advisory Board in July 2023. 

These exceptional individuals will play crucial roles on the board, providing invaluable advisory support to the School Chair and actively contributing to the School's developmental objectives. Ken Klaer was inducted as the Chair, and Evren Ozkaya as the next Vice Chair. 

Ken KlaerExecutive Vice President of Comcast Cable and President of Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) 

Ken Klaer is the Executive Vice President of Comcast Cable and President, of Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS). Ken joined Comcast in 2014 as Senior Vice President, of Premises Technology, and has held leadership roles at Cisco Systems and Scientific Atlanta. He actively participates in industry organizations and serves on the boards of RDK Management LLC and the CCAD organization. 
 
Evren OzkayaFounder & CEO of Supply Chain Wizard 

Evren Ozkaya is the Founder & CEO of Supply Chain Wizard, a management consulting & digital solutions firm helping clients establish and execute cost-effective and scalable digital transformation programs via data-driven decision-making by leveraging state-of-the-art technology. With experience at McKinsey & Company and Sandoz/Novartis, he has led business transformation programs in various industries. Dr. Ozkaya was recognized in Georgia Tech's "40 Under 40" list and actively participates in academic and teaching roles. 

Jeff AndersonChief Growth Officer and a co-Founder at Kaizen Analytix LLC 

Jeff Anderson is Chief Growth Officer and a co-Founder at Kaizen Analytix LLC, an Atlanta-based data, analytics, and technology leader. Jeff leads Kaizen’s business development, sales, and marketing efforts across all go-to-market models. He also serves as a client Partner for key Kaizen clients. With over 25 years of professional services experience, Jeff has worked closely with major global brands, by guiding them in enhancing their data, analytics, and technology endeavors. 

Ciera Gillis | Key Account Executive, Google Cloud Sales 

Ciera Gillis leads a global Google Cloud sales team at one of Google's top media partners, defining and executing long-term strategies. She advocates for products and solutions to meet customer needs, collaborating with key resources worldwide. Ciera also contributes to Google Cloud's Media and Entertainment GTM strategy. Previously, she held roles at Microsoft and PwC. 
 
Peyton Johnston
| Chief of Staff and Functional Leadership 

Peyton Johnston has 15+ years of experience with industry-leading companies and top-tier consulting firms – including functional leadership roles spanning product/engineering, finance, customer experience, innovation, and strategy, as well as being the Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice President of The Home Depot. Outside of work, Peyton actively supports multiple youth and community volunteer activities, along with being a devoted mother to two boys. 

Sam MillsonFounder of The Millson Group 

Sam Millson is the Founder of The Millson Group, a consulting practice focused on helping small and medium-sized businesses succeed through difficulties in growth related to supply chain, manufacturing, and data analytics. Notably, The Millson Group sponsored and facilitated the inaugural Industrial Engineering Entrepreneurship Competition at Georgia Tech, aiming to educate aspiring Industrial Engineers on building successful businesses from scratch. 

Elena Padilla | Product Manager at Oracle 

Eleana Padilla is a Product Manager at Oracle, specifically supporting the NetSuite software for Planning & Allocation. NetSuite is a cloud-based ERP known for aiding the growth of businesses. She has experience interning at Delta Air Lines’ Engineering and Information Technology departments and with Dell Technologies’ Global Operations Strategy team. 

Arjun Patra | Strategy Associate at JOP Morgan Chase  

Arjun Patra is a Strategy Associate at JP Morgan Chase, where he is working on Product and Experience related projects. Before his time at Chase, Arjun was also a consultant at Deloitte, focusing on corporate and customer strategy engagements across financial services and technology clients. Currently residing in New York City, Arjun eagerly anticipates collaborating with the students, faculty, and alumni of GT ISyE. 

Esha Patra | 4th Year, Industrial Engineering Student, and President of Georgia Tech’s Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) 

Esha Patra is a rising 4th-year student at Georgia Tech, pursuing a major in Industrial Engineering with a focus on economic and financial systems. Currently serving as President at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), the largest Industrial Engineering student organization at Georgia Tech. Currently, Esha is interning as a financial analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in NYC. She has prior experience as a co-op at Delta Air Lines, working in the Operation Analytics and Performance Division. 

Bob RobertsonSenior Manager in Professional Services at Veridian 

Bob Robertson is a Senior Manager in Professional Services at Veridian, leading consultant teams in Supply Chain technology solutions. With 28+ years of experience in IT and business, he has excelled in transportation, multi-business unit strategy, and supply chain operations. He’s held various leadership roles at Stein Mart, Macy’s, Trading Partners Collaboration LLC, Manhattan Associates, and Shaw Industries. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1688411854 2023-07-03 19:17:34 1688414641 2023-07-03 20:04:01 0 0 news Jeff Anderson, Ciera Gillis, Peyton Johnston, Ken Klaer, Sam Millson, Evren Ozkaya, Elena Padilla, Arjun Patra, Esha Patra, and Bob Robertson will bring their expertise to Georgia Tech's Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) Advisory Board starting in July 2023.

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2023-07-03T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-03T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-03 00:00:00 671084 671093 671088 671087 671089 671090 671091 671092 671094 671086 671084 image <![CDATA[Ken Klaer, ISyE AB Chair.png]]> image/png 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 671093 image <![CDATA[Evren Ozkaya ISyE AB Vice Chair.png]]> image/png 1688412291 2023-07-03 19:24:51 1688412291 2023-07-03 19:24:51 671088 image <![CDATA[Jeff Anderson.png]]> image/png 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 671087 image <![CDATA[Ciera Gillis.png]]> image/png 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 671089 image <![CDATA[Peyton Johnston.png]]> image/png 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 671090 image <![CDATA[Sam Millson.png]]> image/png 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 671091 image <![CDATA[Eleana Padilla.png]]> image/png 1688412173 2023-07-03 19:22:53 1688412173 2023-07-03 19:22:53 671092 image <![CDATA[Arjun Patra.png]]> image/png 1688412173 2023-07-03 19:22:53 1688412173 2023-07-03 19:22:53 671094 image <![CDATA[Esha Patra.png]]> image/png 1688412291 2023-07-03 19:24:51 1688412291 2023-07-03 19:24:51 671086 image <![CDATA[Bob Robertson.png]]> image/png 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54 1688411874 2023-07-03 19:17:54
<![CDATA[Renato D.C. Monteiro Receives Prestigious SIAM Optimization Test of Time Award ]]> 36481

Renato D.C. Monteiro, a Coca-Cola Foundation Professor at Georgia Tech, has been honored with the 2023 SIAM Activity Group on Optimization Test of Time Award for his groundbreaking paper titled "A nonlinear programming algorithm for solving semidefinite programs via low-rank factorization."  

This paper revolutionized computational methods for solving large-scale semidefinite programming problems. Dr. Monteiro presented his research at the 2023 SIAM Conference on Optimization and has received recognition through various media platforms.  

The award, given every three years, acknowledges outstanding contributions to the field of optimization over a period of at least 10 years preceding the year of the award. 

Renato D.C. Monteiro is renowned for his expertise in continuous optimization and algorithmic complexity. His research focuses on developing and implementing algorithms to solve a range of optimization problems, including linear programming, convex quadratic programming, and semidefinite programming.  

He has received support from prestigious organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Naval Research. Dr. Monteiro actively contributes to the Ph.D. program in Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization and serves as an associate editor for esteemed journals, further establishing his influence in the field. 

Having completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 1988, Renato D.C. Monteiro joined Georgia Tech as a faculty member in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.  

His achievements, including the SIAM Test of Time Award, demonstrate his profound impact on the field of optimization and his commitment to advancing research and academic pursuits. Through his groundbreaking work, Dr. Monteiro continues to shape the landscape of optimization and inspire future generations of scholars. 

]]> nesparza7 1 1688395681 2023-07-03 14:48:01 1688396097 2023-07-03 14:54:57 0 0 news

Georgia Tech's Renato D.C. Monteiro receives the SIAM Optimization Test of Time Award for his groundbreaking paper revolutionizing computational optimization, recognizing his significant and sustained influence on the field. 

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2023-07-03T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-03T00:00:00-04:00 2023-07-03 00:00:00 Natalie M. Esparza
Communications Officer II

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671081 671081 image <![CDATA[Renato D.C. Monteiro]]> image/png 1688395136 2023-07-03 14:38:56 1688395434 2023-07-03 14:43:54 <![CDATA[Renato D.C. Monteiro Profile]]> <![CDATA[SIAM Conference on Optimization]]> <![CDATA[2023 SIAM Activity Group on Optimization Test of Time Award]]>
<![CDATA[Yajun Mei elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association]]> 36284 Yajun Mei, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), has been elected as a 2023 Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA).

Mei was chosen for his path-breaking research in sequential analysis and change-point detection, seminal contribution to streaming data analysis in machine learning and data science, and outstanding service to the profession.

The ASA will honor him at an awards ceremony on August 8, 2023, during the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in Toronto. Professor Mei's nomination was put forth by Roshan Joseph, the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and a professor in ISyE.

Mei received his Ph.D. in Mathematics with a minor in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2003 and a B.S. in Mathematics from Peking University, China in 1996. He has also worked as a Post Doc in Biostatistics for two years in the renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle before joining ISyE in January 2006.

His research endeavors primarily revolve around the development of practical (bio)statistical, machine learning, and data science theories and algorithms, for efficient real-time or online data-driven decision-making with applications to engineering, operation research, and biomedical and health sciences.

Mei’s honors include:

He is an Associate Editor of Technometrics, Statistica Sinica, Journal of Applied Statistics, and Sequential Analysis. He was the past president of the ASA Georgia Chapter.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1687458036 2023-06-22 18:20:36 1687881994 2023-06-27 16:06:34 0 0 news Mei was chosen for his path-breaking research in sequential analysis and change-point detection, seminal contribution to streaming data analysis in machine learning and data science, and outstanding service to the profession.

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2023-04-30T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-30T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-30 00:00:00 671018 671018 image <![CDATA[Yajun Mei]]> image/png 1687458288 2023-06-22 18:24:48 1687458288 2023-06-22 18:24:48 <![CDATA[ASA Fellows]]> <![CDATA[Yajun Mei, Professor]]>
<![CDATA[Turgay Ayer Selected to Speak at The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2023 Symposium]]> 36284 Turgay Ayer, a Virginia C. and Joseph C. Mello Chair and a professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, was selected to speak at The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2023 Symposium of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). 

Engineers who are performing exceptional research and technical work in a variety of disciplines will come together for the two-and-a-half-day event. The participants — from the industry, academia, and government — were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations.  

Ayer also serves as the research director for healthcare analytics and business intelligence in the Center for Health & Humanitarian Systems at Georgia Tech and holds a courtesy appointment at Emory Medical School. 

Ayer's contributions to the field have also led to his role as a senior advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as his position as an associate editor for Operations Research, Management Science, and MSOM. Additionally, he has served as the past president of the INFORMS Health Application Society. 

His research focuses on healthcare analytics and socially responsible business analytics with a particular emphasis on practice-focused research. His research papers have been published in top tier management, engineering, and medical journals; along with being covered by popular media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, U.S. News, and NPR. 

The symposium will be hosted by the University of Colorado, Boulder, September 10-13, 2023, and will explore four themes: 

Since the program’s inception in 1995, more than 5,000 early-career engineers have participated in previous symposia, many of whom have gone on to become national leaders in the engineering community. Georgia Tech is proud to partner with organizations like The Grainger Foundation to promote a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1687818300 2023-06-26 22:25:00 1687881981 2023-06-27 16:06:21 0 0 news Turgay Ayer, a professor at Georgia Tech, has been chosen to speak at The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2023 Symposium of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The symposium aims to foster a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering, with Georgia Tech partnering with The Grainger Foundation to achieve this goal. 

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2023-06-26T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-26T00:00:00-04:00 2023-06-26 00:00:00 671040 671040 image <![CDATA[Turgay Ayer]]> image/jpeg 1687815253 2023-06-26 21:34:13 1687816109 2023-06-26 21:48:29 <![CDATA[Turgay Ayer]]> <![CDATA[The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Symposium of the NAE]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE members received "Best Paper" awards at 2023 IISE Conference]]> 36284 ISyE faculty, Ph.D. students, and alumni members took home "Best Paper" awards at the 2023 IISE Annual Conference and Expo.

Gathering together in New Orleans for their exciting achievements, four of our H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Engineering (ISyE) members united to celebrate their papers and research studies.

This included two current faculty members: Chuck Zhang, Harold E. Smalley Professor, and Lauren Steimle, Assistant Professor. Joining these esteemed faculty members were two remarkable ISyE Ph.D. alumni who have carved out their own paths of excellence. Reem Khir, currently an Assistant Professor at Purdue University, and Dan Li, now an Assistant Professor at Clemson University.

The conference had two paper sessions: Best Application Paper and Best Paper. Both sessions featured representation from members within the Georgia Tech ISyE community, covering various studies ranging from Markov decision processes to cell manufacturing.

 

Best Application Paper Session:

IISE Transactions Focus Issue on Supply Chain and Logistics
Reem Khir, Alan Erera, and Alejandro Toriello, "Two-stage sort planning for express parcel delivery"

IISE Transactions Focus Issue on Design and Manufacturing
Jialei Chen, Zhaonan Liu, Kan Wang, Chen Jiang, Chuck Zhang, and Ben Wang, "A Calibration-free Method for Biosensing in Cell Manufacturing"

IISE Transactions Focus Issue on Data Science, Quality, and Reliability
Dan Li, Kamran Paynabar, and Nagi Gebraeel, "A degradation-based detection framework against covert cyberattacks on SCADA systems"

 

Best Paper Session:

IISE Transactions Focus Issue on Operation Engineering and Analytics
Lauren N. Steimle, Vinayak S. Ahluwalia, Charmee Kamdar, and Brian T. Denton, "Decomposition methods for solving Markov decision processes with multiple models of the parameters"

 

*bolded: GT ISyE members

]]> chenriquez8 1 1684885122 2023-05-23 23:38:42 1685521916 2023-05-31 08:31:56 0 0 news ISyE faculty and Ph.D. alumni gather to celebrate their recent achievements at the IISE Annual Conference and Expo.

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2023-05-23T00:00:00-04:00 2023-05-23T00:00:00-04:00 2023-05-23 00:00:00 670859 670859 image <![CDATA[Chuck Zhang, Dan Li, Reem Khir, Lauren Steimle, and Yu Ding (Editor in Chief of IISE Transactions)]]> image/png 1684860194 2023-05-23 16:43:14 1684870155 2023-05-23 19:29:15 <![CDATA[IISE Annual Conference and Expo]]> <![CDATA[IISE Oral Presentations]]>
<![CDATA[ USG Regents Honor ISyE Undergrad Sydney Mudd]]> 36284 For Sydney Mudd, Georgia Tech is a place for creativity and progress. A place where she’s part of a culture where people are doing great things and inspiring her to do the same. So she’s particularly humbled to be the one Yellow Jacket this year honored by the University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents for her achievements.

Mudd will represent Georgia Tech at the board’s annual Academic Recognition Day alongside one student from each of the state’s other 25 universities. Honorees receive a resolution from the Georgia House of Representatives and a commendation from the USG chancellor.

Read more about Mudd on the College of Engineering website.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1685033448 2023-05-25 16:50:48 1685034566 2023-05-25 17:09:26 0 0 news Mudd will represent Georgia Tech at the board’s annual Academic Recognition Day for the state’s top college students.

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2023-03-29T00:00:00-04:00 2023-03-29T00:00:00-04:00 2023-03-29 00:00:00 Joshua Stewart
College of Engineering

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670410 670875 670410 image <![CDATA[Sydney Mudd with the Wreck]]> image/jpeg 1680102733 2023-03-29 15:12:13 1680297133 2023-03-31 21:12:13 670875 image <![CDATA[Sydney Mudd]]> image/png 1685034183 2023-05-25 17:03:03 1685034183 2023-05-25 17:03:03 <![CDATA[Sydney Mudd Putting her Stamp on ISyE]]> <![CDATA[USG Academic Recognition Day]]> <![CDATA[Stamps President's Scholars Program ]]>
<![CDATA[With Sandwiches, Basic Necessities, Jordine Jones Supports Atlanta’s Homeless]]> 36284 Growing up in and around Atlanta, industrial and systems engineering student Jordine Jones had passed Georgia Tech’s campus for most of her life. So studying at Tech as a first-generation college student and an Atlanta native has been an experience that she describes as surreal.
 
But coming to campus from an underprivileged background, Jones also saw the gaps between the bustling life on campus and the city around it. She attended a community event hosted by the local nonprofit Lifting Our Voices (LOV) that gave her the opportunity to make sandwiches and distribute them to people experiencing homelessness in Midtown. The experience shifted her perspective.

“Actually going out into the community touched me differently,” said Jones, a fourth-year undergraduate. “The Sandwich Run gave me the opportunity to see the real people I was helping. I felt much more connected to the tangible impact I could have.”

Read more of Jones' story on the College of Engineering website.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1685032776 2023-05-25 16:39:36 1685033222 2023-05-25 16:47:02 0 0 news The ISyE student has cofounded a student chapter of Lifting Our Voices to connect with her city and make a tangible impact.

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2023-02-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-02-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-02-06 00:00:00 Joshua Stewart
College of Engineering

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670872 670873 670872 image <![CDATA[Jordine Jones]]> image/jpeg 1685032932 2023-05-25 16:42:12 1685032932 2023-05-25 16:42:12 670873 image <![CDATA[Jordine Jones]]> image/png 1685033194 2023-05-25 16:46:34 1685033194 2023-05-25 16:46:34
<![CDATA[Engineer and Pastor: It’s All About Connections for New Associate Dean Damon P. Williams]]> 33939 Damon P. Williams is an engineer, a teacher, a man of faith, and a church leader. But really, he says, he’s in the people business.

That’s true as a senior lecturer and director of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE) in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). It’s also true as senior pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in southwest Atlanta.

“They end up being two sides of the same coin. Both jobs require a lot of teaching, sharing, and relationship building,” Williams said. “It’s my job to get to know people, to identify where their point of need is, and to see how I can support help them. I do that in both places.”

Starting Sept. 1, Williams will expand the scope of where and how he helps students, faculty, and staff at Georgia Tech as the College of Engineering’s first associate dean for inclusive excellence and chief diversity officer. The position was created this year to advance diversity and inclusion initiatives and support an inclusive climate of belonging across the College community.

“Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) are pillars of our College. They define what we are and will shape what we become,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. “Damon has exemplified these traits and inspired others to follow them throughout his career. As the College’s first chief diversity officer and a member of our leadership team, Damon will lead and energize our students, faculty, and staff to ensure an inclusive climate and lead the DEIB discussion on a national stage.”

Williams earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering at Georgia Tech in 2002 before pursuing a master’s and Ph.D. in industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan. He returned to the Stewart School as a part-time lecturer in 2010 and worked at the Center for Teaching and Learning as a postdoctoral fellow. Since 2015, he has been an ISyE lecturer, advisor, and now founding director of CASE.

Along the way, he went to seminary and became senior pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church. It’s a full plate, but Williams said that’s just how he likes it.

“I'm an engineer, so I see opportunities to improve everywhere. I see things to work on everywhere. I see need in people everywhere,” Williams said. “It’s hard for me to see need, know that I can help, and do nothing about it.”

Making Connections

The desire to help is why Williams started a program to improve the teaching skills of Ph.D. students in the Stewart School, built a mentoring program for alumni to work directly with ISyE students, and created a tutoring center to help undergraduates in upper-level courses. When he heard frustrations from staff members about a lack of career growth, he launched a program to help the School’s staff think through their trajectories at Georgia Tech and find opportunities for advancement. Within a few years, Williams found he was leading 18 different programs. That’s when he proposed uniting them into a single center — CASE.

“He works so hard to educate staff on best practices and supports us in our career planning,” said Development Associate Donald Phan. “Damon has helped me find my place and grow my career here at Georgia Tech, and for that I am forever grateful.”

Phan has served on the Stewart School’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee with Williams and credited him for inspiring Phan to take over as committee chair for the coming year.

Master’s student Maggie May worked with Williams throughout her undergraduate studies, first when she was struggling with an early ISyE course, then as part of a small team of four students that Williams guided through a semester of learning and studying together and called Team 4.0.

“Damon has this magical gift to be able to connect with others and make them feel like they belong exactly where they are,” said May, who emulated his approach when she was a teaching assistant, a peer tutor, and now as a graduate student. “It has stuck with me, because I am able to look back on my college years and remember the wonderful community that I was blessed to be a part of. I look at where I am now and am able to pinpoint Damon’s investment in me and Team 4.0 as the catalyst for my success.”

Plenty of programs and opportunities exist across Georgia Tech, Williams said, but students and employees often just don’t know about them. His job is making those connections — solving what he called “an information asymmetry problem.”

Williams said he’ll be doing that same kind of connecting in his new role as associate dean, along with leading the College’s DEIB efforts.

“Tech is doing a lot; we're just doing it in a very decentralized fashion,” he said. “It’s creating these connections, creating synergies of things that we are already doing at Tech — I think, very quickly, we're going to see that we're all doing a lot of great work, and we could identify what other people are doing for their staff and for their students, and implement it universally to benefit our entire community.”

A Call to Ministry

Williams’ plan always was to teach at Georgia Tech, and his undergrad mentors told him he’d benefit from experience in another academic environment. That’s how he ended up at Michigan. And it was there, during his Ph.D. studies, that things began to shift — thanks, in part, to a roommate who also was working on his engineering doctorate and actively involved in a church. The roommate decided to become a minister, and Williams went to his church to hear his very first sermon. 

“I felt something in my heart. I really was moved,” Williams said. “I started going to church, and before you know it, I joined the church.”

He soon was dreaming, literally, about leading a congregation and preaching from the pulpit. Which he thought was crazy. Meantime, other church members were telling him he was destined to lead a church. His pastor encouraged him to start thinking about ministry and to finish his engineering studies — and then steered him toward seminary. After four degrees and nine years of college, that wasn’t exactly what Williams wanted to hear. 

“I was like, ‘not interested,’” he said. “But I'm a good minister, and I did what my pastor told me to do. My only requirement — and prayer to God — was that I wanted to go back to Atlanta, because ultimately, I wanted to work at Georgia Tech.”

That’s how he ended up at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, where he earned a master’s in divinity in 2012. A year in, Williams found himself craving math and science to complement the reading and writing at seminary: “I need engineering” he recalled thinking. “This is not how my brain is wired.” And, once again, things lined up perfectly: The chair of ISyE at the time had been one of Williams’ professors at Michigan. He made a call, hoping the School might need extra instructors. By the fall, Williams was teaching his first courses.

A decade later, as he steps into a new role as associate dean, Williams said he remains grounded by faith and his family. He’s also guided by the example of his parents, who pushed him to pursue his strengths in math and science and planted seeds throughout his childhood about serving and helping other people. 

“I've been in every position at Georgia Tech: I've been a student, I've been staff, faculty, alumni. I've had an amazing experience,” Williams said. “But since I've been in every position, I know people who haven’t had an amazing experience. Part of it had to do with inclusivity and belonging — there was not an environment being created where they could excel and thrive. This position as associate dean gives me an opportunity to make a greater impact across the entire College of Engineering.”

]]> David Mitchell 1 1661954400 2022-08-31 14:00:00 1684341477 2023-05-17 16:37:57 0 0 news Starting Sept. 1, Williams will expand the scope of where and how he helps students, faculty, and staff at Georgia Tech as the College of Engineering’s first associate dean for inclusive excellence and chief diversity officer. The position was created this year to advance diversity and inclusion initiatives and support an inclusive climate of belonging across the College community.

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2022-08-31T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-31T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-31 00:00:00 Joshua Stewart

jstewart@gatech.edu

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660727 660727 image <![CDATA[Damon Williams]]> image/png 1661953933 2022-08-31 13:52:13 1661953933 2022-08-31 13:52:13
<![CDATA[ISyE Lecturer to Receive Teaching Honor from Georgia Tech Women in Engineering]]> 33939 Damon Williams, a senior lecturer in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), has been selected to receive the 2022 Georgia Tech Women in Engineering (WIE) Teaching Excellence Award, which will be presented at the organization’s annual banquet on April 14.

The award is selected by polling current female undergraduate students in the College of Engineering about who they consider to be their best engineering professor thus far in their academic careers. Williams, also the Director of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity, is one of two receiving the award along with Aerospace Engineering Lecturer Kelly Griendling.

“I am humbled and honored that the effort my teaching assistants and I put into creating an engaging environment for learning are being received positively by students,” said Williams, who also graduated from ISyE in 2002. “We believe in active learning, and it appears that belief is allowing all students to learn in my course, which is a great thing.”

Williams’ teaching interests lie in engaging a diverse set of learners in larger classes, and his research interests involve the development of analytical models to solve large-scale operational problems.

One of Williams’ largest contributions to the school remains the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE). Launched in 2021, the center aims to encourage academic growth, professional development, and inclusivity for all ISyE students. The goal has been to leverage the extensive resources of ISyE, the largest and No. 1-ranked program of its kind in the United States, to provide students with industry collaborations, networking and career opportunities, and access to cutting-edge research.

“We created the Center to foster connection and interaction,” Williams said in Fall 2021 when the center was launched. “There are so many points at which our various groups need to interact with each other, so we really wanted to build community – with this great push that Georgia Tech has for diversity, equity, and inclusion – while supporting students academically and professionally, and bring all our programs together into one place.”

The Georgia Tech WIE program, a part of the office of College of Engineering Dean Raheem Beyah, helps to recruit and retain more women engineering students at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is one of top universities in the country, having graduated more women engineers than any other institution in the United States since 2009.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1647918015 2022-03-22 03:00:15 1684341466 2023-05-17 16:37:46 0 0 news Damon Williams, a senior lecturer in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), has been selected to receive the 2022 Georgia Tech Women in Engineering (WIE) Teaching Excellence Award, which will be presented at the organization’s annual banquet on April 14.

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2022-03-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-03-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-03-21 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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646968 646968 image <![CDATA[Damon P. Williams]]> image/jpeg 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58
<![CDATA[Undergraduate Sydney Mudd Putting her Stamp on ISyE]]> 33939 Sydney Mudd (ISyE '24) was working her way through her junior and senior years at Parkview High in Lilburn, Ga., when she started to feel that pressure. It’s the same pressure most high schoolers begin to feel when the first of their friends start to make college selections, setting out plans for their majors and, it felt like, their entire lives.

“You have to choose a school,” she said, thinking back to those formative final years before moving out of her parents’ house and into the great unknown of higher education. “I’m 16 or 17 years old, and I’m supposed to be choosing what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.”

Even though she wasn’t ready to lay out a mental itinerary for the next 50 years of her life – and, really, who is? – Mudd did something so simple, and yet so difficult for so many.

She asked questions.

She spoke to teachers and advisors, older students, anyone with an ear and experience who could offer some direction on how they got into their degrees or professions. When she came to Georgia Tech in 2020 in the midst of a global pandemic that made her initial college experience far different than most she had talked to, she still didn’t know exactly what she wanted. But she also knew that part wasn’t as important just yet.

“I realized everyone’s journey is different, so I just have to focus on mine,” she said.

Flash forward a little over a year and a half. Mudd has transitioned from a Mechanical Engineering major to Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), gone through an internship with UPS, started a club for minority students within Industrial Engineering called Black IEs at Tech, served as the undergraduate representative for ISyE’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committee, served as the advisor for Emerging Leaders, a first-year leadership organization, connected with peers through the National Society of Black Engineers, and, most recently, been named a Stamps President’s Scholar.

A Stamps Scholar

Damon Williams, a senior lecturer and the director of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE) in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), received an email asking if he had anyone to recommend for the walk-on process for the Stamps President’s Scholar program at Georgia Tech.

Established in 1981, the program recognizes the most promising first-year students based upon excellence and potential in scholarship, leadership, progress, and service.

Williams already had a name in mind.

“After working with her for a few months, I was already beyond impressed with Sydney’s leadership skills and passion for everything she does,” Williams said. “When I was asked for nominees for the scholarship, she was truly the first student I thought of.”

Mudd met with Chen Zhou, an associate professor and associate chair for undergraduate studies in ISyE to discuss the nomination. Despite some nerves as she entered Zhou’s office, where she expected a formal interview, she was quickly treated to an easygoing conversation.

“He genuinely just wanted to get to know me,” Mudd said. “We just talked about what I was interested in, things I was passionate about and where I hoped to make a positive impact, specifically with regard to hunger and homelessness.

“After that conversation, he gave me the nomination.”

More rounds of interviews followed, including with E. Roe Stamps himself.

“I almost had a breakdown from nerves,” Mudd said, calmly and with a smile now, long after the decision had been made. “But it was so smooth.”

At the end of the final interview, she was told she got the scholarship, which – in addition to the mentorship, recognition, and academic opportunities – offers a full-ride scholarship.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “I started crying.”

Entrepreneurship and Giving Back

Although the Stamps scholarship may arguably be the biggest boost she gets for her college career, her pursuits don’t end at that sizable success. Mudd has always been a bit of a hustler – she bought and sold high-end sneakers while she was in high school – and she’s expanded her business acumen during in time in college.

To help fund her education, she and her cousin, who she called a “business partner” in high school, got involved with Turo. Turo is a peer-to-peer carsharing company that allows private car owners to rent out vehicles via an online marketplace.

“The sneakers weren’t really consistent money or anything,” she said, “so we had to find something that’s more stable.”

Now, she managers a handful of cars and continues to learn how to deal with customers, maintain cars, and more.

“This is helping me lay my foundation,” she said. “That’s how I see my time here. I’m building a foundation so I have options when I graduate.”

She doesn’t see herself going straight into business for herself. That may come later. There may be a stop in industry along the way. One thing she knows is that she wants to give back as much as she can.

“One day, I hope to start my own foundation,” said Mudd, who, along with her mom, aunt, and some friends, has helped pack meals for those in need since she was in middle school. “I was given opportunities others weren’t, and I feel a moral obligation to help those who don’t have the same privileges I do.”

Not bad for someone who wasn’t sure what she wanted to do just a few short years ago.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1645203622 2022-02-18 17:00:22 1684341455 2023-05-17 16:37:35 0 0 news After struggling to find her direction when she first got to Georgia Tech, Sydney Mudd has lined up numerous accolades including the prestigious Stamps scholarship.

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2022-02-18T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-18T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-18 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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655593 655593 image <![CDATA[Sydney Mudd - Stamps Scholarship]]> image/png 1645202613 2022-02-18 16:43:33 1645202613 2022-02-18 16:43:33 <![CDATA[Stamps President's Scholars Program]]>
<![CDATA[Alex Syriopoulos Overcomes Life-Changing Injury and Earns Two Georgia Tech Degrees]]> 35757 Faced by adversity, one Georgia Tech student gained the confidence to succeed with the help of a supportive community.

Alex Syriopoulos (IE 2020, M.S. GMC 2021) was a third-year student in the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) when an unexplained brain hemorrhage left him paralyzed after a coma. With determination and intensive physical therapy, he achieved an incredible physical recovery, and two years after the near-death experience, he was ready for his next challenge: going back to college.

When Syriopoulos returned to Georgia Tech in 2019, most of his friends had already graduated. But thanks to his outgoing nature and the encouragement of a mentor – introduced by Jorge Breton, the director of Hispanic Initiatives – he started building new networks for himself. He also unexpectedly reconnected with a first-year dorm friend, who became one of his team members for Senior Design. His academic advisor, Lauren Silver, provided the guidance he needed to get his course load back on track, and he never felt alone during his return to Tech.

To catch up with his academic studies, Syriopoulos discovered he needed to review some ISyE fundamentals. He also had to retake one of the courses he had been enrolled in during the semester of his injury when he realized he had forgotten most of the material. Despite adjusting well to being a student again, he still encountered unexpected difficulties.   

“Because I'm blind in my left peripheral vision, I can sometimes misread a question,” said Syriopoulos. “I once read the number 250 as 50, and that happened during a final exam.” 

However, he was blown away by the approachability and helpfulness of his professors, who were quick to accommodate him. Damon Williams, senior lecturer and director of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity, was exceptional in making sure he had enough time to take his quizzes. 

Syriopoulos was also thankful for ISyE's Gunter Sharp, emeritus professor, and He Wang, Colonel John B. Day Early Career Professor and assistant professor, who helped provide smooth transitions to online classes during Covid-19. Outside of ISyE, he also recalls having many engaging conversations with Mikhail Klimenko, who taught his international economics class. 

As he worked toward his long-awaited graduation, Syriopoulos started interviewing for a full-time job. Several companies expressed interest in hiring him, including Accenture. However, securing an offer proved challenging because many companies put recruiting on hold during the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, Syriopoulos received an email from the School of Modern Languages (ML) about the new master’s degree in global media and cultures (MS-GMC). The one-year program, a joint degree with the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC), provides advanced training in communication and media and develops expertise in a critical global language.

The globally focused degree intrigued Syriopoulos, who was born in Greece, is half-Greek and half-Colombian, speaks multiple languages, and interned with MasterCard Latin America. This background made him a natural candidate for the program. And after meeting with Jenny Strakovsky, former associate director of ML graduate studies and career education, as well as speaking with his former Spanish professors, he realized the degree would complement his technical engineering background by enhancing his communication skills. 

“A lot of companies had already told me that they were looking for people who understand data and are capable of explaining technical information to non-technical people,” said Syriopoulos.

The master’s program was an incredible option while he waited for the job market to improve, and he received the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship to help with the expense. In 2020, Syriopoulous joined the second cohort of the MS-GMC program with a concentration in Spanish.   

“The program was honestly a blessing,” he said. “I learned a lot, and I met some really incredible people -- professors and students alike.” 

Two of Syriopoulos' favorite courses centered around environmental theory – a special topics class on 21st-century environmental philosophy with Thomas Hugh Crawford, LMC associate professor, and sustainable development with ML Assistant Professor Miguel Rosas Buendia. In particular, he appreciated Buendia’s native Peruvian perspective on the environmental challenges in Latin America. 

For his master’s thesis project, Syriopoulos performed marketing analysis for Saving the Amazon, a Colombian NGO aiding the reforestation effort of the Amazon rainforest. The nonprofit takes funds from companies trying to reduce their carbon footprint and gives them to communities indigenous to the Colombian rainforest. In turn, the communities take control of planting new trees in their territories. Syriopoulos emphasizes that it's important to ensure these marginalized communities get the resources they need to amplify their voice in the global discussion over climate change, while also leveraging their age-old wisdom and traditions to sustainably reforest the Amazon rainforests.

While working on his thesis, Syriopoulos benefitted from the expertise of Crawford, one of his advisors, as well as Antonio Cardentey, a second advisor from the ML department. He also received guidance from Strakovsky.

In the middle of his master’s program, Syriopoulos received a call from Accenture offering him a position in their Atlanta office as a business and integration arch analyst. The role was a perfect match for him, as being able to work and collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds is crucial in consulting.

Thrilled to accept the offer, Syriopoulos graduated and began his full-time job. As he moves forward with his career, he is grateful to all the friends and professors who shaped his time at the Institute.

“We have a very close, beautiful community of people who help each other out,” said Syriopoulos. “Georgia Tech has been one of best experiences I've had in my life, and it's probably the most defining one for my character.”  

In the future, he is interested in giving back to the Shepherd Center, the hospital for spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation, where he received treatment for his injury. Furthermore, with his proximity to campus, he looks forward to the opportunity to stay active in the Georgia Tech community. 

]]> goberst3 1 1635370713 2021-10-27 21:38:33 1684341426 2023-05-17 16:37:06 0 0 news Surrounded by supportive faculty, staff, and students from across the Institute, ISyE alumnus Alex Syriopoulous earned his way to Double Jacket status.

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2021-10-27T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-27T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-27 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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652169 652169 image <![CDATA[Alex Syriopoulos]]> image/jpeg 1635369793 2021-10-27 21:23:13 1635369793 2021-10-27 21:23:13
<![CDATA[Caroline Singer: Student Lead for the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity]]> 35757 Fourth-year Caroline Singer from the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) is passionate about helping other students, and she has been involved since its development with the newly launched Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE), an interdisciplinary center that encompasses many programs designed to support the entire ISyE community. 

Singer first met Damon P. Williams, senior lecturer and director of CASE, as a student in one of his classes. She started working as his student assistant in Summer 2020, primarily focusing on ISYE 2027, but also helping with tutoring, converting courses into online formats, and other projects.

As Williams began implementing new programs to promote academic growth and professional development for ISyE students, he invited Singer to assist with these initiatives. Now, she serves as the head student lead for CASE, working with the center’s large team of student assistants to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“The mission of CASE – to promote success for all students – is something that rings home to me,” said Singer. “It means a lot that Damon is looking out for students in all of these different ways, and it was definitely something that I wanted to be a part of.”

Each of CASE’s three pillars, which (as the name suggests) includes academics, success, and equity, has a student assistant responsible for that sector’s programs. In addition to student lead, Singer has taken on the role of academics lead, which involves running the ISyE tutoring center. She also helped to create a presentation for the undergraduate and graduate teaching assistant (TA) orientations.

Another major program run by CASE is MentIEs, an initiative Singer helped to develop that connects ISyE students with successful alumni mentors who share their industry experience. Students participating in the program meet once a month in a group with their mentor and two other student mentees.

“The goal of MentIEs is to make sure that not only are the students prepared academically, but they are prepared professionally for when they get out into the real world,” said Singer.

Organizing MentIEs virtually because of Covid-19 was a challenge, but the pilot program received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the mentees. The students enjoyed furthering their professional development as well as building relationships within their mentoring groups, and almost all of them said they would recommend the program to other ISyE students.

In addition, Singer also works on the equity side of CASE and is excited about what the center is doing to provide additional resources to students.

“One of the equity initiatives being developed, Secure Space Allies, is intended to create safe spaces for underrepresented and marginalized persons within ISyE. It’s a spinoff of Safe Space, the LGBTQIA Resource Center’s ally training program,” Singer explained. “Faculty members can get trained to be a secure space ally, so students have a place to go to talk to someone when they feel discouraged or have an issue.”

In the future, she hopes other departments at Georgia Tech will develop similar resources for their students, especially something like Secure Space Allies that will help students feel more included. Being involved with CASE has been a meaningful experience for Singer, and she enjoys partnering with Williams to support ISyE students with these new programs.

]]> goberst3 1 1634262109 2021-10-15 01:41:49 1684341415 2023-05-17 16:36:55 0 0 news Fourth-year Caroline Singer is the student lead and academics lead for CASE, an interdisciplinary center encompassing many programs that support the ISyE community. 

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2021-10-14T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-14T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-14 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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651728 651728 image <![CDATA[Damon P. Williams and Caroline Singer]]> image/jpeg 1634261353 2021-10-15 01:29:13 1634261353 2021-10-15 01:29:13
<![CDATA[Students, Mentors Look for a Match at MentIEs Kickoff Event]]> 33939 Just about a year ago, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) launched MentIEs, a mentorship program designed at connecting undergraduates with ISyE alumni who can offer real-world practical insights students might not otherwise receive inside the classroom.

“Students who want to have a career outside academia need to learn from people who have been there and know hot it is done,” Damon P. Williams said at the time. Williams is a senior lecturer and director of ISyE’s Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE), and was recently named the College of Engineering’s first associate dean for inclusive excellence and chief diversity officer.

After a pilot program this past year, which saw high levels of participation from both students and alumni, Williams heard quite a bit of feedback from the students. Students loved the opportunity and gave great reviews of their mentors, but most had one specific request:

They wanted the opportunity to meet and network with other mentors around the program, whom they had heard about from their peers throughout the year.

On Sept. 19, this year’s cohort of mentees got that opportunity at the program’s kickoff event. Students and alumni mentors from around the country came together for an evening of food and networking, where no question was off limits and students were able to hear advice from individuals in a variety of fields.

“Simply put, it just broadens your scope,” second-year student Quincy Howard said of the event. “You get so many different perspectives through people’s careers and their experiences at Georgia Tech. It broadens your scope on what you think you can do and what your degree can do for you.”

The dinner was modeled like a speed dating event. Students and mentors were assigned to a table to begin the evening, where they ate dinner and got to know each other. After dinner and a 15-minute networking round, the bell sounded and students moved to a new table. There, they spoke with a new cohort of mentors who had entirely different experiences and perspectives than the group they left behind.

There were presidents of technology companies and consultants, sales excellence managers and optimization experts, CEOs and business founders. There were those who had long-since graduated and others who were in the early stages of their careers.

“There’s no way we were getting another opportunity like this,” said Harish Kanthi, another second-year student who said he couldn’t pass it up when he heard about it in Williams’ class. Laughing, he added, “The net worth in this room is off the charts.”

Students involved in the program will continue to connect with their mentors, as well as their new connections developed at the dinner. For the mentors, it’s a great opportunity to pass on their experience to a new generation and to find bright minds they may be able to call upon in the future.

View a full list of mentors and companies who participated in the kickoff event below:

]]> David Mitchell 1 1663787212 2022-09-21 19:06:52 1684341405 2023-05-17 16:36:45 0 0 news ISye students and alumni mentors from around the country came together for an evening of food and speed dating-style networking, where no question was off limits and students were able to hear advice from individuals in a variety of fields.

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2022-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-21 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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661415 661416 661415 image <![CDATA[MentIEs Kickoff Event 1]]> image/jpeg 1663786886 2022-09-21 19:01:26 1663786886 2022-09-21 19:01:26 661416 image <![CDATA[MentIEs Kickoff Event 2]]> image/jpeg 1663786921 2022-09-21 19:02:01 1663786921 2022-09-21 19:02:01
<![CDATA[Georgia Tech Officially Breaks Ground on Tech Square Phase 3]]> 33939 Two towers will be new home for business and industral engineering programs.

Georgia Tech officially kicked off the construction that will further expand the Institute’s footprint in Midtown Atlanta. The groundbreaking ceremony for Tech Square Phase 3 happened in the shadow of structures like Coda, Centergy, and the Technology Square Research Building where Tech has rapidly cultivated one of the country’s fastest-growing business and technology ecosystems.

This third phase of Technology Square will be anchored by two multi-story towers. The entire project is planned to add more than 400,000+ square feet of new space for research and collaboration. The primary buildings situated on the site, located on the blocks between 5th, Spring, and West Peachtree Streets, will both be named for philanthropists who have played a vital role in advancing Georgia Tech’s mission of progress and service.  One tower named for principal donor Ernest Scheller, will be the new home of graduate and executive education programs of the Scheller College of Business. The second tower will be named George Tower, in recognition of Bill and Penny George, and will house the nation’s top-ranked industrial engineering program.

Georgia Tech transformed abandoned and blighted areas across the Midtown/Downtown Connector to open Technology Square in 2003. The second phase 21-story Coda Building opened in 2019 and has drawn more top-tier tech companies to work as close to Georgia Tech’s campus as possible.

“A successful innovation ecosystem requires not just good hardware — the right buildings in the right locations — but also good software: the right talent and programs and a culture of innovation,” said President Ángel Cabrera at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Tech alumnus and Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens was also on hand to celebrate the launch of the transformative project.

“Metro Atlanta’s diverse and thriving tech industry is the envy of many, and Tech Square has helped make that a reality.” Dickens said. 



Since 2021, companies including Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Micron, Airbnb, and Nike have made significant investments to expand their presence in the neighborhood.

"Having this collaboration here between companies and one of the world's great academic institutions and different departments is critical,” said George, a graduate of Tech’s industrial engineering program.

“The new facilities of Tech Square Phase 3 will offer our students the ability to learn, collaborate, and develop in a new, innovative environment. Thanks to the generosity and support of our community, we are now better positioned than ever before to fulfill our mission of cultivating principled business leaders who thrive in a tech-driven world,’ said Dean Maryam Alavi of the Scheller College of Business.

Tech’s business programs have been growing and expanding, consistently ranking among the top 20 nationally. 



"Dean Alavi and the Scheller college team have consistently been moving up the ladder and have number one for the entire college well within sight. This new tower should give a big boost toward that goal,” said Ernest Scheller.

University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue joined to help turn over the first shovels of earth where the towers will soon sit. 



"These types of initiatives are happening around the state, and it’s the students that we are impacting,” said Perdue. 



Jeb Stewart, a Georgia Tech graduate and son of Milton H. Stewart, the namesake of Tech’s school of industrial engineering, recognized the positive momentum this groundbreaking represented.

“Hope can start with things like education and opportunity—things that are going to happen in these buildings,” Stewart said.

“Hundreds of years from now when people come to Midtown and see these buildings, they will know they were built for students to learn and be innovators,” said President Cabrera. 


In addition to the academic facilities, Tech Square Phase 3 will also include a large outdoor plaza with street-level retail and an underground parking deck. Project partners include architecture from booth Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio (RJTR) and Eskew Dumez Ripple and Turner Construction. The new development is planned to open in 2026.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1666375600 2022-10-21 18:06:40 1684341394 2023-05-17 16:36:34 0 0 news The groundbreaking ceremony for Tech Square Phase 3, the future home of ISyE, happened in the shadow of structures like Coda, Centergy, and the Technology Square Research Building where Georgia Tech has rapidly cultivated one of the country’s fastest-growing business and technology ecosystems.

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2022-10-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-10-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-10-21 00:00:00 Steven Norris

Institute Communications

snorris@gatech.edu

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<![CDATA[In Conversation: ISyE Undergraduate Lucia Colina on Her Involvement with GT-SHPE]]> 35757 ISyE fourth-year Lucia Colina first came to the U.S. with the goal of going to college and earning an industrial engineering degree. When she began her college studies, she discovered the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), which serves to empower the Hispanic community to realize its fullest potential and impact the world through STEM. Colina joined SHPE, and upon transferring to Georgia Tech, found her place in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and GT-SHPE. In the following interview, Colina shares her journey to Georgia Tech and SHPE and the impact GT-SHPE has had on her. It has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What brought you to Georgia Tech and ISyE as a transfer student?

Since I was a child, I knew I wanted to study industrial engineering (IE). With hard work and my family's support, I came to the U.S. to obtain my college degree. I was able to start my degree journey at a great community college. When it was time to transfer to another school, I started searching for the top IE programs in the nation, which is how I found Georgia Tech. After searching for more information about the school and falling in love with the campus, I knew Georgia Tech was where I wanted to study to become that engineer I dreamed of being as a kid. 

Studying at Georgia Tech in the ISyE program has been challenging but incredible. I have grown and learned so much in my time here. However, what brought me to the Institute was the perseverance of becoming a professional industrial engineer who can make this world a better place. My parents are also an essential part of what brought me here. They have been my biggest support throughout this process.

Tell us about your involvement with the Georgia Tech chapter of Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers. 

I have been involved in SHPE since community college. The passion and love that the SHPE chapter members there had for the organization were so incredible that I felt connected right away. When I transferred to Georgia Tech, I wanted to continue my journey with GT-SHPE, and even though it took some time to adapt to a new school and city, I knew GT-SHPE was going to be that place where I could make a difference. So I decided to apply for the executive board as secretary. In this position, I am responsible for managing three different branches of our organization: academic and professional development; philanthropy; and our signature event, Taste of Latin America.

As a transfer student, coming to a new city was potentially challenging, but GT-SHPE allowed me to meet new people and obtain great professional opportunities. I have grown so much, both as a person and as a professional!  

What is something students outside GT-SHPE might not know about the organization?

We are an organization that looks to shape our members not only in becoming better professionals but better people as well. We have so many resources to help you succeed, such as professional workshops and boot camps, social events, Taste of Latin America, philanthropy events, scholarships, and so much more. This organization is not only for Hispanic students but for any student who is looking to make a positive impact in their community. Therefore, I invite any student to join GT-SHPE -- you will not regret it!

What are one or two of your favorite initiatives offered by GT-SHPE?

Two of my favorites initiatives offered by GT-SHPE are Kit Operations and Taste of Latin America (TLA). Kit Operations is a fairly new initiative that the philanthropy team at GT-SHPE is trying to support so it happens every year. The purpose of Kit Operations is to create hygiene kits for people experiencing homelessness  in Atlanta. This has been a tough year for many people, especially for this particular community.          

My other favorite initiative is Taste of Latin America. We show the larger Georgia Tech community what it means to be a Latino with cultural food, music, and a performance that everyone can enjoy. This year, the event had a different concept since we needed to make sure it followed safety protocols demanded by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The TLA team has been exceptional, and I am proud and happy that even with all the challenges we faced during the planning process, we made this event possible.

]]> goberst3 1 1622128418 2021-05-27 15:13:38 1684341385 2023-05-17 16:36:25 0 0 news In this interview, fourth-year ISyE student Lucia Colina shares her journey to Georgia Tech and how her involvement with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers has impacted her.

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2021-05-27T00:00:00-04:00 2021-05-27T00:00:00-04:00 2021-05-27 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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647782 647782 image <![CDATA[Lucia Colina]]> image/jpeg 1622127933 2021-05-27 15:05:33 1622127933 2021-05-27 15:05:33
<![CDATA[In Conversation: ISyE Undergraduate Jathan Caldwell]]> 28766 Jathan Caldwell is many things: third-year student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), talented photographer and musician, Tower Gold Award recipient, social media content creator for the humanitarian organization World Relief, two-time summer intern at McKinsey & Company, entrepreneur, and vice president for external affairs for Georgia Tech’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (GT-SHPE).

It was in the context of that last detail that ISyE reached out to Caldwell, who enthusiastically agreed to share – among other topics – his thoughts on how his Ecuadorian family has shaped his personal values, what it’s like to be a Hispanic STEM student at the Institute, and the impact of GT-SHPE on his college experience. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

We are in a time where conversations around the experiences of people of color are being rightfully foregrounded. What thoughts have you had about this cultural moment?

Our nation has not only grappled with a pandemic that is disproportionately affecting minority communities, but we also have been repeatedly shocked by instances of police brutality that are just a glimpse of what the Black community in the U.S. regularly faces. The dire need for social action is inescapable.

