The Institute

Keeping pace with IISE in the November 2016 issue of  ISE 

VOLUNTEER SNAPSHOT: When two become one

Clemson's Mason has helped create a single, transformed IISE Annual Conference 

Scott Mason's most recent driving passion has been turning two conferences into one.

And IISE's senior vice president of continuing education will get to see his passion become reality May 20-23, 2017, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. That's when the IISE Annual Conference and Expo debuts its new format.

For years, the annual gathering has been divided into the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference (ISERC) and the Applied Solutions Conference. But as Mason, the Fluor Endowed Chair and Professor of Industrial Engineering at Clemson University, emphasized, the ISERC gala included many applied academic talks that practitioners could benefit from by seeing how academia was developing solutions that could work in industry. And many researchers in industry are doing interesting work where academics could learn how the tools they teach are deployed in the real world.

"As an attendee, not having to choose between a quote research or academic talk or session … and industry is going be a boon for me," Mason said.

Mason's passion for conferences started early. During his first faculty job at the University of Arkansas, John English, now dean of the university's College of Engineering, emphasized the importance of IISE, conference attendance and volunteering. "Basically, I was told it was the right thing to do as a brand new assistant professor and I took that advice to heart," Mason recalled.

Since then, he has gone up the proverbial leadership ladder, from IISE Annual session chair to session organizer to track chair to entire conference chair. Outside of conferences, he got involved in the Operations Research Division and became a technical vice president.

When Mason joined the board of trustees in 2015, he knew it was time to build on the work of his predecessor as SVP of continuing education, John Fowler, who piloted the one conference idea by picking a few tracks and building joint sessions between the industry side and the academic side.

"I really think that we have the perfect storm of the set of volunteers who share the collective vision of the annual conference, and they're willing to put in the time and the effort to do it," Mason said.

Practitioners are partnering with researchers, and the academics in the Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Department Heads (CIEADH) oversight committee have welcomed practitioners into those phone calls, Mason said.

"So far it's been very well-received," Mason said. "And I really think folks are going to be pleasantly surprised with the outcome in Pittsburgh and hopefully for the rest of the future conferences."

Youth shall lead the way

DiscoverE's New Faces of Engineering deadline is Nov. 18
DiscoverE is accepting nominations for professional New Faces of Engineering for 2017.

IISE and 15 other professional societies work with DiscoverE each year during Engineers Week to honor an exceptional group of young engineers who are making significant contributions to society with real-world applications of their skills and training. The program also promotes the image of engineering throughout the world, and the New Face for each engineering society puts real faces and stories to the profession, helping young engineers and engineering students understand that they are part of a global community of engineering professionals. The New Faces candidates also act as ambassadors for their profession.

Here are the IISE nomination criteria:

• Nominees must be 30 years old or younger as of Dec. 31.
• Nominees must be members of IISE.
• Nominees must have a degree in industrial engineering from an ABET-accredited U.S. college or university or from an equivalent international educational institution.

The selected nominee will be featured in national and local media outlets during Engineers Week Feb. 19-25, 2017, on the DiscoverE and IISE websites, and in ISE magazine.

Go to www.discovere.org/newfaces to apply. The website includes a nomination guide and forms. Nominations require a headshot, a list of accomplishments and four short essays. Applicants can include an "action" photo at work, in training or in class. The deadline to apply is Nov. 18.

For questions about the program, criteria or nomination process, contact Karen Kuhn, director of operations at DiscoverE, at (703) 684-2864 or karen@discovere.org. You may also contact Monica Elliott, IISE director of communications, at melliott@iise.org. 

Hashemite University fields successful forum

More than 200 attendees learn how to transition to the work world
For the second year in a row, the student chapter at Hashemite University in Jordan fielded The IISE Forum, which focused on minimizing the gap between industrial engineering students and the work world.

This year's forum, held on Sept. 8, included eight speakers, seven different universities from two countries and drew more than 200 attendees. The forum's theme was a "Path to Business." Speakers examined how fresh graduates could be equipped with the tools necessary to join the business world without delay, said Marah B. Taha, the chapter's social media team leader and secretary.

