Chelsea "Chip" C. White III, the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart Chair of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), has announced he will be stepping down as School Chair on June 30, 2010. However, White will not be leaving the Stewart School.  He will be returning to the faculty to resume his work as the Schneider National Chair in Logistics and Transportation and co-director of the Global Transportation Center of Focused Research within the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute.

"Chip has been an outstanding School Chair in the College, providing thoughtful leadership not only for ISyE, but also within the group of College of Engineering (COE) school chairs," said Dean Don P. Giddens. "And despite the heavy administrative role demanded of COE school chairs, Chip's national and international recognition for his own professional scholarship has been maintained."

White assumed his duties as School Chair on July 1, 2005, following Bill Rouse, who served as chair from 2001 to 2005.  During White's tenure as school chair, ISyE has strived to insure continued and increased strength of the School's foundation disciplines (optimization, stochastics & simulation, and statistics) and to broaden its applied research horizons through continued support of supply chain & logistics initiatives, efforts to revive traditional strengths in health, and new initiatives in health & humanitarian logistics, sustainability & natural systems, and systems informatics & control.  ISyE has also expanded its international activities beyond those in Singapore to include programs in Shanghai and Costa Rica.  Commenting on White's contributions, Dean Giddens said "I am greatly indebted to him for steering the school into broadening their horizons."

Also during White's tenure as School Chair, ISyE received a $20M commitment to the School from Carolyn J. and Milton H. Stewart that is enabling ISyE to have greater impact on its academic and research communities and on challenges of economic and societal importance.  In 2006, the School was named the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.  Overall, ISyE Foundation accounts have increased from $24M to $64M from endowment gifts and commitments during the last five years, helping to insure the School’s financial stability and health during the economic downturn and providing resources to help ISyE increase its dominance among its academic peers.  ISyE's graduate program has now been ranked by U.S. News and World Reports first in industrial & manufacturing engineering for an unprecedented 19 years straight.  'All of our success would not have been possible without the commitment to excellence of the faculty, staff, and students and the support of the administration, our alums, and friends," said White.  

In a note to the ISyE faculty and staff, White stated that these past five years as School chair have been "personally and professionally rewarding.  I have enjoyed interacting with the wonderful faculty, staff, alumni, advisory board, students, and friends who make up the ISyE community," said White.  He also expressed his "gratitude to Dean Giddens and the Georgia Tech administration, for their interest in helping ISyE continue to be the best academic unit of its kind internationally."

As of July 1, 2010, White will turn his attention back to his research as the Schneider National Chair in Logistics and Transportation and co-director of the Global Transportation Center of Focused Research within the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute and will resume his research on important issues to the supply chain & logistics industry.  

Dean Giddens is working closely with the ISyE Faculty Advisory Committee and Professor White to establish a search committee and undertake a national search for the next school chair. Professor Vigor Yang, Chair of the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, will chair the committee. An interim chair will be named to be effective on July 1, 2010, and until the position is filled.