Yet I look ahead, feeling both challenged and optimistic. More than ever before, people are awakening to these perpetual injustices – although the reluctance to make substantive change and “what about-isms” unfortunately has been quick to follow. I personally wish to work toward making this moment a catalyst for a focused movement that is built for the long-term. Our generation has a momentous calling to funnel innovation and conscience into needed social change.

Tell us about your background and family origin. How has being of Ecuadorian extraction impacted your life?

My parents met in the small town of Sucúa, Ecuador. My mother, a town resident, was a waitress, and my father was a Peace Corps volunteer from the U.S. Both struggled with jobs that paid less than minimum wage, and they moved to the U.S. with few financial resources and big dreams of being able to support their family. Raised traveling back and forth between the U.S. and Ecuador, I was deeply molded to value the integrity of community and the significance of culture; this truly informed the ambitions I have and the value I hold for serving others. I am thankful for a heritage that has inspired me to spark innovation for the underserved and to never lose sight of la familia’s profound importance. 

What would you like the ISyE and larger Georgia Tech communities to know about being a Hispanic student at the Institute? 

I am so grateful for the way our Institute not only values diversity and supports our Latinx/Hispanic community but also amplifies our voices and unlocks opportunities for us to advance with confidence through the Office of Hispanic Initiatives, the Office of Minority Education, and other core initiatives at Tech. There are certainly barriers and stereotypes that have posed challenges throughout my college journey. At the same time, I still face biased perceptions around my very presence in STEM and have been kept out of internships, organizations, and professional opportunities simply for not having a more traditional background and “fit.”

Fortunately, ISyE and the broader Tech community have forged a culture that embraces differences and truly sets the tone for leading with diversity. Now in my third year, I look back at having been selected for the pilot Freshman Diversity Leaders Internship with McKinsey & Company as a testament to Georgia Tech’s leadership on this front, as it was one of the few schools in the U.S. to be part of this launch propelling top diverse students.

When did you get involved in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and how has the organization contributed to your college experience?

I got involved with GT-SHPE my very first semester at Georgia Tech, and it has honestly been a transformative experience. I find GT-SHPE to be an organization that is unique in the different experiences it offers students, both professionally and socially. I have had a chance to be involved with everything from our Mini World Cup, singing for the Taste of Latin America (an event showcasing Hispanic culture for all students), being a PEP mentor, and – currently – serving as external vice president. GT-SHPE is a place where I have truly felt at home, with people who resonate with my background and connect on shared interests and passions.

As the second largest collegiate SHPE chapter in the U.S., we now have 340 members. Having raised about $40,000 just this semester to fund all programmatic activities, it has been immensely rewarding for me to lead our corporate relations and events, national convention, and professional experience program. This is a community I have been able to lean on and grow with, and in return, it is one I wish to propel further so each member can achieve their dreams. 

Tell us more about PEP.

PEP stands for our Professional Experience Program. At its core, PEP is an opportunity for motivated students – PEPies – to be individually paired with older students – PEPos – who serve as mentors. This program is extremely actionable and provides a phenomenal outlet for students (particularly first-years) to transition into Georgia Tech with a gust of wind in their sails. As part of the program, students participate in everything from workshops on resume writing and personal brand building to learning how to navigate all aspects of their Georgia Tech journey. PEPies are encouraged and equipped to believe in their exciting potential as Hispanic students at Georgia Tech.

For me, it’s full-circle to have been a PEPo last year and now to be leading the program of 50 or so students. These one-on-one interactions that take place through the program are some of the most meaningful to me.

Anything final thoughts?

I believe that an integral part of the narrative of future innovation is being written by the ideas that receive venture capital backing, yet with funding only going to 9% women, 1% Black, and 2% Latinx founders, there is a glaring need to improve entrepreneurial diversity. 

At the start of this school year, I connected with local VCs, entrepreneurs, and Institute program directors to share my idea for a Georgia Tech-based, student-run VC that would specifically support underrepresented minority student founders. I am currently in the process of building this fund, Futuro Ventures, with support from CREATE-X leadership. If you are a student, faculty member, or alum interested in learning more either about the funding or operating side, feel free to reach out to me!

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1601578940 2020-10-01 19:02:20 1684341377 2023-05-17 16:36:17 0 0 news Jathan shares how his Ecuadorian family shaped his personal values, what it’s like to be a Hispanic STEM student at Georgia Tech, and the impact of GT-SHPE on his college experience.

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2020-10-01T00:00:00-04:00 2020-10-01T00:00:00-04:00 2020-10-01 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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639807 639807 image <![CDATA[Jathan Caldwell]]> image/jpeg 1601576532 2020-10-01 18:22:12 1601576532 2020-10-01 18:22:12
<![CDATA[In Conversation: ISyE Alumna Errika Moore]]> 28766 Errika Moore (BIE 1996) is a standout alumna of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). She has won numerous awards as a mentor and a community builder for her dedication to increasing Black representation in STEM fields, both in terms of educational opportunities and in professional careers. Moore has served on many different boards, including the ISyE Advisory Board, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization, the American Diabetes Association, Out Teach, and Per Scholas. She is currently the senior program officer at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.

In this interview, Moore discusses her own experiences as a Black woman in STEM, why she is so passionate about increasing Black representation in STEM, and her hopes for the young Black students who are currently at Georgia Tech. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

 What has been on your mind while watching the civil unrest related to this summer’s deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many others – especially since you’re raising two Black sons?

 As a mother of two teenage boys, my heart goes out to all of mothers and fathers who’ve had to bury their children in the last few years due to senseless, avoidable deaths. My sons are now 18 and 16. After a racial incident occurred at their private school last fall, I shared with the the administration that I unfortunately have had to prepare my sons for these kinds of life tragedies their entire lives. My greatest fear when my oldest son began driving was not that he’d get into a car accident but rather that he’d be pulled over by the police – and now that he’s 18, that fear has heightened.  

I’m frustrated that I’ve had to spend more time the last two years not encouraging my son to enjoy life and spending time with friends but instead urging him to watch where he goes, to be prepared for his “passive” response to law enforcement, and to recognize that his academic excellence and honors at a nationally recognized high school means nothing to those he might encounter who would wish to harm him.

Could you share some thoughts about what it has been like to be a Black woman in STEM – that intersectionality – beginning with your undergraduate years at Tech Institute and continuing to where you are today?

Midway through my undergraduate career at Tech, I realized the intersectionality of being a Black woman in STEM was a highly marginalized position when the professor teaching my circuits class told me, “Black women have no business in engineering.” And although one of my greatest joys in life will always be having seen that same professor sitting on the dais as I crossed the stage at Commencement, one of the most pivotal aspects about that moment is that I became committed to ensuring all Black women in STEM have the opportunity to be uplifted and honored instead of being marginalized or dismissed.  

Throughout my life, I’ve had a significant level of encouragement from my parents, mentors, sponsors and uplifting organizations like the Georgia Tech chapter of National Society of Black Engineers and the Xi Alpha chapter of  Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. But what about the young Black women who can’t leverage these support systems?

Statistically, half of them decide not to pursue a STEM education before they even graduate from high school. For those who enter college, another 50% opt not to graduate in STEM.  And the next large drop in numbers occurs before those STEM graduates complete eight years in their professional careers. Thankfully, programs like the Million Women Mentors movement, Women in Technology (WIT) GirlsBlack Girls Code, and IT Senior Management Forum’s (ITSMF) Emerge Academy exist to support young Black girls and women to excel in STEM. 

You have had an incredibly successful career – and have specifically held professional positions and volunteer leadership positions in organizations that work toward increasing diversity in STEM. What has driven your missional mindset behind this?

My parents taught me at a very young age that we are “blessed to be a blessing.” Currently, my personal mantras are “The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose” and “I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change; I’m changing the things I cannot accept.” I know that I’ve been blessed to represent diversity in STEM, and I’m extremely grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to lead efforts, boards, and organizations with this same focus for the past 30 years: working to encourage, enable, uplift, and fortify others so that they too have the opportunity to represent diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM.

Why is diversity in STEM so important?

Statistics reflect, and companies have proven, that diversity in STEM creates better business models, better ideation, more inclusive technology, and products that are more reflective of their consumers. In fact, Georgia Tech alumna Joy Buolamwini (CS 12) – recently featured in Fast Company magazine as the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) – has literally proven this through her research and her MIT thesis. 

Her thesis methodology uncovered large racial and gender bias in AI services from companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon. AJL was created to form a world with more ethical and inclusive technology. Because the reality is, without diversity in STEM we won’t have diverse minds, diverse thoughts, or diverse discoveries to challenge and hold these racial and gender bias “norms” accountable. 

Given this, we need more K-12 educational systems, higher education institutions, and corporations to actively focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM. And until that happens to the point of changing outcomes and the number of Black students in STEM, I’ll continue to be a staunch advocate and change agent.

What are your hopes for the present moment in our country, and for the generation of young Black students currently at Georgia Tech? 

Unfortunately, the present moment doesn’t reflect hope. We’ve lost iconic leaders like John Lewis, and the lives of future leaders have been sacrificed. So, my hope for the Black students currently at Georgia Tech is that they will think beyond the here and now, that they will look to the future and think about the world they want to create for the generations to come. My hope is that they do know that their lives matter – and not only do their lives matter, but that what they intend to do with their lives matters.

Our diverse STEM future rests in their hands – and that is where the hope is. 

 

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1600881264 2020-09-23 17:14:24 1684341369 2023-05-17 16:36:09 0 0 news Errika shares her thoughts on the ongoing civil unrest in the U.S., her experiences as a Black woman in STEM, and her hopes for the current generation of Black Georgia Tech students.

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2020-09-23T00:00:00-04:00 2020-09-23T00:00:00-04:00 2020-09-23 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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639430 639430 image <![CDATA[Errika Moore]]> image/jpeg 1600880595 2020-09-23 17:03:15 1600880595 2020-09-23 17:03:15 <![CDATA[ISyE Alumna Errika Moore: Making an Impact in STEM]]>
<![CDATA[In Conversation: Samantha Guada on Finding Family and Opportunity in SHPE]]> 28766 Originally from Venezuela, Samantha Guada and her family emigrated to Panama to avoid the economic challenges and political strife taking place in her home country. Although never a student at Georgia Tech, Guada’s father loved Georgia Tech, and it became Guada’s dream school too. Throughout her time as an undergraduate in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), she invested herself in student organizations. Guada’s chief role at Georgia Tech was serving as president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), where she was committed to not only empowering Hispanics to overcome adversity and succeed but also to sharing Hispanic culture with the entire campus.  

Now an alumna of the Institute, Guada is beginning the next chapter in her life. She recently moved to Seattle, Washington to work for Microsoft as a program manager. She plans on remaining involved in SHPE on a larger scale so she can continue to give back to others and help others find their support system just as she did.

In this interview, Guada discusses the role of SHPE at Georgia Tech and its significance for her college years, and she describes her experience of being a female Hispanic international student.

Why industrial engineering?

I have wanted to study engineering ever since I was little, but I didn't know what kind. I knew I didn’t want to focus on buildings, chemicals, or anything specific. So, as I was researching engineering as a high school student, I noticed that ISyE was the broadest engineering field and that I could decide later what exactly I wanted to do with it. As time passed, I fell in love with it. I’m constantly trying to make things more efficient, so it is a perfect fit for me.

Where did your involvement in campus organizations begin?

The Hispanic Recruitment Team (HRT) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. In my first semester, I applied to be part of the board of directors for SHPE, and I didn’t get the position. I decided to become more involved in HRT by going to different high schools and hosting visits to promote Georgia Tech.  

In my second semester, a position opened for SHPE, and the president encouraged me to apply. I became the leadership planning chair and oversaw the mentorship program. Older members would provide support and advice to first-years in order to help them succeed. I was a first-year who was leading other first-years, which allowed me to know exactly what we wanted to see from the program.

What was your motivation for leading so early in your college experience?

I came to Georgia Tech wanting to take advantage of valuable opportunities and wanting to meet new people, so joining SHPE was inevitable. As a first-year, I looked up to the president, and I just knew I would be in that position one day. I wanted to give back not only to the first-years but also to the whole organization. Making a big impact on campus was very important to me and encouraged me to want to lead.

What are SHPE’s most important initiatives?

With 280 members and a $90,000 budget, we can do a lot. Our biggest event is Taste of Latin America, which is a whole day of Hispanic food and culture with hundreds of people in attendance. Over 10 countries are represented on Skiles Walkway. There is a lot of learning and bonding with Hispanics. Afterward, people showcase their country’s dancing, acting, and comedy.  

We also provide scholarships that support members’ educations. SHPE aims to empower Hispanics to be confident in academics and STEM fields. We offer a lot of academic opportunities such as time management workshops, post-graduate workshops, and mentoring programs. I would say that our biggest focus is the professional aspect. Companies will come to events and recruit our members.  

There is a philanthropic aspect to SHPE as well, where we give back to the community. Usually we participate in other organizations’ events, but this past year, we decided to develop our own philanthropy events where we created kits for the homeless sponsored by Eaton and sold candygrams to support the Latin American Association.

On top of that, we do social activities as an organization such as paintball, ice skating, and bowling. SHPE has so much to offer its members and caters to many different needs.

What is something that the average Georgia Tech student doesn’t know about SHPE?

One misconception that I want to address is that SHPE is only for Hispanic engineers. The truth is that we are a very inclusive organization, and there isn’t a need to be Hispanic or to be an engineer. Forty percent of our members are international. We’re super inclusive because we want to share our culture with many different people.

Also, SHPE provides opportunities to its members that are truly once in a lifetime. I found my internships as a result of being a part of SHPE, and these opportunities served as huge learning experiences. It allowed me to take the next step in my education and in my career. There is a national SHPE convention where members can find internships and research opportunities. Overall, the organization unlocks amazing opportunities to go further with your Georgia Tech education.  

What is the best thing about being Hispanic at Georgia Tech? Conversely, what is the most challenging aspect?

It is very hard to move to a new country with a new culture, not knowing anyone going to your school while everyone else seems to know at least one person. It was a huge leap of faith for me. Initially, it was very challenging, and I thought I wouldn’t make it through four years.

However, I found a support system that made me feel right at home, and that was with SHPE. As a Hispanic, finding other people who like the same food as you or looking for restaurants where you can get food from home is very important to feel comfortable. It’s also great to have a place where you can speak Spanish, participate in events related to your culture, and bring to campus aspects of your culture. We like to call ourselves familia because we’re family to each other.

If you're interested in learning more about SHPE, or any of the Institute's nearly 400 student organizations, you can attend the virtual Fall Organizations Fair, which will be held August 24-August 28, 2020.

 

 

 

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1596647804 2020-08-05 17:16:44 1684341360 2023-05-17 16:36:00 0 0 news ISyE undergraduate Samantha Guada served as SHPE's president for the 2019-2020 academic year.

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2020-08-05T00:00:00-04:00 2020-08-05T00:00:00-04:00 2020-08-05 00:00:00 Taylor Hunter

Communications Assistant

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[In Conversation: ISyE Undergraduate Jore Oni]]> 28766 Jore Oni, who will be an undergraduate senior in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) when the fall semester begins in a few weeks, has been a standout student at the Institute. He has served in the Student Government Association for several years in various capacities, has been on the executive board for both Theta Xi fraternity and ISyE Student Ambassadors, and has completed a co-op with Coca-Cola. He has been recognized for his achievements and leadership by being selected as a Mr. Georgia Tech finalist and as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar. Oni’s academic accomplishments have included Dean’s List, Faculty Honors, and a Provost Scholarship.

Given the continuing civil unrest and the national conversation about race and white privilege, ISyE recently reached out to him to ask if he would like to comment on these events. Oni is currently finishing an internship with Amazon Web Services as a demand generation intern, and he provided his response to our questions by email. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What have your thoughts and feelings been over the past few weeks as the U.S. has witnessed the deaths of young Black men like you at the hands of police? What would you like the ISyE and larger Georgia Tech community to know?

To say these past few weeks have been hard would be an understatement. Simply put, it hurts. It hurts a lot. It pains me to see people who look like me be discriminated against and treated so unfairly just because of the color of our skin. I acknowledge that in some cases individuals may have committed an offense, resisted arrest, etc., but the root cause of these initial altercations and hostility is always because of our skin color. And that mentality at its very core is racism.

These few weeks seem all too familiar to years past – Trayvon Martin (2012), Eric Garner (2014), Alton Sterling (2016), and on and on. I still remember one night when my twin brother came home in tears. He was stopped by a policeman that night and shared how the fear for his life in that very moment became real. Similarly, my biggest fear is that one day my kids will have to endure these same hardships.

This is not to say all cops are bad, but the few are enough. They’re enough to validate the Black community’s fear, to motivate us to advocate for conversation, dialogue, and reform for real change to happen. And collectively we want the ISyE and whole Georgia Tech community to hear and resonate with our concerns – to really dig deep to try and understand the pain Black people have for so long endured. In that way, we can stand together, as one, and truly be the change for our next generation.

More specifically, as a young Black man in a STEM field, is there anything you want to share about your experiences in this arena?

As a young Black man in engineering, I feel as if I am always trying to prove myself. Throughout my four years, I have constantly had my achievements belittled and brought down because I am Black. “You got into Tech because you are Black.” “You got your co-op and internship at great IE companies because you are Black.” “You were selected a Georgia Tech ambassador because you are Black.” “You were named a Mr. Georgia Tech finalist because you are Black.”

Over and over again, I feel that no matter how hard I work both academically and professionally, my accomplishments will always be diminished. I understand my skin color may bring some advantages through diversity metrics as I pursue my career, but the truth is it brings more obstacles, as I have to first navigate through stereotypes and implicit racial biases. We – the members of the Black community – want to succeed and make a name for ourselves, just like our white peers and classmates. But it hurts when we work twice as hard to be then only given half the value of its merit. We use this to fuel our motivation, but we long for the day where our accomplishments can be validated by our work ethic, rather than the color of our skin.

Why is diversity and representation important in STEM?

Diversity, representation, and inclusion in STEM are of the utmost importance. The National Science Foundation reports that 84% of working professionals currently in science and engineering jobs in the U.S. are white or Asian males. STEM jobs are growing faster than any other industry and are expected to increase by 17% in the next five years. But less than a quarter of this pool consists of minorities. The Pew Research Center reports that the median salary men in STEM fields earn is $84,000; women, in contrast, earn a median salary of $60,828 – a difference of over $23,000. The median salary for Black people working in STEM is $58,000, compared with the median white salary of $71,897 – a difference of nearly $14,000. As we progress as a nation, we need to do more to close such disparities.

As I grew up, I struggled to find role models in STEM who looked like me. Often, Black people are told that to be successful, we must pursue an athletic career as our only option. It is so important to promote diversity and representation so that future generations can pursue whatever their dreams may be. It is paramount that we give them the belief that they too can be problem-solvers, world-changers, and leaders.

You have been recognized for your leadership in various roles at the Institute. Have recent events changed or shaped your plans to continue leading, and if so, how?

I am thankful to have been seen as a leader on campus, even as a Black student. I have always tried to use my platform and sphere of influence to inspire my peers and underclassmen. But upon reflection regarding these recent events, I need to be doing more for my community, right here in Atlanta. Despite Georgia Tech’s location in one of the most diverse cities in the world, Black students comprise less than 7% of the student body. That’s a staggering statistic.

I want to push for more equal representation by reaching out to Black high school students and encouraging them that they too can be just as successful as their white peers. My first year at Tech, I mentored a student named Alpha at a predominantly Black high school. This experience showed me firsthand the obstacles he faced and the struggle it takes to escape one’s socioeconomic class. We need to be doing more to meet such students halfway, to provide not only more equal opportunities, but more equitable ones. My sister said it best: “Equality is giving everyone the same opportunity, while equity considers the background, needs, and circumstances of each individual. It effectively provides the necessary resources in order for them to be successful and achieve an equal outcome.”

Due to the systematic racism that began with our ancestors, Black people have always been at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, the effects of it are still present today in our criminal justice system, income inequality, and even education. As an Institute that prides itself on progress and service, we need to be doing more to level the playing field for all.

Mentorship has always been a passion of mine. This past year I have been able to serve middle school students at my church, where I help lead discipleship and small group discussions on a spiritual level. This experience has shown me the true impact of giving back to those younger than me. I want to continue to serve not only them, but now because of these events, more people like Alpha: Students who need others to know that there are people who look just like them, speaking up and fighting for their chance to pursue their dreams and chance at a brighter future.


 

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1594914324 2020-07-16 15:45:24 1684341351 2023-05-17 16:35:51 0 0 news In this interview, Jore shares his perspective on the current civil unrest and his experiences as a young Black man in STEM.

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2020-07-16T00:00:00-04:00 2020-07-16T00:00:00-04:00 2020-07-16 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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636999 636999 image <![CDATA[Jore Oni]]> image/jpeg 1594913005 2020-07-16 15:23:25 1594913005 2020-07-16 15:23:25
<![CDATA[In Conversation: ISyE Alumna Ndeyanta Jallow on Current Events]]> 28766 In early January, we interviewed Ndeyanta Jallow, a fourth-year undergraduate student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). Jallow, who graduated from Georgia Tech in May, was at that time serving as president of the Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers (GTSBE), and we discussed with her her view of leadership, what her participation in GTSBE meant to her Tech experience, and the importance of GTSBE as an organization on campus.

Following the events of the past few weeks – the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman and the subsequent protests around the globe in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, we spoke to Jallow again. In this interview, she shares her thoughts on the current moment and why GTSBE is more essential than ever. Now at home in Connecticut, Jallow is spending the summer studying for the GMAT and will begin full-time work with Accenture Strategy in Atlanta this September.

Thank you for speaking with us, Ndeyanta. Can we start out by talking about what’s been on your mind these past couple of weeks?

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting, worrying, and praying for change. I have two younger siblings – including a little brother – and I’ve been having important conversations with them about everything that’s happening. And honestly, these are conversations I wished I didn’t have to have.

I’m encouraged to see how people are responding to these events – people who are speaking out when they’ve previously been silent – and I’m hoping that there will be real change. But we have a long way to go, as the problem is bigger than just police brutality.

What do efforts like last week’s #ShutdownSTEM and #ShutdownAcademia accomplish, if anything?

Giving dedicated time and space to have conversations about what is happening is good, but it’s also important to give Black people time and space to talk about these issues outside of when traumatic incidents occur. Many of my Black friends have said they’re expected to go to class or into work and engage as if these protests and this social upheaval isn’t happening. And that’s certainly emotionally difficult.

In our previous interview, you talked about the significant underrepresentation and the lack of recognition of Black people in STEM fields. Do you see this topic gaining currency, and what effect do you expect it to have?

I was just talking with my friends about this. The representation of Black and African American students at Georgia Tech is already low, but the work we do in spite of this is incredible. But it doesn’t get showcased unless the work is really “big,” and there are so many “smaller” stories about Black students that are worth amplifying. These can be showcased in addition to the diversity organizations and platforms our campus has.

Outside of being recognized for awards won, I’ve seen how a Black student in class may answer a professor’s question, and their input will go unrecognized. But then a white student will say the same thing, and they receive the recognition. My friends have also told me that this happens to them, and it’s quite troubling.

At the very least, conversations about these issues that needed to happen for a long time are finally starting to happen. For example, over the past few weeks, President Cabrera and Dean McLaughlin have contacted GTSBE’s executive board. Rather than coming to us in a stance of, “Here’s what we’ll do for you,” they have said, “What do you need us to do?” which oftentimes results in a very different outcome.

I hope that the increased support of Black and African American students at Georgia Tech continues, as I truly believe it will ultimately lead to a stronger community overall at the Institute.

What would you like to say to the current GTSBE community and GTSBE alumni in this moment?

To the GTSBE community, I will say that we are at the very beginning of all this, as many of you would agree. However, as always, our organization will always be here to support you in whatever you choose to do, whether now or in the future. You are not alone.

To alumni, it’s been amazing to see your generous financial contributions to the Black community at Georgia Tech – especially supporting the fundraisers held by the African Student Association over the past few weeks. This money has gone to supporting petitions demanding justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and for causes like providing bail funds for protestors.

All this helps affirm to current student members that they have a community – a family – within the Black student organizations. In times like these, that’s even more important to be emphasized.

In our earlier conversation, you talked about your leadership style being one of serving people and why that’s important to you. Has your perspective on this shifted at all in response to current events?

I want to provide safe spaces for my community to have these important conversations. Even though I’m an alumna of the Institute now, I have told the current GTSBE leadership that if they need anything at all, I’m available for them – I will meet them for coffee, have lunch, or even talk on the phone with them to discuss about what they’re experiencing and how they’re doing. I care for the GTSBE community and its executive board immensely, and it’s important that I demonstrate that. Not just as a leader, but also as a friend – whether someone is feeling happy, sad, or needing to vent, I’m here.

Where – if you are – are you finding spaces for joy and self-care in the middle of all this?

Right now, there are so many documentaries to watch on Netflix, for example, and TV shows that explain the history behind these protests and this movement. And of course, it doesn’t just stop at TV and movies. There are so many books about this that can help instruct every single one of us. I’ve taken it upon myself to continue watching, reading, and educating myself as I continue to have important conversations with family and friends.  

Aside from this, it has also been important to take time for self-care and joy, as you have asked. My normal go-to activity for relaxing and enjoying time to myself would be getting a manicure and pedicure, which I obviously can’t do right now! Luckily, we have a pool in our backyard, so I’ve been getting some sun every day since returning home from Atlanta.

As I mentioned earlier, I have two younger siblings, so I’ve also been able to spend more time with each of them. My brother and I enjoy setting aside time in the day to get in an outdoor workout, and my sister has tried hard to get me to join in on her dance videos. As of late, spending time with my family has been extra special.

-----

The GTSBE website has resources for Black students, including mental health resources here. Allies of the Black community can also find there petitions to sign and ways to donate to the Movement for Black Lives.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1592242790 2020-06-15 17:39:50 1684341341 2023-05-17 16:35:41 0 0 news We spoke to ISyE alumna Ndeyanta Jallow, who served as GTSBE president while a student, about her thoughts and hopes for the current moment. 

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2020-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2020-06-15T00:00:00-04:00 2020-06-15 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

]]>
636233 636233 image <![CDATA[Ndeyanta Jallow]]> image/jpeg 1592241014 2020-06-15 17:10:14 1592241014 2020-06-15 17:10:14 <![CDATA[ In Conversation: ISyE Undergraduate & GTSBE President Ndeyanta Jallow]]> <![CDATA[Video: Ndeyanta Jallow on Her Involvement with GTSBE]]>
<![CDATA[In Conversation: ISyE Undergraduate & SGA President Pooja Juvekar]]> 28766 Fourth-year Pooja Juvekar is the latest in a long line of Student Government Association (SGA) presidents from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). Juvekar’s preparation for this position began early in her college career. When she arrived at Tech, she joined FreShGA, an SGA organization that enables first years to gain leadership experience by planning campus-wide events, such as The Final Stand in December. And it was her FreShGA experience, as Juvekar explained in her SGA presidential platform, that began her love for SGA.

From there, Juvekar became the freshman and sophomore representative in the Undergraduate House of Representatives. She also held executive positions in her sorority, in the Georgia Tech chapter of Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and in SGA, where she was vice president of internal affairs. This role meant that she served on then-SGA President Evan Gillon’s executive cabinet and headed up four committees including leadership development and FreShGA.

In deciding to run for the SGA’s top position last spring, Juvekar took all of these experiences into consideration. She also thought about her own leadership style and how she could give back to Georgia Tech. Ultimately, Juvekar was elected president for the 2019-20 academic year; Haigh Angell, a fourth-year economics and international affairs major,was elected alongside her as executive vice president.

In this interview, Juvekar elaborates on her leadership style, details the specific initiatives she’s implementing to address Institute-level challenges, and describes her favorite Tech traditions.

What is your leadership style, and how did that develop?

For me, being a leader has always been about being open-minded, ambitious, and putting other people first. These were all qualities my parents taught me – to work hard and to have a good heart are equally important. Here at Tech, I’ve additionally learned that as a leader, it’s important to listen as much as you talk, and that it matters how you choose to both uplift the people around you and how you execute on tasks and initiatives. In my role as SGA president, there are so many selfless people around me that I’m continuing to learn from – I see that and want to embody that as well.

What are some of the biggest challenges currently facing Georgia Tech?

We have identified general interaction with the Institute’s administration, campus services, and mental health as opportunities for improving communication and collaboration with the student body, as there is often a lot of frustration within these areas.

For example, we know that we need to be evaluating not only how we talk about mental health issues but also the current resources available to students. I’ve been having ongoing conversations with Tiffany Hughes-Troutman, who directs CARE (Center for Assessment, Referral, and Education), as well as fellow student leaders in the mental health space to ensure that operations there are better than they were before.

Also, data is important – tracking things on a long-term timeline. How has CARE improved since it began? How do we make sure the Counseling Center is benefitting everyone and not just one population segment? Are we implementing programs that will last more than two or three years? How do we verify that there is continuous improvement in all of the Student Life-facing operations? I have a systems perspective on things like this, given my ISyE training.

You have also said that as SGA president, you would like to see an increased focus on the arts at Tech. Why is that important in a STEM-heavy environment?

We have so many students who are artistically talented, and I think there’s actually considerable interest in making the arts more prevalent on campus. Emphasizing the arts has a variety of benefits. It helps our students to be well-rounded people and contributes to wellness. Tech has always been a school that prides itself on being innovative, and there so much innovation to be had with how we give students the opportunity to interact with the arts.

The arts committee -- and actually this has already begun under the direction of Genny Kennedy, our wonderful vice president of student life -- works to make art more accessible and apparent in students’ lives and also to make sure that we as an Institute are prioritizing art. That could be something as small as professors talking about a piece of art that is personally meaningful to them in their classes, or working toward bringing all the art organizations together to talk about the gaps in spaces on campus or support given. 

What kind of legacy do you want your presidency to have?

I want students to know that SGA is committed to being intentional with how we support students on campus and with the way we address campus issues with the administration. This intentionality doesn’t mean that we have Band-Aid solutions for things, but rather that we try to come up with solutions that are sustainable for a long time.

And also that we have fostered positive relationships with people all across campus, and that students feel in control of their college experience. I want Tech students to recognize that their voices are important, and that SGA cares about them and their ideas.

Outside of your SGA activities, what has been your most meaningful Georgia Tech experience?

I went to Georgia Tech-Lorraine after my sophomore year, and we were in France for the World Cup victory. That was incredibly memorable!

What is your favorite Georgia Tech tradition?

Midnight Bud, the “Horse” at athletic events, and I really love the fight song. There’s a piano version of the song you can find on YouTube, and I have it recorded on my phone – I know I am such a geek!

The cool thing about Georgia Tech traditions is that they’re being created every day. There are fun traditions, like Taste of Latin America or the annual Holi Show put on by all the Indian dance teams. These aren’t the oldest Tech traditions, but they happen every year, and students value them and how they contribute to our campus culture.

When Tech was started, the student body obviously didn’t look the way it does today. Given that, I think that traditions like these help the campus community here now to connect with the Institute as a whole and to connect with one another.

I recently read the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, and in it she writes, “When I’m around people, my heart and soul radiate with awareness that I am in the presence of greatness. Maybe greatness unfound or greatness underdeveloped, but the potential or existence of greatness. Nevertheless, you never know who will go on to do good or great things, so treat everyone like they are that person.”

When I read that, I thought about how much that sounds like the people who are here at Georgia Tech. It’s the people who are with you during your college experience that will matter after you graduate. And – going back to traditions – the best Tech traditions connect us all with one another.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1578412222 2020-01-07 15:50:22 1684341327 2023-05-17 16:35:27 0 0 news Fourth-year Pooja Juvekar is the latest in a long line of SGA presidents from ISyE. Her preparation for this position began early in her college career.

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2020-01-07T00:00:00-05:00 2020-01-07T00:00:00-05:00 2020-01-07 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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630670 630675 630672 630670 image <![CDATA[ISyE fourth-year Pooja Juvekar is this year's SGA president.]]> image/jpeg 1578411776 2020-01-07 15:42:56 1578411776 2020-01-07 15:42:56 630675 image <![CDATA[As SGA president, Pooja Juvekar addressed Georgia Tech's incoming first-years at Convocation.]]> image/jpeg 1578411901 2020-01-07 15:45:01 1578411901 2020-01-07 15:45:01 630672 image <![CDATA[SGA President Pooja Juvekar and Executive Vice President Haigh Angell]]> image/jpeg 1578411825 2020-01-07 15:43:45 1578411825 2020-01-07 15:43:45
<![CDATA[Newly Launched MentIEs Program Connects ISyE Undergraduates and Alumni]]> 35757 Thanks to the world-class education they receive as students in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), many graduates have successful careers in consulting and industry. Because of this real-world experience, ISyE alumni can provide practical insights to current students about best practices for workplace professionalism and mastering teamwork, and many of them are eager to engage with the next generation of industrial engineers.

 “Students who want to have a career outside academia need to learn from people who have been there and know how it is done,” said Damon P. Williams (IE 2002), senior lecturer and director of ISyE’s Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE).

Members of the ISyE advisory board also recognized this need and offered to mentor students to help them transition from college coursework and internships into their careers. Thus, with support from School Chair Edwin Romeijn, ISyE launched MentIEs — a program designed to connect current students with alumni mentors, as part of CASE, in January 2021.

“Our alumni have experiences to share and the passion to give back to our students,” Williams said. “They can teach their mentees how to exceed expectations, be on a team, and contribute to workplace culture, because they have done it themselves.”

ISyE piloted MentIEs with 20 members of its advisory board. Each mentor was paired with three undergraduate protégés for the spring semester, with the program’s curriculum structured around skills discussed in Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

John White (IE 1992) served as a mentor during the pilot and is the retired president and chief executive officer of Fortna Inc., a leading provider of supply chain solutions.

“I’ve personally seen and experienced the positive impact and the power of receiving coaching from professionals that came before me,” White said. “Their taking a personal interest in me had a huge impact, and I know that without them, I would not have been able to achieve a number of milestones in my career. I feel that I owe it to my mentors, and the young professionals that I mentor, to do my best to help them achieve their full potential.”

Groups are asked to meet monthly for one hour during the program, but White met with some of his mentees individually as well while they were navigating their last semester at Tech. He said the relationships he made with these young professionals have continued beyond the official program, and he enjoys seeing them rise to their potential, which helps keep ISyE and its graduates at the top.

“The MentIEs program offers another way for young professionals to leapfrog their peers from other universities and gain insights that they most likely would not get otherwise until they have their own experiences,” White added.

White also believes mentors are learning from their mentees.

“There are many situations in which I feel that I am the one benefiting from the mentor/mentee relationship, as I continue to learn and gain perspectives and insights from my mentees. It is an incredibly rewarding and mutually beneficial relationship,” he reflected.

Because the program began during the Covid-19 pandemic, most MentIEs meetings were held virtually. Now that many of these restrictions have been lifted, the CASE team is also offering in-person events to enhance the networking experience.

Even with the challenges of the Spring 2021 semester, the MentIEs pilot was a resounding success. “Given the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received, we are going to double if not triple the number of mentor/mentee connections in 2021-22,” said Williams.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor for the MentIEs program, contact Damon Williams at damon.williams@isye.gatech.edu

]]> goberst3 1 1631222799 2021-09-09 21:26:39 1684341315 2023-05-17 16:35:15 0 0 news In January 2021, ISyE launched MentIEs, a program designed to connect current students with alumni mentors that is part of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE).

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2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
Communications Manager

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646968 650610 646968 image <![CDATA[Damon P. Williams]]> image/jpeg 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58 650610 image <![CDATA[John White]]> image/jpeg 1631203441 2021-09-09 16:04:01 1631203441 2021-09-09 16:04:01
<![CDATA[ISyE Launches Center for Academics, Success, and Equity]]> 35757 Damon P. Williams (IE 2002) is a senior lecturer in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and has won numerous teaching awards since he joined ISyE as a faculty member in 2012. A charismatic and demanding professor, Williams has a unique perspective stemming from his own years of walking ISyE’s halls as an undergraduate. He is passionate about enhancing the student experience and has created a variety of programs to support students, including at-risk advising and the ISyE tutoring center, to name a few. In fall 2021, the Stewart School brought together many of Williams’ programs within the newly launched Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE), an interdisciplinary center designed to encourage academic growth, professional development, and inclusivity for all of ISyE’s constituents.

ISyE is the largest program of its kind in the nation, which contributes to its longstanding No. 1 ranking. This size also provides countless resources to its students, faculty, alumni, and staff, such as academic and industry collaborations, networking opportunities, diverse career opportunities, and access to cutting-edge research. However, with more than 6,000 students in the School’s many programs, it can be difficult for some to navigate.

“We created the Center to foster connection and interaction,” said Williams, who also serves as CASE’s director. “There are so many points at which our various groups need to interact with each other, so we really wanted to build community — with this great push that Georgia Tech has for diversity, equity, and inclusion — while supporting students academically and professionally, and bring all our programs together into one place.”

On the academic side, CASE provides student support through its tutoring center and risk advising program. “All students, including those who are struggling academically, should have a great college experience,” Williams said. “While they may not be in the top 10% of their class, it doesn’t mean they can’t get a good education, have a successful career, and feel supported and connected during their time at the Institute.”

But what really sets CASE apart from other centers on campus is its focus on success and equity, in addition to academics. For students, this includes professional development opportunities and workshops to prepare them for the job market. There are currently two student success workshops each year, and Williams hopes to expand this to a total of six in the 2021-22 academic year.

“Our students want more,” said Williams. “They want to learn how to successfully complete a case interview to get into consulting after graduation. So we have sessions scheduled with representatives from top consulting firms to run mock case interviews and guide them on the process. But students also want to improve their soft skills and learn how to network. We’re going to add additional sessions to provide them with these tools as well.”

The Center also launched MentIEs, a mentoring program that pairs ISyE alumni with current students to provide real-world insight and advice complementing students’ academic experience. The pilot program launched in Spring 2021 with 20 mentors and 60 mentees and was a resounding success. Williams and his team plan to double those numbers this year and beyond.

CASE’s equity initiatives include several activities promoting equality in ISyE while providing sanctuary for our most vulnerable students and the chance to be heard. The team is also working to increase the minority and female student pipeline and improve diversity within the School and its programs.

“We’re working hard to develop relationships with top-tier academic institutions across the country to help identify high-quality potential graduate students or future faculty who are underrepresented minorities or women,” said Williams. “We want to make sure they know about our programs and know when we have open faculty positions so we can get those applications up.”

While CASE is in its inaugural year, Williams has big plans for the future.

“My goal is that within five years, every single member of our community — faculty, staff, students, and alumni — is touched in an academic year by something that CASE does,” Williams said. “And I want everyone in the ISyE network to quintuple individual networks with members of the other groups.”

“I want us to not only be the No. 1 academic industrial engineering department in the nation, but also the No. 1 industrial engineering community in the nation,” he added.

These are lofty goals, but if you have ever personally met Williams, you know he will most certainly make them happen.

]]> goberst3 1 1630532612 2021-09-01 21:43:32 1684341303 2023-05-17 16:35:03 0 0 news CASE is an interdisciplinary center designed to encourage academic growth, professional development, and inclusivity for all of ISyE’s constituents.

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2021-09-01T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-01T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-01 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
Communications Manager

]]>
646968 650380 646968 image <![CDATA[Damon P. Williams]]> image/jpeg 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58 650380 image <![CDATA[CASE was created to support the entire ISyE community through a variety of support programs and equity initiatives]]> image/jpeg 1630532407 2021-09-01 21:40:07 1630532407 2021-09-01 21:40:07
<![CDATA[Damon P. Williams Promoted to Senior Lecturer, Named Director of CASE]]> 35757 Damon P. Williams has been promoted to Senior Lecturer in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). An ISyE alumnus (IE 2002), he joined the Stewart School in 2010 as a lecturer and advisor in the Academic Office and quickly developed a reputation as an engaging and demanding instructor. Attesting to this are the teaching awards he has received over the past decade.

Williams is also the director of ISyE’s new Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE), an interdisciplinary academic center created to support ISyE students, faculty, and staff. Programs are categorized according to three foci:

CASE also supports ISyE’s current K-12 outreach efforts, including summer camps, partnerships with local schools, and class visits for high school students, which enables them to learn about the field of industrial engineering and ISyE.

]]> goberst3 1 1619619150 2021-04-28 14:12:30 1684341293 2023-05-17 16:34:53 0 0 news Damon P. Williams has been promoted to Senior Lecturer and is also the director of ISyE’s new Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE), an interdisciplinary academic center.

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2021-04-28T00:00:00-04:00 2021-04-28T00:00:00-04:00 2021-04-28 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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646968 646968 image <![CDATA[Damon P. Williams]]> image/jpeg 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58 1619618518 2021-04-28 14:01:58
<![CDATA[New Marine Corps Contract Will Support Logistics, Broad Range of Research]]> 36284 A $51 million, five-year contract awarded from the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command (MARCORLOGCOM) will expand Georgia Tech’s support to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Southwest Georgia and open new opportunities for research to support U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) missions across a broad range of logistics, innovation, supply chain, and applied engineering issues.

Through the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, Georgia Tech has been providing research and training support to personnel at the base, which supports the USMC mission worldwide. Activities under the new contract will be managed through the Albany installation, which has approximately 3,000 civilian staff and slightly more than 400 military personnel, making it one of the largest employers in Southwest Georgia.

The new Information Analysis Center Multiple Award Contract (IAC MAC) was competitively awarded through the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center. In all, the task order contract specifies 22 areas where GTRI, Georgia Tech, and partner organizations can support the USMC, and is the largest contract ever awarded to GTRI from the USMC.

“This award will continue the applied research efforts that support the analysis, assessment, and integration of technologies and methods to enhance the operations of the Marine Corps logistics, storage, and maintenance capabilities, while also providing potential support to the broader Marine Corps and DoD requirements,” said Larry Kimm, manager of GTRI’s Quantico Field Office and project director for the new contract. “This contract builds upon a nearly five-year partnership between Georgia Tech and the U.S. Marine Corps to provide ‘white-hat’ research and analysis support.”

Research projects conducted under earlier contracts have included the development and demonstration of robotic platform prototypes for improved ground vehicle autonomous inventory operations, and the development of a software tool that rapidly collates disparate inventory information to simplify tracking procedures. Additionally, ongoing workflow optimization modeling and simulation, and analytical studies of MARCORLOGCOM parts, repair, paint, and back-shop maintenance operations are supporting enhanced efficiency and mission readiness requirements. 

Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute provides research and education in the application of scientific principles to optimize the design and integration of supply chain strategy, infrastructure, processes, and technology. It has taught courses to hundreds of civilian employees and military personnel at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, providing advanced training and certification in logistics operations and industrial engineering principles. 

“The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute is pleased to continue engaging with GTRI on Marine Corps Logistics Command’s innovation and improvement needs,” said Timothy Brown, managing director of the Institute. “We look to continue delivering professional education programs, applied research by our Industrial and Systems Engineering faculty and graduate students, and operations improvement efforts by our affiliate researchers.”

Graduate and undergraduate programs at Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) have been ranked first in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for more than a quarter century. The school is the largest of its kind in the United States.

In addition to its Georgia Tech collaborators, GTRI has also worked with multiple subcontractors to collaboratively conduct detailed business case analyses and change management support activities to optimize reorganization decisions and processes for MARCORLOGCOM. Georgia Tech has also involved interns from Albany Technical College and Albany State University in serving the organization’s needs.

In addition to supporting MARCORLOGCOM in Albany, the task order contract will allow GTRI and Georgia Tech to serve the broader needs of the USMC in such areas as automation, airborne networks, command-and-control systems, communications, cybersecurity, data exchange standards, electronic combat, human systems integration, manufacturing optimization, modeling and simulation, secure information systems, software assurance, systems engineering, technology insertion, and technology analysis.

GTRI’s connection to Georgia Tech academic colleges and research institutes makes it attractive to organizations interested in promoting innovation and changing organizational approaches. “Agencies gain access to the world-class expertise we have at Georgia Tech, both within GTRI and on the academic side,” Kimm said.

Located on Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, MARCORLOGCOM provides worldwide, integrated logistics, supply chain, and distribution management; depot-level maintenance management; and strategic pre-positioning capability in support of the operating forces and other supported USMC units to maximize their readiness and sustainability and to support enterprise and program-level total life cycle management.

The DoD IAC collects, analyzes, synthesizes, produces, and disseminates scientific and technical information (STI) to DoD and federal government users. IACs support The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (R&E) in carrying out the R&E community's three strategic guiding imperatives: 1) mitigating new and emerging adversary threats that could degrade U.S. (and allied) capabilities; 2) enabling affordable new or extended capabilities in existing military systems; and 3) developing technology surprise through science and engineering applications to military problems. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1678144972 2023-03-06 23:22:52 1684280449 2023-05-16 23:40:49 0 0 news A $51 million, five-year contract awarded from the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command (MARCORLOGCOM) will expand Georgia Tech’s support to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Southwest Georgia and open new opportunities for research to support U.S. Marine Corps (USMC).

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2023-03-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-03-06T00:00:00-05:00 2023-03-06 00:00:00 GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia USA

Writer: John Toon (john.toon@gtri.gatech.edu)

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666485 666486 666485 image <![CDATA[U.S. Marine Corps vehicles are staged for loading onto a ship. (Credit: Sgt. Alize Sotelo, USMC)]]> image/jpeg 1678145040 2023-03-06 23:24:00 1678145040 2023-03-06 23:24:00 666486 image <![CDATA[Georgia Tech’s support to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Southwest Georgia. (Credit: Toya Ejike)]]> image/png 1678145071 2023-03-06 23:24:31 1681935673 2023-04-19 20:21:13 <![CDATA[ANALYSIS, MODELING AND SIMULATION, SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ]]> <![CDATA[INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS LABORATORY]]>
<![CDATA[It’s All Starting to Click for Gaurav Byagathvalli]]> 36284 When Gaurav Byagathvalli first encountered genetic engineering as a teenager, he didn’t expect the field would shape the course of his life.

He met researcher Saad Bhamla through a partnership between his high school and Georgia Tech and began working in Bhamla’s lab at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). He fell in love with the research, and before long, he was driving to Tech’s campus from his high school in Suwanee to work in the lab until late at night. 

Byagathvalli and Bhamla were working on building low-cost medical equipment that would be accessible to more people around the world — part of Bhamla’s “frugal science” push to democratize access to synthetic biology research.

They wanted to develop a cheaper version of a device that uses electric pulses to allow DNA or RNA through a cell membrane, a process called electroporation. 

One day in the lab, Byagathvalli had an idea: Could an everyday object do the same thing as one of these expensive devices? Using a phenomenon called piezoelectricity, barbecue lighters produce a small pulse of electricity each time they’re clicked. Byagathvalli and Bhamla thought the small jolt would be enough for electroporation. 

“We were staring at the computer screen, looking at the physics of the lighter, and we realized that it could electrocute cells,” Byagathvalli said. “That’s what sparked everything else — the realization that this tiny thing that we use every day could do the same thing as a $5,000 medical device.” 

Byagathvalli enrolled in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) program, and continued working in Bhamla’s lab, gaining a hands-on education in chemical engineering along the way and continuing to refine the team’s electroporation delivery platform.

After pioneering efforts in designing and developing the electroporation system, the team established a successful collaboration with esteemed researcher, Mark Prausnitz, to integrate the technology with microneedles. The cutting-edge platform resulting from this collaboration embodies Piezo Therapeutics' vision of leveraging innovation and ingenuity to improve the delivery of vaccines and other therapeutics in the pharmaceutical industry.

After graduating in January 2023, he announced the founding of Piezo Therapeutics (PiezoTx), a biotechnology startup focused on affordable vaccine delivery.

PiezoTx launched with $2 million in seed funding from Open Philanthropy. Byagathvalli credits its initial success to his co-founders: Bhamla, microneedle pioneer and ChBE Regents’ Professor Mark Prausnitz, and Georgia Tech VentureLab Principal Cynthia Sundell.

“We realized that our novel electroporator, combined with microneedle technology, could deliver vaccines at an ultra-low cost and without a battery,” said Byagathvalli, who is the company’s founding CEO. “We wanted to take it even further, to see how this technology could add value to society. Our mission is to make DNA and RNA vaccines safer, more accessible, and scalable for people all over the world.” 

In the long term, Byagathvalli’s dream is to leverage the team’s technology to deliver a wide range of nucleic acid medicines through partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. He said their platform could close the financial and logistical gap between treatments and people who need them around the world, including in middle- and low-income countries. 

“This is an environment where everyone is pushing the frontier of medicine to see what the next big thing that makes a difference could be,” Byagathvalli said. “I hope our company will encourage people to think outside of the box, to find really unorthodox solutions that will make a difference for the world.”

]]> chenriquez8 1 1683202919 2023-05-04 12:21:59 1683232472 2023-05-04 20:34:32 0 0 news ISyE alumnus has co-founded a biotechnology startup focused on affordable vaccine delivery based on Georgia Tech research.

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2023-05-04T00:00:00-04:00 2023-05-04T00:00:00-04:00 2023-05-04 00:00:00 Emma Ryan, Writer

College of Engineering

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670751 670685 670687 670751 image <![CDATA[Gaurav Byagathvalli]]> image/png 1683232369 2023-05-04 20:32:49 1683232406 2023-05-04 20:33:26 670685 image <![CDATA[Piezo Therapeutics Vaccine Delivery]]> image/jpeg 1682950107 2023-05-01 14:08:27 1683215249 2023-05-04 15:47:29 670687 image <![CDATA[Gaurav Byagathvalli, Founder of Piezo Therapeutics]]> image/jpeg 1682950212 2023-05-01 14:10:12 1683215171 2023-05-04 15:46:11 <![CDATA[Piezo Therapeutics]]> <![CDATA[BBQ Lighter, Combined With Microneedles, Sparks Breakthrough in Covid-19 Vaccine Delivery ]]> <![CDATA[Saad Bhamla]]> <![CDATA[Mark Prausnitz]]> <![CDATA[Venture Lab]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE Entrepreneurial Competition: Crafting Winning Business Plans]]> 36284 Throughout the semester, our students have been given the opportunity to be challenge their entrepreneurial spirits in the inaugural ISyE Entrepreneurial Competition, founded by ISyE alumnus Sam Millson.

