Gift Brings OU ISE Into New Era

A $4.4 million gift to the University of Oklahoma Foundation has the capacity to transform OU’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Charles Jones, a 1969 ISE alumnus from OU’s Gallogly College of Engineering, has committed $2.2 million to establish the Charles R. Jones Endowed Chair in Data Science and Analytics and $2 million to the new Madelaine Pfau Endowed Chair in Enterprise Leadership for Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Learn more about this incredible gift and the lives and spirit of Jones and Pfau here: 
https://ouccoe100.blogspot.com/2021/11/gift-brings-ou-school-of-industrial.html

The School of ISE Welcomes Two New Faculty

Two new faculty members will join the OU School of ISE in the fall of 2021. 

Rui Zhu, Ph.D., joins the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering as an assistant professor. She earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial design at Harbin Institute of Technology in China, and a doctorate at The Pennsylvania State University, where she also taught. Her current research focus is sensor-based modeling and optimization of cardiovascular systems.

William Klimack, Ph.D., will teach online Master of Science courses. With an extensive military and professional background, he brings real-world experience to OU, most recently working with Chevron Corp. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Lehigh University, a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Military Art and Sciences degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and a doctorate in operations research from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology. He served in the U.S. Army for 26 years, retiring as a colonel.

Learn more about all the new faculty joining the Gallogly College of Engineering here: https://ouccoe100.blogspot.com/2021/08/gcoe-welcomes-new-faculty.html

High School Students Hosted by OU ISE

OU ISE professor Kash Barker, with the help of graduate students Emma Kuttler and Alyssa Pletcher, hosted several high school students on Saturday, June 5, 2021. The future engineers learned about the ISE profession, the diversity of career fields they may find, and several tools and methods that ISEs employ. They also participated in interactive games introducing concepts network optimization and simulation. 

More information about OU Engineering Days can be found here: https://ouccoe100.blogspot.com/2021/07/ou-summer-program-introduces-high.html

OU ISE Faculty Member Janet Allen Recognized At Annual Celebration

ISE faculty member Janet Allen was among several GCoE faculty who received honors for their outstanding work during the 2021 OU Faculty Tribute. A John and Mary Moore Chair in the OU School of ISE, Allen was presented with the Vice President for Research and Partnerships Award for Excellence in Applied Research and Engineering. She is known for her work in decision-based design and formulating problems and modeling uncertainty.

Learn more here: https://ouccoe100.blogspot.com/2021/06/ou-engineering-faculty-receive-top.html

Q&A with Ricardo Palma Fraga, ISE PhD Student

OU ISE doctoral student, Ricard Palma Fraga, was recently interviewed by the OU GCoE. Read more here: https://ouccoe100.blogspot.com/2020/11/q-with-ricardo-palma-fraga-ise-phd.html

Q&A with Ricardo Palma Fraga, ISE PhD Student

OU ISE doctoral student, Ricard Palma Fraga, was recently interviewed by the OU GCoE. Read more here: https://ouccoe100.blogspot.com/2020/11/q-with-ricardo-palma-fraga-ise-phd.html 

OU Industrial and Systems Engineering Professor Recognized With Award for Supporting Students

NORMAN, OKLA. – Janet Allen, University of Oklahoma professor of industrial and systems engineering, was named the recipient of the 2019 Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Design Educator Award.

One of the highest honors bestowed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to engineering design education through scholarship creation, instructorship, and as a mentor and role model.

Allen is one of the founders of the National Science Foundation/ASME Travel Grant Program, which she has helped run for more than 20 years. This program created a Student Design Essay Competition, funded by the National Science Foundation. Winners are awarded grants to travel and present their work at the International Design Engineering Technical Conferences annual ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference.

“Students go to the conference and talk to whomever they want, present their ideas and get feedback,” Allen explains. “It gives them the tools to continue to develop their careers.”

Since the creation of the grant, nearly a dozen essay winners have gone into the academic field, even sending students of their own to the conference.

Appropriately, Allen was nominated by a former student, Wei Chen, who is a professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern University.

“Professor Allen is passionate about encouraging students to rise to their full potential,” Chen wrote. “Through her educational and outreach efforts, she has positively influenced the lives of hundreds of undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty members.”

Allen joined the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Along with Professor Farrokh Mistree, she established the Systems Realization Laboratory, with a focus on engineering design. Additionally, Allen holds the John and Mary Moore Chair of Engineering at OU.

“We’re all extremely proud of our students,” Allen says. “We want to continue to help make their lives better, particularly their experiences in grad school.”

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