University Of Oklahoma’s Hands-On Engineering Course Profiled

The Norman (OK) Transcript (5/22) reports that over the last 25 years, University of Oklahoma industrial and systems engineering (ISE) students “have supplemented courses they take at OU with ‘hands-on’ machining/design of manufacturing experience at Moore Norman Technology Center.” Most ISE students cannot operate “the machines that make the parts they are designing, an important step ISE Interim Director Shivakumar Raman thinks is necessary for engineering practice.” Raman believes the University of Oklahoma’s partnership with MNTC “is the first and only hands-on undergraduate engineering partnership like it in the country.” More than 90 engineering students are currently enrolled in Raman’s class, compared to 16 in Raman’s inaugural class.

Faculty and Students Representing OU ISE at the IISE Annual Conference

The OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering had a strong showing at the 2018 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Annual Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida. OU ISE was represented by Drs. Kash Barker, Andres Gonzalez, Ziho Kang, Shima Mohebbi, Charles Nicholson, and Shivakumar Raman, as well as Dr. Nazanin Morshedlou, recent ISE doctoral graduate, ISE grad students Vera Bosco, Nafiseh Ghorbadi Renani, and Deniz Berfin Karakoc, and DSA grad student Alexander Rodriguez.

OU ISE Associate Professor Kash Barker co-chaired the conference program with Chase Rainwater of the University of Arkansas and Diana Berry of Harsco Rail, overseeing the abstracts, extended abstracts, proceedings papers, and schedule for nearly 1200 presentations across 22 tracks. OU ISE’s strategic application focus in cyber-physical-social systems engineering was on display in the Security Engineering and Safety, Human Factors, and Ergonomics tracks with several student and faculty presentations and organized sessions.

In addition to current OU ISE students and faculty attendees, also pictured are Dr. Pedro Heubner, new OU ISE faculty member and recent doctoral graduate from North Carolina State University, Dr. Deji Badiru, former OU ISE faculty member and dean of OU’s University College who is currently dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and Dr. Cameron MacKenzie, OU ISE doctoral graduate and assistant professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University.