Teams participated in mapping out a potential business plan to bring to fruition for future investments. The entrepreneurial competition was created with the goal of supporting and inspiring current ISyE students to take the leap into entrepreneurial investments.

The competition consisted of two parts: entrepreneurial workshops and final presentations. During the workshops, Millson guided the teams in crafting their business models, budget development, and differentiation strategies. The goal is to help the teams gain the necessary skills and knowledge to develop a feasible business plan that could be implemented in the future.

 

Winning Teams:

Team Name: ADU-IQ

Winning Prize: $7,500

Members: Chris Kontomaris, Sydney Mudd, Jada Wilson

 

Team Name: DockOps

Winning Prize: $2,500

Members: Kathryn McCarthy, Devanshu Tiwari

_____

Sam Millson is the Founder of The Millson Group, a consulting and investing firm that specializes in helping small to medium-sized businesses achieve growth and efficiency.

The competition is sponsored by The Millson Group.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1682980660 2023-05-01 22:37:40 1682981280 2023-05-01 22:48:00 0 0 news Throughout the semester, our students have been given the opportunity to be challenge their entrepreneurial spirits in the inaugural ISyE Entrepreneurial Competition, founded by ISyE alumnus Sam Millson.

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2023-04-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-15 00:00:00 670704 670705 670704 image <![CDATA[ISyE Entrepreneurial Competition]]> image/jpeg 1682978638 2023-05-01 22:03:58 1682978951 2023-05-01 22:09:11 670705 image <![CDATA[ISyE Entrepreneurial Competition]]> image/jpeg 1682978769 2023-05-01 22:06:09 1682978996 2023-05-01 22:09:56 <![CDATA[The Millson Group]]> <![CDATA[Sam Millson]]>
<![CDATA[IISE Awards Outstanding ISyE Graduate Students]]> 36284 Several graduate students from the Georgia Tech School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) have recently been recognized for their achievements.

Michael Biehler, a graduate student, has received multiple awards for his exceptional work. He was awarded the 2023 Mary G. and Joseph Natrella Scholarship, which includes a $500 travel grant and $3500 fellowship, by the Quality and Productivity Division of the ASA. His paper titled "DETONATE: Nonlinear Dynamic Evolution Modeling of Time-dependent 3-dimensional Point Cloud Profiles" was chosen as a finalist for the IISE QCRE Best Student Paper Competition and the Best Student Paper award in the IISE DIAS section at the IISE 2023 Annual Conference.

Zihan Zhang has been awarded the Gilbreth Memorial Fellowship for $3500 by the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) for the year 2023. This fellowship is awarded to graduate students who show outstanding potential for leadership, contributions to the industrial engineering profession, and academic achievement. The fellowship supports the education of students pursuing advanced degrees in industrial engineering and encourages research and innovation in the field.

Shancong Mou was awarded the John S.W. Fargher Jr. Scholarship from IISE and had a paper selected as a finalist in the IISE QCRE Best Track Paper Competition. These recognitions are a testament to the academic excellence of the ISyE graduate program and the hard work and dedication of its students.

Shancong Mou was awarded the John S.W. Fargher Jr. Scholarship worth $1000 for the IISE (Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers) 2023 conference. Additionally, Mou's paper titled "RGI: robust GAN-inversion for mask-free image inpainting and unsupervised pixel-wise anomaly detection" has been selected as a finalist in the IISE QCRE (Quality Control and Reliability Engineering) Best Track Paper Competition for the same conference. 

For the best paper finalists, the final awardee will be selected during the IISE Annual Conference in May, 2023.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1682701841 2023-04-28 17:10:41 1682980977 2023-05-01 22:42:57 0 0 news Several graduate students from Georgia Tech's School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) have been recognized by IISE (Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers) for their achievements, including Michael Biehler, Zihan Zhang and Shancong Mou.

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2023-04-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-15 00:00:00 670696 670696 image <![CDATA[IISE Award Winners]]> image/png 1682960236 2023-05-01 16:57:16 1682965868 2023-05-01 18:31:08
<![CDATA[Omar Khan is on a Mission to Spread Smiles on Campus]]> 36284 As the newest driver of Georgia Tech’s historic mascot, the Ramblin’ Wreck, Omar Khan takes his job seriously. During the driver elections in November, Khan prepared a two-and-a-half-page speech and eight pages of notes to present to fellow members of the Ramblin’ Reck Club, which is responsible for electing a driver every year.  

So when Khan was elected: “I was in shock,” he said. “My heart was beating out of my chest. I was just so surprised. And I remember every day how I felt in that moment because it helps me remember what a fortunate position I’m in to get to drive this car.” 

The Wreck is a 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe perhaps most famous for leading the football team onto the field at every home game since 1961 in one of Georgia Tech’s most beloved traditions. On any given day, the Wreck can be found driving around campus, blasting its unmistakable “aa-oo-gah” horn, or appearing at an alumni event.  As the driver, Khan is responsible for taking the vehicle on its numerous outings, as well as its regular upkeep and maintenance.  

Over its six decades of use, the Wreck has weathered its fair share of damage, including abuse from opposing schools. In one famous incident in 1963, Tennessee students painted the car a terrible shade of orange. 

These days, Khan, an industrial and systems engineering student, faces more risk of mechanical issues than threats of vandalism. He said that while many things can go wrong with such an old car, the key to managing issues as they arise is to stay calm.  

“You’re going to be put in a ton of situations that you’re not prepared for,” he said. “You just have to be decisive. Make a decision, and if it’s the wrong decision, then you deal with the consequences.”  

One of the aspects of serving as driver that Khan is most looking forward to is football season. In anticipation, he’s been working to develop relationships with players and giving them opportunities to interact with the Wreck.   

“I drove by the other day and the players knew my name,” he said. “They love the Wreck and, obviously, they love following it out on the field, but they hardly ever get rides. So I’ve been trying to do for them, the same thing we do for the rest of the student body.” 

Khan thinks of his role as the Wreck’s driver as an opportunity to spread smiles on campus and to help students have unforgettable experiences during their time at Tech. He knows students will always remember their interactions with the Wreck.  

He admits it’s a therapeutic experience for him sometimes, too. When he’s having a bad day, he said, he likes to drive the car around campus, wave at people, and see them light up with big smiles.  

“The Wreck belongs to the student body,” Khan said. “I’ve been chosen to operate it, but it isn’t any more mine than any other student’s. It’s equally ours. And that’s a really important thing for me to remember – to not use it selfishly, because its mission is to spread joy around campus.” 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1682959138 2023-05-01 16:38:58 1682965958 2023-05-01 18:32:38 0 0 news Omar Khan was elected as the newest driver of Georgia Tech’s historic mascot, the Ramblin’ Wreck.

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2023-03-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-03-15T00:00:00-04:00 2023-03-15 00:00:00 Emma Ryan, Writer

College of Engineering

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670693 670662 670663 670693 image <![CDATA[Omar Khan]]> image/jpeg 1682959272 2023-05-01 16:41:12 1682965501 2023-05-01 18:25:01 670662 image <![CDATA[Omar Khan, Newest Wreck Driver]]> image/jpeg 1682691241 2023-04-28 14:14:01 1682965233 2023-05-01 18:20:33 670663 image <![CDATA[Ribbon Cutting for the Wreck Garage]]> image/jpeg 1682691457 2023-04-28 14:17:37 1682965466 2023-05-01 18:24:26 <![CDATA[A Dream Garage Comes True]]>
<![CDATA[Discovering Purpose in Service: Jessica Rawls Journey to First Lieutenant]]> 36284 Growing up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, First Lieutenant Jessica Rawls aspired to play basketball competitively, however, her interest in service opportunities was sparked when she talked with her sister about the Naval Academy.

At first, Rawls and her sister were hesitant about committing to the military, but their high school teacher encouraged them to take another look, particularly at the United States Military Academy West Point.

“After looking up some videos online, and going to visit there, we decided that we wanted to go - not only because of the opportunities we would receive as West Point graduates but also being able to figure out our “why” of pursuing the military.”

This second thought about West Point became an opportunity for Rawls to pursue her bachelor’s degree, while gaining experiencing at one of the most prestigious military service colleges in the country.

As Rawls progressed through her program, she recognized that her motivation for serving was to help others, “I didn’t realize that the majority of soldiers in the military are minors, and a lot of times, their only opportunity to get a job with access to things like healthcare, and assistance – is by going through the military.”

Her combined military experience and interest in industrial engineering, led her to choose operations research at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). Throughout the graduate program she started building connections with Associate Dean Damon Williams, and General Ronald Johnson, who provided valuablementorship and guidance throughout the program. 

“I can’t even imagine Georgia Tech without Damon Williams, General Johnson, and the industrial engineering program. I was very surprised about how much the department truly cares about their students. Damon and General Johnson really took me underneath their wing and made sure I was succeeding.”

As a West Point graduate and current faculty member at Georgia Tech, Johnson spoke about his connection with Rawls and efforts to increase diversity in the school's programs and faculty. Johnson highlights the unique qualities that West Point graduates possess, such as athleticism, leadership, and teamwork skills, that make them valuable additions to Georgia Tech. 

Prior to her promotion, Rawls was awarded the GEM Fellowship (Graduate Engineering Minority) by the National GEM Consortium, which advances thousands of underrepresented students in the field of engineering. General Johnson believes bringing West Point graduates, particularly those receiving the GEM fellowship, is a critical step when creating a more inclusive and equitable academic environment within Georgia Tech's STEM programs.

The bridge between West Point and ISyE has become an impactful space to be in, where students like Rawls are given the chance to feel uplifted and supported in the field by diverse faculty members.

After graduation this May, Rawls will be attending a basic officer leadership course in Virginia. Then she’ll be departing to her duty station, with high hopes for placement in Germany or Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Ultimately, her goal is to become an operations research systems analyst and return to West Point as an instructor, where she hopes to inspire and guide future students, specifically those who may feel underrepresented.

Rawls dedication to her field and her desire to give back to her community make her story a testament to the power of self-discovery, and how exploring different options can lead to unexpected but fulfilling paths in life. “Living my life… I’m feeling really good about being by myself and discovering who I am.” says First Lieutenant Jessica Rawls.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1682955325 2023-05-01 15:35:25 1682965697 2023-05-01 18:28:17 0 0 news Graduate student, Jessica Rawls was promoted to First Lieutenant with the hopes of giving back to her community by investing in future minority students.

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2023-02-20T00:00:00-05:00 2023-02-20T00:00:00-05:00 2023-02-20 00:00:00 670657 670660 670659 670657 image <![CDATA[Jessica Rawls, Promoted to First Lieutenant]]> image/jpeg 1682690770 2023-04-28 14:06:10 1682691034 2023-04-28 14:10:34 670660 image <![CDATA[Jessica Rawls, Damon Williams, General Johnson]]> image/jpeg 1682691202 2023-04-28 14:13:22 1682691234 2023-04-28 14:13:54 670659 image <![CDATA[Jessica Rawls, Promoted to 1LT ]]> image/jpeg 1682691180 2023-04-28 14:13:00 1682691195 2023-04-28 14:13:15 <![CDATA[United States Military Academy at West Point]]> <![CDATA[GEM Fellowship]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE Graduate Program Ranked No. 1 for 33rd Consecutive Year]]> 36284 Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) graduate program has been ranked No.1 by the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges, for the 33rd consecutive year.

Placing third among public universities, the College of Engineering has achieved a ranking of No. 5 overall, on par with Carnegie Mellon's engineering program. According to current research findings, the leading five universities across the nation in the field under consideration are MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Purdue, and GT.

The engineering graduate program at Georgia Tech has advanced by two positions to attain the fifth rank in the 2023-24 edition of the national rankings.

Read the full story by clicking the link.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1682699969 2023-04-28 16:39:29 1682700376 2023-04-28 16:46:16 0 0 news Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) graduate program has been ranked No.1 by the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges, for the 33rd consecutive year.

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2023-04-25T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-25T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-25 00:00:00 670670 670670 image <![CDATA[ISyE Graduate Rankings 2023]]> image/jpeg 1682695019 2023-04-28 15:16:59 1682695048 2023-04-28 15:17:28 <![CDATA[GA Tech News]]>
<![CDATA[Internet Search Data Can Help Predict a Looming ‘Twindemic’]]> 27446 The most widely used source of medical advice in modern society might be the Google search box.

Enough people turn to the site with searches like “loss of taste” or “how long contagious” that researchers at Georgia Tech can use that data to accurately predict looming waves of influenza-like illness and Covid-19 infections. Their forecasting models work for the nation overall and for each state, offering a new source of data about potential “twindemics” that could burden healthcare systems.

The model, developed by Shihao Yang and his team in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is published in the Nature journal Communications Medicine.

Read the full story on the College of Engineering website.

]]> Joshua Stewart 1 1682014660 2023-04-20 18:17:40 1682698178 2023-04-28 16:09:38 0 0 news Shihao Yang’s model forecasts when spikes in Covid-19 and flu infections will strain hospitals and health care resources.

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2023-04-20T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-20T00:00:00-04:00 2023-04-20 00:00:00 Joshua Stewart
College of Engineering

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670594 670594 image <![CDATA[Simin Ma and Shihao Yang]]> Ph.D. student Simin Ma, left, and Shihao Yang, assistant professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. They developed a model that uses search data to predict coming waves of serious Covid-19 and flu cases that could burden healthcare resources. (Photo: Candler Hobbs)

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<![CDATA[SCL Welcomes Joe Verbraska with Steelcase to its Industry Advisory Board]]> 27233 Joe Verbraska joined Steelcase in 1995 and currently serves as Director of Global Logistics. Throughout his 27-year career at Steelcase, Mr. Verbraska has worked as a Financial Analyst, led manufacturing operations in two of the largest plants for Steelcase North America, served as Director of Logistics Operations in Europe, and was Director of North American Logistics with responsibility for Transportation and Distribution. He has been instrumental in developing the logistics strategy for Steelcase, including creating and implementing the company’s distribution network.

Before joining Steelcase, Mr. Verbraska worked as a supply chain consultant at Accenture and held IT, finance and logistics roles at Whirlpool. Mr. Verbraska earned his bachelor’s degree in Information Systems at Ferris State University and his MBA from the University of Chicago. 

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1666804611 2022-10-26 17:16:51 1680199757 2023-03-30 18:09:17 0 0 news Mr. Verbraska brings his logistics strategy expertise to the SCL Industry Advisory Board.

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2022-10-26T00:00:00-04:00 2022-10-26T00:00:00-04:00 2022-10-26 00:00:00 670376 670376 image <![CDATA[Joe Verbraska Director, Global Logistics, Steelcase]]> image/jpeg 1680199668 2023-03-30 18:07:48 1680199668 2023-03-30 18:07:48 <![CDATA[SCL Industry Advisory Board members]]>
<![CDATA[SCL Welcomes Becky Francosky with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to its Industry Advisory Board]]> 27233 Becky Francosky is the Director of Air Service Development at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). She has more than 15 years of experience in strategic planning, market research, analytics and project management that has been refined in roles in both the private and public sector. Ms. Francosky has broad experience in conducting primary and secondary research, analyzing market and competitive intelligence, gap analysis, forecasting and leveraging analytical frameworks to develop forward-looking and extrapolative insights.
 
Becky rejoined Hartsfield-Jackson in 2022 after working extensively with ATL on several key analytical studies through her company Advanced Aviation Analytics. While in her consulting role, she worked on a variety of projects including the Economic Impact Study, management dashboards and frameworks for gate utilization and forecasting. She has recruited several international passenger and cargo airlines and frequently engages with current and prospective airlines to help build stakeholder engagement.

Additionally, Becky plans and coordinates economic and business development activities with a variety of state and local organizations. From 2008 to 2012, Becky directed the market research program to understand customer’s preferences and needs, which led to expanded product and service offerings and increased non-aeronautical revenue by 40 percent.

We are very excited to have Becky join our board, lend us her expertise, and continue ATL's participation and support of SCL programs.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1675114605 2023-01-30 21:36:45 1675115072 2023-01-30 21:44:32 0 0 news Becky Francosky lends her 15+ years of experience in strategic planning, market research, analytics and project management to SCL.

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2023-01-30T00:00:00-05:00 2023-01-30T00:00:00-05:00 2023-01-30 00:00:00 665264 665264 image <![CDATA[Becky Francosky, Director of Air Service Development, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)]]> image/jpeg 1675113495 2023-01-30 21:18:15 1675113495 2023-01-30 21:18:15 <![CDATA[SCL Industry Advisory Board members]]>
<![CDATA[Muthukumar Lands NSF Career Award for Foundational Machine Learning Research]]> 36284 Vidya Muthukumar has been named as a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award. Muthukumar is an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) with a joint appointment in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

The NSF CAREER award is the most prestigious award in “support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.” Approximately 500 awards are given annually to universities and research institutions throughout the country. The NSF especially encourages women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities to apply.

Muthukumar’s NSF CAREER project, "Overparameterization in modern machine learning: A panacea or a pitfall?,” aims to establish foundational principles — through a diversity of mathematical techniques spanning signal processing, information theory, and online decision-making — that explain the successful generalization of modern machine learning and its failure modes in order to develop efficient and principled solutions. In the absence of such a foundation, outstanding failure modes in deep neural networks remain unmitigated or unnecessarily costly to solve, and architecture selection is conducted in a wasteful trial-and-error manner that involves repeated train-and-test cycles. Muthukumar hopes that the outcomes of this project will eventually enable deep learning technology to reach its full potential in high-stakes and resource-limited applications.

Additionally, the project will create and disseminate educational resources at the high school and undergraduate levels on elementary signal processing, machine learning, and data science that underlie and complement the described research.

Before joining Georgia Tech in January 2021, Muthukumar earned her Ph.D. degree in EECS at UC Berkeley and spent a semester at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing as a research fellow for the program “Theory of Reinforcement Learning.” She is the recipient of an Amazon Research Award, Adobe Data Science Research Award, Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowship, IBM Science for Social Good Fellowship, and the UC Berkeley EECS Outstanding Course Development and Teaching Award. She currently serves on the senior program committee for the Annual Conference on Learning Theory and on the organizing committee for the Learning Theory Alliance mentorship organization.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1674753079 2023-01-26 17:11:19 1674754713 2023-01-26 17:38:33 0 0 news Vidya Muthukumar has been named as a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award. 

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2023-01-26T00:00:00-05:00 2023-01-26T00:00:00-05:00 2023-01-26 00:00:00 Vidya Muthukumar has been named as a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award. Muthukumar is an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) with a joint appointment in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

]]>
Dan Watson

Communications Manager

dwatson@ece.gatech.edu

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665147 665147 image <![CDATA[Vidya Muthukumar]]> image/jpeg 1674752043 2023-01-26 16:54:03 1674752043 2023-01-26 16:54:03 <![CDATA[Vidya Muthukumar]]> <![CDATA[Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)]]> <![CDATA[School of Electrical and Computer Engineering]]> <![CDATA[H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering]]>
<![CDATA[Mission Accomplished: An Army Veteran’s Path to Commencement at Georgia Tech]]> 36418 Mission accomplished. 

While that phrase may have taken on new meaning since his days as an active-duty member of the U.S. armed forces, Patrick Benitez’s mindset remained the same as he pursued an M.S. in analytics from Georgia Tech — a three-year journey that culminates Friday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. 

Balancing a full-time career, continued service in the U.S. Army Reserves, and becoming a new dad, Benitez completed his degree online from his home in Virginia, and despite the challenges, he was able to maintain a unique perspective. 

“Flexibility during adversity is one of the key traits I was able to integrate into this program, because the Army taught me extremely well to ‘adapt and overcome.’ As a result, you hardly ever see me get stressed out because I just draw on my foundational skills,” Benitez said before sharing the one thing that always gets him back on track. “I think, ‘I’m just lucky that I'm not back in Afghanistan’ — and then my outlook on life does a complete 180.”

Benitez called this degree a team effort, and every team needs a leader. With a new baby boy at home, he credits his wife for stepping up to fill that role. 

“She serves as a foundation that holds everything together. This degree would not have happened if it wasn't for her, because the diaper changes, the long nights, and the weekends when I needed to play catch-up can all be attributed to her being ‘super mom’ on the days that I needed to be a good student,” he said. 

Preparing to graduate from Cal State Fullerton in 2006, Benitez — the son of a 20-year Navy veteran — knew his dreams of entering the tech field would have to wait. After deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Benitez became a civil affairs officer with the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade before transitioning into the reserves while earning his MBA from LSU. But his Silicon Valley dream never left him. Knowing the prestige that Georgia Tech carries as an institution and hearing of its glowing reputation within the veteran community during his service, Benitez’s decision was a no-brainer when it came time to get back in the classroom. 

“Every single peer or even mentor that I've had was affiliated with Georgia Tech in one way or another, either alumni or professors, and I looked up to them,” he said. “I felt that, based on those interactions and how well Georgia Tech took care of its veterans, it was an easy choice.” 

Praising the Institute for setting veterans up for success, Benitez noted how seamlessly he was able to settle in and focus on his coursework. With a plethora of resources at the ready, Benitez hopes to see other members of a community with so much to offer follow in his footsteps. 

“To me, the veteran community continues to be underutilized, and I think Georgia Tech hits it out of the park when it comes to trying to recruit the best students and the best leaders,” he said. 

Currently working in federal consulting, Benitez intends to tap into his entrepreneurial spirit to launch a startup hedge fund using the models and algorithms he learned at Georgia Tech. 

With three under his belt, Benitez has told his wife that this will be his last degree, so Friday will be a special day on the Flats. “I think it's going to be a lot of overwhelming emotions because it took me three years to knock this degree out. That was a lot of time and effort,” he said. 

With the mindset instilled in him by his parents and by the Army, coupled with his wife’s support, failure was never an option. 

“Once you have that foundation set right, all that matters is achieving the mission,” he said. “Having Georgia Tech on my resume and having that pedigree attached to it was a mission that I wasn't going to fail in.”

]]> sgagliano3 1 1670957943 2022-12-13 18:59:03 1671029404 2022-12-14 14:50:04 0 0 news After putting Silicon Valley dreams on pause to serve his country, Patrick Benitez knew all along that his journey would lead him to Georgia Tech. 

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2022-12-13T00:00:00-05:00 2022-12-13T00:00:00-05:00 2022-12-13 00:00:00 Steven Gagliano - Communications Officer 

Institute Communications 

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663839 663837 663838 663839 image <![CDATA[Patrick Benitez with the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade ]]> image/jpeg 1670958467 2022-12-13 19:07:47 1671026700 2022-12-14 14:05:00 663837 image <![CDATA[Patrick Benitez along with his wife and son ]]> image/jpeg 1670958227 2022-12-13 19:03:47 1671030815 2022-12-14 15:13:35 663838 image <![CDATA[Patrick Benitez and his parents]]> image/jpeg 1670958335 2022-12-13 19:05:35 1671028598 2022-12-14 14:36:38 <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Commencement]]> <![CDATA[Master of Science in Analytics]]>
<![CDATA[Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) Profile: Devyon Johnson]]> 27233 Devyon wasn't having success landing interviews or getting call backs for job applications. A mentor at the National Urban League encouraged him to apply to Juma, an employment and job training program which helps youth overcome the hardships of poverty and aspire to career success. As part of its social enterprise operations in Atlanta, Juma offers year-round employment to over 140 Atlanta youth at SunTrust Park, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and State Farm Arena—home of the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and Dream—as well as the Georgia World Congress Convention Center.

Devyon applied and successfully enrolled in Juma, and found a path to earn money, build his resume, and pave his future. As part of the program, Devyon took Georgia Tech LEAP courses to learn more about supply and logistics and the career paths the field has to offer. His dedication to the job, his willingness to go above what was expected of him and his attention to detail were characteristics that made him stand out to Juma’s Enterprise Managers. After successfully completing Juma’s training program, Devyon secured a job at UPS, a Juma Atlanta job placement partner. Today, Devyon has stable employment and, after successfully passing UPS’ Supervisor Exam, became a Shift Manager.

Learn about Devyon Johnson's story in the Juma website.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1670850608 2022-12-12 13:10:08 1670855607 2022-12-12 14:33:27 0 0 news Devyon wasn't having success landing interviews or getting call backs for job applications. A mentor at the National Urban League encouraged him to apply to Juma, an employment and job training program which helps youth overcome the hardships of poverty and aspire to career success.

]]>
2017-04-17T00:00:00-04:00 2017-04-17T00:00:00-04:00 2017-04-17 00:00:00 663797 663797 image <![CDATA[Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) Profile: Devyon Johnson]]> image/jpeg 1670851684 2022-12-12 13:28:04 1670851684 2022-12-12 13:28:04 <![CDATA[Learn more about the Georgia Tech Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) program]]> <![CDATA[Meet Devyon Johnson]]> <![CDATA[Juma Atlanta]]>
<![CDATA[Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) Profile: Zaria Walker]]> 27233 Zaria participated in Juma, an employment and job training program which helps youth overcome the hardships of poverty and aspire to career success. As part of its social enterprise operations in Atlanta, Juma offers year-round employment to over 140 Atlanta youth at SunTrust Park, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and State Farm Arena—home of the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and Dream—as well as the Georgia World Congress Convention Center.

Zuma promotes participants to earn while they learn, so while going to school during the week to pursue her GED, Zaria took GT LEAP courses at night and worked in the Juma Atlanta concessions operations group on the weekend. Through perseverance and her will to succeed, she later secured fulltime employment within the JUMA organization.

At the Future of Work 2017 summit sponsored by The Atlantic, Zaria was asked about her experience. She commented, “sometimes, people just need a second chance and an opportunity to take advantage of it.” The experience has opened her eyes to the possibilities and Ms. Walker has aspirations to be a crime scene investigator. Zaria plan to pursue further education and make that dream a reality some day.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1670847770 2022-12-12 12:22:50 1670855343 2022-12-12 14:29:03 0 0 news While going to school during the week to pursue her GED, Zaria took;GT LEAP courses at night and worked ;in the Juma Atlanta concessions operations group on the weekend. Through perseverance and her will to succeed, she later secured fulltime employment within the JUMA organization.

]]>
2017-10-09T00:00:00-04:00 2017-10-09T00:00:00-04:00 2017-10-09 00:00:00 663791 663793 663791 image <![CDATA[Zaria Walker, Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) participant with Chuck Easley, program manager with the Georgia Tech LEAP program]]> image/jpeg 1670821809 2022-12-12 05:10:09 1670821939 2022-12-12 05:12:19 663793 image <![CDATA[Zaria Walker, Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) participant and panel member of Future of Work 2017 event.]]> image/jpeg 1670822182 2022-12-12 05:16:22 1670822191 2022-12-12 05:16:31 <![CDATA[Learn more about the Georgia Tech Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) program]]> <![CDATA[The Future of Work 2017 Summit]]> <![CDATA[Juma Atlanta]]>
<![CDATA[SCL Welcomes Todd Ullom with MiTek to its Industry Advisory Board]]> 27233 Todd Ullom has over 30 years' experience as an entrepreneur, developer, general contractor, technologist, and market strategist holding senior executive positions with both private and public companies. He is currently vice president for MiTek, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, leading the development of the company’s distributed construction platform which is initially focused on offsite volumetric assembly of hotels. He joined MiTek as part of the acquisition of Innovation Builder, a technology company founded by Todd with a focus on solving the construction industry's toughest problems. Throughout his career, Todd has managed both growth and turnaround companies, developed new business opportunities, designed industry leading business processes and developed innovative marketing strategies. His experience includes founder and president of a bespoke building company; senior leadership positions in large private and public construction companies including COO, region president, VP of strategy and operations; and VP of strategy and business development for a technology firm.

Todd has developed more than $2.5 billion in real estate with annual P&L responsibility of more than $500 million and developed turnaround programs for over 50 projects during the financial crisis. He has developed industry leading processes for scheduling, purchasing and trade relationships. Todd created the Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren branded home programs and has developed creative customer centric product designs and selling strategies. He has provided business and technology consulting for more than 200 builders and contractors of all sizes throughout North America. Todd has also served in numerous capacities constructing large scale commercial projects that include major medical research facilities, hospitals, dormitories, hotels and club houses. 

Todd has a B.S. in Building Construction from the Georgia Institute of Technology, is a licensed Florida general contractor and sales associate, certified in advanced design thinking through IDEO and is a certified leadership coach with John Maxwell. He is a former president of the Atlanta Homebuilders Association, was named as one of Seattle’s Top Business Executives Under 40 in 1999, received the Lee Evans Award for Management Excellence in 2012, was named America’s Best Builder in 2013 and currently serves on the Board of Governors for the non-profit Opportunity International. 

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1669921744 2022-12-01 19:09:04 1670335107 2022-12-06 13:58:27 0 0 news GT Alum Todd Ullom lends his vast business, technology, and management experience to the SCL Industry Advisory Board.

]]>
2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2022-12-06 00:00:00 663589 663589 image <![CDATA[Todd Ullom, Vice President of Modular Building Solutions, MiTek]]> image/jpeg 1669921831 2022-12-01 19:10:31 1670336707 2022-12-06 14:25:07 <![CDATA[SCL Industry Advisory Board members]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE Faculty, Students Recognized for Research at INFORMS 2022 Annual Meeting]]> 33939 A host of faculty and students from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) attended the INFORMS annual meeting last month, networking with peers in the field, presenting research, attending keynotes, and more.

The conference, held from Oct. 16-19 in Indianapolis, Indiana, highlights research in the fields of operations research and analytics, proven scientific mathematical processes that enable organizations to turn complex challenges into substantial opportunities by transforming data into information, and information into insights that solve real-world problems.

Once again, ISyE researchers had a number of accomplishments at the meeting, being recognized for research on various topics. Explore the list below to see ISyE’s accomplishments.

If you or someone you know received an award or recognition but did not make the list, please email Communications Manager David Mitchell at david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1667317809 2022-11-01 15:50:09 1667394183 2022-11-02 13:03:03 0 0 news The conference, held from Oct. 16-19 in Indianapolis, Indiana, highlights research in the fields of operations research and analytics, proven scientific mathematical processes that enable organizations to turn complex challenges into substantial opportunities by transforming data into information, and information into insights that solve real-world problems.

]]>
2022-11-01T00:00:00-04:00 2022-11-01T00:00:00-04:00 2022-11-01 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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662748 662748 image <![CDATA[INFORMS 2022]]> image/png 1667317668 2022-11-01 15:47:48 1667317668 2022-11-01 15:47:48
<![CDATA[With their transit ride-share pilot, MARTA and Georgia Tech give passengers a ‘first-mile, last-mile’ solution]]> 33939 When LaQuetta Ferrell learned about MARTA Reach, an on-demand pilot ride-share service in Atlanta, she eagerly started using the service that same day.

Ferrell’s commute to and from work had become a slog. She was getting up at 4:30 a.m. on weekdays to catch a bus and train to get to her job in downtown Atlanta by 7. She had to walk uphill and several blocks to the bus stop, wearing a brace for a worsening knee issue. Her knee hurt, and on days when the heat descended on Atlanta like a stifling blanket, she’d arrive home soaked in sweat. The one-way trip took 45 minutes on a good day but sometimes up to an hour and a half, versus the 15 minutes it would take to drive to work if Ferrell had a car. 

MARTA Reach, a six-month pilot launched in March by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, offered both convenience and a shorter commute. Each weekday morning, Ferrell called for a ride through an app on her phone, and a MARTA Reach shuttle picked her up across the street from her home and took her to a MARTA train station. 

On the way home, she’d call for another ride from the train station and usually got picked up in less than five minutes, instead of waiting sometimes an hour for a bus.

“MARTA Reach really came in handy for me,” says Ferrell, an administrative assistant at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s great for me. It works well.”

Improving Convenience

MARTA and Georgia Tech launched the pilot to address what’s known as the “first-mile, last-mile” issue facing many residents like Ferrell, who don’t have easy access to a bus stop or train station. During the pilot, which ran from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday through August, users could call for a MARTA Reach ride by app or phone. A ride cost $2.50, the same as a regular MARTA fare, and transfers were free. All MARTA Reach vehicles, repurposed from the agency’s paratransit service for people with disabilities, are wheelchair accessible. 

The pilot was initially launched in three zones and expanded in May to include several other neighborhoods. In collaboration with Georgia Tech, MARTA chose zones that were different from each other, seeking to determine how on-demand transportation would work in a residential area versus a mixed-commercial one or a more industrial location. Would riders be using the service mostly to get to work? To go shopping? Meet friends? The goal was twofold: to improve service for existing MARTA users and ideally, attract new users who might opt for transit over driving if it’s convenient enough. 

Demand grew quickly, from fewer than 100 rides weekly when the pilot launched to more than 600 in early August. By late August, when the pilot ended, MARTA Reach had served more than 8,300 passengers and was projected to hit 1,250 rides weekly if the service had continued into September. 

MARTA is now evaluating data from the program to understand how riders used it and determine, as the agency undertakes a redesign of its bus network, whether to extend the pilot or make the service permanent. Anthony Thomas, MARTA’s program manager for customer experience innovation, says preliminary data showed that many riders, like Ferrell, were using the service regularly.  

“People are really excited about the program,” he says. “And we have been very excited about the uptake in service. We see lots of riders as well as very committed riders, individuals that were taking multiple rides a day, every day.” 

And though MARTA Reach was designed to carry passengers relatively short distances, that convenience can make a profound difference in people’s daily lives, Thomas says.  

“On paper it might look like, oh, that bus is pretty close. It’s only a 10-minute walk,” Thomas says. “But when you’re on the ground and it’s 95 degrees or you have groceries or you have kids with you or a stroller, that 10-minute walk becomes a barrier for folks, and they might just decide to hop into a car. 

“For people who are on the lower-income spectrum, having to afford a car is a big burden. So being able to replace that trip with a $2.50 trip with MARTA is, I think, something that is extraordinarily powerful and very beneficial to the communities we operated the service in.” 

Thinking Bigger

The origins of MARTA Reach date back a decade, when Pascal Van Hentenryck, now a Georgia Tech professor of engineering and computer science, was leading a group of researchers in Australia focused on using data science to solve major challenges in areas including public transportation. Working in Canberra, Australia’s capital, the team at NICTA — Australia’s national information and communications technology research center — noticed taxis going back and forth from the airport to the Parliament building and many buses that were running empty or with few passengers. 

The researchers envisioned a system that would remove some of the empty buses and instead use taxis to connect passengers with high-frequency buses. The group did some early planning, and when Van Hentenryck returned to the U.S. to work at the University of Michigan, he launched a ride-share pilot that offered free transportation on shuttle vans around campus and to several surrounding neighborhoods. Van Hentenryck and a team of students built an app for the service, which ran for four months in 2018. 

“It was amazingly successful,” says Van Hentenryck, now the A. Russell Chandler III chair and a professor of industrial and systems engineering at Georgia Tech. “It was only running from 6 p.m. to midnight, but we had 400 students using the system every day.”

That success led Van Hentenryck to think bigger — about combining public transit with an on-demand ride-share service for Atlanta residents lacking access to transit. A sprawling metropolis with the ninth largest metro area population in the country, Atlanta has a network of MARTA bus routes linked to a rapid transit train system with 38 stations. But providing transit access for the region’s nearly 6.1 million residents is a pressing challenge as Atlanta continues to grow. Buses don’t serve the entire region, and some routes are underutilized. 

Leaders at MARTA had been thinking about how to address the first-mile, last-mile issue when Van Hentenryck approached the agency in 2021 with a potential solution. He and his students had secured a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an on-demand ride-share system. Drawing on the University of Michigan pilot, Van Hentenryck’s team would build out the technology and apps needed for the service and partly subsidize its operation. 

“Clearly, it was a no-brainer at that point,” Thomas says. “It’s something that we’d wanted to test out in our system for a while. The stars had aligned, and it was a great opportunity to explore it at this time.” 

Building a Solution

Van Hentenryck and a team of about seven Ph.D. students developed an Azure-based suite of technology for the pilot, including a routing system and separate apps for riders, drivers, and the administrative system.

The team started with the app developed for the Michigan pilot but building out technology designed for a college campus to serve a complex urban transit system spread out over a much larger geographic area proved challenging.

So the students worked closely with Microsoft to implement and optimize the app on Azure. They leveraged several key Azure capabilities to quickly build apps, improve data processing, and enhance the security of user data. Azure allowed the Ph.D. students to quickly set up and scale their app so they could focus on what mattered most — building a solution to increase mobility in metro Atlanta.

Azure enabled the automation of some tasks that would have been difficult to build from scratch, but since the system was new, there was no data to inform machine learning algorithms. The team quickly learned there were variables they hadn’t accounted for — in particular, driver behavior.  

For one thing, MARTA Reach drivers drove more slowly — much more slowly — than Van Hentenryck had anticipated. That was great from a safety perspective, but it required the team to adjust the system accordingly. And in the early days of the pilot, drivers had few passengers and would sometimes not be paying attention to alerts about ride requests, so the team added functionality to quickly reallocate another vehicle when a driver was unresponsive. 

“It’s human nature that if you’re sitting idle for 20 minutes, you’re going to zone out,” says Connor Riley, a former Georgia Tech student who worked on the pilot with Van Hentenryck and fellow Ph.D. student Anthony Trasatti and has since graduated. 

“We had to do things to make sure that when a request came in, a driver had the information and was alerted to that request so that performance didn’t suffer,” Riley says.

As the pilot got underway and drivers got to know their regular passengers, another wrinkle developed. Drivers would sometimes drop passengers off at home or at non-designated stops, providing exemplary service while inadvertently mucking up the system.

“The drivers will go a long way to make sure the riders are happy. But at the same time, obviously that completely changed the optimization,” Van Hentenryck says. “At the end of the day, these are systems that are operated by people, and who are serving people in a human environment. And those factors are really difficult to predict.”

In response to feedback from passengers and MARTA, Van Hentenryck’s team added additional shuttle stops to the system and several new features, including a trip history so riders can easily repeat a route by clicking a button, and the ability to enter an address and find the nearest stop. The team also developed functionality for MARTA dispatchers to request rides for passengers who wanted to call rather than using the app. 

“We wanted to make sure that people who either can’t afford a smartphone or maybe prefer not to use technology have access to the system as well,” Thomas says. 

Emerging Patterns

Over time, patterns emerged. Rising before 6 a.m. to monitor MARTA Reach rides real-time on a dashboard, the Georgia Tech team noticed many passengers traveling the same routes daily; Van Hentenryck estimates about 60% to 70% of MARTA Reach trips were commutes to work. Other regulars used the service for shopping, with Walmart and Kroger stores among the most popular destinations.

With MARTA Reach, “People don’t have to wait a long time for a bus and also don’t have to walk from the grocery store, carrying their packages to the bus stop,” says Hongzhao Guan, a member of the Georgia Tech team. “They could take their shopping cart to the parking lot, then take their bags and move right onto a shuttle. It’s very convenient.”

Transit agencies around the country have grappled with a shifting landscape impacted by competition from ride-share services such as Uber and Lyft, lower ridership during the Covid-19 pandemic, and labor shortages. Agencies in several other cities, including Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, have also launched on-demand ride-share services.

Van Hentenryck believes the MARTA Reach model could be replicated in other cities to connect riders with rapid transit bus or train service, in large part because it was achieved by just a handful of students working in cooperation with Microsoft. The application architecture is ready to scale to other metro systems if and when needed, without the need for a huge investment in staff or infrastructure. 

“I think the biggest potential is going to be in mid-size cities, where you can connect people with a backbone of rapid transit using shuttles,” Van Hentenryck says. “I think that’s where the market is.”

For Guan, seeing how people used MARTA Reach, and the service the pilot provided, was gratifying. 

“As Ph.D. students, normally we spend our days in front of a computer, running computational experiments and checking our results,” he says. “But MARTA Reach gave us an opportunity to test our idea in the real world. We received a lot of positive feedback from customers and see that they really rely on this service. I feel really proud that we helped local communities.” 

Ferrell, for her part, hopes MARTA Reach will continue. She became friendly with her drivers, who would sometimes drop her inside her housing complex. She was an informal ambassador for MARTA Reach, putting flyers around the complex and in her office break room to let people know about it. 

“I told a lot of people about it,” she says. “I love the service.”

]]> David Mitchell 1 1663774914 2022-09-21 15:41:54 1664246591 2022-09-27 02:43:11 0 0 news MARTA Reach is a program designed to help minimize waiting and walking, eliminating the inconvenience of users having to walk a mile or more to their nearest MARTA station. After a six-month pilot, researchers and officials are now examining the data.

]]>
2022-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-21 00:00:00 By Deborah Bach

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655843 655842 655843 image <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Partners to Launch MARTA Reach Pilot Program Across Atlanta]]> image/jpeg 1646090937 2022-02-28 23:28:57 1646103125 2022-03-01 02:52:05 655842 image <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Partners to Launch MARTA Reach Pilot Program Across Atlanta]]> image/jpeg 1646090882 2022-02-28 23:28:02 1646103099 2022-03-01 02:51:39
<![CDATA[ISyE Undergrad Ranked No. 1 for 28th Straight Year]]> 33939 For the 28th consecutive year, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) has the top undergraduate program of its kind in the country, according to the 2023 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings.

Among schools in Georgia Tech's College of Engineering, all 10 were ranked in the top five for the fifth consecutive year, and ISyE was joined by the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the top.

Overall, the College is ranked No. 4 in the country, its seventh straight year in that spot, where it is tied with the California Institute of Technology. Among public universities, the College is ranked No. 2.

Individual engineering discipline rankings are based solely on surveys of deans and faculty members at other universities. The U.S. News rankings are one indicator of the quality of an institution and can influence undergraduates, professors, prospective students, peer institutions, and the media.

The rankings were released on Sept. 12, 2022.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1662993018 2022-09-12 14:30:18 1663761119 2022-09-21 11:51:59 0 0 news Among schools in Georgia Tech's College of Engineering, all 10 were ranked in the top five for the fifth consecutive year, and ISyE was joined by the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the top.

]]>
2022-09-12T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-12T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-12 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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661049 661049 image <![CDATA[2022 ISYE Undergraduate ranking graphic]]> image/png 1662992499 2022-09-12 14:21:39 1662992499 2022-09-12 14:21:39
<![CDATA[Ph.D. Student Samantha Morton Helps Lead Atlanta Retrofitting Project]]> 33939 School of Industrial and Systems Engineering master’s student Samantha Morton was skeptical as she looked down the length of Atlanta’s English Avenue. The street was filled with older houses, many in need of great care.

None of these are going to work, she thought.

Most of these houses lacked basic features that would make a home hospitable. How could they be expected to retrofit one of these homes to net zero?

“I wasn’t intending to be overly cynical, but I was worried we were taking on a greater challenge than even the competition intended,” said Morton, a member of Georgia Tech’s multi-disciplinary team in the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. “I thought it was, perhaps, one we could not meet.

“The line between renovation and completely gutting a building is gray, and I wasn’t sure how much of the existing house we could confidently save. If we’re trying to show that a renovation is feasible then are we true to ourselves if it’s mostly a new project?”

They settled on a 102-year-old home in dire need of an update. Or perhaps “update” doesn’t adequately encapsulate what the project called for. The house, Morton said, was completely unlivable in its current state. Open to the elements, it was in dire need of repairs and weatherization, amenities like a water heater where a previous one was removed.

Against all initial challenges, however, the team developed a design that won the Renovation division and went on to win the grand prize for the entire residential division at the decathlon. 

Calling upon her background in building science and five years in consulting, as well as some information learned in Professor Valerie Thomas’ Life Cycle Analysis class, Morton and her teammates were able to implement a strategy that has potential for real-world impact. It’s something Morton has been building toward as far back as she can remember.

Morton has always been captivated by the concept of sustainability. Like her own two hands, the desire to learn about, understand, and ultimately make a difference in that domain has always been a part of her.

“It’s kind of cliché to say you’ve always been interested in something,” she said, “but it has been. I was involved in environmental stewardship and sustainability growing up from high school to college. Even before high school.”

She remembered back to a time where she led an environmental club as a high schooler at Riverwood International Charter School, where she was president of Environmental Club. Even long before that, when, at 9 years old, she forced her parents to throw out their microwave because she didn’t like the extra packaging and film associated with single use meals.

She interned at the sustainability office at the University of Georgia, where she spent her undergraduate years studying environmental economics. She consulted for a few about 7 years after earning her bachelor’s degree, spending time at Atlanta-based nonprofit Southface, which focuses on the research, design, and implementation of a regenerative economy.

She found herself daydreaming about the differences that could be made by businesses if only they would adjust their operations to reduce energy consumption.

It was here she discovered industrial engineering.

“I found a definition somewhere that industrial engineering was the study of reducing waste,” Morton said with a smile. “I was like, ‘Oh, I know they don’t mean that the way I think of.’ But waste is waste, so what if I could make those connections and apply them to what I was interested in?”

In ISyE, she’s discovered optimization. Admittedly, it was a new idea to her.

“I hadn’t previously thought of how many more efficient ways there can be to solve these problems of limited resources,” she said.

It was that willingness to look through a different lens at the same types of challenges she’s looked at for years that helped her identify solutions on English Avenue.

To achieve the net zero retrofit – net positive, actually, by the end of the project – the team provided solutions for rainwater harvesting and graywater reuse, a financial model that included land trust subsidies and an additional 60 years’ worth of projected weather data that proved the house would stay net positive even in cases of extreme weather.

“It was important that if we were trying to show that a renovation is feasible, then we needed to be true to ourselves and develop something that can be applied in reality,” Morton said. “At first, I looked into this through a lens of too much reality: ‘This can’t work. We’ll be down to the studs.’ I think one of the most rewarding parts was just taking a deep breath and thinking that we were doing something not necessarily rooted in the reality of contractors today, but in what could help for the future of construction.”

For Morton and many on the team, the future includes continuing this project. Many who compete in competitions like the Solar Decathlon complete their work, earn their prize, and move on to the next challenge. Instead, the team was approached by individuals within the Department of Energy who encouraged them to continue to move the project forward.

The next steps vary: Build the house as a proof of concept, which was beyond the scope of the design challenge. Take that model and expand to the rest of the English Avenue neighborhood. Show how this neighborhood can be replicated in other neighborhoods in the southeast and potentially throughout the country.

“This isn’t just about winning a project,” Morton said. “It has to be about actually changing lives. You may look at a house and say it’s just a building, but it’s more. It’s shelter. It’s comfort. It’s stability.”

]]> David Mitchell 1 1662740068 2022-09-09 16:14:28 1662740068 2022-09-09 16:14:28 0 0 news A team of Georgia Tech students, including ISyE Ph.D. student Samantha Morton, designed a renovation to a 102-year-old house to achieve net zero energy.

]]>
2022-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2022-09-09 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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661020 661020 image <![CDATA[Samantha Morton]]> image/jpeg 1662739955 2022-09-09 16:12:35 1662739955 2022-09-09 16:12:35
<![CDATA[Congratulations to ISyE Senior Design Teams for Outstanding Recognition at the Capstone Design Competition]]> 27233 We would like to congratulate two ISyE Senior Design teams for their outstanding performance in the Capstone Design competition organized by the Material Handling Industry (MHI) and College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE).
 
Team "Tiffany and Co. Diamonds and Distribution: Improving the Order Fulfillment Process" won 1st place, which also comes with a monetary award of $2,000 split among the students on the team. The team worked on a project to improve Tiffany's domestic and international order fulfillment goals. After the students identified a cause for delays in the value-added services station of warehouses, they created an optimization model and a heuristic to dynamically find the most efficient location for each item. The student team also created an application that the client can utilize themselves to run the models annually.
 
Students: Shreya Desai | Ozashwee Ghimire | Fares Hasan | Saman Muhammad | Neha Srivatsa | William Reich | Asli Yucebilgin 
Client Sponsor: Stephanie Brumby 
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gunter Sharp

 

Team "SAIA. SAIA-ZING UP: Evaluation of Terminal Expansion", a senior design technical competition finalist, was recognized with an Honorable Mention. The team worked with the Industrial Engineering team at Saia LTL Freight to aid in their terminal expansion implication process. Saia has set out an aggressive growth goal of opening 10-15 terminals in the next year. The model simulated a quantification of network changes as a result of additions to Saia’s network, including operational, freight flow, and cost. The system model provides Saia with proactive, data-driven insight to the impacts on their network during their terminal expansion.
 
Team Members: Joey Abi-Sarkis | Abhishek Mattipalli | Maya Menon | Jay Patel | Santhosh Saravanan | Abhinav Sehgal | Pooja Sharma | Yashovarman Singh
Client Contact: Ryan Madura
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Anton Kleywegt
 
Congratulations to both teams, their clients, and their faculty advisors.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1661292026 2022-08-23 22:00:26 1661973953 2022-08-31 19:25:53 0 0 news ISyE students excel in Capstone Design competition organized by the Material Handling Industry (MHI) and College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE).

]]>
2022-08-08T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-08T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-08 00:00:00 Dr. Dima Nazzal

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660475 660474 660475 image <![CDATA[Team Tiffany ISyE Capstone]]> image/jpeg 1661293399 2022-08-23 22:23:19 1661293399 2022-08-23 22:23:19 660474 image <![CDATA[Team SAIA ISyE Capstone]]> image/jpeg 1661293359 2022-08-23 22:22:39 1661293359 2022-08-23 22:22:39 <![CDATA[Top ISyE Team Rings in Capstone Design Expo with Fulfillment Solution for Tiffany and Co.]]> <![CDATA[Material Handling Capstone Design Competition]]> <![CDATA[Senior Design at ISyE]]> <![CDATA[Master's Capstone Projects]]>
<![CDATA[SCL Welcomes Dematic's Chris Shaver to its Industry Advisory Board]]> 27233 Chris Shaver serves as the Vice President of Global Product Management for Dematic. He joined Dematic in 2020, leading the Global Vertical Strategy team before transitioning to lead the Global Product Management organization in early 2022.

Mr. Shaver brings a wide array of executive supply chain experience to SCL. Prior to joining Dematic in 2020, he built and ran the omni-channel operations organization for Chico’s FAS, a multi-billion dollar women’s apparel retail organization. Prior to his time at Chico’s FAS, Mr. Shaver spent over a decade in the management consulting industry delivering both strategic and operationally-focused supply chain initiatives to Fortune 500 organizations.  Mr. Shaver is a graduate of Georgia Tech and currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1661910036 2022-08-31 01:40:36 1661910304 2022-08-31 01:45:04 0 0 news Chris Shaver serves as the Vice President of Global Product Management for Dematic. He joined Dematic in 2020, leading the Global Vertical Strategy team before transitioning to lead the Global Product Management organization in early 2022.

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2022-08-30T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-30T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-30 00:00:00 660715 660715 image <![CDATA[Chris Shaver, Vice President, Global Product Management]]> image/jpeg 1661909779 2022-08-31 01:36:19 1661909779 2022-08-31 01:36:19 <![CDATA[SCL Industry Advisory Board members]]>
<![CDATA[Master of Science in Analytics Team Wins Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition]]> 35757 Four students from the Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) program took first place at the 2021 Humana-Mays Healthcare Analytics Case Competition, a partnership between Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and the health and well-being company Humana Inc. The team includes M.S. Analytics students Siyan Cai, Manqiu Liu, Tsz Fung Pang, and Jia Shi.

Georgia Tech’s MSA is an interdisciplinary program that leverages the strengths of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the College of Computing, and the Scheller College of Business. The case competition was open to students from master’s programs in business, healthcare, or analytics. More than 750 students representing 75 major universities across the country competed, and the winning team received the first-place prize of $50,000 following a virtual presentation to an executive panel of judges.

The challenge of the case competition was to minimize health inequities and address vaccine hesitance among vulnerable and underserved populations using the power of data analytics. Students were asked to utilize prescriptive and predictive modelling to predict vaccine hesitancy in specific segments, and accordingly propose targeted outreach to remove the barriers of the hesitant populations to receive vaccinations.

“This case focused on a very distinctive segment of the population in the healthcare industry, so it was difficult at the beginning to grasp the problem, especially since none of us had any domain knowledge,” said Cai.

However, the team was not intimidated, and they performed a lot of research on the topic, consulting with field experts and conducting many discussions and brainstorming sessions. After understanding the context and central problem to solve, the students broke the case into three key questions to be solved. These questions laid a foundational framework for their analysis and strategies; as they moved forward, they made sure to always address the questions at the heart of their solution.

One of the challenges the team faced was dealing with a very large dataset, which included approximately one million records of Humana Medicare members with more than 400 features. During the data preprocessing, they extensively leveraged data manipulation techniques, ending up with a model that ranked top five in the leaderboard.

The main reason why the team’s model has high predictive power is that they performed well-rounded data preparation. Rather than merely applying modeling techniques to fix the problem, the students focused on the fundamental causes of bias in the dataset as well as alternative solutions.

“We wanted to aid the disadvantaged and find solutions to address vaccine disparity and inequity,” said Liu. “We believe that data science has the potential to benefit society, and this competition is an excellent opportunity for us to see what kind of beneficial influence analytics may have.”

]]> goberst3 1 1639003765 2021-12-08 22:49:25 1661375619 2022-08-24 21:13:39 0 0 news More than 750 students representing 75 major universities across the country competed for the $50,000 prize.

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2021-12-10T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-10T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-10 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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653465 653465 image <![CDATA[Manqiu Liu, Tsz Fung Pang, Siyan Cai, and Jia Shi (clockwise from top left)]]> image/jpeg 1638901743 2021-12-07 18:29:03 1638901786 2021-12-07 18:29:46
<![CDATA[ISyE Welcomes Four New Faculty Members]]> 33939 Four new faculty members have joined the ranks at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering entering the fall semester. Eunhye Song and Weijun Xie have both earned assistant professor appointments as Coca-Cola Foundation Early Career Professors, Arthur Delarue is also an incoming assistant professor, and Xin Chen a professor.

Learn more about each faculty member and their research below.

Assistant Professor Eunhye Song

Song comes to ISyE from Penn State University, where she was a Harold and Inge Marcus Early Career Assistant Professor. Her research interests include design of simulation experiments, model risk quantification, and simulation optimization.

In 2021, Song earned a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, which will fund her work through 2026. She also served on the INFORMS Simulation Society’s Underrepresented Minorities and Women Committee from 2018-20.

She earned her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University in 2017.

Assistant Professor Weijun Xie

Xie spent nearly five years at Virginia Tech in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering before joining Georgia Tech this semester. He is returning home to ISyE after obtaining his Ph.D. in Operations Research at Georgia Tech in 2017.

Xie’s research interests lie in theory and applications of stochastic, discrete, and convex optimization. His works have won awards, including the 2022 New Investigator Award from Virginia Space Grant Consortium at NASA, the 2021 NSF Career Award, and the 2020 INFORMS Young Researchers Paper Prize, among other honors.

He currently serves as the vice chair of optimization under uncertainty at the INFORMS Optimization Society and the associate editor of Mathematical Programing and the Journal of Global Optimization.

Assistant Professor Arthur Delarue

Delarue joins ISyE’s faculty after recently completing his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and serving as a postdoctoral fellow at Lyft Rideshare Labs. His primary goal as a researcher is to leverage data, optimization, and machine learning to solve practical problems that matter to society. More specifically, he is interested in applications of mixed-integer optimization in transportation, machine learning, educational operations, and public policy.

In 2020, Delarue participated in the COVIDAnalytics initiative, which was awarded the 2020 Pierskalla Award. As part of the project, he helped design optimization tools to support MIT’s pandemic planning during the 2020-21 school year.

Professor Xin Chen

Chen is joining ISyE after 18 years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he has studied data analytics, revenue management and dynamic pricing, operations research, optimization, inventory and supply chain management, and more.

Chen earned his Ph.D. in Operations Research from MIT in 2003 and served as a postdoctoral research there for the following year, after which he joined the faculty at Illinois. He received the INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing section prize in 2009 and is the coauthor of the book The Logic of Logistics: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications for Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1660576483 2022-08-15 15:14:43 1660576543 2022-08-15 15:15:43 0 0 news 2022-08-15T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-15T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-15 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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660141 660141 image <![CDATA[ISyE New Faculty 2022]]> image/png 1660576187 2022-08-15 15:09:47 1660576187 2022-08-15 15:09:47
<![CDATA[Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute Expands Its LEAP Program with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice]]> 27233 The Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (GT-SCL) residing in and supported by the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), in coordination with Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), is expanding its Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) program with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Reentry Program to implement services for eligible participants in Chatham, Bibb, and Muscogee Education Transition Centers (ETC).

The goal of the ETCs is to reduce recidivisms and enable participants with the tools, training, and opportunities to move forward as a productive member of society with sustainable employment and a rewarding career. LEAP is a fast-paced certification program that prepares secondary education students to compete for successful high-growth jobs in the supply chain and logistics field, an outcome that is a natural component to the mission of the ETCs.

“I want to thank Georgia Tech for being a great corporate partner in rehabilitating our justice-involved youth,” said Tyrone Oliver, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. “The LEAP program will help our youth gain valuable skills to aid them towards a brighter future.”

Initially, this partnership began with a pilot program in July of 2019, and culminated when the DJJ’s Chatham ETC hosted their Award Certification Ceremony on the Georgia Tech’s Savannah campus. Expanding this program in 2022 will equip students not only in Chatham County, but now in Bibb and Muscogee Counties with the knowledge, skills, and credentials for careers in the fast-growing Supply Chain and Logistics industry. All the funding for the LEAP program comes from industry partners like the GA Power Foundation, Schneider Foundation and JP Morgan Chase & Co. In addition, DJJ also contributed funding for this successful partnership with the ETCs.

The LEAP program initially covers understanding with the Supply Chain Management Principles course and then the various domains within the supply chain through three other optional courses (i.e., Customer Service, Warehousing Operations, and Transportation Operations). It also explores with students how the supply chain supports organizations’ strategic and financial goals, and current events through subject matter lectures and simulation exercises.

After completing the program, students receive an official GTPE Certificate of Completion for each completed pass/fail LEAP course (Supply Chain Management Principles, Customer Service Operations, Transportation Operations and Warehouse Operations), that are all sanctioned by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Typically, at their end-of-program, there is an Award ceremony where they receive their professional education certificate from Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE). 

“While earning GT Professional Education credentials, attending fieldtrips to Gulfstream, GA Ports Authority, Amazon, or Dynacraft and improving their potential to secure employment in the exploding Savannah Supply Chain Industry, may have served as the initial motivation to attempt the program, the impact was immeasurable. Our students grew in areas that enhanced their self-confidence, work ethic, and intrinsic motivation. As a result, our students view themselves as productive citizens with credentials for quality jobs or careers in their future,” said ArtLisa Alston-Cone, Lead Teacher, DJJ Chatham ETC.

Students have a working knowledge of the fundamentals of Supply Chain and Logistics and will be immediately prepared for internships and job opportunities. Two students completed more than one course, indicating their interest and aptitude in this field. One student who was already working in a distribution operation actually completed four courses, earning a Logistics Fundamentals Program Certificate. After the program in December of 2019 with the DJJ’s Chatham ETC, seven of the eleven graduates received job offers, and another two were scheduled for interviews, making the program a great success. The students in the ETC’s have completed all requirements from the juvenile system. They are in transition to becoming productive members of society. At this point, many students are completing their High School Diploma requirements for graduation or getting their GED. They are typically living with family, a guardian or in a transition home.

“We’ve all had times in our lives when someone has discounted us, intentionally or unintentionally. There will always be that student in the corner who you think couldn’t care less, but given the proper attention and care, they can become a star. It’s easy to predetermine what someone is capable of doing; but when these students take this program, the lightbulb goes off, and they become interested and develop a passion and confidence because of this course,” said Charles Easley Jr., GT-SCL Project Director and Instructor.
 
The program is delivered in a cohort format so that the students always feel supported not only by the instructors but by their classmates as well. Students receive educational content but also learn how to integrate their training in the real world, so they are prepared to perform in the workplace. Students are taken on field trips with the support of community partners to learn how to apply their knowledge and see first-hand how the supply chain operates. In previous years, students were taken to Georgia Tech’s Atlanta campus to explore The Ferst Center for the Arts, The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, and The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) so they could see what options are open to them for their future working careers. During these visits they were able to participate in student information sessions, see the innovative technology in the ISyE Physical Internet Lab and interact with faculty like Benoit Montreuil, Tim Brown, GT-SCL, and role models like Gen. Ron Johnson, Professor of the Practice, and ISyE Student Ambassadors. Students were also taken to Gulfstream in Savannah and The Georgia Fair where they participated in a hands-on project to map out the supply chain process for food.

About the LEAP Program
GTSCL created LEAP in 2015 through a grant from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to further the financial services firm’s “New Skills at Work” initiative that promotes workforce development to bridge the gap between the talent employers need and the qualifications of the local talent pipeline. The curriculum and content were developed by The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech. In August 2018, JPMorgan Chase & Co. continued once again committed to supporting LEAP with an additional grant. The Georgia Tech LEAP program has been delivered throughout Georgia to Schools, Cohorts, and Individual Students in 18 School Districts or Systems, at 46 different schools public and private, in 13 colleges and universities, and across several well-known organizations and employers. This includes schools like Maynard Jackson HS, Grady HS, North Atlanta HS, Effingham College Career and Career Academy, Fulton Schools College and Career Academy, Newton College and Career Academy, Social Circle HS, Griffin Region College & Career Academy, New Manchester HS; non-profit organizations like Goodwill, United Way(Career Rise), Scouts BSA(Crew 2421), The Latin American Association; and businesses like Sysco, and Mohawk Industries. The program has been continuously supported by generous donations from schools, civic organizations including Effingham College and Career Academy, Fulton Schools College and Career Academy, foundations including Home Depot Foundation, Fulton Education Foundation, Schneider Foundation, Georgia Power Foundation, Regions Foundation, and employers including companies like HMTX Industries, Inc.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1659704706 2022-08-05 13:05:06 1659729627 2022-08-05 20:00:27 0 0 news The Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (GT-SCL) residing in and supported by the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), in coordination with Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), is expanding its Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) program with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Reentry Program to implement services for eligible participants in Chatham, Bibb, and Muscogee Education Transition Centers (ETC).

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2022-08-05T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-05T00:00:00-04:00 2022-08-05 00:00:00 Kerry Jarvis
912-966-7913
kerry.jarvis@pe.gatech.edu

]]>
659965 659986 659965 image <![CDATA[Georgia Tech LEAP Program]]> image/jpeg 1659712726 2022-08-05 15:18:46 1659712726 2022-08-05 15:18:46 659986 image <![CDATA[GT LEAP/DJJ Graduation]]> image/jpeg 1659729044 2022-08-05 19:50:44 1659729994 2022-08-05 20:06:34 <![CDATA[About the LEAP program]]> <![CDATA[Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice]]> <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Professional Education]]> <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute]]> <![CDATA[Inaugural DJJ/GT LEAP Award Ceremony (video) ]]>
<![CDATA[Physical Internet Center Student and Faculty Researchers Receive Best Paper Awards at 2022 IISE Annual Conference and Expo]]> 27233 Physical Internet Center doctoral researchers Jingze Li and Yulia Xu were recognized at the 2022 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Annual Conference and Expo for placing 1st and 2nd in the Logistics and Supply Chain (LSC) Division Best Student Paper competition. "Both papers resulted from great team project work with industry leaders, addressing key logistic and transportation challenges and helping to shape the Physical Internet. They are quite timely as they provide solutions helping to alleviate the worldwide trucker and logistic worker shortages" remarked Professor Benoit Montreuil.

Jingze is first author of the paper "Trucker-sensitive Hyperconnected Relay-based Transportation: An Operating System", coauthored by doctoral student Miguel Campos and Professor Benoit Montreuil. Li commented, "In line with the concept of Physical Internet, we want to provide efficient and sustainable solutions from a new transportation paradigm to alleviate worldwide truck driver shortage and detention issues. I would like to give credit to my team, including PhD colleagues Katja Meuche, Yujia Xu, Onkar Kulkarni, faculty members Mathieu Dahan, Leon McGinnis, Yao Xie as well as our automotive manufacturer collaborators Brandon Walker, Ryan Purman, and Mark Owen." 

Yujia is first author of the paper "Dynamic Workforce Management in Hyperconnected Parcel Logistic Hubs", with Montreuil as coauthor. "It's my great honor that our work was selected as the second-place winner and I am grateful to my co-author Yiguo Liu and my advisor Benoit Montreuil for their great support and help."

Also of note, Reem Khir, NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT) postdoctoral fellow, received the 2022 IISE Best Paper Award for her work "Dynamic Workload Balancing with Limited Adaptability for Facility Logistics" with Alan Erera and Alejandro Toriello in the Facilities Design and Planning Track, Supply Chain and Logistics Division.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1656131541 2022-06-25 04:32:21 1656133135 2022-06-25 04:58:55 0 0 news Jingze Li and Yulia Xu place 1st and 2nd in the Logistics and Supply Chain (LSC) Division Best Student Paper competition. Reem Khir receives 2022 IISE Best Paper Award, FDP Facilities Design and Planning Track with Professors Alan Erera and Alejandro Toriello .

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2022-05-24T00:00:00-04:00 2022-05-24T00:00:00-04:00 2022-05-24 00:00:00 659092 659089 659090 659091 659092 image <![CDATA[IISE 2022 Best Paper Awards]]> image/jpeg 1656133102 2022-06-25 04:58:22 1656133102 2022-06-25 04:58:22 659089 image <![CDATA[Jingze Li, IISE Best Paper Award]]> image/jpeg 1656131662 2022-06-25 04:34:22 1656131662 2022-06-25 04:34:22 659090 image <![CDATA[Yulia Xu, IISE Best Paper Award]]> image/jpeg 1656131708 2022-06-25 04:35:08 1656131708 2022-06-25 04:35:08 659091 image <![CDATA[Reem Khir, IISE Best Paper Award]]> image/jpeg 1656131756 2022-06-25 04:35:56 1656131756 2022-06-25 04:35:56
<![CDATA[Pinar Keskinocak Recognized for Outstanding Service at Georgia Tech]]> 33939 School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Professor Pinar Keskinocak was recognized at Georgia Tech’s annual 2022 Faculty and Staff Honors Luncheon with the Class of 1934 Outstanding Service Award. The award recognizes her long service both to the Institute and to her field.

Keskinocak has long served as a leader with the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). A fellow with the institute, she has served as president, vice president of membership and professional recognition, and is the co-founder and former president of the INFORMS Section on Public Programs, Service, and Needs, and the president of the INFORMS Health Applications Society.

At Georgia Tech she has also served as the College of Engineering Advance Professor for six years and was a leading voice over the past three years of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to working with the Georgia Department of Public Health, she served on the Institute’s Covid task force helping to establish an institutional approach to the pandemic.

“It’s an honor, first of all, to have had the opportunity to serve,” she said. “Our communities at Georgia Tech and beyond are wonderful, so to be recognized among all of these outstanding contributors is a great honor.”

Keskinocak’s research focuses on the application of operations research and management science with society impact, particularly regarding health and humanitarian applications, supply chain management, and logistics. She is the director of ISyE’s Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems. Recent work has focused on infectious disease modeling in response to Covid-19.

Read more about Keskinocak’s latest research here: New Study Shows Hybrid Learning Led to Significant Reduction in Covid-19 Spread

]]> David Mitchell 1 1654123655 2022-06-01 22:47:35 1654517460 2022-06-06 12:11:00 0 0 news Among many efforts, Keskinocak served on the Institute’s Covid task force, helping to establish an institutional approach to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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2022-06-01T00:00:00-04:00 2022-06-01T00:00:00-04:00 2022-06-01 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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658114 658114 image <![CDATA[Larry Jacobs and Pinar Keskinocak at the 2022 Faculty and Staff Honors Luncheon]]> image/jpeg 1652295433 2022-05-11 18:57:13 1652295433 2022-05-11 18:57:13
<![CDATA[Top ISyE Team Rings in Capstone Design Expo with Fulfillment Solution for Tiffany and Co.]]> 33939 More than 200 teams representing 12 schools and four colleges took over Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion on Tuesday for the bi-annual Capstone Design Expo, marking the largest in-person edition of the event since Fall 2019. The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial Systems and Engineering (ISyE) was represented by 28, with projects ranging from order fulfillment for Penguin Random House publishing to line efficiency at concessions stands in the Atlanta Braves Truist Park.

The top team for ISyE, however, was a group of seven seniors working with Tiffany and Co., one of America’s largest luxury jewelry retailers under holding company Louis Vuitton, on a project intended to improve fulfillment goals for both domestic and international orders. Upon examination, the team, cheekily named “Put a Ring on It” after the hit Beyoncé song, identified a cause for delays in the value-added services station of their warehouse where orders go through necessary alterations such as laser engraving and price-tagging.

For the project, the team proposed a proposed two solutions: re-slotting items in the warehouse and wave planning.

“We created an optimization model with 1.6 million decision variables and 1.7 million constraints, and a heuristic model to allow the client to dynamically find the most optimal location for each item,” said Shreya Desai, a senior Industrial Engineering student on the team. “After re-slotting items based on their frequencies of getting picked, we created an application for the client to run these models themselves once a year.

“Alongside re-slotting in the picking zones of the warehouse, we recommended additional criteria for the waves of items moving through the warehouse at a time such as grouping by shipping carriers and adding a capacity on the number of items that need to go through value-added services.”

Each of these conditions were consolidated into a simulation that mimicked the current warehouse setup, and the team found that models would reduce the cycle time by 21 percent, with an average reduction in the queue at value-added services at 1.5 hours.

“This senior design project truly allowed us to amalgamate what we have learned for the past four years as industrial engineers at Georgia Tech,” Desai said. “Even with the ups and downs of the project, having a great team and supportive advisor allowed us to push through and provide our client with results that we are very proud of.”

Gunter Sharp, an ISyE professor emeritus, was the advisor for the team’s project. The project was titled Diamonds & Distribution: Improving the Order Fulfillment Process.

In addition to Desai, the full team included Asli YucebilginFares HasanNeha SrivatsaOzashwee GhimireSaman Muhammad, and William Reich. For their school win, the team was awarded $1000.

The overall winner for the expo was Tired Techies, a team comprised of computer, electrical, and mechanical engineers who created a sleep-monitoring mask and smart alarm that reduces drowsiness by waking the sleeper during the correct stage of the sleep cycle. That team was one of three that focused on getting a good night’s rest, perhaps a sign of the high-achieve college students’ daily struggle.

To learn more about the expo – including how to attend, judge, or suggest a project for future editions – head over to expo.gatech.edu.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1651093491 2022-04-27 21:04:51 1654265879 2022-06-03 14:17:59 0 0 news More than 200 teams representing 12 schools and four colleges took over Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion on Tuesday for the bi-annual Capstone Design Expo, marking the largest in-person edition of the event since Fall 2019. The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial Systems and Engineering (ISyE) was represented by 28, with projects ranging from order fulfillment for Penguin Random House publishing to line efficiency at concessions stands in the Atlanta Braves Truist Park.

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2022-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-27 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Officer

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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657707 657707 image <![CDATA[ISyE Capstone Design Expo - Team Winner Spring 2022]]> image/jpeg 1651093472 2022-04-27 21:04:32 1651093472 2022-04-27 21:04:32
<![CDATA[Georgia Tech Team Wins Solar Decathlon]]> 33939 The Georgia Tech student team, "English Avenue Yellow Jackets", is the 2022 Design Challenge Residential Division Grand Winner for the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon. They also took home first place in the contest's new Retrofit Housing division. Their winning entry retrofitted a 102-year-old house in Atlanta's English Avenue neighborhood.

"The target was to retrofit an existing house to net zero," Aayushi Mody, the team lead said. "And, well, we exceeded the target by making it net positive. The house basically generates more energy than it utilizes." But, Mody explained, that's just the beginning.

In addition to a net positive retrofit, the English Avenue Yellow Jackets provided solutions for rainwater harvesting and graywater reuse, a financial model that included land trust subsidies, and an additional 60 years' worth of projected weather data that proved the house would stay net positive even in cases of extreme weather.

The multidisciplinary team included students from the Schools of Architecture, Building Construction, and the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Their combined expertise brought financial modeling, building science, real estate development, market analysis, use of building materials that have lower embodied carbon, and architectural design to their submission; which Mody said was Georgia Tech's greatest advantage in the competition. The result of their collaboration, Mody said, is a replicable model for any community in the United States.

"The project we developed is divided into two parts. There's a financial part and a building science part. For both parts we developed a framework that can be replicated based on various weather conditions in different locations," she said.

"We designed a framework of strategies -- or the envelope of the house, the layout of the rooms -- that keeps user comfort as the focus. You can modify the data for different climate regions, but the overall framework is something that can be replicated in any area of the country."

High Performance Building at Tech

More than a chance to show off interesting gadgets and data modeling ability, Mody said her team wanted to help a community that neighbors the Georgia Tech campus. She's a member of the High Performance Building Lab in the School of Architecture, directed by assistant professor Tarek Rakha

"We are focused on serving underserved communities," she said. "Climate change is going to effect underserved communities the most, and we are trying to make their lives easier by providing them a better place to live."

Rakha mentored the team, with support from School of Architecture's Flourishing Communities Collaborative Lab director Julie Kim, School of Building Construction lecturer Frank Wickstead, and School of Building Construction's Real Estate Development program director Rick Porter. The Westside Future Fund was the team's design partner, and Perkins&Will was their industry partner.

Rakha and Kim were able to introduce the team to the English Avenue community, thanks to their ongoing and award-winning work there. A growing signature of Georgia Tech architecture is its connection to community, which results in technology-rich designs based on the realities, dignity, and pressing needs of people in all kinds of communities.

"It was an unparalleled thrill to mentor this group," Rakha said. "I have never worked with 12 people that have all contributed effectively and impactfully as this team. I mentored them some times, and learned from them many times."

Rakha, who was with the team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, when they received the award on April 23, shared a quote from the jury:

"The first place winner completed embodied carbon analysis to minimize carbon impact, exceeds expectations by going above and beyond in their market analysis, and developed a report so engaging that one of the jurors wanted to curl up with it under a blanket."

Collaboration Solved Everything

"Working together with this team has been the most enriching experience I have had at Georgia Tech thus far," said Samantha Morton, the industrial engineering student on the team. "We functioned differently than a typical school project, and I attribute that to the collaboration across a variety of disciplines. From the start, I could tell each member brought great skills, great knowledge, and most importantly great energy to the table!"

The English Avenue Yellow Jackets needed that variety of expertise to take on a project like retrofitting an 102-year-old house, Mody said. It was everyone on the team's first experience with a retrofit, she said, but they were able to lean on each other to learn the necessary skills.

"Pete [Choquette] actually graduated from Tech as an architect and was in practice for, I think, 18 years. He's a registered architect but now he's back for a Master in Real Estate Development. So we could learn a lot from him about how real estate works and the ways in which financial subsidies can help in a project like this. And Samantha [Morton] is getting a Masters in Industrial Engineering but she has a building science background. She's had a lot of experience in the industry."

Mody said the team's experience shaped their vision for the Solar Decathlon project, and helped them understand how things worked -- on their laptops as well as in the real world.

Choquette said his primary role in the group was to work with Ranjitha Jayasimharao and the team's professional advisor Lee Harrop of Westside Future Fund to develop a workable economic model for the project. It had to allowed for an affordable home, reduced utility burden, and give homeowners tools to generate wealth. 

"Going in, I knew our team was highly experienced and technically skilled. But the reason we won, in my opinion, is because the group began to learn how to collaborate effectively across disciplinary silos, be that finance, architecture, or building science," Choquette said. 

"Figuring out a viable, replicable model for renovating vacant, run-down housing stock into net-positive energy homes that are affordable to families at 60% of AMI is a feat that many would have said is impossible at the outset of this effort."

]]> David Mitchell 1 1654201820 2022-06-02 20:30:20 1654201820 2022-06-02 20:30:20 0 0 news The Georgia Tech student team, "English Avenue Yellow Jackets", which includes ISyE's Samantha Morton, is the 2022 Design Challenge Residential Division Grand Winner for the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon.

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2022-06-02T00:00:00-04:00 2022-06-02T00:00:00-04:00 2022-06-02 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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658667 658667 image <![CDATA[Solar Decathlon 2022]]> image/jpeg 1654201793 2022-06-02 20:29:53 1654201793 2022-06-02 20:29:53
<![CDATA[Clone of Customer Experience Central Focus for 2017 Fall Capstone Competition ]]> 34393 In today’s highly competitive market, companies must differentiate themselves more than ever before, and for many that means optimizing the customer experience. So it’s no surprise that many of the 136 teams at this year’s fall Capstone Design Expo focused on products and services to improve some aspect of the life of the consumer through innovation.  

For many teams, the projects were all about making people’s lives easier. From a 2-D wearable sensor that makes it simple for runners to access their smartphone, to an app that provides a more transparent automotive service experience to car owners, student teams focused their energy on creating projects tailored to the customer. Two separate teams focused on the fan at the Mercedes-Benz and Braves stadiums in Atlanta, ensuring that game watchers could access food and beverages as efficiently as possible to enhance their game day experience. Another team helped customers coming into Home Depot find the exact screw they are looking for with a device that analyzes the screw type, removing shopping frustrations.

Other teams focused on enhancing the customer experience. Luxury car brands manufactured by GM had one team designing driver’s seats with sensors to increase the safety and comfort of commuters, ultimately delivering a higher quality driving experience. Mechanical engineering team members Doug Learnard and Golda Nguyen agreed that offering a novel car experience to drivers is a value add for customers when considering their buying options, and a tailored, personalized seat offers a better commute.  

At the end of the night there was a surprise in store for all competitors. For the first time in Capstone’s 10 year history, there was a tie for the overall winner. “Bacon and Eggs” and “Team 16 Emory Risk” shared the spotlight and $3,000 cash prize. Both teams were from ISyE.

“Bacon and Eggs” focused on system improvements for Waffle House to help the chain uphold their commitment to 24/7/365 quality customer service. The team optimized four areas for the restaurant, including restructuring the maintenance van inventory model, modifying geographic assignment of maintenance technicians, reprioritizing preventative maintenance procedures, and recommending a centralized maintenance management platform.

“Waffle house is one of those places where every time you go there, you can tell how much they care about their customers, and it’s really been an honor to help them out with that,” said Christopher Bush, ISyE. “All in all, winning feels like an absolutely amazing experience. Everyone talks about how hard it is for industrial teams to win Capstone, and we set out to defy that.”

For “Team 16 Emory Risk,” students focused on enabling doctors at Emory to provide better healthcare, upholding Emory’s value equation which is “Quality Over Cost.” The team combined Emory’s medical and financial data to provide physicians a way to better allocate their resources and inputs, such as medications and beds for patients.

“Our team is so excited to win, we are really honored to have worked with Emory Healthcare, which is an awesome client,” said Sarah Both, ISyE. “In fact, we had our final handoff meeting with Emory today, and they are incredibly excited and looking forward to implementing our work into their system to preserve resources and provide a better experience to patients.”  

Many student teams are poised to take their projects even further after Capstone, either applying for a patent or joining the CREATE-X program to take their business idea to market. And those focusing on the consumer have a distinct advantage in today’s business world that offers high reward to companies who invest in the customer experience.

2017 Fall Capstone Design Expo Winners

Overall winner – Tie

Bacon and Eggs - Waffle House maintenance handling system improvements

 

Team 16 Emory Risk - Emory Healthcare Risk Modeling and Patient Quality Metrics 

 

Aerospace Engineering

Ostrow Air  - Commuter Aircraft/Air-taxi Aircraft 2030

Biomedical Engineering

Liv'R Little - Laparoscopic Liver Maneuvering Device 

Civil & Environmental Engineering

J2AD Engineering - Bridge Replacement - Lee St Over Heart of Georgia Railroad 

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Brighter SoluSuns -  Intelligent Triport 

Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering

Rampion - Dance Ramp Assembly Optimization Project 

Industrial & Systems Engineering

12 Textron Quality - Textron Quality 

Mechanical Engineering

Blankity Blank - Material Handling Revolution

Interdisciplinary

Miracle on Techwood  - Lockblox 

]]> Anne Stanford 1 1512575095 2017-12-06 15:44:55 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news 2017-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2017-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2017-12-06 00:00:00 Georgia Parmelee

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<![CDATA[Wu Selected for 2011 COPSS Fisher Lecture Award]]> 27511 C.F.Jeff Wu, Coca-Cola Chair in Engineering Statistics and professor in the H.Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), wasselected by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) as therecipient of the 2011 COPPS Fisher Lecture Award. 

The FisherLecture Award is a prestigious honor, and “a very high recognition ofmeritorious achievement and scholarship in statistical science and recognizeshighly significant impact of statistical methods on scientific investigations.”

Wu deliveredthe Fisher Lecture, entitled Post-FisherianExperimentation: From Physical To Virtual, on August 3, 2011 at the JointStatistical Meetings (JSM) in Miami Beach, Florida.  JSM is the largest gathering of statisticiansheld in North America and draws more than 6,000 attendees. 

Wu’sresearch contributions span the full range of statistics, from theory toapplication, and touch many applied domains, from sample surveys to nanotechnology.They are notable for their combination of novelty, technical strength, andfar-reaching vision. He has made especially significant contributions toexperimental design.

Wu'shonors include membership on the National Academy of Engineering, Member of AcademiaSinica, Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies Presidents Award in1987, honorary professor at Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an honorary doctorof mathematics at University of Waterloo. He earned his BS in Mathematics fromNational Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley. Wu joined Georgia Tech in the summer of 2003.

The R.A.Fisher Lectureship was established in 1963 by COPSS to honor both thecontributions of Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher and the work of a present-daystatistician for their advancement of statistical theory and applications.  COPSS has required that the Lectureship beawarded each year and that when possible the lecture be presented each year atthe Joint Annual Meeting of Societies. 

Thepurpose of COPSS is to work on shared problems and improve intersocietycommunication. Possible activities for COPSS include but are not limited to thecoordination of the calendar of statistical meetings, the preparation ofmaterial to inform students about statistics when they are choosing aprofession, the sponsoring of lecture series and prizes, and the production ofstatistical directories.

]]> Ashley Daniel 1 1312454565 2011-08-04 10:42:45 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news C.F.Jeff Wu, Coca-Cola Chair in Engineering Statistics and professor in the H.Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), wasselected by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) as therecipient of the 2011 COPPS Fisher Lecture Award.

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2011-08-04T00:00:00-04:00 2011-08-04T00:00:00-04:00 2011-08-04 00:00:00 Industrial and Systems Engineering

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49771 49771 image <![CDATA[C. F. Jeff Wu]]> image/jpeg 1449175373 2015-12-03 20:42:53 1475894453 2016-10-08 02:40:53
<![CDATA[Clone of New Master of Science in Urban Analytics to Launch in the Fall ]]> 34760 Georgia Tech is launching a new interdisciplinary degree this fall: the Master of Science in Urban Analytics (MSUA). The School of City and Regional Planning will administer the degree in partnership with the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE), and the School of Interactive Computing (IC). 

Urban analytics is an emerging field that incorporates smart cities, urban informatics, and urban science. The goal of urban analytics is to leverage data science in addressing major issues cities continue to face, including air, water, and land pollution; carbon emissions; traffic congestion; inadequate housing options; and disparities in access to services. The skills and knowledge necessary to tackle such challenges require an integrated multidisciplinary approach, which this degree is designed to provide. 

It is aimed at students who are interested in solving urban problems through the acquisition, integration, and analysis of various forms of data. Undergraduate preparation for this degree can include a range of fields such as engineering, planning, computing, and various social science disciplines. 

Georgia Tech is the only university in the University System of Georgia offering an urban analytics degree. Programs of this kind are quickly gaining national relevancy — similar graduate programs exist at Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, Northeastern University, and the University of California at Berkeley. 

Subhro Guhathakurta, chair of the School of City and Regional Planning and the director of the Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization, noted that Tech’s urban analytics program stands out from the others given its strategic partnership with top-ranked programs in engineering and computing to offer this multidisciplinary degree.

“The objective is to harness Georgia Tech’s recognized strengths and expertise in data analytics to focus on the critical problems facing urban regions,” he said.

Read also: Gulsah Akar Appointed New School of City and Regional Planning Chair

Additionally, there are many aspects of industrial engineering that can be applied to urban analytics, Pascal Van Hentenryck, associate chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor in ISyE, said. 

“Many supply chain logistics concepts and solutions can be applied to address the inefficiencies in public transportation, accessibility, and the relationship between mobility and the built environment. This program is pioneering in that it links many viewpoints holistically, from the concepts to the mathematical and computational tools, and their applications to problems faced by our growing cities,” he said.

Georgia Tech’s ISyE program is ranked as the No. 1 graduate program in in the industrial, manufacturing, and systems specialty and has held the top rank for 31 years.

Advances in computation are also essential to ensure the sustainable development of modern cities and guarantee that they operate effectively, Haesun Park, Regents' Professor and chair of CSE, said. 

“Understanding and planning for the interdependent and interactive quality of city infrastructures require computational models and tools of increasing complexity and scale. This is where data, computing, and networks are ubiquitous, with computation playing unprecedented new roles in the management and operation of cities,” she said.

Besides new introductory courses, several existing classes in the degree-participating schools are available as part of a well-rounded curriculum. These courses are carefully selected to meet four core competencies: urban systems, spatial analysis, computational statistics including machine learning, and modeling and visualization.

The curriculum will place special emphasis on social end-values such as sustainability, justice, and resilience, and on individual data rights including: permission for collection; privacy through aggregation; and transparency through open data.

"One of the most exciting aspects of this new degree is the diversity of academic programs working together on this topic of urban analytics. It will unite faculty and students from across campus to work on solving many important challenges," John Stasko, Regents' Professor and interim chair of IC, said.

Specialization within the degree is encouraged. The one-year program spans fall and spring semesters, with a summer workshop.

Applications for the Fall 2021 cohort open this summer. For more information, click here.

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1621963674 2021-05-25 17:27:54 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news Urban planning, computing, and industrial and systems engineering combine to fix big city problems

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2021-05-25T00:00:00-04:00 2021-05-25T00:00:00-04:00 2021-05-25 00:00:00 College of Design

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<![CDATA[ISyE Inducts Five New Advisory Board Members and New Chair at Spring 2016 Meeting]]> 28766 Stan Chia, Jeanene Fowler, Dan Shinedling, Jr., Moe Trebuchon, and Annie Walker joined Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) Advisory Board in the spring of 2016. These five alumni are joining 15 other distinguished professional and community leaders, serving as a sounding board for the School Chair in an advisory capacity, as well assisting with the School’s development goals. Each member will serve a four-year term (2016-2020).

Alumna Jocelyn Stargel was inducted as the Advisory Board’s new chair. She will lead the board for a one-year term.

Jocelyn Stargel, Incoming Chair

Jocelyn Stargel (B.S. IE 1982, M.S. IE 1986) is the incoming chair of the Advisory Board for ISyE. Stargel is the founder and CEO of Stargel Consulting, specializing in IT and risk management. In 2015, she retired from Southern Company Services, where she was responsible for managing the Business Assurance program. Prior to joining the Business Assurance team in 2006, Stargel served as director of external affairs for Southern Company Gas. She also held positions as assistant to the CEO of Southern Company Gas and assistant to the CIO of Southern Company Services, as well as management roles in the information technology organization at Southern Company. Stargel is the past president of the Georgia Tech Women’s Alumni Network, and she was recently elected to the Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees.

Stan Chia

Stan Chia (B.S. IE 2005) serves as senior vice president of operations at GrubHub. His responsibilities include operations infrastructure, business development, sales, data operations, and general management of the local markets, as well as oversight of the Restaurants on the Run, DiningIn, and Delivered Dish businesses. With a passion for creating disruptive customer engagement, Chia is focused on delivering an unparalleled experience for GrubHub diners while bringing superior value to restaurant partners. Since joining in April 2015, he has helped grow GrubHub Delivery from five to nearly 50 markets. Prior to joining GrubHub, Chia held multiple senior leadership roles at Amazon, Cisco, and General Electric, running multibillion dollar P&Ls, as well as strategic supply chain organizations. His experience spans many industries, including retail e-commerce, high tech, and energy. Chia also has an MBA from Emory University.

Jeanene Fowler

Jeanene Fowler (B.S. IE 1984) has over 20 years’ experience in technology and business, with a variety of roles including director of IT Application and Testing at MetLife, project manager/business analyst at various retail companies, small business owner, and over 10 years selling technology solutions for IBM. Fowler currently serves on the Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees (2013-2016) and is the Greek Alumni Council Chair (2015-2016). She enjoys mentoring in the MentorJackets program, hosting for DinnerJackets, and volunteering at the Speed Networking and Capstone events. She also serves as Treasurer for the Alpha Gamma Delta House Association at Georgia Tech. Fowler also has an MBA from Kennesaw State University and completed the Certified Financial Planning Program at Oglethorpe University. She is a Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Product Owner, and a member of Scrum Alliance.

Dan Shinedling, Jr.

Dan Shinedling (B.S. IE 1992) possesses a keen entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for using computing to effectively automate business. Shinedling began his professional career as a developer and systems integration consultant. Looking to build something new, Shinedling co-founded KS2 Technologies, Inc. in 1995. Since that time, KS2 has become a leader in ERP, cloud, mobile, and infrastructure solutions with heavy emphasis on IBM and Oracle technologies. KS2 is a frequent recruiter and current employer of many Georgia Tech ISyEs. 

Moe Trebuchon

Moe Trebuchon (B.S. IE 1986) possesses more than 25 years of supply chain, strategy, and operational consulting experience. He has served as a partner in the IBM Global Business Services and PwC Consulting practices. During Trebuchon’s time with these firms, he has served multiple North America leadership roles including Retail Industry Leader, Business Analytics & Optimization Service Line Leader, and Supply Chain Service Line Leader. Throughout his career, Trebuchon’s primary focus has been on helping clients achieve impactful business transformation via development of strategies, operational designs, leverage of information technology, and organizational change adoption. Having led a broad base of clients through complex technology enabled change programs, Trebuchon is considered a subject matter leader in the application of demand forecasting, replenishment, WMS, TMS, order management, and omni-channel technology to the order fulfillment and delivery process.

Annie Walker

Annie Walker (B.S. IE 2002) currently serves as vice president of OTC Merchandising for Walmart U.S. Walker started her career with Walmart in 2002 as an industrial engineer. After spending two years with the Stores Engineering team, she supported the replenishment division in several capacities. Walker’s latest role in replenishment was serving as senior director of Replenishment for the General Merchandise division. In 2012, Walker transitioned from Replenishment to vice president for Merchandise Execution. Currently, she is vice president, divisional merchandise manager, Over the Counter of Walmart Stores U.S. She is also a graduate of the Walmart Leadership Academy program.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1461332888 2016-04-22 13:48:08 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news At the spring 2016 meeting, the ISyE Advisory Board welcomed five new members and the new chair.

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2016-04-22T00:00:00-04:00 2016-04-22T00:00:00-04:00 2016-04-22 00:00:00 Writer/Editor - Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering

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528151 528161 528151 image <![CDATA[New ISyE Advisory Board Members who will serve a four-year term from 2016-2020 (l-r): Moe Trebuchon, Stan Chia, Jeanene Fowler, Dan Shinedling, Jr., and Annie Walker.]]> image/jpeg 1461358800 2016-04-22 21:00:00 1475895305 2016-10-08 02:55:05 528161 image <![CDATA[ISyE Advisory Board Chair Jocelyn Stargel]]> image/jpeg 1461358800 2016-04-22 21:00:00 1475895305 2016-10-08 02:55:05
<![CDATA[Making the Case for Cold Chain]]> 27328 "Cool Insights," an annual column in Food Logistics Magazine for 2010, featured an article by David Sterling, a partner in SCL’s new Integrated Food Chain Center, on “Making the Case for Cold Chain.” This second column appeared in the June issue.Read the column: http://www.foodlogistics.com/print/Food-Logistics/Cool-Insights/1$3710

]]> Edie Cohen 1 1281439182 2010-08-10 11:19:42 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news "Cool Insights," an annual column in Food Logistics Magazine for 2010, featured an article by David Sterling, a partner in SCL’s new Integrated Food Chain Center, on “Making the Case for Cold Chain.” This second column appeared in the June issue.Read the column: http://www.foodlogistics.com/print/Food-Logistics/Cool-Insights/1$3710

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2010-08-10T00:00:00-04:00 2010-08-10T00:00:00-04:00 2010-08-10 00:00:00 Industrial and Systems Engineering

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60383 60383 image <![CDATA[June 2010 Issue of Food Logistics Magazine]]> image/jpeg 1449176267 2015-12-03 20:57:47 1475894523 2016-10-08 02:42:03
<![CDATA[Keeping Vaccinations On Track]]> 27215 Keeping Vaccinations On Track

Reported June 2008

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ATLANTA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate more than a quarter of all toddlers in the United States may be under-vaccinated, which can leave them unprotected against diseases like measles, mumps and even polio. Now, researchers have teamed up with the CDC to help keep kids' vaccinations on track.

Nine-week-old Grace Marsaa is getting her very first vaccinations. For her parents, it's the beginning of a long and sometimes confusing process. "You know you have all these years that you have to keep track of it -- which ones come when and everything," Louise Marsaa, Grace's mother, told Ivanhoe. "It's hard!"

A recent survey found that only nine percent of children get all their vaccinations at the recommended times. Only half receive all recommended doses by their second birthday. "If the child doesn't receive the doses on time or if some of them are given at the wrong time the vaccination doesn't have the coverage that it's supposed to," Pinar Keskinocak, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, told Ivanhoe.

Using computer science and mathematical models, Dr. Keskinocak, her colleagues and the CDC have created a new, interactive childhood immunization schedule. "What we offer is a computer program that in some sense gives the best possible scenario given that a child is falling behind the recommended schedule," Faram Engineer, a Ph.D. student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told Ivanhoe. Parents or physicians can put in a child's birthday and what vaccinations they've already received. The web-based tool creates a safe and effective catch-up schedule for any vaccinations they've missed.

Thanks to operations researchers who use math to find the best solution, Robert Harrison, M.D., a pediatrician specializing in infectious disease at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, says the vaccination schedule is likely to be a big help to doctors and parents. "I think it's absolutely wonderful. It's helpful to the parents in case they have any questions about what they've had and what the limits are," Dr. Harrison told Ivanhoe.

Researchers say the computerized tool will help doctors and parents keep up with changing rules and requirements for childhood vaccinations. The interactive schedule can be downloaded for free at www.cdc.gov/vaccines.

The American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

]]> Mike Alberghini 1 1214870400 2008-07-01 00:00:00 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news 2008-07-01T00:00:00-04:00 2008-07-01T00:00:00-04:00 2008-07-01 00:00:00 Mike Alberghini - H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Keeping Vaccinations On Track]]> 27215 Keeping Vaccinations On Track


Click for video

Reported June 2008

ATLANTA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate more than a quarter of all toddlers in the United States may be under-vaccinated, which can leave them unprotected against diseases like measles, mumps and even polio. Now, researchers have teamed up with the CDC to help keep kids' vaccinations on track.

Nine-week-old Grace Marsaa is getting her very first vaccinations. For her parents, it's the beginning of a long and sometimes confusing process. "You know you have all these years that you have to keep track of it -- which ones come when and everything," Louise Marsaa, Grace's mother, told Ivanhoe. "It's hard!"

A recent survey found that only nine percent of children get all their vaccinations at the recommended times. Only half receive all recommended doses by their second birthday. "If the child doesn't receive the doses on time or if some of them are given at the wrong time the vaccination doesn't have the coverage that it's supposed to," Pinar Keskinocak, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, told Ivanhoe.

Using computer science and mathematical models, Dr. Keskinocak, her colleagues and the CDC have created a new, interactive childhood immunization schedule. "What we offer is a computer program that in some sense gives the best possible scenario given that a child is falling behind the recommended schedule," Faram Engineer, a Ph.D. student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told Ivanhoe. Parents or physicians can put in a child's birthday and what vaccinations they've already received. The web-based tool creates a safe and effective catch-up schedule for any vaccinations they've missed.

Thanks to operations researchers who use math to find the best solution, Robert Harrison, M.D., a pediatrician specializing in infectious disease at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, says the vaccination schedule is likely to be a big help to doctors and parents. "I think it's absolutely wonderful. It's helpful to the parents in case they have any questions about what they've had and what the limits are," Dr. Harrison told Ivanhoe.

Researchers say the computerized tool will help doctors and parents keep up with changing rules and requirements for childhood vaccinations. The interactive schedule can be downloaded for free at www.cdc.gov/vaccines.

The American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

 

]]> Mike Alberghini 1 1214870400 2008-07-01 00:00:00 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news Using computer science and mathematical models, Dr. Pinar Keskinocak and her colleagues working with the CDC, have created a new, interactive childhood immunization schedule. To ensure children receive their vaccinations at the correct times.

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2008-06-01T00:00:00-04:00 2008-06-01T00:00:00-04:00 2008-06-01 00:00:00 Mike Alberghini - H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Georgia Tech’s Center for Statistical Science Holds Kickoff Event]]> 28766 Unlike many colleges and universities, Georgia Tech does not have a dedicated statistics department. To draw attention to the variety of work being done in statistics, Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) and the School of Mathematics (SOM) have joined together to form the Center for Statistical Science (CSS). The Center was established to be the home of statistical work at Georgia Tech.

A kickoff event and luncheon was held on Wednesday, August 24 to highlight the Center’s formation and the faculty associated with the CSS.

ISyE’s school chair, Edwin Romeijn, and SOM’s interim school chair, Prasad Tetali, opened the event with brief remarks. CSS co-directors Jeff Wu and Vladimir Koltchinskii also spoke, followed by short presentations of the CSS faculty members of their work in statistics, data science, and machine learning. ISyE professor Roshan Vengazhiyil moderated the event.

Affiliated faculty members come from Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the College of Computing, as well as ISyE and math.

For further information on the CSS, please visit its website at http://www.statistics.gatech.edu.

Presenters from ISyE

Benjamin Haaland, assistant professor

Jye-Chyi Lu, professor

Yajun Mei, Coca-Cola Associate Professor

Nicoleta Serban, Coca-Cola Associate Professor

Roshan Vengazhiyil, professor

Brani Vidakovic, professor

Jeff Wu, professor and Coca-Cola Chair in Engineering Statistics

Yao Xie, assistant professor

Presenters from the School of Mathematics

Vladimir Koltchinskii, ISyE courtesy appointment and SOM professor

Mayya Zhilova, assistant professor

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1472642159 2016-08-31 11:15:59 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news To draw attention to the variety of work being done in statistics, ISyE and the School of Mathematics have joined together to form the Center for Statistical Science. The Center was established to be the home of statistical work at Georgia Tech.

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2016-08-31T00:00:00-04:00 2016-08-31T00:00:00-04:00 2016-08-31 00:00:00 Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering

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570951 571061 571111 571121 570951 image <![CDATA[Edwin Romeijn, ISyE School Chair]]> image/jpeg 1472588517 2016-08-30 20:21:57 1475895379 2016-10-08 02:56:19 571061 image <![CDATA[Prasad Tetali, Interim Chair, School of Mathematics]]> image/jpeg 1472653821 2016-08-31 14:30:21 1475895379 2016-10-08 02:56:19 571111 image <![CDATA[Jeff Wu, Coca-Cola Chair in Engineering Statistics, Professor, and Co-Director of the Center for Statistical Science]]> image/jpeg 1472655936 2016-08-31 15:05:36 1475895379 2016-10-08 02:56:19 571121 image <![CDATA[Vladimir Kltchinskii, ISyE Courtesy Appointment, Professor of Mathematics, and Co-Director of the Center for Statistical Science]]> image/jpeg 1472656132 2016-08-31 15:08:52 1475895379 2016-10-08 02:56:19
<![CDATA[“Rethinking and Rebuilding Supply Chains”: Spring 2010 Supply Chain Executive Forum]]> 27328 “Rethinking and Rebuilding SupplyChains” was the overall theme of the Spring 2010 meeting of the Georgia TechSupply Chain Executive Forum (SCEF), which was held April 21 -22, 2010, at theGeorgia Tech Hotel and Global Learning Center in Atlanta.

The two-day biannual forum began with a joint meeting between the SCEF andthe Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) AtlantaRoundtable. John Langley, professor of supply chain management at Georgia Techand faculty director of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain Executive Forum joinedBen Cubitt of RockTenn and president of the Atlanta CSCMP in giving the Forum’sopening remarks. The remainder of the day was divided between keynotepresentations and a panel session focused on the theme of “Supply ChainInnovation.” 

Robert Martichenko, CEO of LeanCor, provided the Forum’s first keynoteaddress, speaking about building discipline for innovation in the lean supplychain.  Among the points he made in hispresentation, Martichenko said that lean leaders lead from principles.  “From principles,” “he said, “they ask questions, make observations, reflect, challenge thinking,teach, coach, and aid in the development of tools and processes to createvalue, solve problems, and grow people.” Principles of the lean supply chain,according to Martichecko, include making customer consumption visible, reducinglead times, using pull systems, creating velocity and reducing variation,collaborating and focusing on process discipline, and measuring and managing Total Cost of Fulfillment.

Two other presentations included technology-based presentations made byScott Blatnica, director of Spend Management at Ariba, and Eddie Capel, EVPwith Manhattan Associates.

Brian Hancock, VP, Supply Chain withWhirlpool Corporation, gave the closing keynote presentation to the jointSCEF-CSCMP session.  , “Supply ChainInnovation: Transforming Your Supply Chain.” In this presentation, Mr. Hancock discussed the challenges faced inmanaging supply chain activities at Whirlpool, catalysts for improvement, andthe overall commitment of Whirlpool to sustainability.  His concluding comments suggested that thetraditional “functional” views limit the “end-to-end” performance of supplychains, and that “leadership takes an end-to-end orientation emphasizingdemand-pull, synchronization and lean operations.

On the second day, when the theme of the SCEF-only sessions evolved to“Rethinking and Rebuilding Supply Chains,” Langley asked participants toconsider the following key questions:

The meeting then proceeded with keynote and major presentations. Jim Kellso,senior supply chain master with Intel, gave the day’s first keynote address. Ina presentation titled “Innovation and Operational Excellence in the SupplyChain,” Kellso presented details regarding Intel’s “Just Say Yes” initiative.The four pillars of this initiative, are improvedresponsiveness, forecast accuracy, inventory reduction, and better deliveryperformance. Intel’s recent expansion of this initiative included transitioningto standard metrics, employing VMI innovatively (with an equivalent focus onnon-VMI customers), reducing order (backlog) horizons, enhancing demandprocesses, and simplifying the planning process. As a result of these initiatives,Intel’s Customer Delight Scores went up by 17 percent between 2006 and 2008,and it’s Supply Chain Delight Score improved by 40 percent. Summarizing whatthis means, Kellso explains that Intel has improved CPU responsiveness by 300percent in two years while reducing inventory; that “Just Say Yes” has resultedin significant and tangible business benefits; and that the scope of theinnovations has covered people/culture, process, metrics, and tools.

Chris Gaffney, president of Coca-Cola Supply, presented the afternoonkeynote, which was divided into two parts: “The Journey to Demand Driven” and“Living Positively in the Supply Chain.” A demand-driven supply chain, according to Gaffney, is acustomer-centric supply chain. “By adapting to make what we sell, rather thansell what we make,” Gaffney explained, “supply chains can finally realize thegoal of having their products arrive on the doorsteps of retailers andcustomers at exactly the right time and in exactly the right volume.”Continuing, Gaffney said that in a demand driven system, consumer demandtriggers all activities in the value chain with clearly defined connectionpoints to eliminate waste, reduce variation, and compress lead time.

In the second part of his presentation, on a more personal note, Gaffneyaddresses issues of leadership, citing individuals and works that have helpedshape him not just in business, but in all domains of his life – work, home,community, and self. In concluding his remarks, Gaffney listed three ways to bea good supply chain citizen in the community:

Major presentation sessions punctuated the two keynote addresses. GeorgeAbernathy, executive vice president and chief operating officer withTransplace, and Richard Douglass, global industry executive for Manufacturingand Logistics at Sterling Commerce, provided insightful presentations and thenparticipated in a panel session focusing on “Strategic Rethinking of SupplyChains.” Charlie Chesnutt, senior vice president of Technology and ProcessImprovement for Genuine Parts Corporation, and Jeff Cashman, senior vicepresident with Manhattan Associates, participated in a technologyclient-provider session focused on “Transforming Supply Chains through SharedServices.

The Supply Chain Executive Forum experienced a greatturnout of members for the Spring 2010 meeting, and is looking forward to theFall 2010 meeting scheduled for October 6-7, 2010. Clickhere http://www.scl.gatech.edu/professional-education/scef/for more information about SCEF.

]]> Edie Cohen 1 1274691567 2010-05-24 08:59:27 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news “Rethinking and Rebuilding SupplyChains” was the overall theme of the Spring 2010 meeting of the Georgia TechSupply Chain Executive Forum (SCEF), which was held April 21 -22, 2010, at theGeorgia Tech Hotel and Global Learning Center in Atlanta.

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<![CDATA[William B. Rouse Addresses ESD Faculty on Complex Systems]]> 27279 On April 22, 2003, MIT's ESD faculty were honored by a visit from Professor William B. Rouse, (MIT '72), head of Georgia Tech's School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). Professor Rouse addressed the ESD faculty with a presentation entitled "Perspectives on Industrial & Systems Engineering: A Portfolio of Systems Initiatives" and also engaged in a spirited Q&A throughout the session.

Visit MIT's Engineering Systems Division website for the full story.

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<![CDATA[ISyE’s Undergraduate Program Retains Long-standing No. 1 Ranking]]> 28766 Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) is proud to announce that it has retained its national No. 1 ranking for the 22nd consecutive year, according to the U.S. News and World Report Best College Rankings (USNWR). The rankings were released on September 13, 2016.

“We are proud that ISyE’s hard work and dedication to excellence in education and research continues to be recognized,” said Edwin Romeijn, professor and H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart Chair. “This long-held position as No. 1 in its field is a tribute to our world-class faculty, outstanding students, dedicated staff, and engaged alumni who can be found around the globe in leadership positions.”

Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering (CoE) also continues to be recognized as one of the best in the nation, moving up to fourth in the USNWR rankings. The Coulter School of Biomedical Engineering rose to a No. 1 ranking alongside ISyE. Each of the CoE’s 10 undergraduate programs ranked sixth or higher in their respective fields, with eight programs ranked fourth or higher in this year’s edition.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1473868111 2016-09-14 15:48:31 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news ISyE is proud to announce that it has retained its national No. 1 ranking for the 22nd consecutive year, according to the U.S. News and World Report Best College Rankings.

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576781 576781 image <![CDATA[22 years as the No. 1 undergraduate IE program in the U.S.]]> image/jpeg 1473882059 2016-09-14 19:40:59 1475895386 2016-10-08 02:56:26
<![CDATA[GIT University Club Announces Scholarships for 2003]]> 27279 The University Club announces its first annual scholarship competition for entering Freshmen who are sons and daughters of current Georgia Tech (GIT) employees. The scholarship is funded by the GIT Alumni Association's Faculty/Staff Fund, corporate sponsorships, and Club fund-raisers. This year the University Club will award three or four $1,500, one-year scholarships, depending on available funding and numbers of qualified applicants.

To be eligible for the competition, a student must:
1. Be the son or daughter of a current, permanent employee of GIT.
2. Have been accepted for admission to the GIT freshman class that will enroll in Summer or Fall of 2003. (Deadline for submitting applications for admission was January 15).

Selection will be based on the following criteria:
* High school academic record
* Leadership, involvement, and accomplishments in school and community activities
* Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing

1. All of the above-listed elements, with the exception of oral communication ability, will be derived from the student's admission application.
2. Personal interviews will be arranged for all eligible candidates.
3. Financial need will be taken into consideration for any student who qualifies.

To obtain the University Club Scholarship application packet, download from the GIT School of Textile & Fiber Engineering (TFE) web page at http://www.tfe.gatech.edu. The three forms may be filled in on the computer screen, then printed and mailed to the address provided. Candidates must have been accepted for admission to Georgia Tech for Summer or Fall Semester/03, and must submit the application packet for the University Club Scholarship by May 30, 2003. Qualified applicants will be interviewed by the scholarship committee in June, 2003, and decisions will be made by June 30. Please contact Dr. Fred L. Cook at 404-894-2536, -2490, fred.cook@tfe.gatech.edu , for further information, or if you cannot download the application forms.

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<![CDATA[New Image Analysis Model Could Advance Research in Obesity, Related Health Issues]]> 27511  

Current limitations in imaging and analysis of the lipid droplets in the worm have stunted the potential for growth, exploration, and attainable knowledge in the lipid droplet realm of research, says co-principal investigator Xiaoming Huo in ISyE. Current methods used by the team enable them to obtain only one set of 3D images every ten seconds. A comprehensive study on the relationship between food composition and the resulting lipid analysis requires the ability to identify and classify the characteristics of hundreds of thousands of images. Researchers say that such high throughput is only manageable if the image processing and consequent prediction is automated.  The proposed research has direct applications in other problems in biology, such as neural development, stem cells, cancer diagnosis, and drug discovery. It is also potentially applicable in other areas such as contemporary manufacturing of advanced nanomaterial, where a core problem is predicting the properties of produced nanomaterial. “The research is potentially transformative because the proposed approach will develop a new technique for quantitative imaging, high-throughput experimentation, and analysis of lipid distribution and protein function in C. elegans, in pursuit of determining the unknown genetic contribution to fat storage and distribution,” says co-principal investigator Hang Lu in ChBE. Part of the process involves microfluidics, sometimes called “Lab-on-a-Chip” and is used in the project for imaging, manipulating and sorting the animals. Combined with the statistical image analysis methods funded through the IDH seed grant proposal, the researchers aspire to move the frontier of genetic research to the next level. Written by: Joshua Preston, Communications Officer in IDH at Georgia Tech's College of Computing]]> Ashley Daniel 1 1366906889 2013-04-25 16:21:29 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news 2013-04-25T00:00:00-04:00 2013-04-25T00:00:00-04:00 2013-04-25 00:00:00 Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[2007 IE Spring Picnic A Success]]> 27279 Barbara Christopher 1 1177632000 2007-04-27 00:00:00 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news 2007-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2007-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2007-04-27 00:00:00 Barbara Christopher - Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Dadush Wins INFORMS Optimization Society Student Paper Prize]]> 27511 Daniel Dadush,an Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (ACO) PhD student at Georgia Tech, basedin the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), wasselected as the winner of the 2011 INFORMS Optimization Society Student PaperPrize for his paper “On the Chvatal-Gomory Closure of a Compact Convex Set.”  The paper was co-authored with Santanu Dey,assistant professor in ISyE, and Juan Pablo Vielma, who received his PhD fromISyE in 2009 and was the 2007 recipient of the Optimization Society StudentPaper Prize. Vielma is currently the assistant professor in the department ofIndustrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. The prize is awardedannually at the INFORMS Fall National Meeting for an outstanding paper inoptimization by a student author.

The citation reads:

"The paper shows that the Chvátal-Gomory closure ofcompact convex sets is a rational polytope. For the special case of rationalpolytopes, this is a well-known result. The new result includes the case ofirrational polytopes and thus resolves a question that was posed by Schrijver (1980)and had remained open since. Solving this long-open question is already awonderful contribution, finally completing the Chvátal-Gomory theory forpolytopes. The paper goes beyond this and also provides a solution forarbitrary compact convex sets, completing the program started in a paper by Deyand Vielma (2010) for the case of ellipsoids and continued in an earlier paperby Dadush, Dey, and Vielma (2011) for the case of strictly convex bodies. The importanceof this contribution lies in providing a foundation for a finite linear cuttingplane theory for convex integer optimization.

The paper uses techniques from convex geometry and thegeometry of numbers in an expertly way. In the proofs, the authors avoidexplicit calculations in favor of soft analysis, including techniques from point-settopology, which makes the paper particularly elegant."

The 2011 INFORMS Annual Meeting will be held at theCharlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 13,2011.  INFORMS, the largest professional society in the world forprofessionals in the field of operations research (OR), management science, andbusiness analytics, serves the scientific and professional needs of OperationsResearchers and those in the Management Sciences including educators,scientists, students, managers, and consultants.

]]> Ashley Daniel 1 1317302802 2011-09-29 13:26:42 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news Daniel Dadush,an Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (ACO) PhD student at Georgia Tech, based in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), wasselected as the winner of the 2011 INFORMS Optimization Society Student PaperPrize for his paper “On the Chvatal-Gomory Closure of a Compact Convex Set.”

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<![CDATA[ISyE Faculty and Staff News]]> 27279 Assistant Professor Shabbir Ahmed has been awarded a Career Award from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Ahmed's interests include stochastic programming and computational optimization with applications in facility location, network design, capacity planning, and finance.

Congratulations to Administrative Coordinator Jennifer Harris, who is celebrating ten years of service to Georgia Tech.

Professor Craig Tovey, working with Dr. Ivan Chase from the Stony Brook University, has published "Individual Differences versus Social Dynamics in the Formation of Animal Dominance Hierarchies," which appears in the April 16th, 2002, issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their research shows that biological facts do not rule the social lives of animals even as "simple" as fish; group dynamics play a major role.

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<![CDATA[Georgia Tech Invites Applications for Senior Level Faculty Position in Quantitative and Computational Finance/Mathematical Finance/Financial Engineering]]> 27279 Barbara Christopher 1 1129248000 2005-10-14 00:00:00 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news 2005-10-14T00:00:00-04:00 2005-10-14T00:00:00-04:00 2005-10-14 00:00:00 Barbara Christopher - Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[ISyE Weekly Teas Offer Great Opportunity to Meet Graduate Students and Faculty]]> 27279 Barbara Christopher 1 1177632000 2007-04-27 00:00:00 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news 2007-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2007-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2007-04-27 00:00:00 Barbara Christopher - Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Francois Sainfort Appointed to George Professorship]]> 27279 Francois Sainfort has been appointed to the William W. George Professorship in Health Systems. Professor Sainfort joined the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2000 as a professor and director of the Health Systems Research Center. Prior to his arrival at Georgia Tech, he was a professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with joint appointments in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Biomedical Engineering. During that time, he also was center director for the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement and program director for the Health Systems Engineering graduate program. Professor Sainfort's research interests focus on consumer and medical decision-making, health care informatics, quality assessment and management in health care, and evaluation of medical technologies. He has served as principal investigator on more than $6 million in contracts and grants.

"It is a great honor for me to receive the William George Professorship, " Dr. Sainfort said. "Bill George's shining example of excellence in philanthropy, scholarship, innovation, and dedication serves as a beacon for my leadership in Health Systems at Georgia Tech. I am proud to be entrusted with his vision and am committed to infusing the Health Systems program with the type of energy that has become Bill George's hallmark. " Dr. Sainfort said this vision includes the development and application of state-of-the-art: Francois Sainfort

- Operations research and management sciences methods and theories for health care delivery systems modeling, analysis, and improvement;
- Operations research methods and theories for disease modeling, treatment, management, and control; and
- Human-computer interaction methods and theories as well as information and decision support technologies to improve the delivery of health care services.

The author of more than 75 refereed publications, Dr. Sainfort has been published in health care journals such as Health Services Research, Medical Care, Medical Decision Making, and Medical Care Research and Review. His research also has appeared in industrial engineering journals such as Operations Research, Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.

Dr. Sainfort is an expert consultant for the health care industry. His clients include health care delivery organizations, medical devices companies, clinical laboratories, and pharmaceutical companies. He has been awarded the Joseph Orlicky Award for the Best Innovation in Manufacturing and Services Operations by the Production and Operations Management Society; the Stoelting Award in Management of Technology; and competitive doctoral fellowships from Entraide Universitaire Mondiale du Canada and the Ministry of National Education in France. William W. George, BIE 1964, is chairman of Medtronic, Inc. He established the endowed professorship in 2001 so that ISyE could hire full-time faculty to advance the health system's graduate program and guide its future.

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<![CDATA[Jim Dai Appointed Chandler Family Chair]]> 27511 Professor Jiangang (Jim) Dai was appointed the Chandler Family Chair in the Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) beginning August 15, 2013. The Chandler Family Chair is designed to enhance ISyE’s ability to “identify and employ a senior professor of international eminence in the fields associated with the missions of the School. The appointee will be an individual with a distinguished research record as evidenced by a significant record of publications in outstanding journals. Other evidence of high esteem among academic peers which would be valued are prize paper awards, editorships of high quality journals, and elected positions in national professional organizations."

Dai received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from Nanjing University in China. He received a Ph.D. from Stanford University in applied probability and joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 1990. His research interests are focused on performance analysis and scheduling of queueing networks that originate from computer communications and manufacturing systems. He serves as an associate editor for Queueing Systems, Mathematics of Operations Research, Operations Research, and Management Science. Dai is also a member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the Applied Probability Society of INFORMS, and the Institute of Mathematics Statistics (IMS).

Dai is currently serving as a visiting professor in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University.

]]> Ashley Daniel 1 1373533540 2013-07-11 09:05:40 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news Jim Dai was appointed the Chandler Family Chair in ISyE beginning August, 15, 2013.

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<![CDATA[BizNet to Serve as ISyE Network]]> 27279 Georgia Tech Ies will soon have a new outlet for networking with peers. The Young Alumni Business Network, or BizNet, is expected to debut this fall. The web-based communication network, based on MIT's Forum, is designed to provide alumni with lifelong support to maintain relationships and stay current on industry knowledge.

"A lot of schools are already doing this,&quot; said Ruth Gregory, leader of the BizNet project. After joining the network, users will have a password that allows them to access resources available only to ISyE alumni, including a calendar, scheduled meetings, knowledge updates, and discussion groups. BizNet also will facilitate meetings of alumni groups. "We'll start in Atlanta, but we want to expand the opportunities into other cities,&quot; Gregory said.

Despite the word &quot;young&quot; in its official title, the network is expected to connect alumni of all ages, especially in situations where older alumni can act as mentors or offer tried and true expertise. BizNet is a way of facilitating communication, and there are an infinite number of topics for discussion: anything from venture capitalism and incubators to recruiting, interviewing, and politics. &quot;Tech IE's work within a broad variety of professions, and their experience is a very valuable resource. The exchange of information is a simple idea, but the result can be overwhelming,&quot; said Gregory. The network also will host a database of alumni biographies and interests. Although the network will be run from campus, staff hope that alumni interests will drive the programming issues.

Undergraduate students also will be welcomed to the network. "We want to provide them the opportunity to appreciate the business issues they will face later,&quot; Gregory said.

School chair Bill Rouse describes himself as head cheerleader for the project. &quot;Our overall goal is for ISyE alumni to be able to count on the school to support their lifelong needs for knowledge, best practices, etc.,&quot; he says. &quot;ISyE BizNet is our next step toward achieving this goal.&quot;

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<![CDATA[New Integrated Food Chain Center Opens]]> 27328 The newly launched Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center was featured in the March 2010 issue of Food Logistics Magazine. Don Ratliff, Jamie Forrest, and Harvey Donaldson, who head the Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center, appear on the cover of the magazine. The cover story begins on page 14 and continues through page 20.

Finally, the food logistics industry will have a research and resource center to utilize for questions about and solutions to every aspect of managing and monitoring the food cold supply chain. The Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center, formed by the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL) and by Sterling Solutions LLC, will be housed within the SCL in Atlanta. The Center - integrating academia with seasoned industry experts - will launch this May and will operate as an international center for applicable knowledge in the fragile cold chain.

Read the entire article at:
http://foodlogistics.epubxpress.com/link/flog/2010/mar/1?s=0.

 

]]> Edie Cohen 1 1269907200 2010-03-30 00:00:00 1653584976 2022-05-26 17:09:36 0 0 news The newly launched Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center was featured in the March 2010 issue of Food Logistics Magazine.Don Ratliff, Jamie Forrest, and Harvey Donaldson, who head the Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center, appear on the cover of the magazine.

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<![CDATA[Bill Rouse Releases New Book in Tennenbaum Series on Enterprise Systems]]> 27328 Edie Cohen 1 1275391253 2010-06-01 11:20:53 1653493137 2022-05-25 15:38:57 0 0 news 2010-06-01T00:00:00-04:00 2010-06-01T00:00:00-04:00 2010-06-01 00:00:00 50298 50298 image <![CDATA[William Rouse]]> image/jpeg 1449175392 2015-12-03 20:43:12 1475894458 2016-10-08 02:40:58 <![CDATA[2021 Amazon Supply Chain Systems Design Track Fellows]]> 35757 Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL) are proud to announce this year's Amazon Supply Chain Systems Design Track Fellows: Ajinkya Rege, Yesh Shah, Pavitra Tagore, Jamel Thompson, Léo Pham Van, and Benjamin Fan. These students will each receive a $12,000 fellowship; they may also have the opportunity to complete an internship at Amazon, in addition to being strong candidates for full-time employment at the company.

To be awarded one of these fellowships, applicants must apply and be accepted into the Georgia Tech Master of Science in Supply Chain Engineering (MSCCE) program on the Supply Chain Systems Design Track, which prepares students for roles in supply chain facilities’ engineering and design, as well as a broader range of supply chain systems design roles. Amazon recognizes the importance of developing a demographically diverse leadership team, and thus priority for the fellowship is given to underrepresented minorities and female students.

About the Fellowship Recipients

Ajinkya Rege completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology in Vellore, India. He was exposed to the transportation and freight logistics industry while working at Volvo-Eicher Commercial Vehicles. In one of his roles as a business analyst in process and IT, he primarily developed data-driven solutions to optimize vehicle performance and customer productivity, including differentiated service delivery for e-commerce vehicles based on driving patterns.

Working with Volvo Eicher is what initially triggered his interest in supply chain. “With the evolution of e-commerce, the expectations of customers have changed, and reduced delivery timelines have drastically altered the landscape of the quintessential supply chain,” Rege explained. “It has now become imperative for organizations to focus on a higher level of customer orientation.”

When asked about his career goals, Rege said, “My dream job is one where I would be able to work on new technologies, innovate, and explore new solutions to satisfy the changing needs of the end user. I believe the business exposure that I have gained during my work tenure, coupled with the academic knowledge I will gain at Georgia Tech, will help me deliver customer-centric solutions in line with the mission and vision of the industry.”

Yesh Shah also completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology and has several years of experience in supply chain working at Decathlon.

“Decathlon gave me an opportunity to explore the intricacy and depth of global retail supply chain, all the way from component sourcing to finally getting the product on shelves of the retail stores,” said Shah. “From my experience in production, procurement, supplier management, and demand planning, it was fascinating to understand the interconnectedness of supply chain functions and the far-reaching impact on the entire ecosystem of the company. With a focus to make supply chain systems more resilient and sustainable, every day was an exciting challenge to be solved and an opportunity to learn.”

With supply chain being a key focus for companies, Shah says now is a critical time to be in the field.

“The supply chain engineering program at ISyE provides the right opportunity to partner with distinguished companies and gain real-world experience,” he said. “After graduation, I look forward to being a part of a creative and challenging space where I am able to design and optimize supply chain systems, making them more sustainable and adaptable to the growing needs of the customer.”

Pavitra Tagore earned her undergraduate degree in industrial engineering and management from the RV College of Engineering in Bangalore, India, and she previously worked at Intel as a supply chain solutions analyst.

“I’ve always been fascinated with how large, complex systems function,” she said. “Through my industrial engineering and supply chain management background, I’ve analyzed global supply chain systems and investigated the interactions between their constituent elements. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering how the elements influence each other, and how their interactions could be optimized to produce agile, responsive supply chains.”

Always on the lookout for ways to improve her supply chain knowledge, Tagore has also earned her Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) certification, which she chose to improve her knowledge on essential technology, concepts, and strategies in end-to-end supply chains.

“The CSCP modules ensured I am equipped with the required skills to work on various aspects of today’s supply chains – design, planning, execution, and improvement – all of which came in handy during my work at Intel, where I was involved in improving various aspects of diverse supply chains,” said Tagore. Her future goal is to design, build, and manage global supply chains.

Jamel Thompson, who is finishing up his undergraduate degree at ISyE, decided to enroll in the MSSCE program because he found supply chain classes to be the most fulfilling. “I enjoy the interactive classroom style many of the classes have,” he said. “We have visited warehouses and had many guest speakers, which helps because we get to see what we are being taught in the classroom actually put the practice. Through MSSCE program, I want to broaden my understanding of the field and better understand the global supply chain and ways I can impact it.”

Thompson likes interacting with people and wants to eventually work in the business side of supply chain. In addition to the Amazon fellowship, he is also a recipient of the Matson Scholarship for Leadership Diversity, designed to encourage underrepresented students to consider careers in the transportation, supply chain management, and logistics fields, increasing diversity in leadership positions.

On campus, Thompson is president of the Men’s Club Basketball team, the director of professional development for the Society of Health Systems, and a member of the Sports Business Club. He’s also involved with Mission Possible, an organization that introduces industrial engineering to high school students through summer camps, workshops, and outreach programs.

Léo Pham Van, who hails from France, completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical and industrial engineering at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers in Paris. He also earned a master’s degree in innovation, design, and engineering with a concentration in interaction design. The program was focused on project management methodologies and human-centric design for products, services, and systems.

“During my undergraduate studies in France, I acquired a strong base in science and industrial engineering,” said Pham Van. “I worked on projects covering a wide scope of engineering such as manufacturing, design, supply chain, and programming. These projects allowed me to develop my problem-solving skills. With the MSSCE offered by Georgia Tech, I will also develop further skills and knowledge in supply chain engineering that will help me become a great supply chain engineer.”

Being able to work on real-world cases at Georgia Tech is important to Pham Van, who aims to work at a company in the U.S. that has challenging and innovative projects.

“I would like to work on the optimization of systems for the supply chain to help my company reach their business objectives while becoming more sustainable and efficient,” he said.

Benjamin Fan studied at ISyE as an undergraduate student and knew that he wanted to continue his education at Georgia Tech because of ISyE’s rigorous and practical education in supply chain engineering.

“My passion for supply chain made me choose to further pursue a master’s degree to be able to make the best supply chain decisions backed by mathematical principles,” said Fan.

His past experience in supply chain includes interning at Höganäs Taiwan, where he worked on a demand forecasting project. “I analyzed company sales data and modeled the trendlines in Python,” Fan explained. “On top of that, I also researched and utilized a Python library to automate Python scripts in Excel VBA to make the results presentable for managers. Through the project, I was able to gain analytical and coding experience.”

After graduating from the MSSCE program, he wants to design innovative fulfillment systems with technologies that assist employees by enabling them to be more efficient and enjoy their daily operations.

For more information on ISyE’s MSSCE program, visit https://www.isye.gatech.edu/academics/masters/supply-chain-engineering.

For questions, or if you are interested in applying for an Amazon Supply Chain Systems Design Fellowship, visit https://www.scl.gatech.edu/outreach/amazonfellow.

]]> goberst3 1 1637018968 2021-11-15 23:29:28 1652804439 2022-05-17 16:20:39 0 0 news This year’s Amazon Supply Chain Systems Design Track Fellows include Ajinkya Rege, Yesh Shah, Pavitra Tagore, Jamel Thompson, Léo Pham Van, and Benjamin Fan.

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2021-11-15T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-15T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-15 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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653018 653018 image <![CDATA[Amazon Fellows]]> image/png 1637265692 2021-11-18 20:01:32 1637265737 2021-11-18 20:02:17 <![CDATA[SCL Amazon Scholars Program]]>
<![CDATA[New Study Shows Hybrid Learning Led to Significant Reduction in Covid-19 Spread]]> 33939 As communities continue a shift toward normalcy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering have helped quantify the effectiveness of one of the most commonly-debated mitigation measures taken across the country.

A new study published in BMC Public Health shows that hybrid learning utilizing alternating school days for children offers a significant reduction in community disease spread. Total closure in favor of remote learning, however, offers little additional advantage over that hybrid option.

This research will help decision-makers in the event of another Covid-19 outbreak or one from a similar infectious disease.

“Early in the pandemic when school closures were becoming the norm, many debated the pros and cons of this measure,” said Pinar Keskinocak, the William W. George Chair and Professor in ISyE and the principal investigator on the study. “Do we get enough benefit to offset the social costs and impacts on education? This research shows that there is a benefit in infection reduction, especially in the absence of effective pharmaceutical interventions, and most of the benefits can be attained with a hybrid approach.”

This study is particularly relevant for the early days of an infectious disease outbreak when policymakers face the difficult decision of enacting school closures in their respective districts. Using an agent-based simulation model of Covid-19 spread, researchers projected the impact of various school reopening strategies: complete closure, alternating school days where one cohort attended in person twice a week and another cohort on the opposite days, younger children only, and regular (i.e. all students return to in-person learning).

Results showed that compared to schools reopening with regular attendance, the percentage of the population infected reduced by 13, 11, 9, and 6 percent with each respective strategy. The conclusions were that some level of closure – younger children only, alternating days, and completely remote – offers significant reduction in community-wide infections. The benefit of complete closure over a hybrid approach, however, was minimal.

The assumption in all cases was that individuals who contracted the virus would remain at home.

“The additional benefit of complete school closure compared to hybrid was relatively small,” Keskinocak said. “The implementation of an alternating day model can be challenging but could have public health benefits early in the pandemic or during a new wave, providing social and learning benefits as well.”

Other challenges remain that were not investigated in this particular research – costs on families in the event of school closures, learning tradeoffs, properly equipping students for virtual learning, and others. This is just one element of many for policymakers to consider, Keskinocak said.

CITATION: Arden Baxter, Buse Eylul Oruc, John Asplund, Pinar Keskinocak, Nicoleta Serban. Evaluating Scenarios for School Reopening under Covid-19BMC Public Health. March 14, 2022.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12910-w

]]> David Mitchell 1 1651081052 2022-04-27 17:37:32 1652727873 2022-05-16 19:04:33 0 0 news A new study published in BMC Public Health shows that hybrid learning utilizing alternating school days for children offers a significant reduction in community disease spread. Total closure in favor of remote learning, however, offers little additional advantage over that hybrid option.

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2022-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-27 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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639348 639348 image <![CDATA[Pinar Keskinocak]]> image/jpeg 1600704217 2020-09-21 16:03:37 1600704217 2020-09-21 16:03:37
<![CDATA[George Nemhauser's Farewell and Fellowship Announcement]]> 36284 The School of Industrial and Systems Engineering celebrated the retirement of one of its long-tenured faculty, George Nemhauser, on April 30, recognizing an academic legacy that will continue impacting students into the future. 

To carry on his legacy, former Ph.D. students helped to establish a fellowship in his name, fundraising for an endowment fund that has surpassed $170,000 to date. That money will fund fellowships that will be awarded to students on an annual basis for years to come. It’s an appropriate way to honor Nemhauser, who said it’s the students who have been his greatest accomplishment. 

“All of my Ph.D. students, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “The whole career, having all these great students and seeing that they’ve appreciated me as well – that’s what it’s all about.” 

With more than 60 years of experience in research and higher education, Nemhauser has served various roles and committed his career to the betterment of his students, staff, and community. Throughout his career, he supervised almost 90 Ph.D. students and continued to explore his research in solving large-scale mixed-integer programming problems.  

Nemhauser’s career is connected with some of the best top-performing institutions and partnerships in the industry, including John Hopkins University, Cornell University, Oregon State University, University of Leeds (U.K.), University of Louvain (Belgium), University of Melbourne, (Australia), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Research Council (NRC). Along with his long-term academic investment, Nemhauser has over 200 publications on topics such as optimization, programming, algorithms, transportation, structural properties, and operations research.  

After nearly 40 years of dedicated service to Georgia Tech, Nemhauser decided it was time for him to retire and was honored for his achievements by the school. Many of his students and colleagues highlighted their most memorable moments with Nemhauser and expressed their gratitude for his continued contribution to ISyE and beyond.  

As for Nemhauser, aside from staying in touch with his students, he said he plans on taking his retirement day by day.  

For more information or interest in contributing to the fellowship fund, please contact Senior Director of Development Nancy Sandlin at nancy.sandlin@isye.gatech.edu. 

]]> chenriquez8 1 1652363859 2022-05-12 13:57:39 1652725497 2022-05-16 18:24:57 0 0 news The School of Industrial and Systems Engineering celebrated the retirement of one of its long-tenured faculty, George Nemhauser, on April 30. 

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2022-05-12T00:00:00-04:00 2022-05-12T00:00:00-04:00 2022-05-12 00:00:00 Camille C. Henriquez

Communications Officer II

chenriquez8@gatech.edu

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658068 658068 image <![CDATA[George Nemhauser]]> image/jpeg 1652195898 2022-05-10 15:18:18 1652388005 2022-05-12 20:40:05
<![CDATA[Dima Nazzal Wins 1st Place for IISE Innovation in Education Competition]]> 36284 Dima Nazzal, a senior academic professional in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), has been awarded first place in the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Innovation in Education Competition. Nazzal will be presented with the award on May 23, at the annual conference and expo in Seattle, Wash.

In addition to participating in the honors and awards banquet, Nazzal’s award will be published in the ISE magazine, as well as be featured on the IISE website.

The award is for developing an early design course, titled Cornerstone Design, which focuses on “framing the problem” without solving it. 

“The course lays out the foundation for design thinking using a project‐based learning approach, interactive sessions with instructors, and a goldmine of past capstone senior design projects that ISyE has kept for years organized in a database,” Nazzal explained. “That includes all the relevant data files, original team notes, deliverables, and code.”

Design aims to address the engineering design skill gaps by offering a learning environment that utilizes multiple past capstone senior design projects complemented with lessons on key engineering design and industrial engineering principles, Nazzal said of the study.

“Through multiple diverse projects, students develop the skill to structure the way they approach complex undefined problems that are fraught with data gaps, uncertainty and ambiguity in objectives, and conflicting priorities,” she said. “Students learn how to communicate the motivation effectively and succinctly for solving a problem and the scientific evidence supporting their design solution hypothesis.”

Nazzal has additional research that focuses on the control of discrete event logistics systems such as distribution systems, healthcare delivery systems, and manufacturing systems.

]]> chenriquez8 1 1651932890 2022-05-07 14:14:50 1652725459 2022-05-16 18:24:19 0 0 news Nazzal will be presented with the award on May 23, at the annual conference and expo in Seattle, Wash.

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2022-05-10T00:00:00-04:00 2022-05-10T00:00:00-04:00 2022-05-10 00:00:00 Camille C. Henriquez

Communications Officer II

chenriquez8@gatech.edu

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658022 658022 image <![CDATA[Dima Nazzal Wins 1st Place for IISE Innovation in Education Competition]]> image/jpeg 1651933039 2022-05-07 14:17:19 1651933039 2022-05-07 14:17:19
<![CDATA[ISyE Sends 2 Grad Students to ORISE Program at CDC for 2nd Straight Year]]> 33939 Two graduate students in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering have earned fellowships with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) at Research Participate Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They join two other ISyE Ph.D. students selected to the program in 2021.

Current Ph.D. students Arden Baxter and Daniel Kim join Akane Fujimoto and Melike Yildirim as admits to the ORISE Research Participation Program at the CDC, an educational and training program designed to provide college students, recent graduates, and university faculty opportunities to connect with the center’s unique resources.

“These are all such fantastic students,” said William W. George Chair and Professor Pinar Keskinocak, advisor to all four students. “It’s a competitive program and for all four to be recognized in consecutive years, it says a lot about their work.”

Baxter, who will graduate in the summer, plans to join the ORISE program immediately and work with the CDC for the next year. Her work has included Covid-19 disease modeling and evaluating intervention strategies, as well as modeling for decision-making in humanitarian systems such as emergency response for resource coordination.

Kim will take a year off for the fellowship before returning to finish his thesis. He, too, has recent work on Covid-19. Other work includes incentive mechanisms to increase post-disaster debris recycling and analysis of data on mental health medication prescribed to children.

Fujimoto will complete the ORISE program this summer and return to ISyE to finish her Ph.D., with research focusing on various topics in health systems, including pre-natal screening for Down syndrome and Covid-19 modeling and dashboards..

Yildirim finished her degree in Jan. 2021, took a postdoctoral position at Harvard, and then joined the ORISE program in Dec. 2021.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1650664888 2022-04-22 22:01:28 1652228965 2022-05-11 00:29:25 0 0 news Current Ph.D. students Arden Baxter and Daniel Kim join Akane Fujimoto and Melike Yildirim as admits to the ORISE Research Participation Program at the CDC, an educational and training program designed to provide college students, recent graduates, and university faculty opportunities to connect with the center’s unique resources.

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2022-04-22T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-22T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-22 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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657526 657526 image <![CDATA[ISyE Students Earn ORISE Fellowship]]> image/png 1650664536 2022-04-22 21:55:36 1650664536 2022-04-22 21:55:36
<![CDATA[ISyE Professor Shi Earns ENBIS George Box Medal]]> 33939 George Box has been described as the greatest statistical mind of the 20th century. Now, Professor Jianjun Shi forever has his name attached to the celebrated scholar.

Shi, the Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), was awarded the George Box Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Industrial Statistics by the European Network for Business and Industrial Statistics (ENBIS). He is the second ISyE faculty member in the past five years to earn the honor, joining Professor Jeff Wu, who received it in 2017.

“I am extremely honored to receive this recognition named after a pioneer and leading scholar in quality science and industrial statistics,” Shi said. “This achievement could not have been reached without the tireless efforts of my students and collaborators, and persistent support from industrial sponsors.”

Each year, the medal recognizes an extraordinary statistician whose work has contributed to the development and application of statistical methods in European business and industry. Shi’s efforts in developing the “in-process quality improvement” methodologies has had broad impact in manufacturing quality and engineering statistics. His breakthroughs have gained widespread attention in the manufacturing and automotive communities, being implemented in over 40 steel mills worldwide and numerous major auto companies.

“The impacts of his work on industrial practice and financial savings are enormous,” Wu wrote in a recommendation letter for the award.

Shi is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, and the Institute of Operations Research and the Management Science, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has published over 180 papers on projects funded by the National Science Foundation, NIST Advanced Technology Program, Department of Energy, General Motors, Ford, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, and more.

As an educator, he has advised 38 Ph.D. graduates, seven of home have received NSF CAREER Awards and one the NSF PECASE Award.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1649821817 2022-04-13 03:50:17 1650889726 2022-04-25 12:28:46 0 0 news Each year, the medal recognizes an extraordinary statistician whose work has contributed to the development and application of statistical methods in European business and industry.

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2022-04-12T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-12T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-12 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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588214 588214 image <![CDATA[Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and Professor Jan Shi]]> image/jpeg 1488550089 2017-03-03 14:08:09 1650906914 2022-04-25 17:15:14
<![CDATA[ISyE Grad and Undergrad Students Honored at Student Awards Ceremony]]> 33939 Graduate and undergraduate students were honored last Thursday during the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering annual student awards. From research and academics to teaching assistance and mental health, the awards recognized the full scope of student leadership within the school for the 2021-22 academic year.

The awards are sponsored by both alumni and corporate partners, among others. To learn how to get involved, contact ISyE’s Senior Director of Development Nancy Sandlin at nancy.sandlin@isye.gatech.edu.

Explore all award winners below.

Graduate Awards for Excellence in Research

The Shabbir Ahmed Research Excellence Award

Jiaming Liang (Optimization)

Sebastian Perez-Salazar (Optimization)

The Atlanta Air Cargo Association Research Excellence Award

Jana Boerger (Supply Chain Engineering)

The Robert Goodell Brown Research Excellence Award

Liyan Xie (Data Science and Statistics)

The Anderson-Interface Research Excellence Award

Amin Gholami (Energy and Sustainable Systems)

The Thos and Clair Muller Research Excellence Award

Zhaowei She (Health Analytics and Health Systems)

The Angela P. and Reed J. Baker Research Excellence award

Jialei Chen (Advanced Manufacturing and SIAC)

The Margaret and Stephen Kendrick Research Excellence Award

Keyu Zhu (Analytics and Machine Learning)

The Ed Iacobucci Research Excellence Awarc

Daniela Hurtado-Lange (Applied Probability and Simulation)

Additional Graduate Awards

ISyE Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor of the Year Award

Shangcong Mou

Tyler Perini

ISyE Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Award

Xinyu Liu

ISyE Outstanding Master’s Teaching Assistant of the Year Award

Lucienne Loo

The Phillip J. and Delores A. Scott Graduate Student Health and Wellness Award

Nidhima Grover

Miguel Campos Murcia

Katja Meuche

Vinaya Krishna

Ritesh Ojha

Yassin Watson

Undergraduate Awards

ISyE Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Award

Pratyush Agrawal

Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Excellence in Leadership Award

Dany Shwayri

The Evelyn Pennington Outstanding Service Awards

Duncan Siebert

Hung Doan

The Evelyn Pennington Student Health and Wellness Award

Noah Mitchem

Christina Collins

Elizabeth Schupp

Quentin Mot

ISyE Alpha Pi Mu Academic Excellence Award

Oscar Aguilar

Xufei Liu

COE Honors Day Award

Zhiyi Li

COE Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award

Madeleine Pollack

Adam Profili

Kurt Salmon Associate Scholarship in Industrial and Systems Engineering

Maxim Geller

Michael Cho

Hope Williams

Fuad Hossain

KS2 Technologies, Inc. Entrepreneurship Award

Christophoros Kontomaris

Min Sol Lee

Nicolas & Aurora Suarez Condezo International Award

Dewang Agarwal

]]> David Mitchell 1 1650404429 2022-04-19 21:40:29 1650889369 2022-04-25 12:22:49 0 0 news From research and academics to teaching assistance and mental health, the awards recognized the full scope of student leadership within the school for the 2021-22 academic year.

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2022-04-19T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-19T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-19 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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657454 657455 657454 image <![CDATA[ISyE Student Awards 1]]> image/jpeg 1650404125 2022-04-19 21:35:25 1650404125 2022-04-19 21:35:25 657455 image <![CDATA[ISyE Student Awards 2]]> image/jpeg 1650404216 2022-04-19 21:36:56 1650404216 2022-04-19 21:36:56
<![CDATA[Ph.D. Student Meghan Meredith Earns NSF Graduate Research Fellowship]]> 33939 Meghan Meredith, a Ph.D. student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, received one of this year’s fellowships from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The honor is designated for her project titled Mathematical Models to Provide Personalized and Equitable Maternal and Neonatal Care.

The award provides three years of financial support, including $34,000 per 12-month fellowship year. In addition, it covers all of tuition and student fees.

“It’s a great honor,” Meredith said. “To have NSF fund a proposal that was fueled by racial disparities and soft interventions, it really validates the work. This just allows me to focus even more on my research.”

Meredith works with ISyE Assistant Professor Lauren Steimle. Together last summer, they began a project investigating maternal health to evaluate gaps in care for which they could propose solutions. This particular project looked at decision analytics that go into deliveries. These include deciding between vaginal or cesarean delivery, inducing labor, how long someone should experience the trial of labor before an intervention is introduced, and, ultimately, how to incorporate patient preference into these decisions.

“A lot of women have strong feelings, as they should, about what they prefer their delivery experience to look like,” Meredith said. “A lot of these decisions are made by doctors based on their own experiences, and we haven’t really had a lot of decision analytics that look at data and understanding the outcomes.”

This gap in care is especially evident in the context of different outcomes based on racial disparities. Black and Hispanic women often have a shorter trial of labor before interventions are introduced meaning higher rates of C-section for low-risk births.

“We want to first understand why that’s happening,” Meredith said. “What are the factors and are the factors actually relevant? Or, has this become something that is a bias in the data or the caregivers?”

Ultimately, the goal of the project is to develop theory for multiple objectives within operations research. Can you quantify, somehow, a patient’s preference within available deliver data for different experiences?

“For example,” Meredith said, “if we’re deciding between vaginal and cesarean, can we factor in a woman’s preference of whether they would mind being in the hospital longer or whether they would would have a problem with not seeing their baby for the first three days because surgery has rendered them incapable.”

]]> David Mitchell 1 1650437464 2022-04-20 06:51:04 1650437464 2022-04-20 06:51:04 0 0 news The honor is designated for her project titled Mathematical Models to Provide Personalized and Equitable Maternal and Neonatal Care. It provides three years of financial support, including $34,000 per 12-month fellowship year. In addition, it covers all of tuition and student fees.

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2022-04-20T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-20T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-20 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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<![CDATA[Nagi Gabraeel to Receive IISE Fellow Award at Annual Conference in May]]> 33939 Nagi Gabraeel, the Georgia Power Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been selected to receive the IISE Fellow Award, which will be presented at the organization’s annual conference My 21-24 in Seattle, Wash.

The award recognizes a senior member of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) community with impactful contributions in innovation and service to industrial engineering. No more than 20 fellows can be named each year. IISE is the world’s largest professional society dedicated to the support of industrial and systems engineers.

Gabraeel’s research interests lie at the intersection of predictive analytics and machine learning, repair and operations, and service logistics. His key focus is developing fundamental statistical learning algorithms specifically tailored for real-time equipment diagnostics and prognostics, and optimization models for subsequent operational and logistical decision-making in Internet of Things ecosystems. From the standpoint of application domains, his general interests lie in manufacturing, power generation, and service-type industries.

Gabraeel leads the Predictive Analytics and Intelligent Systems research group in Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1649973485 2022-04-14 21:58:05 1650042256 2022-04-15 17:04:16 0 0 news The award recognizes a senior member of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) community with impactful contributions in innovation and service to industrial engineering.

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2022-04-14T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-14T00:00:00-04:00 2022-04-14 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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634270 634270 image <![CDATA[Georgia Power Early Career Professor Nagi Gabraeel]]> image/jpeg 1586535581 2020-04-10 16:19:41 1586535581 2020-04-10 16:19:41
<![CDATA[ISyE Grad Program Ranked No. 1 for 32nd Consecutive Year]]> 33939 Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering was named the top graduate program of its kind in the latest U.S. News & World Report annual rankings released on March 29.

It is the 32nd consecutive year ISyE has topped the rankings in the industrial, manufacturing, and systems category.

“It’s an honor to be recognized as a leader amongst such prestigious schools throughout the country,” said Edwin Romeijn, the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair. “Our faculty, staff, and students are diligent in their efforts to maintain and grow ISyE’s reputation as a leader in education and research at the graduate level.”

ISyE’s undergraduate program has topped its rankings for 27 consecutive years, as well.

Overall, Georgia Tech’s came in at No. 7 overall in engineering, No. 4 among public universities. All 11 of the College of Engineering’s schools were ranked in the top 10 in their respective programs.

Complete rankings for Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering can be found here.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1648578847 2022-03-29 18:34:07 1648819108 2022-04-01 13:18:28 0 0 news ISyE was named the top graduate program of its kind in the latest U.S. News & World Report annual rankings released on March 29. It is the 32nd consecutive year ISyE has topped the rankings in the industrial, manufacturing, and systems category.

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2022-03-29T00:00:00-04:00 2022-03-29T00:00:00-04:00 2022-03-29 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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656771 656771 image <![CDATA[ISyE Grad Rankings 2022]]> image/png 1648578467 2022-03-29 18:27:47 1648578467 2022-03-29 18:27:47
<![CDATA[Undergrad Madeleine Pollack Earns 2022 Adobe Women in Technology Scholarship]]> 33939 Madeleine Pollack, an undergraduate student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), won a 2022 Adobe Women in Technology scholarship.

The award, which contributes a $10,000 award for education-related expenses, recognizes outstanding female students in artificial intelligence/machine learning, data science, and computer science or web/mobile development.

Pollack, a third-year ISyE major concentrating in advanced operations research and statistics, adds this scholarship to a list of accomplishments that already includes the 2022 President’s Undergraduate Research Award (PURA) Fellowship, the 2021 Brooke Owens Fellowship, and the 2021 ISyE Rising Star award, among others. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in operations research after earning her bachelor’s degree.

“I chose to study operations research because I love the idea that we can take phenomena in the world around us and use mathematics to come to a better understanding of the driving forces of those phenomena,” she said. “In some sense, I think it is a really neat blend of the art of decision-making with the science of modeling the world around us mathematically.”

In addition to her studies, Pollack is also the vice president of Georgia Tech’s chapter of Alphi Pi Mu, the national industrial engineering honor’s society.

After completing a pair of internships during her time at Georgia Tech at Space Capital and Hermeus, she entered the undergraduate research space working alongside Assistant Professor Lauren Steimle. There, she has looked at how modeling decisions for chronic diseases can alter the treatment recommendations a physician might give on behalf of a patient.

Read more about about Pollack's undergraduate journey as well as the Brooke Owens Fellowship here - Madeleine Pollack Selected for 2021 Brooke Owens Fellowship

Are you interested in operations research? Learn more about ISyE’s undergraduate degrees here.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1647629193 2022-03-18 18:46:33 1647629193 2022-03-18 18:46:33 0 0 news The award, which contributes a $10,000 award for education-related expenses, recognizes outstanding female students in artificial intelligence/machine learning, data science, and computer science or web/mobile development.

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2022-03-18T00:00:00-04:00 2022-03-18T00:00:00-04:00 2022-03-18 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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646169 646169 image <![CDATA[Madeleine Pollack ]]> image/jpeg 1617721456 2021-04-06 15:04:16 1617721456 2021-04-06 15:04:16
<![CDATA[Jing Li and Turgay Ayer Named Virginia C. and Joseph C. Mello Chairs in ISyE]]> 33939 Georgia Tech’s H. Milton School of Industrial Systems and Engineering announced two new appointments to the Virginia C. and Joseph C. Mello Chair. Professor Jing Li and Associate Professor Turgay Ayer both earned the designation earlier this year, which recognizes faculty leaders in the field of health care delivery operations.

Li, also core faculty in the Center for Machine Learning at Georgia Tech, currently focuses on the developments of machine learning algorithms for precision medicine specifically with regards to the brain. She leverages collaborations with radiologists and neurologists to investigate brain diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and post-traumatic headache after brain injury.

Today, technology advances have produced more data than ever before, imaging, genomics, mobile health data, etc., which allow researchers to develop more personalized algorithms for diagnosis and prognosis.

“What disease do they have? How severe is it? How will the disease change in the future? Are they on the track of recovery, or are they going to get worse,” Li said.

Using the available datasets from imaging, genomics, clinical records, and mobile apps & wearables, they are building personalized models for diagnosis and treatment in each of these areas that can lead to early detection and more effective outcomes.

Ayer, who also holds an appointment from Emory Medical School and serves as a senior advisor to CDC, focuses on health care analytics and socially responsible business analytics with an emphasis on practice-focused research. In recent work, he has attempted to build up more robust and effective virtual trials for medical screening, diagnosis and treatment using large-scale mathematical models.

If you look at the gold standard in medicine and clinical science – randomized control trials – it generally utilizes A/B testing strategies. But what if there are thousands of strategies to compare, not just Strategy A and Strategy B?

“In a recent study, we looked at multi-modality cancer screening strategies for cancer detection in gene mutation carriers,” Ayer said. “You ask questions like: Should you use ultrasound screening or MRI screening? How about mammography screening? Or maybe mammography plus ultrasound screening? At what age should you start – 25 to 30? Or 35?

“At what age should you transfer from a less intensive screening to another? Is that cost effective? And what if we are solving this problem for the United States versus sub-Saharan Africa where resources are more limited? There are millions and billions of scenarios, and you can’t design a randomized control trial that would effectively compare those.”

Ayer’s work has spanned long-term chronic disease, both communicable and non-communicable – diseases like COVID-19 for the former and different cancers for the latter.

Both Li and Ayer said the chair appointment would assist in their work.

“It’s a great honor and recognition,” Li said. “I think going forward this will help me to pursue bigger efforts and initiatives, engaging people with a variety of expertise. This research needs collaboration across different descriptions. ”

“It helps to bring more visibility to the work,” Ayer echoed. “This will also help us scale up the resources that we have within our communities and reach out to more collaborators.”

]]> David Mitchell 1 1646861813 2022-03-09 21:36:53 1647460659 2022-03-16 19:57:39 0 0 news Professor Jing Li and Associate Professor Turgay Ayer both earned the designation earlier this year, which recognizes faculty leaders in the field of health care delivery operations.

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2022-03-09T00:00:00-05:00 2022-03-09T00:00:00-05:00 2022-03-09 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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656187 656187 image <![CDATA[Jing Li and Turgay Ayer]]> image/png 1646861401 2022-03-09 21:30:01 1646861401 2022-03-09 21:30:01
<![CDATA[Home Again, After Coming Back to Earth]]> 27560 Two standing-room-only crowds welcomed Shane Kimbrough back to his alma mater on March 4, four months after he returned from space.

The first was an afternoon question-and-answer session with the Georgia Tech community. Then he went under the lights at a sold-out Russ Chandler Stadium as the Yellow Jackets baseball team hosted the University of Georgia.

The day of events marked Kimbrough’s first on campus since the Georgia Tech graduate’s third mission to space — which included 199 days and 84 million miles aboard the International Space Station (ISS).  

Kimbrough’s first stop of the day was a morning tour of the Space Systems Design Lab. Nearly two dozen students and research engineers showed Kimbrough the lab space of Glenn Lightsey, a professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering (AE School).

Kimbrough watched as the group tested electronics and navigation systems for future CubeSats. Their GT-1 spacecraft was deployed into orbit in February, and the students are currently working on three 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm follow-up models for future missions.

From there, Kimbrough visited Mission Operations Center, which is currently being used to track GT-1. He also checked in on Lunar Flashlight, which is scheduled for launch this summer and will be the first CubeSat ever to orbit the moon. A Georgia Tech interdisciplinary team built the spacecraft’s propulsion system. The AE School and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have been assembling and integrating Lunar Flashlight for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab the last several months.

“I was really inspired by the students I met, and I’ve been very impressed by the projects they’re working on,” said Kimbrough, who received his master’s degree in operations research from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) in 1998. “So many people are interested in space, which is great to see.”

“Friday was amazing! It was very cool to share the work we do here at the lab and hear about his various experiences, from the military to NASA to being on the ISS,” said Ebenezer Arunkumar, GT-1’s software team lead and a master’s student in aerospace engineering. “Being an astronaut has always been a dream of mine, so meeting someone who has accomplished that goal was awe-inspiring.”

The morning ended with a visit to the Yang Aero Maker Space. The student-led facility in the Weber Space and Science Technology Building allows students to use 3D printers, laser cutters, and more to build prototypes that advance their research and curiosity.

“It was a really great opportunity to talk to an astronaut, something I’d only done on Zoom,” said Rachel Thomas, a member of the Ramblin’ Rocket Club who is scheduled to graduate this semester with her undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering. “I talked to him about my team, GTXR (Georgia Tech Experimental Rocketry), and he was really excited about that. It was a unique experience.”

The day’s main event, a Q&A in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, filled an auditorium. In addition to the 250 or so Yellow Jackets in the room, nearly a thousand K-12 students from around the Atlanta area tuned into the livestream as invited guests, with some submitting questions for Kimbrough.

Topics ranged from the astronaut application process, when he knew he wanted to travel to space (as a young child), and the relevancy of his ISyE degree to his success as an astronaut.

The session was moderated by AE School Ph.D. student Naia Butler-Craig, an aspiring astronaut.

“I’m so grateful that Shane took his time to pour into the next generation of aerospace engineers,” Butler-Craig said. “It was such an honor to hear from someone as accomplished and personable as him. I feel motivated to keep going on my own journey in following his footsteps!”

Before taking a detour and riding in the Ramblin’ Wreck for the first time, Kimbrough stood before another packed house that night. He threw out the first pitch before Georgia Tech beat Georgia 11-7. Kimbrough grew up attending Yellow Jacket sporting events and nearly enrolled as undergraduate. Instead, he attended the U.S. Military Academy and pitched for its baseball team.

“It was an incredible, perfect day for me. “Getting to come back and give back a little bit to the students and faculty was amazing.” Kimbrough said. “The weather was great. The events were great. I just want to go back to school!”

]]> Jason Maderer 1 1646757114 2022-03-08 16:31:54 1646757114 2022-03-08 16:31:54 0 0 news A day of events marked Shane Kimbrough’s first on campus since the Georgia Tech graduate’s third mission to space — which included 199 days and 84 million miles aboard the International Space Station (ISS).  

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2022-03-08T00:00:00-05:00 2022-03-08T00:00:00-05:00 2022-03-08 00:00:00 Jason Maderer
College of Engineering
404-276-1643

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656115 656114 652615 656115 image <![CDATA[Shane Kimbrough listening to students]]> image/jpeg 1646756199 2022-03-08 16:16:39 1646756199 2022-03-08 16:16:39 656114 image <![CDATA[Shane Kimbrough with SSDL]]> image/jpeg 1646756025 2022-03-08 16:13:45 1646756025 2022-03-08 16:13:45 652615 image <![CDATA[Shane Kimbrough in the space station's cupola in August (courtesy: NASA)]]> image/jpeg 1636479473 2021-11-09 17:37:53 1636479473 2021-11-09 17:37:53
<![CDATA[Georgia Tech Partners to Launch MARTA Reach Pilot Program Across Atlanta]]> 33939 Great solutions often start with a simple idea.

For Georgia Tech industrial engineering professor Pascal Van Hentenryck, it started four years ago: an idea to tackle one of the biggest challenges for America’s eight largest rapid transit systems.

“One of the big issues is connecting to and from the system. First and last mile,” Van Hentenryck said.

So, during the pandemic, Van Hentenryck decided to contact MARTA officials directly, and, with his team of student researchers at Georgia Tech, he developed a system to make MARTA more efficient and able to better serve communities that have a vital need for reliable transit.

That’s how MARTA Reach was born.

“We were contacted by Pascal in late 2020 about the possibility of an on-demand network,” said MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Collie Greenwood.

Van Hentenryck describes MARTA Reach as an on-demand multimodal transportation solution — smartphones and shuttles outfitted with tablets connected to an app that helps riders find a quick route to their nearest MARTA station. Think ridesharing platforms like Lyft or Uber — except this ride is a flat, low-cost fee. MARTA says this program is meant to work with the city of Atlanta’s existing transportation services and will help minimize waiting and walking, eliminating the inconvenience of users having to walk a mile or more to their nearest MARTA station.

“Public transit is the most cost-effective way to move people,” says Van Hentenryck.

“But in Atlanta, some people may face challenges getting to the MARTA station.” Thanks to this new pilot program, they can download the smartphone app and request a ride.

On March 1, MARTA and Georgia Tech will begin pilot testing this program in three strategic neighborhoods: West Atlanta, Belvedere Park, and Fort Gillem. Van Hentenryck says there’s never been a piloted on-demand public transit system like this in a major U.S. metropolitan area like Atlanta.

The chosen neighborhoods were selected not only because they are lacking in transportation options but because of the different communities they serve. Fort Gillem is an area with a high number of distribution centers with employees who could use more efficient transportation. West Atlanta is highly residential, with roads often too narrow for MARTA’s full-sized buses. And Belvedere Park is a mixed-use neighborhood that combines business and residential zoning.

During the pilot test, folks in these areas can use the MARTA Reach app to call for a shuttle to pick them up and take them to the nearest MARTA transportation hub.

When users call for a pickup, their requests will be routed through a server at Georgia Tech that connects to the drivers on MARTA’s new fleet of Reach vehicles.

“We developed the cloud computing platform, connected riders and drivers, and we’re making sure the whole system is synchronized,” said Van Hentenryck.

“We couldn’t be happier they are willing to study our ridership to see what the needs are and tailor a solution,” said Greenwood.

For the Georgia Tech researchers, it’s a perfect partnership as well.

“We’ve been thinking about transportation for years. It connects people to everything from jobs and education to groceries,” explained Van Hentenryck. “It’s amazing that a large agency like MARTA would allow us to come in and test this.”

The pilot has been funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, and from March until August, the service will be available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. every weekday.

“Georgia Tech’s mission calls us to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. To use our research and expertise to improve lives and livelihoods. That’s why we’re here. We’re grateful for the opportunity, for the support of MARTA and the National Science Foundation, and for the great work by Professor Van Hentenryck’s team.”

MARTA officials will be looking to see how many users take advantage of this new first-and-last-mile option. Georgia Tech’s researchers will be watching closely, too, analyzing data including how long it takes to fulfill riders’ requests.

MARTA officials say if the data shows positive impacts, the pilot could expand to other parts of the city. Georgia Tech researchers say this on-demand project could also serve as a model for more major metropolitan areas to follow.

“We can take on projects that are not just technologically cool and exciting, but at the same time they also have a big impact on society,” said Van Hentenryck.

Learn more about the MARTA Reach program and download the app here.

]]> David Mitchell 1 1646149713 2022-03-01 15:48:33 1646149713 2022-03-01 15:48:33 0 0 news Great solutions often start with a simple idea. For Georgia Tech industrial engineering professor Pascal Van Hentenryck, it started four years ago: an idea to tackle one of the biggest challenges for America’s eight largest rapid transit systems.

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2022-03-01T00:00:00-05:00 2022-03-01T00:00:00-05:00 2022-03-01 00:00:00 Steven Norris

Director, Media Relations and Social Media

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655843 655842 655841 655843 image <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Partners to Launch MARTA Reach Pilot Program Across Atlanta]]> image/jpeg 1646090937 2022-02-28 23:28:57 1646103125 2022-03-01 02:52:05 655842 image <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Partners to Launch MARTA Reach Pilot Program Across Atlanta]]> image/jpeg 1646090882 2022-02-28 23:28:02 1646103099 2022-03-01 02:51:39 655841 image <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Partners to Launch MARTA Reach Pilot Program Across Atlanta]]> image/jpeg 1646090804 2022-02-28 23:26:44 1663710073 2022-09-20 21:41:13
<![CDATA[Two Assistant Professors Earn NSF's Most Prestigious Early-Career Award]]> 33939 Two faculty members from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering received CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF), recognizing early-career contributions in both research and education. Assistant Professors He Wang and Siva Theja Maguluri received the award, the most prestigious of its kind awarded by the NSF, which carries a five-year term.

In addition to $500,000 in funding, which will help support the faculty member as well as their team of Ph.D. students, Wang said it provided recognition and validation for their respective research agendas.

“It’s great because it helps fund our work and will provide opportunities to support our students in this continued research,” he said. “But it also helps us to build connections with industry partners, who see the importance of our work, and allow us to implement some of it into the real world.”

Wang’s research focuses on supply chain and logistics in transportation. This particular award will fund research that seeks to design digital marketplaces for the freight industry. Describing it as a rideshare, like Uber, for trucking, Wang said that the goal of the research is to design online digital marketplaces that help truckers connect with shippers, eliminating a brokerage process plagued by inefficiency that can cost drivers both time and money.

“The idea here is to improve supply chain efficiencies and also the earning reliability of these truck drivers,” he said.

For an industry that is among the largest in the country, and indeed the most popular in more than half the country’s states, the research could have far-reaching implications.

Maguluri’s research, meanwhile, addresses optimization challenges in reinforcement learning and cloud computing, both of which are key areas of progress in the ongoing artificial intelligence revolution. The revolution is powered by the development of novel algorithms and breakthroughs in cloud computing infrastructure that can collect, store, and process large amounts of data.

“Even though neural networks were known about 50 years ago, AI breakthroughs only happened in the last 15 years,” Maguluri said. “This is because computers weren’t powerful enough earlier, and it was hard to get access to large computing power.”

Now, AI researchers can utilize massive data centers run by companies like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google.

Despite the progress, however, there are tradeoffs that affect optimal performance, and theory often lags behind practice. With this award, Maguluri and his lab will pursue studies in both reinforcement learning and cloud computing to develop optimal scheduling algorithms for cloud computing data centers that make both more efficient and, thus, further advancement in the field.

To read more about Wang’s and Maguluri’s research, follow the links below:

He Wang: Marketplace Design for Freight Transportation and Logistics Platforms

Siva Theja Maguluri: Lyapunov Drift Methods for Stochastic Recursions: Applications in Cloud Computing and Reinforcement Learning

]]> David Mitchell 1 1645195052 2022-02-18 14:37:32 1645642413 2022-02-23 18:53:33 0 0 news 2022-02-18T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-18T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-18 00:00:00 David Mitchell

Communications Manager

david.mitchell@isye.gatech.edu

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655580 655580 image <![CDATA[ISyE CAREER Award 2022 - He Wang and Siva Theja Maguluri]]> image/png 1645194346 2022-02-18 14:25:46 1645194346 2022-02-18 14:25:46
<![CDATA[Trio of Faculty Join Alums Named to National Academy of Engineering]]> 27560 Three Georgia Tech faculty members are among the newest members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Christopher Jones, Sandra Magnus, and Nick Sahinidis have been elected to the NAE, one of the highest professional distinctions awarded to an engineer.

In addition to the three faculty members, two additional alumni were honored. Nick Lappos (AE ’73), was also elected to the NAE Class of 2022. Lappos is a senior technical fellow (emeritus) of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp and serves on the Georgia Tech Aerospace Engineering School Advisory Council (AESAC). He was honored for “improving rotary wing flight performance and serving as test pilot, engineer, inventor, technologist, and business leader.”

Nathan Meehan (Phys '75), a member of the College of Sciences Advisory Board, was also elected. He is president of CMG Petroleum Consulting Ltd. and was recognized for "technical and business innovation in the application of horizontal well technology for oil and gas production."

They are among this year’s 133 new members (including international selections).

“On behalf of Georgia Tech, I extend my sincere congratulations to Chris, Sandy, and Nick for this incredible honor, which highlights a lifetime of achievement,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. “Chris and Nick’s research have advanced their respective fields and left an indelible mark on their peers at Georgia Tech and around the world. Sandy, in addition to her service with NASA, is a tireless advocate of raising awareness of STEM and diversity within the aerospace industry in an effort to grow the next generation of the AE workforce. The College of Engineering is tremendously proud of this trio.”

Jones is the John F. Brock III School Chair in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). He has been a faculty member at Georgia Tech since 2000, leading a ChBE research group that works in catalysis and adsorption, with a strong emphasis in materials chemistry. The NAE is honoring him for “contributions to the design and synthesis of catalytic materials and for advancing technologies related to carbon capture and sequestration.”

Jones is known in the field for his pioneering work on materials that extract carbon dioxide from ultra-dilute mixtures such as ambient air, which are key components of direct air capture technologies that have the potential to reverse climate change.

Magnus (MSE, 1996) is a professor of the practice with joint appointments in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. She is currently a principal at  AstroPlanetview LLC and is being recognized by the NAE for “national accomplishments in the U.S. civil space program and in Department of Defense engineering and technology integration.

As a NASA astronaut, Magnus flew to space three times and spent 157 days in orbit. Before joining NASA, Magnus worked for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company as a stealth engineer. After retiring as an astronaut, she served as executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). She is now one of three Georgia Tech women in the NAE, joining Marilyn Brown and Susan Margulies.

Sahinidis is the inaugural Gary C. Butler Family Chair in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a joint appointment in ChBE. In the NAE announcement, Sahinidis was selected for “his contributions to global optimization and the development of widely used software for optimization and machine learning.” His research activities are at the interface between computer science and operations research, with applications in various engineering and scientific areas.

During his career, Sahinidis developed BARON (Branch-and-Reduce Optimization Navigator), a global optimization software system that solves challenging, nonconvex optimization problems, including continuous, integer, and mixed-integer nonlinear problems. Sahinidis also created ALAMO (Automated Learning of Algebraic Models), a black-box modeling tool that generates simple, yet accurate, algebraic models from data. 

The Academy annual inducts new members, recognizing “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature.” The Academy also honors engineers for being instrumental in "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education." 

Georgia Tech now has 45 NAE members. This year's cohort will be formally inducted during the NAE’s annual meeting in October.

]]> Jason Maderer 1 1644440285 2022-02-09 20:58:05 1645020340 2022-02-16 14:05:40 0 0 news Christopher Jones, Sandra Magnus, and Nick Sahinidis join Nathan Meehan (Phys '75) and Nick Lappos (AE ’73) in being elected to the NAE, one of the highest professional distinctions awarded to an engineer.

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2022-02-09T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-09T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-09 00:00:00 Jason Maderer
College of Engineering
404-276-1643

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655373 655353 655372 655370 655373 image <![CDATA[Credit: NAE]]> image/jpeg 1644511400 2022-02-10 16:43:20 1644511400 2022-02-10 16:43:20 655353 image <![CDATA[2022 NAE members]]> image/png 1644440049 2022-02-09 20:54:09 1644440049 2022-02-09 20:54:09 655372 image <![CDATA[Nick Lappos (AE ’73), senior technical fellow (emeritus) of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp and member of Georgia Tech Aerospace Engineering School Advisory Council (AESAC).]]> image/jpeg 1644511339 2022-02-10 16:42:19 1644511339 2022-02-10 16:42:19 655370 image <![CDATA[Nathan Meehan (Phys '75), a member of the College of Sciences Advisory Board and president of CMG Petroleum Consulting Ltd.]]> image/jpeg 1644511201 2022-02-10 16:40:01 1644511201 2022-02-10 16:40:01
<![CDATA[SCL Welcomes Yentai Wan of UPS to its Industry Advisory Board]]> 27233 Yentai Wan currently serves as Lead Director of the Network Planning & Optimization (NPT) Program in the UPS Corporate Industrial Engineering group. As a critical part of the UPS Smart Logistics Network Strategy, the NPT Program provides visibility across its transportation network by utilizing predictive analytics, simulation, and operations research algorithms. These capabilities help provide the needed insight to make better, faster decisions as well as provide cost effective results at a high quality of service.

Dr. Wan has demonstrated intrapreneurship by building a profitable start-up department and mobilizing top-tier talent to create high performing cultures that consistently achieve business goals in a dynamic and volatile business environment. His primary responsibilities are to (a) improve network planning processes, (b) generate network efficiencies, and (c) support strategic initiatives across the enterprise through institution of an elastic and self-healing network optimization platform. Yentai joined UPS in 2007 as an Enterprise Network Planning Manager in Corporate Transportation and also served as Director of Transportation Operations Research & Analytics.

Yentai was born and raised in Taipei City, Taiwan. He came to the United States in 2000 to advance his education and later earn a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (ISyE) from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining UPS, he served as investigator of research projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation and as an R&D Scientist in an industry-leading supply chain software company. Dr. Wan lives in Alpharetta, Georgia and when not working, enjoys traveling across North America and Northeast Asia.

The Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute is honored to have part of the Georgia Tech and ISyE family rejoin us to help shape our future.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1644937183 2022-02-15 14:59:43 1645019718 2022-02-16 13:55:18 0 0 news Dr. Wan brings extensive transportation planning and optimization experience as well as intrapreneurship leadership skills to the board.

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2022-02-16T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-16T00:00:00-05:00 2022-02-16 00:00:00 655489 655489 image <![CDATA[Yentai Wan, Lead Director–Network Planning & Optimization Program, UPS Corporate Industrial Engineering Group]]> image/jpeg 1644936844 2022-02-15 14:54:04 1645018963 2022-02-16 13:42:43 <![CDATA[SCL Industry Advisory Board members]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE Families: A Time-Tested Supply Chain]]> 34760 Georgia Tech students and alumni often have family ties to the Institute, including some who come from a long line of industrial engineers trained by the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). From an ISyE couple who met during college to a student who discovered her grandfather’s master’s thesis in the Georgia Tech library, the families highlighted in this article all have stories showcasing their unique experiences with industrial engineering, often across multiple generations. One Puerto Rican family includes many ISyE alumni, some of whom are successful entrepreneurs; another family from Lebanon may not all be “helluva engineers,” but many of them are industrial engineers, nonetheless. And finally, an alumni father/son duo who have had a long-lasting connection with Georgia Tech continue to impact the Institute today. 

Anderson Family

Chris Anderson (IE 2008, M.S. Analytics 2020) and his father Mike Anderson (IE 1979) are two exceptional alumni both born and raised in Georgia. Mike is the president and CEO of Georgia Power Foundation and Southern Company Charitable Foundation, through which he has been able to invest in Georgia Tech and continue the long legacy of Southern Company’s support for the Institute.

When Mike was around seven years old, his father – a mailman – would bring home copies of Scientific American magazine that were donated by customers on his mail route. His love for the magazine piqued his interest in science and mathematics, which became a huge factor in his decision to attend Georgia Tech.

A second factor was his passion for sports. “After finishing the high school track and field state finals in the high hurdles, I was approached by coach Buddy Fowlkes – at the finish line – about attending Tech as a student athlete,” said Mike. “Fortunately, I had already applied to Tech and was accepted.”

After graduating, he began a career at Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas, where he was responsible for quality control and component testing of nuclear warhead guidance systems. From there, he was recruited by Georgia Power Company to help with the development of the Vogtle Nuclear plant. Forty years and many moves later, he now serves in his current role at the Southern Company and Georgia Power Foundations.

“I can say without a doubt that the critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration skills I developed at Tech were key in my career success,” said Mike.

Chris, however, originally wanted to be a doctor and was considering pre-med or biomedical engineering when he started college. However, he realized he wasn’t as interested in true science and eventually switched to ISyE, drawn by the combination of business with technical disciplines like statistics and coding.

After graduating, he was recruited to Con Edison, an energy company headquartered in New York City. During his time with Con Edison, he had the opportunity to lead a data intelligence unit in the command center directing the New York City power restoration effort after Hurricane Sandy. He also presented on NYC utility climate change initiatives to senior advisers at the Department of Energy in Washington D.C.

“I left Atlanta after undergrad because I was born and raised here, and I wanted to see something different – be in a bigger city, be exposed to more ways of thinking,” Chris said. New York was also where he met his wife, and they eventually moved back to Atlanta to settle down. Now, he’s working at Georgia Power, applying his skills and experience in utilities in a role that combines analytics and finance.

After the move, Chris also began researching master’s programs. Mike earned his MBA from Emory University, and for a long time Chris thought he would follow suit. However, when he heard about the online ISyE master’s in analytics, he knew it was the program for him. “The MSA gave me an avenue to broaden my business acumen while also deepening my analytical abilities, because in my opinion, you provide an extra layer of value if you can create meaningful business insights from data,” he said.

An MBA isn’t completely off the table yet. Like his dad, Chris is interested in higher leadership. Originally in a supervisory development program while working in New York, he is now on a similar track at Georgia Power. “Once you get higher up in corporations, you can affect more change,” Chris explained. “I'm always about making things more efficient and bringing the company forward in terms of analytics and data-supported decision making.”

In the future, Chris hopes to be more involved in outreach at Georgia Power and with Georgia Tech. Mike is heavily involved in the community, serving on the Georgia Tech Foundation Board, among others. He’s also a former member of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board, the ISyE Advisory Board, Alexander Tharpe Fund, and the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.

Lowndes Family

Fifth-year ISyE student Kimberly Lowndes grew up cheering on the Yellow Jackets, and there’s no surprise why: Her father, aunt, uncle, both of her grandfathers, and great-great-uncle are all Georgia Tech alumni, and two of her cousins are current students. She follows in the footsteps of her grandfather, Thomas Lowndes Jr (IE 1959, MSIE 1963), the first industrial engineer in her family.

Kimberly is part of a dual-degree program with Berry College in Rome, Georgia. She attended Berry for her first three years of college and spent the final two years at Georgia Tech. When she graduates this coming May, she will have a degree in applied physics in addition to industrial engineering. “I wanted to have that small-school, well-rounded education that a liberal arts school like Berry can provide, but I also wanted the opportunities and technical expertise that Georgia Tech offers,” she explained.

She grew up talking about science with her grandfather, who encouraged her curiosity and desire to learn. A relic from his studies – which she was able to read through the Georgia Tech library – is his master’s thesis on the ergonomics of tool handles.

Thomas worked in several manufacturing facilities before he started performing market research for Coca-Cola, where he worked until his retirement. “The story goes that Coca Cola in the ‘60s needed someone who knew how to use a computer – Georgia Tech taught people that, because it was a breakthrough technology at the time,” said Kimberly.

This past summer, she interned at Liberty Mutual in risk control, working with many commercial businesses where safety is key to reduce injury, and thus reduce insurance premiums. The combination of her physics and ISyE studies helped her create ergonomic designs that will reduce physical wear and tear on workers, while also increasing productivity.

“A lot of companies are just focused on maximizing profit and minimizing costs, but I'm more passionate about how we can take systems and not only solve them – but also take care of the environment and the workers who are doing the jobs for us – a holistic viewpoint,” she said.

Nizialek and Wright Families

Georgia Tech often acts as a matchmaker to bring couples together, and in this case, the pair are both industrial engineers. Emily Wright (IE 2020) married David Wright (IE 2020) not long after their graduation. Her younger brother, Drew Nizialek, is currently a third-year ISyE student. While Emily and Drew are Yellow Jackets, their parents both went to the University of Georgia.

Originally, Emily’s dream was to work for The Walt Disney Company, and she first learned about the field of industrial engineering by researching engineering careers at Disney. She achieved her goal through an internship at Disney the summer of her third year.

For her brother, the choice was much clearer. “I was always the one growing up who liked building things,” Drew recalled. “I think everyone in our family knew that I was going to be an engineer.”

In high school, he enjoyed advanced placement statistics and realized that ISyE, a statistics-based engineering, would be the perfect fit. Once at Georgia Tech, having an older sister in the same major meant getting tips about studying for classes, as well as career advice. Drew is also embracing the business side of ISyE as a part of the Denning Technology & Management (T&M) program.

Emily met her now-husband in physics class their third year. While physics was far from their favorite subject, they still credit the class for bringing them together. “We like to say there was a strong force of attraction between us,” she said, laughing.

Emily and David started dating soon after meeting and ended up taking several ISyE classes together, even teaming up for Senior Design. David proposed at Disney World in front of the castle, and the pair got married a year later. In May 2021, they walked together at graduation, a belated celebration delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shwayri Family

Fourth-year ISyE student Dany Shwayri and his sister Pamela Shwayri (IE 2017) may be the only Yellow Jackets in their family, but they are not the only industrial engineers. Their father and uncle both earned their bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering and master’s degrees in engineering management from Northeastern University, and they have two cousins who are also industrial engineers.

The family’s roots are in Lebanon; at 19 years old, their dad left his home country to attend college in Boston. His relatives living in the city recommended he study industrial engineering, which suited him because of the field’s emphasis on efficiency and organization. While in Boston, he met and married his wife before eventually moving back to Lebanon. Throughout his career, he has worked primarily in the paper industry in procurement and sales.

Dany and Pamela were partially raised in Lebanon before their family moved to Savannah, Georgia. Studying ISyE at Georgia Tech was a natural choice for both. “My dad thought I would really enjoy engineering because we think very similarly – I enjoy math and logic,” explained Pamela. “He asked me to look into industrial engineering and see if I’d be interested in it.”

Her enthusiasm for numbers led her to coach her younger brother back in primary school. “Pamela was always interested in teaching me math concepts at a young age. I learned multiplication faster than we started learning it at school, so I had a head start,” said Dany. He’s enjoyed his ISyE classes, and with a wide variety of internship experiences, he’s keeping his options open for future careers.

Pamela currently works in supply chain at WestRock, a corrugated packaging company. Though she did not intentionally plan on going into the paper industry like her father, she enjoys being able to talk about it with him. She is also pursuing an MBA at Scheller College of Business.

“I’m interested in management, and it seemed like the next logical step to expedite the process,” she said. “There’s always been entrepreneurial blood in our family – my grandpa and uncle founded their own companies, and I’ve always been interested in starting something on my own. I’ve learned a lot through the MBA program that could help me do that.”

Uriarte Family

Third-year Joaquin M. Uriarte comes from a large family of Georgia Tech alumni, including his father, Francisco J. Uriarte (IE 1990), and his uncles Esteban J. Uriarte (EE 1989) and Alejandro J.  Uriarte (IE 1996). Three of his father’s cousins are also alumni, including Daniel Labrador (IE 2005, MBA 2013)

Joaquin Uriarte was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where his mother’s family is from. His father’s side of the family is originally from Cuba, and Joaquin’s uncle Esteban was the first to attend Georgia Tech, with his father, uncle, and other family members following suit. They knew the Institute would provide them with the best value, and Georgia was attractive because of its warmer climate. For those who wanted to study industrial engineering, choosing the top program in the nation was an easy decision to make.

Francisco began his career as an engineer at Eli Lilly & Co. and has since held numerous other roles, from plant manager for a manufacturer in Mexico to project financing for infrastructure development in the Caribbean. He also co-founded the Puerto Rico-based supermarket chain SuperMax and currently works as a mergers and acquisitions adviser.

“Georgia Tech taught me to think as an engineer,” said Francisco. “Problems have to be seen as a whole, understood, then broken into pieces for ease of solving. I’ve used this thought process throughout my professional and business life. Whether at a business start-up, a post-acquisition business, or my mergers and acquisition practice, the mindset that I learned at Tech has proven to be very useful.”

Previously, Francisco served as the executive director of Grupo Guayacán, a Puerto Rico-based nonprofit dedicated to the education and development of local entrepreneurs who partnered with Georgia Tech’s VentureLab to create Innovation-Corps (I-Corps) Puerto Rico. Georgia Tech is one of three national nodes of I-Corps, a program funded by the National Science Foundation, which helps researchers transform their work into startups.

Like his brother, Alejandro is also an entrepreneur. He’s currently building a company in Puerto Rico called ReSOLient, which serves renewable energy markets with both residential and commercial projects – namely, designing and installing solar panel solutions.

Entrepreneurship runs in the family, and Joaquin shares the same start-up spirit. This past summer, he participated in CREATE-X and is currently working with his team to continue developing their business idea, which centers around predicting market manipulations in the cryptocurrency space.

When Joaquin was applying to college, he visited Georgia Tech and stayed with a family friend for a week while sampling classes, studying at the library, and even attending a tailgate and a football game. “I got to see how Georgia Tech – even though it's a STEM school – had a very good diversity and balance between social life, studying, and also sports,” he said. He was also drawn by the vibrant Latin community and is now a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (GT-SHPE).

At Georgia Tech, he knew he would have the flexibility to switch majors if necessary, and still be in a top engineering program. Originally a biomedical engineering major interested in building prosthetics, he realized ISyE would widen his range of career possibilities. He’s interested in working in a field like technology consulting but is also considering a master’s degree in computer science.

Though Joaquin has had his share of exciting experiences, his father has perhaps the best story. During college, Francisco never went to a football game, but while celebrating a 25-year graduation reunion, at the request of Rafael Bras – then Georgia Tech’s Provost – he attended the still-memorable 2015 Georgia Tech homecoming game against Florida State. With only six seconds left in the game, the Yellow Jackets secured a 22-16 victory with a phenomenal 78-yard blocked field goal return.

“They ended up winning the game because of that play, and after that incredible comeback, everyone in the stadium rushed into the field – all my father's friends and all of his class,” Joaquin said. Coincidentally, the first and only football game his father attended ended up being one of the most iconic Georgia Tech games of all time.

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1642078389 2022-01-13 12:53:09 1642083981 2022-01-13 14:26:21 0 0 news Georgia Tech students and alumni often have family ties to the Institute, including some who come from a long line of industrial engineers trained by the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

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2022-01-13T00:00:00-05:00 2022-01-13T00:00:00-05:00 2022-01-13 00:00:00 ISyE Communications

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654408 653480 653659 653657 653481 653658 653910 654408 image <![CDATA[ISyE Families]]> image/jpeg 1642083585 2022-01-13 14:19:45 1642083585 2022-01-13 14:19:45 653480 image <![CDATA[Chris and Mike Anderson]]> image/jpeg 1638924288 2021-12-08 00:44:48 1638924288 2021-12-08 00:44:48 653659 image <![CDATA[Bill and Kimberly Lowndes]]> image/jpeg 1639428115 2021-12-13 20:41:55 1639428115 2021-12-13 20:41:55 653657 image <![CDATA[Kimberly Lowndes (age six)]]> image/jpeg 1639427670 2021-12-13 20:34:30 1639427670 2021-12-13 20:34:30 653481 image <![CDATA[David Wright, Emily Wright, and Drew Nizialek]]> image/jpeg 1638924437 2021-12-08 00:47:17 1638924437 2021-12-08 00:47:17 653658 image <![CDATA[Dany and Pamela Shwayri]]> image/jpeg 1639427809 2021-12-13 20:36:49 1639427809 2021-12-13 20:36:49 653910 image <![CDATA[Joaquin and Francisco Uriarte]]> image/jpeg 1640232820 2021-12-23 04:13:40 1640232820 2021-12-23 04:13:40
<![CDATA[Fall 2021 Senior Design Teams Find Solutions to Real-World Problems]]> 34760 The Capstone Design Expo returned to McCamish Pavilion on December 7, 2021, for the first time since the fall of 2019. Many of the participants were in-person, but teams also included online representatives who were available to talk to online judges from all over the world. Of the 118 teams participating, 23 teams were from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).

“It was wonderful to see the senior design students develop and present their projects in person. They endured another stressful semester, but remarkably balanced quality and rigor with health and wellbeing,” said Director of Professional Practice Dima Nazzal. “Kudos to them for overcoming the challenges and delivering excellent work for a wide range of clients including government agencies, small non-profits, and large corporations. Congratulations to the faculty advisors, who coached the teams and kept them motivated and focused. A special recognition and appreciation to our Director of Technical Communication, Brandy Blake, for teaching the students how to communicate their engineering designs clearly and succinctly”

Senior Design team “Provision with a Vision” won the Capstone Expo award for Best ISyE Project. They worked with the on-board services group at Delta Air Lines to develop a data-driven methodology that determines the optimal amount of beverage items to load on a flight. The project motivation came from unused items adding extra weight to the aircraft resulting in excess fuel costs and carbon emissions. The team delivered an optimization model that takes into consideration passenger demand as well as an impact analysis tool which allows Delta to visualize how small changes in beverage quantities can have significant economic and environmental impact across the system.

The team included Anneliese Conrad, Carolina Howell, Niral Jagtap, Ellie Johnson, Nico Knutzen, Sofia Laval, Brad Peterson, and Libbee Stallone. They were advised by Associate Professor Anton Kleywegt.

From among the ISyE teams, three were selected as finalists for the Best of ISyE Senior Design Competition, which was held on December 14, 2021. Team “Shoulda Put A R(INGO)n i(T)” was selected as the first-place winner.

Team “Shoulda Put A R(INGO)n i(T)” partnered with Novelis, an aluminum manufacturing company, to improve ingot availability in its Oswego, NY, facility. The goal of the project was to ensure that when a customer makes an order, Novelis could supply the right ingots at the right time on hand to immediately start production. The team’s solution was to build an ingot “supermarket” that would increase ingot availability from 50% to 90% and reduce overall lead time by up to 40%. To achieve this, the team created an optimization model that recommended the best replenishment strategy for each ingot SKU and used a simulation model to measure the impact of the supermarket on the production process. With this new tool, Novelis can dramatically increase their operational efficiency and save millions of dollars per year.

Team Members included Tobin Abraham, Joseph Abrokwa, Elvin Chirackal, Joseph Cochran, Lorenzo Guerrero, Grace Anne Muller, and Tim Ryan. They were advised by Part-Time Lecturer and Tennenbaum Institute Principal Research Engineer Douglas Bodner.

Finalist team “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Bus Stop” worked with the Atlanta Department of Transportation (ATLDOT), a recently formed government entity tasked with promoting transportation infrastructure. The team worked to provide ATLDOT with a data-driven methodology to allocate funding to bus stop improvements and a platform for closer collaboration with MARTA. Only 7% of bus stops (out of nearly 4,000) in Atlanta have shelters, which provide riders with proper seating, protection from weather, and ADA accessibility. The team’s solution combines process design with an interactive web tool and a greedy heuristic web app. Through the team’s solution, an additional 1.5 million trips per year will now originate at a sheltered stop. The City of Atlanta voted to back the project with a $3.4 million non-fungible funding source, and the team will present their design to the new mayor in January.

Team members included Soobin Baek, Aaron Brown, Ananya Ghose, Sanghwa Lee, Sung Kyu Lee, Alea Legg, Hetu Patel, Tejas Santanam. They were advised by ISyE Lecturer Gamze Tokol-Goldsman.

Finalist team “Keep it Simply” worked with The Coca-Cola Company to minimize the overall cost of the distribution network of two recently acquired dairy brands: Fairlife and Simply Oat & Almond. The team provided a data-driven method of formulating network expansion plans and determining safety stock levels by building and validating a mathematical optimization model that recommends not only the optimal distribution center (DC) opening location and timeline, but also the capacity expansion and safety stock level at each DC over a given horizon. This provided an annual value of several million dollars across the two dairy brands. To help Coca-Cola design the network expansion of any brand in the future, the team generalized the model to a standardized template wrapped within a user-friendly graphical user interface with three different model options.

Team Members included Joseph Chanin, Yizhi Huang, Minrui Liang, Yufei Liu, Naren Reddy, Xinran Yu, and Emily Zhang. They were advised by Leo and Louise Benatar Early Career Professor and Associate Professor Alejandro Toriello.

In addition, two teams received honorable mentions and were contenders for the Best of ISyE Senior Design.

Team “Panic! at the Cisco” worked with Cisco on its Printed Circuit Board Assembly Component Allocation. Team Members included Anjana Anandkumar, Udisha Bhattacharyya, Grace Gilpatric, Katie Landers, Kat Pospichel, Briana Sims, Tan Tanthien, and Anna (Tu) Vu. They were advised by William W. George Chair and Professor Pinar Keskinocak.

Team “The Bee’s Knees” worked with Smith + Nephew on its production planning. Team Members included Leon Breaux, Sara Costello, Emma Jones, James McGregor, Georgia Warnock, and Delaney Wastler. They were advised by ISyE Lecturer Ethan Lee.

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1640107175 2021-12-21 17:19:35 1640362911 2021-12-24 16:21:51 0 0 news The Capstone Design Expo returned to McCamish Pavilion on December 7, 2021, for the first time since the fall of 2019. Many of the participants were in-person, but teams also included online representatives who were available to talk to online judges from all over the world. Of the 118 teams participating, 23 teams were from ISyE.

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2021-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-21 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
Communications Manager

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653876 653900 653904 653899 653876 image <![CDATA[ISyE Senior Design Team “Shoulda Put A R(INGO)n i(T)”]]> image/png 1640107519 2021-12-21 17:25:19 1640192277 2021-12-22 16:57:57 653900 image <![CDATA[ISyE Senior Design Team "Provision With a Vision"]]> image/png 1640188953 2021-12-22 16:02:33 1640188953 2021-12-22 16:02:33 653904 image <![CDATA[ISyE Senior Design Team "“Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Bus Stop”]]> image/png 1640192042 2021-12-22 16:54:02 1640192042 2021-12-22 16:54:02 653899 image <![CDATA[ISyE Senior Design Team "Keep it Simply"]]> image/png 1640188510 2021-12-22 15:55:10 1640188510 2021-12-22 15:55:10
<![CDATA[The Current Supply Chain Crisis: ISyE Experts Explain What is Happening, How to Fix it, and How to Prevent it from Happening in the Future]]> 34760 As the 2021 holiday shopping season continues, consumers are once again finding shelves empty, from simple products like cream cheese and sports drinks, to complex goods like cars and appliances. The reason? Supply chain disruptions.

While many people have heard the term “supply chain” and know it is the reason behind many product delays, most do not realize the complexity — and fragility — of our global supply chains. Problems like these are at the heart of industrial engineering, and the experts at the No. 1-ranked H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech are sharing their expertise with companies and federal and state leadership to help remedy the current problem and help ensure it does not happen again.

“Supply chains are incredibly complex and completely international,” said Pascal Van Hentenryck, A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor in ISyE. “They include container ships, warehousing, docking, trucks, trains, and planes, in addition to first- last- and middle-mile transportation. The current situation affects all these aspects. It is a massive problem. It’s not just one element.”

Behind the many systems involved, there are people making decisions and collaborating to ensure each segment is operating effectively and efficiently to keep the supply chain operating smoothly. This includes production, sourcing of raw materials, supply replenishment, and logistics. If one of these segments breaks down, the entire system will collapse. This process occurs for nearly every product available, leading to millions of supply chain transactions occurring globally each day.

Why are we Still Experiencing Delays?

When the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the world in 2019, there were multiple disruptions to the system in addition to a dramatic increase in ecommerce, which created significant first- and last-mile issues. According to Van Hentenryck, this put additional strain on factories, ports, ships, and logistics companies that were already experiencing workforce shortages. In addition, many supply chains were highly optimized, just-in-time systems which allowed very little room for error or disruption. Nearly two years later, we are still feeling the impact.

“Everybody at every layer of the supply chain was hit by the pandemic in some manner,” adds Benoit Montreuil, Coca-Cola Material Handling & Distribution Chair and professor and co-director of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute at ISyE. “Some companies still do not have enough employees to get the work done, while others have depleted their reserves or cannot source the necessary materials to manufacture their products. We have now seen that the lean approach has proven to be extremely dangerous.”

While this holds true for all supply chains, fresh foods and complex electronics are even more fragile.

The short shelf life of fresh goods, like meat and produce, collapses the entire process into the span of just a few weeks and adds another layer of complexity to the situation. Montreuil says that, for products like these, empty shelves are not necessarily due to a lack of supply, but rather a breakdown in processing plants or shipping.

Complex products have more complicated supply chains. For example, when it comes to electronics and cars, many of the components are being manufactured in different sites around the world before being sent to another location for assembly. If one of the many parts is missing, the product cannot be manufactured. This is the case with the current computer chip shortage that is affecting the supply of phones, appliances, computers, and other everyday items we take for granted. The shortage is a result of increased demand, depleted reserves, and lack of the manufacturing plants and workers to increase production.

“Like many other items, the demand for computer chips was increasing before the pandemic, and the industry was struggling to keep up,” said Chelsea White, Schneider National Chair in Transportation and Logistics and professor at ISyE. “The increased demand for personal computers, video conferencing equipment, and other electronics that use hundreds of computer chips put an even greater strain on production. Unfortunately, this industry requires a large capital expenditure for a new foundry and is not agile. It takes years and billions of dollars of investment to build the specialized plants required to make more chips. This mismatch of demand and supply will not be remedied quickly.”

In addition to production issues, there is also an extreme worker shortage in shipping and logistics, making it difficult to get products to consumers once they are assembled. For example, the American Trucking Association said the industry has a shortage of 80,000 drivers and estimates this number could more than double by 2030. Similar issues at the ports and on container ships are also causing significant shipping delays. Lack of integration among the many shipping components intensifies the problem.

“Containers are coming into the ports, but there are no trucks there to pick them up, because they are not ready for them,” explained Van Hentenryck. “Meanwhile, these containers are taking up space in the storage yard, so additional containers cannot be unloaded, because there is nowhere to put them. These are the kinds of issues the lack of integration causes.”

Solving the Problem

While the intricacy of the current supply chain problem is making it difficult to fix, experts believe it can be done. Companies will need to look at their processes through a new lens and modify them to resolve the current situation and prevent similar disruptions from happening in the future.

“Historically supply chains were organized around cost, but that is probably going to change,” said Van Hentenryck. “They will be built for resilience and flexibility so that they do not get stuck so easily. My intuition is that organizations will start moving away from the just-in-time systems to become more reliable and resilient.”

Montreuil agrees. To increase resiliency, he says companies may want to keep additional stock of key resources, but that the solution is more about changing production capacity and finding creative ways to address transport, warehousing, and resource shortages. “All of this is shaping the ‘new normal’ in supply chain, which I believe will ultimately be much stronger than in the past.”

Technology, including automation, machine learning and optimization techniques, will also be an important tool to address the worker shortages, to increase efficiencies, and to integrate processes.

“Automation allows businesses to create new business models,” said Van Hentenryck. “It can increase efficiency at factories, warehouses, ports, and on the roads while addressing the labor shortages. And, while it will eliminate some jobs, it will also create new, higher paying jobs in their place.”

Van Hentenryck is currently collaborating with Ryder System, Inc. on the trucking industry’s first data-driven study of the potential impact of autonomous trucking and expects similar studies to take place in other areas of the supply chain.

“People are looking for easy solutions, but that is not how supply chains work,” said Montreuil. “The good thing is that the current situation has increased the awareness of the problem, so we can work toward a solution.”

What Will the Future Look Like?

Both Montreuil and Van Hentenryck believe that organizations now understand how fragile the current system is and are working to prepare for future catastrophic events like floods, hurricanes, and other disasters that will also disrupt the flow of goods. While it is impossible to prevent pandemics and disasters from occurring, our systems should be resilient enough to handle them and keep goods moving.

“Companies are starting to think about their supply chains in a different way,” said Montreuil. “They are thinking about agility, adaptability, and optionality which is necessary to prevent these problems from occurring in the future.

“What this has shown us is that supply chains are immensely critical to the wellbeing of society and the economy. It has been unseen for decades, and Covid has shown how important they are,” said Montreuil. “It is also important to understand that even though we are suffering, the disruptions we are experiencing are minor compared to the disaster that it could have been.”

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1639173971 2021-12-10 22:06:11 1639424100 2021-12-13 19:35:00 0 0 news As the 2021 holiday shopping season continues, consumers are once again finding shelves empty, from simple products like cream cheese and sports drinks, to complex goods like cars and appliances.

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2021-12-10T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-10T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-10 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
Communications Manager

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653613 653622 653615 596162 653613 image <![CDATA[Port congestion is just on of the issues currently disrupting supply chains. ]]> image/png 1639173698 2021-12-10 22:01:38 1639173698 2021-12-10 22:01:38 653622 image <![CDATA[Pascal Van Hentenryck, Associate Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor]]> image/jpeg 1639186141 2021-12-11 01:29:01 1639186141 2021-12-11 01:29:01 653615 image <![CDATA[Benoit Montreuil, Coca-Cola Material Handling & Distribution Chair and Professor and Co-Director Supply Chain and Logistics Institute]]> image/png 1639174125 2021-12-10 22:08:45 1639489401 2021-12-14 13:43:21 596162 image <![CDATA[Chip White, Schneider National Chair in Transportation and Logistics and Professor]]> image/jpeg 1505839534 2017-09-19 16:45:34 1505839534 2017-09-19 16:45:34 <![CDATA[Autonomous Trucking Collaboration Could Lead to a More Resilient, Affordable Supply Chain]]>
<![CDATA[Alumna Kendall Rankin Empowers Women Through The Diamond Campaign]]> 35757 Kendall Rankin (IE 2017) has been passionate about mentorship for women since she was an undergraduate student at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). This year, she was honored as a part of Georgia Tech’s 2021 alumni class of 40 under 40 for the success of her nonprofit, The Diamond Campaign (TDC), as well as her work centered around female representation in the venture capital industry.

Rankin was a second-year at Georgia Tech when she founded TDC, a program empowering Black women to embrace their 4 C’s: cut (body image), color (personal brand), carat (self-worth), and clarity (vision for the future). The initiatives she created were inspired by her own personal experiences navigating her college career and trying to find her place as a Black woman in STEM.

“Confidence was always something that I struggled with when I was growing up,” Rankin said. “I saw how it impacted the way I showed up – whether socially, academically, professionally, or emotionally. I wanted to help other women like me on campus who felt like they didn't have a community or were overcome with imposter syndrome.”

After graduating from Georgia Tech, she worked briefly for Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a national nonprofit that helps individuals from underrepresented communities to realize their full potential. Upon leaving MLT, she moved to Chicago to join LinkedIn for a business leadership rotational program, later transitioning to work in customer success and data analytics. But while these experiences helped launch her professional career, she sought more leadership opportunities.

This year, Rankin began working as a program manager at All Raise, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate the success of female founders and funders in the tech ecosystem. It was born out of a grassroots movement to increase partner-level female representation in venture capital firms, which in turn increases the ability to invest in female entrepreneurs.

“What I was really craving was more responsibility and the ability to actually build,” Rankin said. “At my core, I'm an innovator. I love to be creative and test new things and see what works, then iterate based on that – a true engineer.”

The pivot brought her to a newer company with a much smaller team, in an industry she was unfamiliar with. However, the fast-paced startup environment allowed her to have ownership over projects from day one and be more involved in social impact. As a senior manager, she led All Raise’s expansion to Chicago and continues to manage operations in the region.

However, Rankin hadn’t forgotten about The Diamond Campaign. After leaving Georgia Tech, she needed to make the decision to either continue TDC on campus or turn it into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and bring it to Chicago. She chose the latter, and after orienting herself in the new city, she held a launch event where she recruited new team members.

TDC’s first initiative after the launch was a virtual mentoring program that paired high school girls with young professional mentors. Rankin noticed that while engaging high schoolers was challenging, the mentors were very invested in the experience. This inspired her to create The Diamond Academy, a six-month program for Black women in their 20’s dedicated to personal and professional development.

“I grew up around a strong community of people who supported me, whether it was family, friends, or mentors, and so it was important that I helped create that community for other people like me at a similar stage in life,” Rankin explained.

In 2020, TDC received a boost of support from McKinsey & Company, who announced an initiative to give $5 million to Black nonprofits as part of their commitment to advancing racial equity and economic empowerment. TDC was selected as one of 40 organizations globally to receive funds, which will help build program infrastructure and support operational needs, such as expanding The Diamond Academy to other cities beyond Chicago.

Receiving the funding was a pivotal moment for Rankin, who says that the donation reaffirmed the value of her work and pushed her to continue building TDC. One of her favorite quotes taps into the power of confidence: “The people who think they can and the people who think they can’t are both right.” Through her numerous accomplishments, Rankin has proven she is one of the former.

]]> goberst3 1 1638495844 2021-12-03 01:44:04 1638968312 2021-12-08 12:58:32 0 0 news Alumna Kendall Rankin is the founder of the nonprofit organization and was selected for Georgia Tech’s 2021 alumni class of 40 under 40.

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2021-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-06 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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653360 653360 image <![CDATA[Kendall Rankin]]> image/jpeg 1638493958 2021-12-03 01:12:38 1638493958 2021-12-03 01:12:38
<![CDATA[2021 Clark Scholar Nebiyelleul Kiros]]> 35757 Each year, 12 incoming Georgia Tech students are selected to be part of the A. James Clark Scholars Program, a scholarship for engineering students that covers the cost of room and board, tuition, and fees, in addition to providing enrichment and engagement opportunities. This year, Nebiyelleul Kiros from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) is one of the chosen scholars.

When applying to college, Georgia Tech was his first choice, and learning that he would receive the scholarship made the financial decision much easier for him. Initially he was undecided on a major, but he realized an industrial engineering degree would give him the flexibility to explore vast career possibilities upon graduation.

“I knew I wanted to study something versatile, because I didn’t know what I want to do for my career field yet,” said Kiros. “I liked how business focused ISyE is, and it seemed like the best engineering program for me.”

In addition to the scholarship, the Clark Scholars program includes socializing opportunities in addition to career and personal development. This semester, Kiros participated in workshops, dinners, fundraisers, and other activities such as an information session about studying abroad.

One particularly memorable event involved guest speaker Sandra Magnus, who is a Georgia Tech alumna and a former NASA astronaut. She talked about the challenges she faced often being the only woman on her team, shared what life was like on the International Space Station, and the perspective she gained from the experience.

Another one of Kiros’ favorite activities from the program was the Leadership Challenge Course, which includes the high ropes obstacle course located on Georgia Tech’s West Campus. While it was incredibly challenging and intimidating to complete, it was a natural bonding experience for the scholars.

Throughout the semester, Kiros has gotten to know all the members of his cohort and enjoys meeting up with them outside of the program events. “They are some of the closest friends I have,” he said.

He is also grateful for the opportunity to meet with Raheem Beyah, dean of the College of Engineering, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Laurence J. Jacobs. Furthermore, David Torello, the director of the Clark Scholar program, regularly talks one-on-one with the students. “The program is really about us – trying to help give us the best possible experience,” he explained.

Outside of the program, he has been exploring student clubs and organizations. Kiros – whose parents are from Ethiopia – has enjoyed attending meetings with the African Student Association and experiencing the annual Taste of Africa. He also joined the campus film club, Buzz Studios, and is considering pursuing a film minor because of his long-standing interest in filmmaking.

Academically, he has adjusted well to the rigor of his classes and has enjoyed his experience so far, including his first ISyE class. He’s interested in joining more clubs, getting involved in sports, and potentially studying abroad. “I look forward to the future and learning more about ISyE,” said Kiros.

]]> goberst3 1 1638757702 2021-12-06 02:28:22 1638801626 2021-12-06 14:40:26 0 0 news The first-year ISyE student is part of the 2021 class of the A. James Clark Scholars Program.

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2021-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-06T00:00:00-05:00 2021-12-06 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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653413 653413 image <![CDATA[Nebiyelleul Kiros]]> image/jpeg 1638757549 2021-12-06 02:25:49 1638757549 2021-12-06 02:25:49
<![CDATA[Pinar Keskinocak Honored as 2021 Recipient of Award for the Advancement of Women in OR/MS]]> 34760 Pinar Keskinocak, the William W. George Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) has been honored as the recipient of the 2021 Award for the Advancement of Women in OR/MS. This award is given by the Women in OR/MS (WORMS) Forum of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) to celebrate and recognize a person who has significantly contributed to the advancement and recognition of women in OR/MS.

“I am truly grateful and humbled for this huge honor,” said Keskinocak. “I am thankful to all my colleagues, students, friends, and family who have supported me and many others over the years, and it is the greatest gift for me to support others, even if only in a small way.”

Throughout her career, Keskinocak has been a leader in her field and has advocated for the advancement of women and minorities in engineering. She is an INFORMS Fellow, has served as president of INFORMS and the WORMS Forum, established the WORMS Award, and served as the co-founder and president of the INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group to help junior faculty develop their networks and grow professionally. During her term as INFORMS president, she helped further diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization. She also spearheaded the establishment of a DEI Ambassadors Program to create a culture of inclusivity for all members within the INFORMS community.

At Georgia Tech, Keskinocak is the co-founder and director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems, and she has served as a College of Engineering (COE) ADVANCE Professor and interim associate dean for faculty development and scholarship. She has also made significant contributions to numerous programs at COE and the Institute, which include the Demystifying Tech Series, Adaptive Leadership Workshop, and Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. In addition, she was instrumental in the establishment of the COE diversity and inclusion council, resume speed meeting workshops, and other initiatives focused on equity, diversity, and excellence.

Keskinocak has made a lasting impression on many of the people she has worked with.

“I don’t know how my career and life would have turned out had I not had the chance to meet and work with Dr. Keskinocak,” said one person in their nomination letter. “I do know how grateful I am I did have that chance. She is and always will be a role model for me in servant leadership, an extraordinary mentor, and an exceptional teacher.”

“I am just an example of all the lives and careers of women in OR/MS who Pinar has touched, as an advisor, as a professor, as a colleague, and as a leader and role model in OR/MS,” said another. “Pinar represents exactly what this award is about.”

Keskinocak’s research focuses on the applications of operations research and management science with societal impact, particularly health and humanitarian applications, supply chain management, and logistics/transportation. Her recent work has addressed infectious disease modeling — including significant work related to the Covid-19 pandemic — and evaluating intervention strategies and resource allocation; catch-up scheduling for vaccinations; hospital operations management; and disaster preparedness and response.

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1638288580 2021-11-30 16:09:40 1638378839 2021-12-01 17:13:59 0 0 news This award is given by the Women in OR/MS Forum of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences to celebrate and recognize a person who has significantly contributed to the advancement and recognition of women in OR/MS.

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2021-11-30T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-30T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-30 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
Communications Manager

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<![CDATA[Margarita Groisman Leads Digital Media Site “The Buzz”]]> 35757 Many Georgia Tech students are thought-provoking writers, talented YouTubers, or captivating podcasters. However, without a centralized place to exchange ideas, not everyone is able to share their voice with a wide audience. That’s why fourth-year Margarita Groisman from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) decided to create The Buzz, a student-run digital media site that empowers individual content creators at Georgia Tech.

“I thought it would be awesome to have a platform for communication where students could express different ideas,” said Groisman. “I want to build a community on campus that really values open dialogue and communication.”

Groisman started forming a team for The Buzz in Fall 2020, and the site – hosted on Medium – officially launched in Spring 2021. Her team includes students with a range of majors working in positions including editing, operations and growth, marketing, and technology. In addition to serving as president, she occasionally writes articles for the site on topics she personally finds interesting.

The Buzz offers a wide range of content under the categories of life, art, economics, research, tech, and clubs. One content creator who goes by the pseudonym Techconomist writes about the modern economy in the format of reader-submitted “Dear Techconomist” questions. Another creator, second-year computer science major Christian Kim, has a series of YouTube videos called Life@Tech that gives a glimpse into living on campus, from ranking Georgia Tech dining options to a Sting Break vlog.

“We wanted to make a modern platform that took into account how students are communicating today,” said Groisman. “I worked at The Daily Beast before as a software engineering intern, and they are a very different type of news publication. They have cool features like the Cheat Sheet – a list of 10 featured articles for the day – and lots of video content. They really try to go to the edge of communication, and that inspired me to create a platform that's more innovative here at Georgia Tech.”

Multimedia is highly encouraged, which is evident from the wide variety of publications. In the podcast GTtea, second-year computational media student Vincent Batts discusses changing majors, provides a first-hand perspective on having his own dorm room during the pandemic, and interviews other students about their college experiences.

Clubs have also contributed posts, including Epic Intentions Consulting and the Atlanta Student Film Festival. While much of the content is created exclusively for the site, some is shared from other platforms like YouTube and Spotify. To help with engagement, new publications are promoted on the Instagram account @thebuzz_gt.

Fourth-year business administration student Justin Scott Creamer, who recently posted about a new song he wrote and his experience with music, expressed his positive experience with the platform. “The Buzz is an easily navigable site that allowed me to design a blog post that includes images, hyperlinks, and clean formatting,” he said. “The process was simple and user-friendly.”

The Buzz has a unique style of working with content creators that allows them the flexibility to be artistic with the opportunity to receive guidance. Some students have defined plans for their publications, but others with more general concepts and ideas prefer to consult with the editing team, which helps them organize their ideas. However, the creative process is always led by the content creators.

Several other students also expressed enjoying creating content for the platform. "It's exciting to write articles for The Buzz ― it gives smaller writers like me a chance to share their voice in an easily accessible, simple format,” said first-year industrial engineer Ryan Rodriguez.

Another student, third-year mechanical engineering major Dara Bolodeoku, commented, "Posting on The Buzz gives us the freedom to be our authentic selves and have complete control with what we share with our audience. It’s a great community to be part of."

In addition to the current content, Groisman believes there is a big opportunity with research communications. Given the wide variety of innovation among Georgia Tech departments, keeping up with the latest news is not always feasible, but The Buzz could provide a centralized location to stay informed. To achieve this goal, the team has been reaching out to different research centers on campus.

“We want research labs to be able to create their own accounts and post updates through our site,” Groisman explained. “We don't want just students; we also want staff, administration, and everyone who is part of the Tech community.”

Several other projects are in progress, such as developing a standalone website that would include more features than the current site, as well as launching three new podcasts. With a diverse collection of engaging content and upcoming works, The Buzz is sure to have something for everyone, and Groisman is excited to be paving the way for new voices to be heard.

If you are interested in being a content creator, please fill out this online form or contact The Buzz at buzz.contact.gt@gmail.com.

]]> goberst3 1 1637361086 2021-11-19 22:31:26 1638205111 2021-11-29 16:58:31 0 0 news Fourth-year Margarita Groisman is the founder of The Buzz, a student-run digital media site for content creators at Georgia Tech to pursue stories they are passionate about.

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2021-11-19T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-19T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-19 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center Names Desai, Serban Inaugural Peterson Professors]]> 28153 Professors Jaydev Desai and Nicoleta Serban are recipients of the first Peterson Professorships from the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Supported by the G.P. “Bud” Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Faculty Endowment Fund, the professorships are designed to engage and empower leading researchers in a diverse range of disciplines.

“These professorships honor the Petersons’ commitment to improving the lives of children through collaborative pediatric healthcare research,” said M.G. Finn, chief science officer of the Pediatric Technology Center and chair of Georgia Tech’s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Drs. Desai and Serban are international leaders in their very different fields, both of great importance in improving pediatric healthcare. We look forward to their exciting research and leadership.”

Desai is professor and Carol Ann and David D. Flanagan Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University and an expert in medical robotics. Serban focuses on health analytics as the Virginia C. and Joseph C. Mello Professor in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

“Thanks to the Petersons, these professorships will help take collaborations between Children’s, Georgia Tech and Emory to new heights,” said Lucky Jain, chief academic officer of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and pediatrics department chair in the Emory School of Medicine. “We have already made huge gains in pediatric diagnostic tests, airway support and heart valves, to name a few. I look forward to future projects led by Drs. Desai and Serban that will pave the way to new life-saving devices and treatments for kids.”

The Peterson name is no doubt familiar to many at Tech and across Metro Atlanta. During his decade as president of the Institute, Bud Peterson helped facilitate and build the research partnership with Children’s. The new professorships — awarded for up to six years — will support pediatric research that interfaces with Children’s.

“The progress we’ve seen working collaboratively across disciplines has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life as an administrator,” said Peterson, who remains a Georgia Tech faculty member. “The clinicians at Children’s encounter a host of different healthcare needs and problems. We develop solutions. These professorships help us map our solutions to their problems.”

­Creating Robotic Solutions

For Desai, the professorship is a great honor, recognizing his existing close collaborations with Children’s physicians. It’s also encouragement to tackle a range of challenges in pediatric robotics, a heavily under-explored research area compared to adult medical robotics research.

“We are actively working on developing a steerable robotic system for minimally invasive pediatric neurosurgery as well as a voice-activated robotic hand exoskeleton customized for patients with spinal cord injury,” said Desai, who is director of the Georgia Center for Medical Robotics and associate director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, both at Georgia Tech.

Desai said the resources from the Peterson Professorship will help support those projects and others — in interventional cardiology and cancer diagnosis, for example.

The professorship’s funding also will allow Desai to enhance research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, organize workshops to foster collaborations and build research teams for larger projects, among other things.

And, he expects, the work supported by the professorship will garner even more interest down the road, leading to larger research grants.

“This is a humbling honor for me. One of the great motivators for my move to Georgia Tech a few years back was to work in pediatric robotics with Children’s,” Desai said. “It is also an exciting investment that will lead to more opportunities and potentially tangible results at the end of the day.”

Data Science for Society

Serban’s research program has taken many turns in the 16 years she’s been at Georgia Tech, beginning with work in theoretical and methodological statistics before shifting to industrial engineering. Then, about eight years ago, she shifted directions again.

It turned out, Serban said, her training and research background provided an excellent foundation for the rigorous study of healthcare delivery and health policy, allowing her to use what she called, “principled approaches to solving real-world problems in healthcare.”

The Peterson Professorship will support her collaborative research opportunities with Children’s in two main areas: opioid prescribing and use (particularly in children undergoing surgery for severe conditions) and mental health treatment and access.

“Pediatric healthcare is where my academic heart is,” said Serban, a researcher in Georgia Tech’s Institute for People and Technology. “Words cannot express my appreciation for the support and encouragement coming from Children’s. Without them, my career and accomplishments would not be where they are today.”

The goal of Serban’s research is to use the massive amounts of data she gathers and analyzes to inform public policy and healthcare delivery. The professorship will help her continue along that path.

“My research will continue to encompass many directions, focusing on computational approaches to model massive data, and on methods crossing multiple disciplines – statistics, machine learning and optimization,” Serban said.

“As part of my future research opportunities and interests, I plan to build data science programs with substantive societal impact.”

Serban said it is also a great honor to have the Peterson name affiliated with her academic position.

"My career bloomed during President Peterson’s tenure,” she said. “I have the utmost respect for his commitment, dedication, support, and effort to keep the Institute on an upward trajectory.”

###

The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center is part of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Our goal is to facilitate collaboration between Children's Healthcare of Atlanta clinicians, doctors, and researchers conducting fundamental and translational research to advance children's health and delivery of pediatric services in a broad range of research areas.

 

]]> Jerry Grillo 1 1637260468 2021-11-18 18:34:28 1637261248 2021-11-18 18:47:28 0 0 news 2021-11-18T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-18T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-18 00:00:00 Writer: Jerry Grillo

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<![CDATA[Alex Shapiro Honored with 2021 INFORMS John von Neumann Theory Prize]]> 35757 Alexander Shapiro has been selected for the 2021 John von Neumann Theory Prize by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). This esteemed honor is given annually for a body of work to a scholar who has made fundamental, sustained theoretical contributions in OR/MS. Shapiro is the A. Russell Chandler Chair III and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).

In announcing Shapiro’s selection for the award, INFORMS cited his fundamental contributions to theory and computational methods for stochastic programming, as well as seminal contributions to nonlinear analysis: “The outstanding breadth and depth of Dr. Shapiro’s research, combined with his contributions to the mathematical optimization community, make him the outstanding recipient of this prestigious prize.”

The John von Neumann Theory Prize is the latest in a series of significant recognitions of the impact of Shapiro’s work. In 2013, he received the INFORMS Khachiyan Prize for Lifetime Accomplishments in Optimization, and in 2018, he was awarded the Dantzig Prize by the Mathematical Optimization Society and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. In 2020, Shapiro was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Shapiro recently served as editor-in-chief of Programming Series A from 2012-2017.

]]> goberst3 1 1636495376 2021-11-09 22:02:56 1637259789 2021-11-18 18:23:09 0 0 news This esteemed honor is given annually for a body of work to a scholar who has made fundamental, sustained theoretical contributions in OR/MS.

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2021-11-09T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-09T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-09 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Jan Shi Chosen for SME’s 2021 College of Fellows]]> 35757 Jianjun (Jan) Shi, Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been selected for the Society of Manufacturing Engineering’s (SME) 2021 College of Fellows. This is an honor given to individuals “who have made outstanding contributions to the social, technological, and educational aspects of the manufacturing profession,” with 20 or more years of dedication and service to the field.

In the letter nominating Shi for this honor, it was noted that he pioneered data-enabled manufacturing – an accomplishment for which he was also elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018. He has developed quality improvement algorithms implemented in over 40 steel plants globally, with hundreds of millions of dollars saved and over one billion KWh in saved energy, as well as tens of thousands of CO2 emissions reduced.

Shi’s selection as an SME Fellow is the latest in a series of signal distinctions conferred in 2021: He received the Walter Shewhart Medal from the American Society for Quality, an award given “to individuals who have made outstanding technical contributions and leadership in the field of modern quality control and improvement.” He was also awarded the S.M. Wu Research Implementation Award, which “honors outstanding original research … that, upon implementation, has had a significant commercial/societal impact.”

Previously, Shi has also been named a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, a Fellow of INFORMS, an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute, and an Academician of the International Academy for Quality. His work has also been honored with, among others, 11 best paper awards and nine international research awards.

Shi said, “I am honored to receive this recognition, and I greatly appreciate all my students, colleagues, and sponsors for their support throughout my many years of research in and implementation of complex manufacturing systems.”

]]> goberst3 1 1635902548 2021-11-03 01:22:28 1636998683 2021-11-15 17:51:23 0 0 news The award honors individuals “who have made outstanding contributions to the social, technological, and educational aspects of the manufacturing profession.”

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2021-11-10T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-10T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-10 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Alumnus Selected to Serve as Board of Regents Chair]]> 27299 At its November meeting, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) elected Harold Reynolds, an industrial and systems engineering alumnus from Georgia Tech, to serve as its chair for the coming year.

“Chairing a university system that serves 340,000 students and drives research, innovation and economic development across the state is a major responsibility, and I am delighted to see another distinguished Georgia Tech alumnus elected for the task,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “I very much look forward to working with Regent Reynolds in support of public higher education throughout the state.”

With members appointed by the governor, the Board of Regents serves as the governing and management authority for 26 public higher education institutions: four research universities, four comprehensive universities, nine state universities, and nine state colleges.

“I’m honored to serve as the next chair of the Board of Regents. Throughout my tenure, I’ve focused on improving student achievement throughout the state,” Reynolds said. “Earning my degree at Georgia Tech, a USG institution, taught me how valuable a quality education can be. I look forward the road ahead and remain committed to putting students and their families first.”

Reynolds is the Chief Executive Officer of privately held BankSouth Holding Company headquartered in Greene County, Georgia. The company owns and operates BankSouth, BankSouth Mortgage headquartered in Atlanta, Coldwell Banker Lake Oconee Realty, and other subsidiaries.

Governor Zell Miller appointed Reynolds to the State Board of Technical and Adult Education, now known as the Technical College System of Georgia. He served for ten years as the chairperson of the capital outlays committee and a two-year term as board chairman during the thirteen years that he was a board member. Reynolds and his wife, Lesley, reside on Lake Oconee. They have daughter who is a recent college graduate living in New York City and a son attending Southern Methodist University. The family is a member of Lakeside Church.

]]> Michael Hagearty 1 1636511120 2021-11-10 02:25:20 1636572124 2021-11-10 19:22:04 0 0 news Harold Reynolds, an industrial and systems engineering graduate, will chair the 26-member system that serves 340,000 students

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<![CDATA[ISyE Graduate Shane Kimbrough Back on Earth After 199 Days in Space]]> 34760 After 199 days in space, Georgia Tech graduate Shane Kimbrough is back on Earth. Kimbrough and three of his crewmates splashed into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday night on board a Space-X Dragon capsule.

The international team, officially recognized as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2, spent more than six months in orbit. The mission set a record for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crewed spacecraft. The crew traveled 84,653,119 statute miles and completed 3,194 orbits around Earth.

Kimbrough and his fellow astronauts performed science experiments and technology demonstrations during the mission. They also grew green chiles and installed free-flying robotic assistants. Kimbrough performed three spacewalks, bringing his career total to nine.

This was Kimbrough’s third mission to space. He previously flew on the space shuttle in 2008 and on board a Russian Soyuz rocket in 2016. He has now spent 388 days away from Earth. Only three other U.S. astronauts have been in orbit longer.

Kimbrough graduated from Georgia Tech with a master’s degree in operations research in 1998. He grew up in Atlanta and attended Yellow Jacket sporting events as a child. During his last mission in 2016, he brought a flag from the Ramblin’ Wreck to the International Space Station. This time while in space, he threw out the first pitch in a taped ceremony before a Georgia Tech baseball game and carried a Yellow Jackets jersey. In May, a few weeks after the launch, he also talked to Georgia Tech about expectations of the mission and life on the space station, which travels 17,500 miles an hour, or 5 miles per second.

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1636480405 2021-11-09 17:53:25 1636480405 2021-11-09 17:53:25 0 0 news Kimbrough spent six months in orbit during his third NASA mission

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2021-11-09T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-09T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-09 00:00:00 Jason Maderer

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652614 652615 652614 image <![CDATA[Shane Kimbrough returned to earth on November 8, 2021.]]> image/png 1636479328 2021-11-09 17:35:28 1636479328 2021-11-09 17:35:28 652615 image <![CDATA[Shane Kimbrough in the space station's cupola in August (courtesy: NASA)]]> image/jpeg 1636479473 2021-11-09 17:37:53 1636479473 2021-11-09 17:37:53 <![CDATA[ISyE Alumnus Commands SpaceX Crew-2 Mission to International Space Station]]> <![CDATA[Kimbrough Reflects on Six Months in Space]]> <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Astronaut Returns to Earth]]>
<![CDATA[A Summer in Environmental Policy: Q&A with ISyE Student Kira O’Hare]]> 35757 Fourth-year Kira O’Hare from the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) was able to explore her interest in environmental justice when she interned at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) – a large policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. – in the energy security and climate change program. Throughout the internship this past summer, she worked on a project exploring coal-related socioeconomic dependency in Mpumalanga and Jharkhand, two prominent coal-dependent regions in South Africa and India.

O’Hare co-authored the report Understanding Just Transitions in Coal-Dependent Communities, which was produced by the Just Transition Initiative team in a collaboration between CSIS and Climate Investment Funds (CIF). Just Transition, as defined by the Climate Justice Alliance, is a “vision-led, unifying and place-based set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.” In this Q&A, O’Hare discusses her involvement with CSIS and her research team’s recommendations from the report.

How did you get connected with CSIS?

I first got involved with this internship through a placement with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute Program which connects a student to CSIS to work in their Energy Security and Climate Change program. Prior to this experience, I had an interest in environmental policy, participating in research at Georgia Tech’s Data Science and Policy Lab on a smart cities project focused on addressing housing and energy efficiency in the city of Albany, Georgia.

Were you personally interested in the project topic?

I was placed on this project because I expressed general interest in environmental justice, energy transitions, and climate migration. These topics are of great interest of me, particularly in developing countries, because the world is at a place right now where we cannot afford to have significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions if we want to achieve our goal set out in the Paris Agreement of keeping global warming under 2°C. Particularly in countries with such a large population such as India, the implications of moving away from coal, as opposed to increasing coal production, are huge.

Could you explain the purpose of the paper?

We identified three primary components of just coal transitions in both states: economic diversification, land remediation, and community engagement. The coal ecosystem in these resource-rich areas is very complex. Coal is viewed as a saving grace for these communities since it provides direct, indirect, and induced jobs, provides funding for social projects in coal communities through corporate social revenues, and largely enables municipalities to supply water and electricity services.

Despite coal being a huge component of these states’ economy, there are large research gaps in terms of quantifying the components of the coal ecosystem. Thus, the study we conducted recommends governments and researchers invest in quantifying all elements of the coal ecosystem, such as the number of induced and informal jobs, to understand the scope of the issue.

Why is economic diversification important for a just coal transition?

Moving away from coal requires the region to introduce new economic opportunities, leading to the point of economic diversification. Each region will have its strengths and weaknesses given resource availability, but potential sectors include tourism, agriculture, and renewable energy. We recommended that stakeholders support feasibility and scalability studies for potential diversification sectors by region to better understand job creation potential and how much money the state can make.

What were the findings surrounding land remediation?

After conducting 40+ interviews with local stakeholders, we discovered that currently there are many legacy mines that were abandoned without closure plans, and even the mines and plants with closure plans rarely follow through with them. With land already a scarce resource, polluted land is detrimental to new economic development as well as to human health. We recommend that the government allots adequate funding to address this in addition to ensuring that the regulatory bodies managing the rehabilitation process have sufficient capacity to carry out the law as written. Currently, there is a severe lack of enforcement of the closure plans.

What are the opportunities for community engagement?

Just transition is a new concept, so sensitizing local stakeholders to the concept of just transition is essential as well. International and national philanthropic foundations could support local media to cover just transition topics in regional languages, and think tanks and non-governmental organizations could conduct workshops for local communities. This also means ensuring that underrepresented organizations that we had classified in a stakeholder mapping exercise have a seat at the table in just transition planning. This includes worker unions, activist groups, informal coal workers, and local governments.

What ISyE skills did you utilize in your internship?

The experience was a great introduction to the policy world but with a more technical and research-like approach to policy analysis. I was able to use my data analysis and geographic information system (GIS) skills from my ISyE coursework to create maps to supplement the paper, as well as provide additional statistics regarding the coal ecosystem. ISyE has given me a strong, problem-solving mindset that assisted me in approaching the problem at hand despite not having direct policy experience before.

You can read the entire report here.

]]> goberst3 1 1636161947 2021-11-06 01:25:47 1636420898 2021-11-09 01:21:38 0 0 news Fourth-year Kira O’Hare explored her interest in environmental justice while interning at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the energy security and climate change program.

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2021-11-05T00:00:00-04:00 2021-11-05T00:00:00-04:00 2021-11-05 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[ISyE Team Places Sixth in National ARPA-E GO Competition]]> 35757 A team led by David M. McKenney Family Associate Professor Andy Sun in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) placed sixth out of nine winners in the second round of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) ARPA-E Grid Optimization Competition. Previously, they placed third out of 27 teams in the first round of the competition. The team also includes A. Russell Chandler III Professor Santanu Dey and three Ph.D. students – Amin Gholami, Kaizhao Sun, and Shixuan Zhang – who are all advised by Associate Professor Sun.

The competition includes a series of challenges aimed at developing software management solutions to create a more resilient and secure American electricity grid. The first challenge tasked participating teams with finding solutions to a security-constrained optimal power flow (SCOPF) problem, a fundamental optimization problem in the operation and planning of power grids, while the second challenge expanded on the problem with additional complex constraints, such as unit commitment, line switching, and discretized transformer tap ratio and phase shift.

“Our team investigated the problem structure carefully and deployed various optimization techniques,” said Kaizhao. “Our code consists of two stages. In the first stage, we used parallel computing to explore different problem formulations, and report the best-found solution. In the second stage, we quickly recovered feasible solutions for contingencies, again, through parallelization of the computational tasks, and output them in a robust way.”

The team needed to figure out the optimal decisions for unit commitment – starting up or shutting down a generator, and for line switching – closing or opening a transmission line.

“We dug into a considerable amount of data and observed certain patterns, such as which generators are more likely to incur higher generation costs and which transmission lines are more likely to cause congestions in the network,” Kaizhao explained. “Based on these observations, we developed some efficient strategies that significantly improved our scores.”

Associate Professor Sun praised the team’s work.

“It is a tremendous achievement to develop such a robust and scalable optimization software, which for the first time enables U.S. power grid operators to solve the most complex grid-optimization problems in their daily operation,” he noted. “This is the result of years of hard work. I would like to applaud the three Ph.D. students – Amin, Kaizhao, and Shixuan – for their excellent teamwork, creativity, and perseverance, in addition to Santanu’s support.”

The winning teams will receive a combined total of $2.4 million in prize money, to be used for further development of their technologies. The details of the next step have not been released yet.

“We believe this series of competitions definitely benefits the development of algorithmic software for the modern power grid, and we look forward to learning about the new challenge,” Kaizhao concluded.

]]> goberst3 1 1636413865 2021-11-08 23:24:25 1636420648 2021-11-09 01:17:28 0 0 news The team led by Associate Professor Andy Sun includes includes Professor Santanu Dey and three Ph.D. students – Amin Gholami, Kaizhao Sun, and Shixuan Zhang.

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2021-11-08T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-08T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-08 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[ISyE Faculty, Students Present Talks, Receive Honors at INFORMS 2021]]> 35757 At the annual Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) conference, a number of faculty members and students from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) presented plenary addresses and deceived awards for their research. The conference was held from October 24-27, 2021, in Anaheim, California.

Winner
Ph.D. student Andrew ElHabr received the Judith Liebman Award in appreciation of his outstanding service to the Georgia Tech INFORMS student chapter. Advisor: Turgay Ayer.

Pinar Keskinocak received the WORMS Award for the Advancement of Women in OR/MS.

Jisoon (Mark) Lim (IE 2021) won the Undergraduate Operations Research Prize for “The Bicycle Network Improvement Problem: Optimization Algorithms and A Case Study in Atlanta.” Advisor: Pascal Van Hentenryck.

Alex Shapiro was awarded the John von Neumann Theory Prize.

The Georgia Tech INFORMS Student Chapter won the 2021 INFORMS Student Chapter annual award at the Magna Cum Laude level. Advisor: Lauren Steimle.

Runner-up

Ph.D. student Yathath Dubey was selected as runner-up for the George Nicholson 2021 Student Paper Competition for “Branch-and-Bound Solves Random IPs in Polytimem," written with Marco Molinaro and his advisor, Santanu Dey

Finalist

Ph.D. student Woody Zhu was chosen as a finalist for the 2021 Wagner Prize for “Data-Driven Optimization for Atlanta Police Zone Design,” written with Yao Xie and He Wang. He was also selected as a finalist for the Best Applied Paper in the 16th INFORMS Workshop on Data Mining and Decision Analytics, for “Early Detection of Covid-19 Hotspots Using Spatio-Temporal Data.”

Election

Alejandro Toriello has been elected vice president/president elect of the INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society, with his term beginning in 2022.

Plenary Addresses

Martin Savelsbergh gave the opening plenary lecture, “Challenges and Opportunities in Crowdsourced Delivery Planning and Operations.”

 Jeff Wu gave a plenary talk, “Analysis-of-Marginal-Tail-Means (ATM): A Robust Method for Discrete Black-Box Optimization,” to the INFORMS QSR Section.

Tutorial

Pascal Van Hentenryck gave a tutorial, “Machine Learning for Optimal Power Flows.”

]]> goberst3 1 1636414506 2021-11-08 23:35:06 1636420590 2021-11-09 01:16:30 0 0 news At the annual INFORMS conference, a number of faculty members and students from ISyE presented plenary addresses and deceived awards for their research.

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2021-11-08T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-08T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-08 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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652580 652580 image <![CDATA[INFORMS 2021]]> image/jpeg 1636414350 2021-11-08 23:32:30 1636414350 2021-11-08 23:32:30
<![CDATA[ISyE Students Selected for 2021 Millennium Fellowship]]> 35757 Three students from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) have been chosen for the 2021 Millennium Fellowship, a joint leadership development program between the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and the Millennium Campus Network (MCN). The Fellows – who are among 17 Georgia Tech students selected – include William Abdallah, Anjana Chamarthi, and Aashni Patel.

The Millennium Fellowship is a semester-long program with an experiential curriculum designed to cultivate core values such as empathy and inclusion, hone hard and soft skills like creating SMART goals and team management, and engage in peer-to-peer feedback. Throughout the fellowship, students work on a project that supports UNAI goals as well as UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

About the ISyE Fellowship Recipients

William Abdallah is a fourth-year student who is part of the Anchor Institution task force, a division of the Georgia Tech Strategic Plan. Prior to receiving the Millennium Fellowship, he has worked on a project focused on sustainable infrastructure in West Atlanta with Georgia Tech Research Institute and a connected VIP class. The VIP instructors encouraged him to apply for the fellowship, and after reading more about the program, he was excited about the opportunity.

Abdallah’s fellowship project is focused on SDG 9 – helping to empower community-driven sustainable infrastructure projects – and SDG 16 – peace engineering, with a focus on gun violence projects in West Atlanta. He hopes to help with the process of developing Georgia Tech into a better anchor institution, the idea that Georgia Tech is a lasting entity in the Atlanta that uses its resources and research to provide support for the surrounding community and provide growth in areas like jobs, education, and equity.

His favorite aspect of the program has been connecting with the other Millennium Fellows on campus. “It’s always encouraging to meet like-minded people my age trying to make a difference,” said Abdallah. “There was one exercise we did involving thinking about our specific leadership styles; it was nice to speak with other students who share similar strengths and talk about how we can be better leaders.”

When asked what makes ISyE students suited for the fellowship, Abdallah highlighted the ability to understand and work with complex systems, especially having the skillset to develop insights from data extracted. He encourages other students to apply to the program as well.

“A lot of the time, we are pointed in fixed directions, whether it is general manufacturing or supply chain,” he noted. “While there are social issues that can be solved in those areas, there are many more places where we can make a large impact. ISyE students should apply to the program because they will have the opportunity to explore those areas and make an impact in the community.”

After graduating, he plans on continuing to work in the space of urban design and community development, with a future goal of owning his own design firm.

Anjana Chamarthi is a third-year student who was drawn to the resources, mentorship, and global community the fellowship offers.

“I thought it was a great platform to share my project with other driven individuals from all over the world,” said Chamarthi. “I think there is power in numbers: The more people who see a flame of social impact, the more widespread the fire of positive change can be.”

Her project supports SDG 12, sustainable development, and consists of the research and development of a simulation – an augmented reality/virtual reality rendering of the whole life cycle of an article of clothing – from manufacturing plant to store shelf. By applying this research, the project aims to optimize sourcing and distribution channels for local Atlanta thrift stores.

“Due to its convenience, the fast-fashion industry has become a titan, feeding into the frenzy of the consumer, while endangering and causing environmental devastation,” said Chamarthi. “However, repurposing and thrifting clothes can help save billions of gallons of water, decrease rates of deforestation, and prevent excessive waste production.”

Her favorite part of the experience has been learning from the other Fellows' projects and broadening her perspective of different approaches to social impact. “The fellowship opened my eyes to several pressing challenges our world faces today, and I think ISyE has provided the toolkit for a unique approach to solving these real-world problems,” said Chamarthi. “Mathematically modeling traditionally qualitative variables and then coding these models for forecasting the future is what makes ISyE practical and impactful.”

Aashni Patel is a second-year student who is passionate about creating social impact.

“I wanted to apply for the fellowship because I’ve gotten to work with a couple of nonprofits recently and really wanted to learn more about how people start doing social impact work themselves,” said Patel. “Since it’s not a class, there’s no pressure to get a good grade. Instead, the focus is entirely on trying to start a project and improving it as you learn from the training sessions.”

Her project supports SDG 17, partnerships to reach the goals, and focuses on connecting organizations with students that want to help make change and don’t know how to start. Students can choose one-time or short-term ways to help organizations around them and even receive incentives, helping organizations reach audiences and volunteers they couldn’t previously connect with.

The program focuses on the background of the Fellows’ projects and why they want to work on them.

“We did an activity on the unintended consequences of past projects, and it helped a lot of us figure out what parts of our projects were helpful and what should be modified to avoid causing more issues than they solved,” explained Patel.

After graduating, she wants to stay involved in the nonprofit space and says that the fellowship taught her a lot about managing and organizing nonprofits that she can leverage in the future to work with causes she is passionate about.

“I think industrial engineers are well-suited for nonprofit work because the main goal of ISyE is to improve things – which is an ongoing goal in most social impact projects,” she said. “Projects are only as meaningful as the impact they make, and industrial engineers are trained to optimize the results of initiatives in a way that perfectly complements nonprofit work.”

]]> goberst3 1 1636415676 2021-11-08 23:54:36 1636420535 2021-11-09 01:15:35 0 0 news The Fellows – who are among 17 Georgia Tech students selected – include ISyE undergraduates William Abdallah, Anjana Chamarthi, and Aashni Patel.

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2021-11-08T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-08T00:00:00-05:00 2021-11-08 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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652582 652582 image <![CDATA[William Abdallah, Anjana Chamarthi, and Aashni Patel]]> image/jpeg 1636415544 2021-11-08 23:52:24 1636415544 2021-11-08 23:52:24
<![CDATA[Ashley Elleby: Designing a More Inclusive World]]> 35757 At just under six feet tall, Ashley Elleby (IE 2008) has always had a problem finding clothes that fit. As a young basketball player, she wore a lot of sweats or men’s clothing. But when Elleby realized she wasn’t going to become a professional athlete, she knew she needed some work attire.

“I bought my very first suit from the men’s department,” Elleby said. “My mom tailored it so I could have something suitable to wear to an interview for an internship. That sparked something in me that I wanted to fill this void.”

So in 2011, Elleby began Alyssa Vermell Apparel (Alyssa Vermell is her middle name), a company that created well-fitting, fashionable, and affordable business casual clothing for taller women.

Running her own business wasn’t something Elleby thought she would grow up to do. Her father worked as a computer engineer, and the Elleby household always had the latest computer. At Georgia Tech, she earned a degree from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a focus on health systems. But after going on to work for Johnson & Johnson, she realized maybe the field wasn’t for her.

“As an engineer, I was working on the back end of things, and I didn’t have opportunities to make decisions,” Elleby explained. “I just followed instructions, and that didn’t match my passion for things like developing strategy or building teams.”

So Elleby switched gears, applying to the business school at Washington University in St. Louis, where she began her clothing company. She then enrolled in fashion school and ran the company on nights and weekends while working as a full-time marketing professional. She quit her job with Pepsi in 2016 and moved to New York, pitching her company to investors and applying for incubator programs. But after a few years, Elleby realized she couldn’t scale the company the way she wanted to without compromising product quality and ethical manufacturing, so she put the business on pause.

In the meantime, she’s found another job she loves. Today, Elleby is the head of growth marketing at Google, leading a global team that leverages data science and predictive algorithms to better understand consumer behavior. As a side project, she signed on to lead a diversity, equity, and inclusion group at Google.

“Google is this huge conglomerate that touches almost every person on this planet, so I want us to be more mindful about how we show up to the world,” Elleby noted. She supported the Google Ads team in developing the first searchable business attribute that allows store and business owners to self-identify as Black-owned so users can quickly identify Black-owned businesses they want to support.

]]> goberst3 1 1635901827 2021-11-03 01:10:27 1635946642 2021-11-03 13:37:22 0 0 news Alumna Ashley Elleby’s career journey has taken her from founding her own clothing company to the head of growth marketing at Google.

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2021-11-02T00:00:00-04:00 2021-11-02T00:00:00-04:00 2021-11-02 00:00:00 Kelley Freund

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652391 652391 image <![CDATA[Ashley Elleby]]> image/jpeg 1635901345 2021-11-03 01:02:25 1635901345 2021-11-03 01:02:25 <![CDATA[Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine: 40 Under 40 Issue]]>
<![CDATA[Autonomous Trucking Collaboration Could Lead to a More Resilient, Affordable Supply Chain]]> 34760 A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck is collaborating with Ryder System, Inc. on the industry’s first data-driven study of the potential impact of autonomous trucking.

Van Hentenryck and his team have spent years developing an On-Demand Multimodal Transit System (ODMTS) to address the first- and last-mile problems in public transportation and provide equitable, efficient, and low-cost public transportation options. The multimodal approach uses small on-demand vehicles to take riders to and from their locations to high-frequency bus and rail hubs. Increasing the use of public transit will not only decrease reliance on personal vehicles and reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions; it will also increase accessibility to jobs, healthcare, education, and fresh food.

However, when executives from Ryder, a leading logistics and transportation company with more than 235,000 vehicles and 8,600 professional truck drivers, reached out to Van Hentenryck about a collaboration, the research team began to look at the model through a different lens.

“We have been focusing on people mobility and had not looked at other types of transportation,” said Van Hentenryck. “So when Ryder came to us, we were very interested to see if the techniques that we were using for people could apply more generally to freight. In this project specifically, we are looking at how adding autonomous vehicles could unlock additional value.”

Van Hentenryck, who also serves as associate chair for innovation and entrepreneurship and leads the Socially Aware Mobility (SAM) Lab in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), and his team met with Ryder to better understand the company’s goals and to determine if this multimodal approach could be applied to another system. Working with a company like Ryder gave the team access to large amounts of data and to logistics experts who understand the industry’s current and future challenges.

“There is a lot of back-and-forth between researchers and company representatives in a project like this,” explained Van Hentenryck. “Sometimes the solutions we come up with in the lab will not work in the field, and so you have this iterative process in transforming the research idea into something that is applicable in the field.”

Ryder operates a network of dedicated fleets for its customers, and even with high levels of performance, inflexible transportation lanes and schedules often lead to inefficiencies.

“We learned that sometimes these trucks are traveling many miles completely empty, which is not cost effective,” Van Hentenryck said. “We started looking at how we can avoid these ‘empty miles.’”

To meet customer needs, Ryder must execute a large number of freight movements across the country. The team realized that by breaking each trip into three sections — origin-to-hub, hub-to-hub, and hub-to-destination — it could organize a network using both regular and autonomous trucks. The first and last segments would rely on smaller human-operated vehicles, since these will typically occur in more densely populated locations. Connections between hubs would rely solely on autonomous trucks (those without a human driver), generally in sparsely populated, controlled environments like highways and exit ramps.

“Safety is especially important to our researchers and to Ryder, and we take it very seriously,” said Van Hentenryck. “Keeping the autonomous trucks on the longer-haul middle leg, and human drivers in the first and final legs, schedules autonomy on lengthy, often overnight trips, and places drivers in dense environments where there are many other variables at play like left-hand turns, stop signs, pedestrians, etc.”

The autonomous hub-to-hub aspect allows Van Hentenryck’s model to be optimized in a whole new way because it doesn’t depend on having drivers available — autonomous trucks are extremely flexible. This can deliver significant projected savings for Ryder if the model is implemented.

“The whole team was stunned by the projected savings from this project,” said Van Hentenryck. “I have worked on many different transportation problems during my career, and 1% improvement is magical. In this case, improvement goes from 29% to 40%, depending on the price of autonomous trucks and the cost of operating them. Also, the flexibility to move these autonomous trucks around gave us the ability to optimize the business model in ways people didn’t even consider before.”

The agility of the new model also provides better reactions to supply chain disruptions, because it can adapt more quickly to a new situation.

“Autonomous driving technology is poised to be incredibly disruptive to our industry in safety, service, and cost. As such, it was clear to us that this was not something we could wait to figure out or be handed a playbook. This collaboration with Georgia Tech was an advancement in our commitment to becoming a leader in fostering innovation and bringing it to our customers,” said Michael Plasencia, group director of new product strategy at Ryder.

“We are designing a much more resilient supply chain logistics system, and that is because we are thinking differently,” Van Hentenryck added. “This technology provides more resilience, more flexibility, and is more affordable.

“This project is only a first step. The whole field of transportation, logistics, and supply chains is being transformed by technology, automation, and the changes in attitudes and expectations that emerged during Covid-19. We are looking forward to working with Ryder on many of these.”

 

View Ryder’s press release

The Impact of Autonomous Trucking: A Case Study if Ryder's Dedicated Transportation Network

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1635274927 2021-10-26 19:02:07 1635854208 2021-11-02 11:56:48 0 0 news A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck and his team look at transportation through a different lens.

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2021-11-02T00:00:00-04:00 2021-11-02T00:00:00-04:00 2021-11-02 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
Communications Manager

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652091 652091 image <![CDATA[Associate Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck (center) with Postdoctoral Researcher Kevin Dalmeijer (left) and undergraduate student Samuel Baskin]]> image/png 1635273806 2021-10-26 18:43:26 1635273806 2021-10-26 18:43:26 <![CDATA[The Impact of Autonomous Trucking: A Case Study if Ryder's Dedicated Transportation Network]]> <![CDATA[Ryder Teams Up with Georgia Tech for Industry’s First Data-Driven Study on Impact of Autonomous Trucking]]> <![CDATA[Team Led by ISyE’s Pascal Van Hentenryck Awarded $20M NSF Grant to Fund Center for Study of AI and Optimization]]> <![CDATA[Pascal Van Hentenryck’s Socially Aware Mobility Lab Begins Its Work]]> <![CDATA[Ryder & ISyE - The Impact of Autonomous Trucking]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE Alumnus Theodore Colbert III: 2022 Black Engineer of the Year]]> 35757 Theodore Colbert III (IE 1996), president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, The Boeing Company, will be honored as the 2022 Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) at the 36th annual BEYA STEM Conference. In addition to being an alumnus of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), Colbert earned a bachelor’s degree in science at Morehouse College as part of a dual-degree program with Georgia Tech.

Colbert has served in various roles at The Boeing Company, including chief information officer (CIO). As CIO, he launched the Analytic Lab for Aerospace Data at Carnegie Mellon University with the goal of using machine learning, language technologies, and artificial intelligence to leverage big data produced by the design, construction, and operation of modern aircraft.

“The amount of data created today is unprecedented. But it’s not about the data on its own, it’s what you do with it,” said Colbert. “Through the products Boeing powers, we are applying scientific processes to data to solve our customers’ most pressing problems today while creating a world of limitless possibilities for the future.”

At Boeing, Colbert has also worked on several information technology (IT) and analytics programs, in addition to leading the IT business systems organization, where he managed the computing application systems that support various business units in the corporation. Prior to joining Boeing, Colbert worked for Citigroup and spent over 10 years at Ford Motor Company in the IT organization.

Colbert has been drawn to technology since he was a child, recalling when he acquired his first Commodore 64, an 8-bit home computer, in 1982. “To me, it was like a game, but what I was doing was really programming,” Colbert said. “The challenge connected me to the computer at a young age.”

In 2017, Colbert won a Morehouse College “Bennie Leadership” award for Excellence in Business. Recipients of the award are those who go “in advance of others to direct or guide them” and have led significant accomplishments for an organization. When it comes to success, Colbert has an important philosophy about mentoring: “We have to influence each other to be better by providing constant encouragement, feedback, and help,” he noted.

Growing up, Colbert’s parents always emphasized valuing people and diversity, which is clearly demonstrated in his leadership and service. Highly active in his community, he serves as a member of the board of directors for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board.

You can read the full article about Colbert and his career here.

]]> goberst3 1 1635198204 2021-10-25 21:43:24 1635338184 2021-10-27 12:36:24 0 0 news ISyE alumnus Ted Colbert III will be honored as the 2022 Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) at the 36th annual BEYA STEM Conference.

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2021-10-25T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-25T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-25 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[ISyE Student Giorgio Trettenero Takes Pride in Diverse Hispanic Background]]> 35866 “Complex” is one way of describing Giorgio Trettenero's Hispanic background. Trettenero was born in Peru; he then spent ages five to eight in Chile because of his father's job, and subsequently lived in Colombia until coming to Georgia Tech for college. He's currently a third-year student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).

“I do feel very connected to Peru, but I spent a lot of time in Colombia,” Trettenero  said. “Those are my deepest roots, but Peru is where my family is. I wouldn’t say I have a favorite country, but instead, something to love from both places.”

For Trettenero, the hardest part of moving frequently was having to leave family, friends, the culture, and the geography of each country behind. “But you can always take something with you,” he noted. 

Trettenero has never stopped eating Peruvian food and listening to Peruvian and Colombian music, and he has kept letters and a Chilean flag from his friends in Chile. He also keeps a time capsule in Colombia filled with pictures with friends, memories from events, and souvenirs from the different countries he’s lived in. Even in Georgia, he has found a taste of home at an international farmers market that carries Peruvian, Colombian, and Chilean foods and candies.

Trettenero has also identified benefits from living in various countries, as it has made him more open to meeting different people and stopped him from making assumptions.

“I think even when coming to Tech and meeting a lot of other people from different Hispanic places, the main thing you notice is the presence of stereotypes,” he explained. “Some people have never left Peru, Chile, or Colombia before. People from Peru will say stereotypical stuff about people from Chile, like commenting on how they speak. When I hear that, I’ll say, ‘I’ve lived there. I know them. I don’t think you should say that.’”

At Georgia Tech, Trettenero has found a tight community in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), through which he has met friends who make him feel like he’s back at home. He has also gained many professional experiences provided by the organization.

“In STEM, even though it’s growing as a field in Latin America, job prospects don’t look that good,” Trettenero said. “Whenever we do talk about opportunities for Hispanics in STEM, we talk about moving to the U.S. or Europe.”

Now that he is at the Institute, Trettenero has been taking advantage of every opportunity possible to enhance his trajectory toward a career in STEM. His current career goals are to start out in software engineering and then later move into a management  role.

“The Hispanic presence in STEM has been growing very rapidly,” he said. “Something I appreciate a lot is diversity. I think the best thing about having Hispanic people in STEM jobs is being able to provide new perspectives to you and the company as a whole.”

]]> afu34 1 1634828110 2021-10-21 14:55:10 1634829778 2021-10-21 15:22:58 0 0 news ISyE third-year Giorgio Trettenero shares his unique experience and perspective that come from having a complex Hispanic background.

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2021-10-21T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-21T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-21 00:00:00 Angeline Fu

Communications Assistant

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Georgia Tech Biketober Feature: ISyE’s Valerie Thomas]]> 35757 Valerie Thomas is the Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Public Policy. Her research in energy and materials efficiency, sustainability, and industrial ecology, informs her belief that we can positively impact climate change through creativity and innovation, and this produces a person committed to sustainable living, who rides her bike every day and everywhere.    

How long have you been commuting by bike?

Two years. I started commuting using the ride-share bikes.

Why do you choose to commute by bike?

It's faster than walking. Also, biking makes it much easier to get to different meetings around campus.

How far is your commute, and how long does it take you to ride versus drive?

My commute is 1.4 miles, which takes 12 minutes riding slowly. It would take quite a bit more than 12 minutes to drive; first, I would have to drive from my ninth-floor spot in the parking garage attached to my condo building, then I'd have to drive five minutes to campus; finally, I would have to park and walk to my office.

How does your bike commute impact your day?

It gives me a bit of a lift to get outside. Whether getting outside in the morning, or later in the afternoon, it's great to be out.

What practical advice do you have for someone considering commuting by bike?

Get a rack for the back of your bike and pannier bags that hang on each side. That is much easier than trying to get all your things in a backpack.

Where else do you ride, beyond your commute?

Everywhere! I like to ride on the Beltline and other paths and trails; I bike to the Fulton County library on Ponce de Leon Avenue, to volunteer at Free99Fridge in O4W, as well as the Piedmont Park Greenmarket, Trader Joe's, and to church. I take my bike on MARTA out to Sandy Springs and bike the five miles from there to my cousins' house.  

Explore the Student Sustainability Living Guide, which features easy tips you can implement to positively impact the environment.

]]> goberst3 1 1634776644 2021-10-21 00:37:24 1634822588 2021-10-21 13:23:08 0 0 news In this interview, Valerie Thomas shares her experience riding her bike to work and her advice for people considering commuting by bike.

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2021-10-20T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-20T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-20 00:00:00 Rebecca James

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<![CDATA[Joining GTSF’s Investments Committee Inspired Abhishek Mattipalli to Pursue a Future in Finance]]> 35757 Fourth-year Abhishek Mattipalli was a first-year student in the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) when he attended an information session with the Investments Committee (IC). At the time, he had no idea this chance decision would lead him to a career in financial services.

Part of the Georgia Tech Student Foundation (GTSF), the IC manages the Institute's $2 million endowment that provides funding for projects for campus organizations – the largest student-run philanthropic endowment in the nation. As a newcomer, Mattipalli went through a mentorship program that taught him the basics of investing, accounting, and finance.

After completing this 10-week program, which included assessments and a final presentation, he was officially accepted as a member, called an “analyst.” The organization of the club is modelled after the S&P 500 sectors, and he chose to join the energy sector. Immediately, he began working on a presentation for an energy company that his sector was looking to purchase.

During weekly IC meetings for the entire organization, sectors give stock presentations, which are divided into three categories. Pitches are initial presentations of companies the IC does not currently own, and these are used to gauge whether to present with the intent to buy. Presentations are more detailed than pitches and include further information on why the IC should invest in a new company.

Lastly, for companies already owned by the IC, sectors present revaluations – known as “revals” – to announce any updates and make a final recommendation to hold the company or sell either all or part of the IC’s stake in it.

In his second year, Mattipalli landed an internship at Phillips 66, an oil and gas refining company based in Houston. He worked in the clean products trading group, building a tool to streamline payment calculations of products shipped across the Colonial Pipeline – the largest pipeline system for refined oil products in the nation, which stretches from Texas to New York. He credits this opportunity to his involvement with the IC, which enabled him to effectively speak to his interest in the energy market.

“When it comes to recruiting for jobs in financial services, employers look very favorably on the Investments Committee because there aren’t that many colleges with a completely student-run fund that can give you that kind of experience,” he said.

The IC is open to all majors. Mattipalli arrived at Georgia Tech as a computer science major; realizing that he was more interested in industrial engineering or business, he ultimately switched to ISyE because of his passion for math. He knew he was gaining valuable knowledge about finance while working with the IC, but he wanted to also have the technical background ISyE provides.

As Mattipalli continued with the IC, he was promoted to the energy sector head and then a director. Now, he’s the chief financial officer, acting as a liaison between the IC and GTSF, where he serves on both the board of trustees and the executive board.

He’s also involved with GTSF’s Accel Program, which helps students pursuing a career in financial services by providing resources such as networking, technical training, and resume reviews. Preparation is crucial, as recruitment in industries like banking and private equity is highly competitive, with job offers usually made a year in advance for both internships and full-time positions. To date, everyone who went through the program has placed at a financial institution.

“Not only is it indicative of Accel as a program, but it’s also indicative of the quality of students that Georgia Tech has to offer,” said Mattipalli.

At Accel, he’s the director of development, focusing on holistic growth to give students the confidence to succeed. He prepares resume workshops and step-by-step technical guides using his own experience from going through the intensive internship recruiting process, which typically consists of many networking calls and interviews, both technical and behavioral, in order to land an offer.

In his third year, Mattipalli interned at Evercore as an investment banking analyst. The internship began with two weeks of training, after which he was placed on six projects of varying length ranging from one week to the whole summer. He gained exposure to the many different types of products and services the bank offers, as well as to their high-profile clients.

“To be in the same room as C-suite executives and hear their thoughts while having a responsibility on a project they are going to go to market with – it was a really cool experience,” he said.

Now in the last year of his studies, Mattipalli has already accepted a full-time offer as an analyst at Roark Capital, a private equity firm that specializes in consumer, retail, business service, and franchise companies. His new role will allow him to stay in Atlanta, and he is excited to be able to stay close to friends and family.

Discovering his passion for investing and starting a career in the financial services industry would not be possible without the Investments Committee, and he is thankful for all his friends and mentors who helped and inspired him.

“The relationships and skills I have been able to build through the Investments Committee have opened many doors for me, and I am extremely grateful to have gotten this opportunity at Georgia Tech,” said Mattipalli.

]]> goberst3 1 1633555392 2021-10-06 21:23:12 1634575640 2021-10-18 16:47:20 0 0 news Fourth-year Abhishek Mattipalli currently serves as the Investments Committee’s chief financial officer and is also on GTSF’s board of trustees and the executive board.

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2021-10-06T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-06T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-06 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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651415 651415 image <![CDATA[Abhishek Mattipalli]]> image/jpeg 1633478668 2021-10-06 00:04:28 1633478668 2021-10-06 00:04:28
<![CDATA[Valerie Thomas on How Consumers and Governments Can Reduce Energy Consumption]]> 35757 Energy is one of the biggest household expenses in the United States, and with the rise in global temperatures, saving energy is critical for reducing utility costs. Valerie Thomas, professor and Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems from the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), offers her perspective on energy efficiency in the home.

“The biggest mistake consumers make is to think that the first step is to buy new equipment or technology,” said Thomas in the Q&A. “People can run their homes with energy efficiency in mind. Some big energy-saving tips: heating and air conditioning use a lot of energy, so look for ways to turn that way down.”

When asked if the government should continue to incentivize consumers and businesses to invest in energy-efficient projects, Thomas explained that energy efficiency standards for buildings should be included in building codes and appliance standards, but that government subsidies can support the testing and adoption of new technological innovations.

“Energy utilities can subsidize energy efficiency improvements because it saves money for the utilities,” said Thomas in the article. “By reducing demand, utilities do not have to buy the most expensive energy and they can save money and provide better service even in very hot or very cold weather.”

You can read the full interview here.

]]> goberst3 1 1634178935 2021-10-14 02:35:35 1634575198 2021-10-18 16:39:58 0 0 news In this Q&A, Valerie Thomas, professor and Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems, offers her perspective on energy efficiency in the home.

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2021-10-13T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-13T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-13 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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651681 651681 image <![CDATA[Valerie Thomas]]> image/jpeg 1634178201 2021-10-14 02:23:21 1634178201 2021-10-14 02:23:21
<![CDATA[ISyE Doctoral Student Spotlight]]> 35757 ARDEN BAXTER // Ph.D. student, Operations Research

With innovative research projects in healthcare, it is no surprise Arden Baxter received a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Her work in humanitarian logistics explores how to allocate scarce resources to meet the most demand, specifically in disaster management scenarios where different resource types must work in coordination.

“In a hurricane setting, you could have flooding in an area but also people who are hurt and need EMS [emergency medical services], necessitating coordination between water rescue services and EMS to get those people out of their homes and treated,” Baxter explained.

She has also been involved in disease modeling for Covid-19, studying the benefits and consequences of nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as voluntary quarantine and school closure, and how they affected the people who were homebound.

“I knew that I wanted to do something where I felt like I was making a difference,” said Baxter. “I've always had this passion for service, and operations research is a great way to combine math and service into one.”

HENRY YUCHI // Ph.D. student, Machine Learning

After studying at the University of Cambridge to earn his undergraduate and master’s degrees in engineering, Henry Yuchi was drawn to Georgia Tech by the diversity of ISyE research and his interest in the interface of engineering, data science, and statistics.

“Across the country, and Europe as well, it is very rare to find a data science or machine learning program in the engineering department,” said Yuchi.

He is studying low-rank matrix completion as well as computer experiments with multiple mesh density variables — work that earned him a student paper award from the American Statistical Association. His research tackles the engineering problem of using computer simulation software to separate a very large model into mesh cells, or boxes, to make estimates of items such as flow speed and velocity.

“I’m trying to find a scheme where we can use different sizes of cells to run different experiments, then combine all the solutions together to improve the accuracy of the experiments, while using fewer computational resources,” Yuchi explained.

JIALEI CHEN // Ph.D. 2021, Industrial Engineering

Jialei Chen has been a research assistant at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, taking part in interdisciplinary research focused on data analytics and its applications to manufacturing and healthcare. One of his projects, a collaboration with Piedmont Heart Institute, proposes a surgical planning framework to treat aortic stenosis, a severe heart disease caused by the narrowing of the aortic valve. The current procedure, which involves inserting a stent, is a standardized treatment with limited customization.

“Our ambition is to personalize this surgery procedure for the specific patient,” said Chen. “We try to understand through computer simulations and 3D printing experiments which surgery procedure is the best for the patient.”

His work across multiple research areas has earned him the Ellis R. Ott Scholarship from the American Society for Quality, as well as many first-place awards at student paper competitions. Now that his Ph.D. is completed, he will continue his path in academia as an assistant professor in the department of statistics at the University of Georgia.

]]> goberst3 1 1632363109 2021-09-23 02:11:49 1634241690 2021-10-14 20:01:30 0 0 news Arden Baxter, Henry Yuchi, and Jialei Chen are three of ISyE's outstanding Ph.D. students. You can learn more about them in the profiles published here.

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2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-22 00:00:00 Grace Oberst

Communications Assistant
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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651070 651070 image <![CDATA[Arden Baxter, Henry Yuchi, and Jialei Chen]]> image/jpeg 1632454368 2021-09-24 03:32:48 1632454368 2021-09-24 03:32:48
<![CDATA[ISyE Doctoral Student Fellowship Recipient]]> 35757 Haden Boone, Beerman Fellow
The Ronald J. and Carol T. Beerman Presidential Fellowship enables and enhances the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering’s (ISyE’s) ability to attract and retain graduate students to pursue their degrees and facilitate their work at the Stewart School.

Advisor: Assistant Professor Mathieu Dahan
Focus area: Operations Research

Haden Boone is researching optimization techniques to solve a network inspection problem where a defender places a number of sensors according to a probability distribution to detect attacks on targets of varying criticality from a strategic opponent. The assumption is that detection is imperfect, and that detectors have a probability of failure associated with both the location of the sensor and the monitored target. To put it into perspective, this research could be used to devise a police patrol routing system with limited resources that minimizes the number of undetected crimes or attacks on critical targets such as banks, schools, or other high value/populated areas.

“The furthering of math and statistics, and in particular their practical application to unintuitive areas, has always been an aspiration of mine. From the moment I took my first ISyE class I fell in love with the major, and after realizing that I had the potential and the opportunity to make an impact in the field, the decision to stay at Georgia Tech — the most prestigious institution in optimization — was a no-brainer,” said Boone. “Perhaps more impactful, however, is my desire to teach at the collegiate level. After spending four years surrounded by some of the best and brightest engineers, how could I not want to stick around if it meant I had the chance to shape the most brilliant minds in the industry?  

“Receiving the inaugural Beerman Fellowship is a huge honor, and it serves to validate my hard work over the past four years at Georgia Tech. This fellowship will give me the opportunity to bring my passions and ambitions in the ISyE field to reality, and I hope to give back to the industry, the Institute, and the ISyE program what it has given to me tenfold.”

Jorge Huertas, Ryder Fellow
The Ryder Fellowship supports graduate students working on innovative ISyE efforts to analyze and address problems and challenges that affect the safety of autonomous vehicles.

Advisor: A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck
Focus area: Operations Research

Jorge Huertas is analyzing how to optimize middle-mile freight transportation with autonomous vehicles and coordinate it with first- and last-mile logistics. To accomplish this, potential transportation costs are reduced by using real-operations data as input to an optimization model that minimizes total empty driving miles. Research currently underway focuses on decomposing this optimization model into a column-generation algorithm that obtains high-quality solutions efficiently, and the ability to scale them nationwide.

Hanyu Zhang, Seth Bonder Fellow
The Bonder Fellowship supports graduate and postdoctoral students working with Dr. Pascal Van Hentenryck’s outreach programs in ISyE, including the Seth Bonder Camp in Computational and Data Science for Engineering and associated activities.

Advisor: A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck
Focus area: Machine Learning

Hanyu Zhang is interested in modeling and forecasting large dynamic systems, particularly transportation systems and electrical grids. Her research includes ridership prediction and traffic flow prediction, capturing the intrinsic spatiotemporal behavior of transportation systems. She is currently working on forecasting renewable energy production for electrical grids.

]]> goberst3 1 1632433160 2021-09-23 21:39:20 1634241351 2021-10-14 19:55:51 0 0 news Ph.D. students Haden Boone, Jorge Huertas, and Hanyu Zhang are the recipients of three ISyE fellowships. You can learn more about them in the profiles published here.

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2021-09-23T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-23T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-23 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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651071 651071 image <![CDATA[Haden Boone, Jorge Huertas, and Hanyu Zhang]]> image/jpeg 1632454554 2021-09-24 03:35:54 1632454554 2021-09-24 03:35:54
<![CDATA[Interdisciplinary Team Led by ISyE’s Yao Xie Awarded $1M NSF Grant to Study Deep Learning Algorithms]]> 35757 The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year, $1 million grant to a team led by Yao Xie, Harold R. and Mary Anne Nash Early Career Professor and associate professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). Xie, who is also the associate director for machine learning and data science in Georgia Tech’s Center for Machine Learning, will study “Bridging Statistical Hypothesis Tests and Deep Learning for Reliability and Computational Efficiency.”

“There have been enormous changes in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence, with deep learning algorithms developed that have been quite disruptive,” Xie said. “But in theoretical terms, we don’t understand very well how and why these algorithms, which use complex neural networks, work the way they do.”

Her project aims to build a bridge between statistical hypothesis testing and modern machine learning, leveraging deep learning to develop efficient, powerful testing tools for high-dimensional and complex data (akin to the role hypothesis testing has played in previous decades), and also use-testing to develop principled validation tools for machine learning models and provide the foundation of deep models themselves. It’s essential to push the theoretical understanding of deep learning algorithms, so they have what Xie calls “proof of reliability”; in other words, users can know whether or not these algorithms will be reliable in practical situations, such as with stochastic power systems or supply chain issues. Other end-use cases include disease outbreak detection and healthcare systems.

The research tasks are built on multidisciplinary expertise and strong collaborations between the project’s co-PIs: These include ISyE faculty members George Lan, A. Russell Chandler III Professor, and Tuo Zhao, assistant professor; Mark Davenport, associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Xiuyuan Cheng, assistant professor of mathematics at Duke University.

]]> goberst3 1 1633478582 2021-10-06 00:03:02 1634241266 2021-10-14 19:54:26 0 0 news Yao Xie’s project aims to build a bridge between statistical hypothesis testing and modern machine learning.

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2021-10-05T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-05T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-05 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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651410 651410 image <![CDATA[Yao Xie]]> image/jpeg 1633478207 2021-10-05 23:56:47 1633478207 2021-10-05 23:56:47
<![CDATA[On-Demand Multimodal Transit Solution to Bring Equitable, Affordable Transportation to Atlanta’s Underserved Communities]]> 34760 The National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the Department of Energy, has awarded a $1 million Stage 2 Civic Innovation Challenge grant to a team led by A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck to pilot an On-Demand Multimodal Transit System (ODMTS) in Atlanta. The goal of the project is to make public transportation in Atlanta faster, more convenient, and more equitable for the city’s residents, especially in underserved communities.

According to Van Hentenryck, who also leads the Socially Aware Mobility Lab, mass transit has a significant first- and last-mile problem: Most people will only walk a quarter of a mile to and from public transportation. If the distance exceeds this threshold, ridership decreases by more than 90%. To address this, Van Hentenryck’s team has created an ODMTS, which uses small on-demand vehicles, in addition to buses and light rail, to take riders to and from their destinations. The on-demand vehicles act as feeders to and from the fixed routes, allowing the transit system to be essentially door-to-door.

Van Hentenryck, a world leader in the fields of artificial intelligence, data science, and operations research, began to tackle the first- and last-mile problems in mobility eight years ago in Canberra, Australia. He then conducted another successful case study in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In both midsized cities, the multi-modal approach resulted in a significant reduction in both cost and passenger wait times. In 2018, Van Hentenryck joined ISyE, shifted his focus to Atlanta, and began a collaboration with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). This winter, after more than three years of preparation, the team plans to pilot ODMTS in Atlanta areas with limited public transportation.

While ODMTS will improve the performance and efficiency of public transportation for everyone in Atlanta, the main objective is to provide cost-effective transportation to underserved communities and connect residents in underserved communities to jobs, healthcare, education, and healthy food. The ODMTS pilot will run in MARTA’s four jurisdictions: Clayton, DeKalb, and Fulton counties, and the City of Atlanta.

“It is almost impossible to do this with a traditional system, because these areas are very large and sparsely populated,” said Van Hentenryck. “It is not feasible to put buses in these areas, because they would run empty most of the time, and they require significant capital expenditures. On-demand vehicles, however, are inexpensive to operate and can reach a larger population, because they can be deployed as needed rather than following a set route.”

Though this is not the team’s first pilot, tackling a city like Atlanta is no small feat. Most of the algorithms used in Canberra and Ann Arbor had to be completely rewritten to account for Atlanta’s size and rail system, a component not part of the previous pilots. This creates a four-level system — trains, buses, on-demand vehicles, and walking — to get passengers to and from their locations.

“Atlanta is also a complicated city because it has multiple job centers. In addition to downtown, there are centers in Midtown, Gwinnett, Alpharetta, Buckhead, and near the airport,” said Van Hentenryck. “This makes for a much more complex design since we are taking people from their homes to one of many locations for work.”

Tickets will cost the same as the traditional MARTA system, just $2.50 each way, and riders will be able to purchase fare using the Breeze system. The team is also using a combination of machine learning and optimization techniques to predict rider behavior and ensure the system can scale accordingly.

“If we decrease transit time by 40%, more people will adopt transit because now it is much faster and more convenient than it used to be,” explained Van Hentenryck. “This will increase the demand, so it is important that we size the system correctly to account for this.”

ODMTS will also help decrease traffic congestion in Atlanta and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by enabling more people to use public transportation in place of personal vehicles. The addition of on-demand vehicles will also create jobs since additional drivers will be necessary to operate them. No existing bus routes will be eliminated during the pilot.

Collaboration Leads to Success

“MARTA’s leadership is very forward thinking, and they are working to determine the future of public transportation,” said Van Hentenryck. “They have been extremely collaborative throughout the process and provided us with vast amounts of data and insights to drive the process.”

“We are grateful to the National Science Foundation for this grant and proud to partner with Georgia Tech,” said MARTA Deputy General Manager Collie Greenwood. “Exploring first- and last-mile connectivity options is important in providing transit service that meets the needs of everyone in metro Atlanta.” 

In addition to Van Hentenryck, the Georgia Tech team that will pilot ODMTS in Atlanta includes Professor Subhrajit “Subhro” Guhathakurta in the School of City and Regional Planning, Executive Director for Partnership and Inclusive Innovation Debra Lam, Associate Professor Christopher Le Dantec in the School of Interactive Computing, and Frederick Law Olmsted Associate Professor Kari Watkins in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The research team will partner directly with residents in pilot communities, as well as with the transportation advocacy organization Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, to ensure transit services and access address the real-world needs of underserved locations.

“Our long history of working directly with Atlanta communities, and with local partners like the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, will help us embed local expertise into the design of last-mile transit service for underserved locations in the city,” said Le Dantec.

The Stage 2 Civic Innovation Challenge grant is the latest in a series of awards to bring ODMTS to Atlanta. The team received the NSF Leap HI (Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure) grant in 2019 in collaboration with the School of Civil Engineering, School of Urban Planning, MARTA, the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the City of Atlanta to scale the algorithms used in Canberra and Ann Arbor with hopes to eventually pilot the program in Atlanta. They were then awarded a Stage 1 Civic Innovation Challenge planning grant in January 2021 to model the mobility patterns in Atlanta in preparation for a pilot in Stage 2.

"Professor Van Hentenryck deserves much credit for having the foresight to bring multidisciplinary, applied research and external partners together to catalyze innovative responses to regional and urban mobility," Lam said. "We are excited to explore how this can be modeled for other communities for greater economic and social growth."

Of the 52 teams selected for Stage 1, only 17 were chosen to move forward with pilot projects in Stage 2. They will have 12 months to complete and evaluate their projects.

"We applaud the efforts of all the teams who worked tirelessly to build partnerships between researchers and community stakeholders" said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "We are excited to see the teams selected for the next phase begin their pilot projects and plant seeds of innovation across the country. This program demonstrates the value of research-community partnerships in rapidly translating cutting-edge science into community-based innovation, and we look forward to seeing its positive impact across urban and rural communities."

Van Hentenryck is eager to implement the pilot. “For me, this is the most successful research that you can have,” he said. “We started more than three years ago with an idea and now we get to make a difference in the lives of people.”

 

About the Socially Aware Mobility Project

The Socially Aware Mobility project is poised to have a tremendous impact on the metro Atlanta area, revolutionizing and modernizing the transit system for the 21st century. Funded in part by a grant by the National Science Foundation, the project aims to bring equitable accessibility, decreased congestion, and increased mobility to all MARTA users. Through optimization and machine learning, the project will create a scalable, On-Demand Multimodal Transit System model, which will be validated through implementation in the Atlanta region. By providing solutions to increase mobility while simultaneously decreasing congestion, the project stands to have a significant impact on how Atlantans navigate around the community.

About Georgia Tech

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.

The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 40,000 students, representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning.

As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1632231123 2021-09-21 13:32:03 1634241250 2021-10-14 19:54:10 0 0 news The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1 million Stage 2 Civic Innovation Challenge grant to a team led by Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck to pilot an On-Demand Multimodal Transit System in Atlanta.

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2021-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-21 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh
Communications Manager

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650953 644546 650950 650955 650945 650946 650953 image <![CDATA[On-Demand Multimodal Transit System]]> image/png 1632232634 2021-09-21 13:57:14 1632232634 2021-09-21 13:57:14 644546 image <![CDATA[A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck]]> image/jpeg 1614010312 2021-02-22 16:11:52 1632234459 2021-09-21 14:27:39 650950 image <![CDATA[Professor Subhro Guhathakurta]]> image/jpeg 1632232069 2021-09-21 13:47:49 1632232069 2021-09-21 13:47:49 650955 image <![CDATA[Executive Director for Partnership for Inclusive Innovation Debra Lam]]> image/png 1632233727 2021-09-21 14:15:27 1632235660 2021-09-21 14:47:40 650945 image <![CDATA[Associate Professor Christopher Le Dantec]]> image/png 1632228231 2021-09-21 12:43:51 1632228231 2021-09-21 12:43:51 650946 image <![CDATA[Frederick Law Olmsted Associate Professor Kari Watkins]]> image/png 1632228311 2021-09-21 12:45:11 1632228311 2021-09-21 12:45:11 <![CDATA[Piloting On-Demand Multimodal Transit in Atlanta ]]> <![CDATA[How the System Works ]]> <![CDATA[ODMTS Pilot – Animation]]>
<![CDATA[Georgia Tech Researchers Receive $2.5 Million Grant to Focus on Improving Atlanta-Area Transportation Through Holistic Community Approach]]> 34760 Researchers from Georgia Tech have been awarded a $2.5 million National Science Foundation Smart and Connected Communities Grant to develop systems that will improve travel mobility, safety, equity, and sustainability using the city of Peachtree Corners, Ga., as an immersive living lab.

During the course of the four-year project, the research team will develop tools and evaluate policies that will allow communities to leverage advances in information, communication, and sensor technologies in a quantifiable manner to achieve sustainable travel goals.

The project’s principal investigator, Frederick R. Dickerson Chair and Professor Srinivas Peeta, explained that the crux of the work lies in analyzing and fusing qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of sources including emerging technologies—like sensors that collect large volumes of data—and communications strategies like community feedback surveys.

“In any city, there are all these resources,” said Peeta, who is jointly appointed in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. “For transportation engineers, how do we use all of these technologies and all of the data? How do we use all of this to come up with solutions that are holistic?”

Reaching the Community

Through the grant, Peeta and the research team will work to create strategies to meet the needs of a diverse set of constituents, with a particular focus on reaching under-represented communities. These include “information deserts” in lower-income neighborhoods, in which residents do not have as much access to smart phones and internet, as well as senior residents for whom technology is an obstacle.

To foster sustainability values in children, the project will involve initiatives in K-12 schools, including engagement roles for a local high school. The researchers will also develop a new community app to provide Peachtree Corners users with information about travel options and collect feedback.

The Georgia Tech researchers are partnering with the City of Peachtree Corners; Gwinnett County Department of Transportation; Tortoise, an artificial intelligence company focused on last-mile delivery logistics and shared micromobility; Paul Duke STEM High School in Gwinnett County; and Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners, a publicly-funded test environment designed to advance intelligent mobility and smart city technology.

“Curiosity Lab is a unique public/private partnership that facilitates innovation by others. We are excited to work with Georgia Tech researchers to advance mobility concepts that benefit future generations,” said Betsy Plattenburg, executive director of Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners.

Generating Solutions

Through this grant, the research team will address the challenges of how to integrate disparate, multi-source data from various stakeholders and use it to systematically generate solutions — in the form of partnerships, behavioral interventions, and policy interventions — to meet sustainability objectives at the community level in a systematic, quantifiable manner over time.

The researchers will utilize methods from multi-objective and multi-agent optimization, machine learning, behavioral economics, and data and policy analytics to generate multidimensional solutions.

“We are making steps towards real-time policy analysis and program evaluation with information-based strategies,” said the project’s Co-PI Omar Asensio, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy and director of the Data Science and Policy Lab. “The connections to real-time experiments and observational data feeds will be important. To do this effectively, we will introduce methods of causal inference to isolate the underlying causes of behavior change in travel patterns, which will then feed into more effective machine learning models. Real-time analysis represents a step change in our ability to understand travel choices related to congestion and sustainability.”

Asensio explained that the move towards real-time analytics can be faster, cheaper and potentially more accurate than traditional government transit surveys, which are slow, costly, and update relatively infrequently.

Creating a Framework

The Peachtree Corners project will focus on collaboration among three main constituencies: transportation users, providers, and influencers.

“For the users, how can they have a better travel experience? For influencers, what can they do to share information and reach larger groups? And for providers, how can they collaborate?” Peeta said.

Gwinnett County Transit is the main public transportation provider in Peachtree Corners. But there are also private sector companies that provide micromobility options like electric scooters that supplement traditional public transportation.

Influencers are community pillars such as school districts and major employers that have the opportunity to share information about transportation with their constituents and influence travel behavior.

The transportation users in this project are the residents of Peachtree Corners, a diverse population of different ages, abilities, genders, races and income levels that all have different needs and travel behaviors.

The goal is that after four years, the model will be sustainable in Peachtree Corners and can be replicated in other communities.

“By the end of this project, we hope to have a framework that can be transferred to any city with a smart and connected framework,” Peeta said. “If they’re able to do it there, then it’s transferable elsewhere.”

]]> Laurie Haigh 1 1632331114 2021-09-22 17:18:34 1634241231 2021-10-14 19:53:51 0 0 news Georgia Tech researchers have been awarded a $2.5M NSF Smart and Connected Communities Grant to develop systems improving travel mobility, safety, equity and sustainability.

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2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-22 00:00:00 Melissa Fralick
Communications Manager
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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651033 616487 651034 651033 image <![CDATA[Transit Image]]> image/png 1632332459 2021-09-22 17:40:59 1632332474 2021-09-22 17:41:14 616487 image <![CDATA[Frederick R. Dickerson Chair and Professor Srinivas Peeta]]> image/jpeg 1547593343 2019-01-15 23:02:23 1547593343 2019-01-15 23:02:23 651034 image <![CDATA[Assistant Professor Omar Asensio]]> image/png 1632332539 2021-09-22 17:42:19 1632332539 2021-09-22 17:42:19
<![CDATA[SCL Welcomes South Shore's Claude Bernier to its Industry Advisory Board]]> 27233 Claude Bernier has been with South Shore Furniture since 1994 and currently serves as VP of Information Technology. South Shore Furniture, founded in 1940 and incorporated in Quebec, sells ready-to-assemble and fully assembled furniture in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In 2005, South Shore began selling its products online and adopted the dropship business model. It now has two manufacturing plants in Quebec, Canada, one in Juarez, Mexico and three distribution centers in the United States. During his 27 years with South Shore, Claude has led two major transformations to support business growth and now is in charge of the organization's digital transformation.

Claude brings 37 years of experience and leadership in information technology, process automation, enterprise architecture, and software implementation. His expertise includes building and leading successful teams focused on results, improving business processes based on business strategy and long-term company vision and goals, and delivering value-added to internal and external customers. Prior to South Shore Furniture, Claude was an information technology consultant specializing in the wood and paper industry. 

Mr. Bernier lives in Quebec City, Canada. When he his not working he enjoys hiking and camping in National Parks across North America.

The Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute is honored to have Claude join us to help determine SCL's future direction.

]]> Andy Haleblian 1 1634240904 2021-10-14 19:48:24 1634241038 2021-10-14 19:50:38 0 0 news Claude Bernier is VP of Information Technology at South Shore Furniture. Claude brings 37 years of experience and leadership in information technology, process automation, enterprise architecture, and software implementation.

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2021-10-11T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-11T00:00:00-04:00 2021-10-11 00:00:00 651723 651723 image <![CDATA[Claude Bernier, VP of Information Technology, South Shore Furniture]]> image/jpeg 1634240697 2021-10-14 19:44:57 1634242179 2021-10-14 20:09:39 <![CDATA[SCL Industry Advisory Board members]]>
<![CDATA[Get to Know ISyE’s Newest Advisory Board Members]]> 35757 Ron Beerman, Laticia Khalif, Jennifer McKeehan, Evren Ozkaya, and Amy Wheelus joined the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) Advisory Board in the summer of 2021.

These five, along with 15 other distinguished professional and community leaders, serve as a sounding board for the school chair in an advisory capacity and assist with development goals. Each new member will serve a four-year term (2021-25). Scott Herren (IE 1984), executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cisco, was named the advisory board’s new chair, and Kathryn Cooper (IE 1990), president of World Connections, was named vice chair. Both will serve a one-year term in these roles.

Ron Beerman (IE 1973) is founder and chairman of the board for Profitmaster Displays, Inc., a company that has grown to become the leading supplier of merchandising and point-of-purchase displays for the soft drink and packaged beverage industry. Prior to this role, he was employed by Anheuser-Busch, The Coca-Cola Company, and Mead Corp. in a variety of engineering, marketing, and planning positions. In addition to his ISyE degree, Beerman holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

What was your takeaway from the ISyE undergraduate experience? “The IE program provided me with a great technical and analytical background on which to build a career. It taught me how to define, approach, and solve a problem, and the value of having a system for everything, disciplines that I know I apply every day, even if sometimes subconsciously.”

Laticia Khalif (IE 1988, M.S. IE 1991) is director of quality, medical device for Aptar CSP Technologies. In this role she is responsible for ensuring compliance with all internal and external requirements, as well as for monitoring the effectiveness of Aptar’s quality management system through maintenance, assessment, and improvement. Prior to this role, she worked at well-established medical device manufacturers as well as startup companies, which have collectively led to an extensive, well rounded, and focused career as a quality professional in the medical device industry.

Who was your favorite professor and why? “My favorite professor was Augustine Esogbue. Not because of the courses he taught, but because of what he represented to African American students at the Institute during those first 25 years of African American students on Georgia Tech’s campus. It was his role modeling, mentorship, and encouragement as the faculty advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers. It was knowing how proud he was going to be when we “got out” of GT. Those are the things that pushed me forward, made me excel and caused me to dig deep — because I wanted to make my favorite professor proud.”

Jennifer McKeehan (IE 2005) is senior vice president, integrated supply chain, for Peloton Interactive. In this role, she and her team are leading the supply chain transformation to scale and support an incredible growth trajectory across people, process and technology. Prior to this role, Jennifer was vice president, supply chain for The Home Depot — leading the inventory planning and replenishment supply chain functions for all fulfillment channels across stores and online, and managing over $15 billion of inventory.

What was your favorite class and why? “I loved probability and statistics — it is the foundation to so many things we use in everyday life. I still bust out my textbook in a meeting every now and then.”

Evren Ozkaya (Ph.D. IE 2008) is the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Wizard, LLC, a management consulting and digital solutions firm helping clients establish and execute cost-effective and scalable digital transformation programs via data-driven decision-making by leveraging state-of-the-art technology. Prior to starting Supply Chain Wizard, Ozkaya was a consultant and led various business transformation programs in industries such as pharmaceuticals, healthcare, consumer goods, industrial, logistics and private equity.

Who was your favorite professor and why? "Pinar Keskinocak. She was my primary Ph.D. advisor and she presented me with lots of cool opportunities at ISyE from internships to research and teaching. She also later became a lifelong friend, collaborator and a person I look up to as she continued to excel in every aspect of her career as a globally recognized leader.”

Amy Wheelus (IE 1990) is vice president of architecture and strategic planning for AT&T’s consumer technology platforms. In her career at AT&T, she has done everything from building buildings to launching new businesses, and held various technology leadership roles across business units including AT&T Labs. She currently serves as board chair for Tech Titans, a forum that connects the regional technology community of north Texas. In addition to her ISyE degree, Wheelus holds an MBA from Emory University.

What is your best ISyE memory? “My best ISyE memory comes not from when I was a student, but rather after I started working at AT&T and submitted a project proposal for Senior Design. Having the opportunity to work with students from ISyE to solve real problems for my company is a great memory.”

]]> goberst3 1 1632362036 2021-09-23 01:53:56 1632510122 2021-09-24 19:02:02 0 0 news Ron Beerman, Laticia Khalif, Jennifer McKeehan, Evren Ozkaya, and Amy Wheelus joined the ISyE Advisory Board in the summer of 2021.

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2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-22 00:00:00 Laurie Haigh

Communications Manager
H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Jorge Guzman, Cofounder of Craft Brewery Antigua Cerveza, on His Entrepreneurial Journey]]> 35757 Growing up in Guatemala, Jorge Guzman (IE 2009) was always aware of Georgia Tech’s excellent academic reputation and dreamed of someday studying at the Institute. This desire was cemented when, at age 11, Guzman flew to London on a family trip and had a conversation with the businessman seated next to him: Ivan Ochoa, then a vice president for American Express, who had earned a degree from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) in 1980.

“There was this allure about it,” Guzman recalled. “This was someone who had actually gone to the school I imagined myself attending, and he had gotten a degree in the major I was most interested in.”

Guzman eventually made his own way to Georgia Tech, received his bachelor’s degree from ISyE, and began his professional career — as so many ISyE graduates do — as a banker and consultant. A few years later, he began thinking about starting his own business back in Guatemala. Together with fellow ISyE graduates Taylor Virgil (IE 2009) and Jack Spehn (IE 2010), Guzman and team opened the first craft brewery, Antigua Cerveza, in the Guatemalan colonial city of Antigua in 2015. He discusses this experience in the following interview.

Did you have any exposure to entrepreneurship while growing up?

Both of my parents are entrepreneurs. My dad runs a Spanish school located in Antigua’s town center. Tourists come to visit, take classes for a few days or weeks, and then go out to explore the surrounding area. My mom is a ceramics artist, and she began giving lessons on how to make and paint ceramics. That led to opening a small business selling her work to tourists, and then eventually supplying her pieces to the Guatemalan equivalent of Bed Bath & Beyond. Now she’s exporting ceramic tiles to the United States and Europe.

How did you decide to open your own business?

After graduating from Georgia Tech, I worked as an investment banker for several years. Part of what was great about that experience was getting to talk with so many company founders about how they got their start and what they had learned in the process. I was literally making notes about all this as part of my job, and eventually I had enough enthusiasm and motivation to take that step myself.

I spent some time talking about various business ideas with my friends and fellow ISyE alumni, Taylor and Jack, with whom I had studied abroad and still traveled with. Initially we thought we might start a travel business and headquarter it in Guatemala. That’s where I’m from, of course, but they had also visited and loved the country. We were sitting in a brewpub in Portland, Oregon, having a freshly poured Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Deschutes Brewery, when I spontaneously asked, “What if instead we start a craft brewery?” Taylor said, “I love it, but what do you know about beer — besides drinking it?”

What was the process of educating yourself about brewing beer?

I began reading as many books about brewing as I could find, and I attended a one-week intensive on the subject at the University of California, Davis. The weekend after I flew back from that, I randomly happened to meet and play pool with the head brewer of an Atlanta brewery — I never play pool! — and he invited me to come take a look at his brewing setup. I eventually started working at Jailhouse Brewing Company (unsalaried) and began to learn that there’s a real science behind brewing quality and tasty beer. So much goes into the moment when someone cracks open a beer to make it a fantastic experience for the drinker.

On the topic of creating beers, what does Antigua Cerveza offer its customers?

We barrel-age some beers. We have an American-style amber, an India pale ale (IPA), and a stout, among others. We recently won the gold medal in a local competition for our saison.

Some breweries hone in on one particular style, such as sours or IPAs, but we don’t do that. We serve a little bit of everything, and that’s because we’re trying to educate our customers that there are, in fact, different types of beer out there. Although it’s not yet the industry in Guatemala that it is in the States, craft beer is becoming more popular here. We’ve been able to double our sales year over year since we started.

How did your ISyE training, as well as the friendships you made at Georgia Tech and in your major, contribute to starting and running your own business?

I can’t overstate how impactful it was to graduate from ISyE and Georgia Tech. Out of 33 investors in Antigua Cerveza, about 15 of them are Tech alumni, and I went to school with seven or eight of those people. We would study together for an exam and then go have a beer afterward, and they’re the ones who have trusted me with their investment.  You get close to the people who experience Tech’s challenges alongside you.

What has the past year been like in terms of managing your business during a pandemic?

We managed to grow a business year over year and have now survived Guatemala’s multiple countrywide lockdowns because of Covid-19 by deciding to double down on the business instead of scaling back. We built a beer garden in Antigua’s town center so people could come have a beer in the open air, and by December 2020 we were able to bring back most of our employees at full salary. It was risky, but it was the right move.

What entrepreneurial advice do you have for current ISyE students or young alumni?

The best advice I can offer is to make sure you choose your partners right. I’ve seen so many friends start companies without really knowing the other people with whom they’re going into business. It’s a kind of marriage: If things get dicey — because with startups they will — you need to know that you’re in there with someone who understands and supports you and who can help you solve problems.

I have been incredibly lucky to have Taylor and Jack as my two business partners. Their strengths are where I’m weak, and vice versa. And here we are, almost nine full years from that moment in Portland — we’re still here, and we’re so excited about what the future holds.

]]> goberst3 1 1631222608 2021-09-09 21:23:28 1632249133 2021-09-21 18:32:13 0 0 news ISyE alumnus Jorge Guzman shares his experience opening the first craft brewery in the colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala with fellow ISyE alumni Taylor Virgil and Jack Spehn.

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2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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645844 650606 650608 645844 image <![CDATA[Jorge Guzman]]> image/jpeg 1617032367 2021-03-29 15:39:27 1617032367 2021-03-29 15:39:27 650606 image <![CDATA[Taylor Virgil, Jorge Guzman, and John Spehn]]> image/png 1631202787 2021-09-09 15:53:07 1631202787 2021-09-09 15:53:07 650608 image <![CDATA[Antigua Cerveza beer garden]]> image/jpeg 1631202933 2021-09-09 15:55:33 1631202933 2021-09-09 15:55:33 <![CDATA[Growing Guatemala's Craft Beer Industry]]>
<![CDATA[ISyE Announces First Cohort of DEI Fellows]]> 35757 The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) announced the first cohort of the School’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Fellows: Coca-Cola Foundation Professor Dave Goldsman, Assistant Professor Lauren Steimle, Senior Writer/Editor Shelley Wunder-Smith, and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies Chen Zhou. ISyE established the DEI Fellowship program in Spring 2021 to support initiatives that enhance diversity within ISyE’s faculty and graduate student body and to highlight a wide range of minority experiences within the entire ISyE community. The program fits within the overall vision and mission of ISyE’s recently created Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE).

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion are paramount to our continued success as a school and a community,” said ISyE School Chair Edwin Romeijn. “The DEI Fellowship program is part of my commitment to ensure that our school is a place where everyone's contributions are valued without exception. The work done by these inaugural Fellows – and those to come – will help ensure that ISyE is not only the No. 1 industrial engineering program in the country academically, but is also a school where all people can achieve their goals and feel welcome.”

Goldsman, who is ISyE’s director of master’s programs, noted in his project proposal that “while ISyE has been the No. 1 program in our field for decades, we continue to have issues attracting women and underrepresented minority students – particularly to our graduate programs.” His focus this year as a DEI Fellow will be to both visit with and host faculty from women’s colleges, HBCUs, and other small colleges in Georgia Tech’s sphere of influence; the goal is to engage with faculty mentors at these institutions who will then be able to recommend both the field of industrial engineering (IE) – and the Stewart School itself – to their brightest students.

Steimle currently serves as the Georgia Tech INFORMS chapter advisor, and through conversations with the chapter’s members, she realized that undergraduates studying math, computer science, and other engineering disciplines are sometimes unaware of industrial engineering and how these fields of study prepare them to be excellent candidates for studying IE and operations research at the graduate level. Evidence suggests that women and students from underrepresented minority groups are attracted to fields with potential for social impact, so there is an opportunity to showcase to students how IE can improve society. In partnership with Georgia Tech INFORMS and CASE, Steimle is offering a series of outreach events to connect with STEM students throughout Georgia, particularly those at the state’s minority-serving institutions and women’s colleges.

Zhou, who has written recently on the moral and ethical implications of supply chain optimization, plans to use his DEI Fellowship funds to connect with HBCU faculty and students who want to research the lack of equity in food access. In his project proposal, Zhou noted that the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the systemic racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to medical care and overall health, and that so-called food deserts and their broader impact are a significant part of the problem.

Last spring, during the social justice protests that followed the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, Wunder-Smith reached out to several Black ISyE alumni and students and invited them to share their thoughts on the current moment, as well as their experiences of being Black in STEM and at Georgia Tech. These interviews, and subsequent others, formed the foundation of the ISyE “In Conversation” series. As part of her DEI project, Wunder-Smith – who has also been selected for the 2021-22 cohort of the Georgia Tech Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship program – plans to work with CASE Director and Senior Lecturer Damon P. Williams to further develop the In Conversation series through a succession of video interviews.

Each spring semester, a call for applications to the ISyE DEI Fellows program will be extended to ISyE faculty and staff. ISyE’s associate chairs, members of the ISyE DEI Committee, and CASE leadership will review the proposals and make recommendations for selection, with final award decisions being made by the School Chair. Up to five Fellows will be chosen for each cohort, which will participate in the program for one academic year.

]]> goberst3 1 1631221801 2021-09-09 21:10:01 1632248835 2021-09-21 18:27:15 0 0 news The DEI Fellowship program was established to enhance diversity within ISyE’s faculty and graduate student body and to highlight minority experiences within the entire ISyE community.

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2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[Alumnus H. Milton Stewart Recognized with Honorary Ph.D. from Georgia Tech]]> 35757 At the Spring 2021 Commencement ceremony, H. Milton Stewart (IE 1961) received an honorary doctorate from Georgia Tech in recognition of his tremendous and longtime service to the Institute.

A leader in the telecommunications industry for most of his career, Stewart is the retired CEO of Standard Telephone Company. He has served on numerous boards including the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, the Georgia Tech Foundation, and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) Advisory Board. Stewart and his wife, Carolyn, served as honorary chairs of the public phase of Campaign Georgia Tech. They are members of The Hill Society.

Stewart decided to attend Georgia Tech when George Griffin, then the dean of students, visited his rural Georgia high school. Stewart entered the Institute as an electrical engineering major, then switched to industrial engineering (IE) when he realized the IE curriculum was better suited to his interests in telecommunications and the outdoors.

“I loved statistics,” Stewart recalled in a 2006 interview. “Statistics was material to 20th-century telecommunications in order to optimize electromechanical switching equipment to handle busy-hour call volume.” Other IE coursework that he found helpful throughout his career included plant design and layout, material handling, and engineering economy, in addition to numerous interdisciplinary engineering classes. A highlight of Stewart’s college career was working as a student assistant in the IE office, helmed at the time by Colonel Frank Groseclose.

The School that bears his name has benefited immeasurably from Stewart’s philanthropy. In 1995 he established the H. Milton Stewart Endowment Fund for ISyE programs, and in 1999 he endowed the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair, the first such chair at the Institute. In 2006 Stewart provided a permanent endowment, which named the School and impacted and enhanced the entire ISyE program. 

“ISyE always makes us proud,” Stewart said. “Receiving the honorary Ph.D. was a wonderful thrill and is a recognition both humbling to and greatly appreciated by Carolyn and me and by our incredibly supportive family.”

]]> goberst3 1 1631222181 2021-09-09 21:16:21 1632248756 2021-09-21 18:25:56 0 0 news At the Spring 2021 Commencement ceremony, H. Milton Stewart (IE 1961) received an honorary doctorate from Georgia Tech in recognition of his tremendous, longtime service to the Institute.

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2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-09 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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<![CDATA[ISyE Ranked No. 1 for the 27th Year]]> 28766 The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering’s (ISyE) undergraduate program has been ranked No. 1 in the country by U.S. News & World Report. This marks the 27th consecutive year that ISyE has been so designated. The rankings were released on September 13, 2021.

Nationally, Georgia Tech ranks 38th on the overall list of top universities and 10th among public institutions, tied in both cases with the University of California-Davis, the University of Texas at Austin, and William & Mary.

The College of Engineering is ranked fourth nationally, unchanged from last year’s standing. All undergraduate engineering programs are ranked in the top 5. 

View the complete list of College of Engineering rankings and the Institute's rankings.

]]> Shelley Wunder-Smith 1 1631541573 2021-09-13 13:59:33 1631543663 2021-09-13 14:34:23 0 0 news For the 27th consecutive year, USNWR ranked ISyE's undergraduate program as No. 1 in the nation. The College of Engineering is ranked fourth.

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2021-09-13T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-13T00:00:00-04:00 2021-09-13 00:00:00 Shelley Wunder-Smith

H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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