The forum included debates and workshops on topics that included the importance of industrial engineering, business initiation, excellence models, business and management, communication skills and self-development, ERP and other topics of interest to industrial and systems engineers and students throughout the region.

IISE in India

International chapters continue their march to the future

Local chapters are the lifeblood of any professional or educational organization, and IISE is no different.

Founded as the American Institute of Industrial Engineers in 1948, AIIE dropped the American in 1981 to emphasize that industrial engineering is indeed international and offers improvements to virtually every sector across the world. The now Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers continues its global outreach, and international chapters continue to grow.

This year saw IISE's first chapter in India. On Aug. 1, IISE-VIT was inaugurated at VIT University in Vellore, India. Attendees included the school's chancellor, G. Viswanathan, and faculty coordinator Vijaya Kumar Manupati. Student affairs director Harshita Raj highlighted how VIT was the first university in India to have an IISE chapter and encouraged other colleges to follow its lead. Viswanathan's welcome address noted how the new chapter would be crucial in helping VIT students get access to opportunities to develop new and efficient technologies to drive the world forward.

This was emphasized by special guest K.R. Anandakumar Nair. Nair is a former executive director of Lucas TVS, a joint venture between Lucas, UK and TVS, India, that manufactures automotive electrical systems. He used his experience of 45 years in industry to detail new innovations in the field and the attitude necessary to create the breakthrough technologies of the future.

Including IISE-VIT, 10 international university chapters have been chartered in 2016.

The others are:

Chapter 657: AURAK Industrial Engineering Chapter (United Arab Emirates)

Chapter 659: ULACIT (Costa Rica)

Chapter 660: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (India)

Chapter 661: Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico)

Chapter 662: IPN-UPIIG (Mexico)

Chapter 663: Caribbean Chapter (Costa Rica)

Chapter 664: Industrial Engineering Society – AUB (Lebanon)

Chapter 666: Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (Mexico)

Chapter 667: Instituto Tecnológico Superior P'urhépecha (ITSP) (Mexico)

 

The worldwide roster

IISE's international chapters span the globe – an appropriate thing to note in ISE's annual international issue.

The following list of chapters includes their status as gold, silver or bronze award winners – giving other chapters a goal to shoot for next year. Chapters earn gold, silver or bronze status based on their activities, programs, communication and other criteria.

Region 13: Mexico 

University chapters 

Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla Capítulo Estudiantil Bonaterra (Silver) 

Capítulo Estudiantil del Instituto Tecnológico de Reynosa (Bronze) 

Capítulo IIE – UDEM

CIIUS (Capítulo de Ingeniería Industrial de la Universidad de Sotavento)

Instituto Politécnico Nacional – UPIICSA (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico de Aguascalientes

Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Madero (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Victoria

Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Zamora

Instituto Tecnológico de la Laguna (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey – Sinaloa

Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia (Silver) 

Instituto Tecnológico de San Luis Potosí(Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico de Toluca (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico Superior de El Mante (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Poza Rica (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Rioverde

Instituto Tecnológico Superior de San Luis Potosí

Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Tantoyuca

Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Uruapan (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Xalapa (Gold) 

Instituto Tecnológico Superior P'urhépecha (ITSP) IPN-UPIIG

ITESM Campus Guadalajara

ITESM – Monterrey (Silver) 

ITESM – Querétaro (Gold) 

ITESM – Toluca

ITESO – Departamento Procesos Tecnológicos e Industriales Leans Guranís Chapter (Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Ciudad Hidalgo)

Polytechnic University of Tulancingo

Tecnológico de Puebla (Gold) 

Universidad Anáhuac Mayab (Gold) 

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California – CITEC

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon (Gold) 

Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Gold) 

Universidad Central

Universidad de las Americas (Gold) 

Universidad de Noreste

Universidad Veracruzana

Universidad Panamericana – Guadalajara (Gold) 

Universidad Panamericana-Mexico City

Universidad Politécnica de Aguascalientes (Gold) 

Universidad Politécnica del Valle de México (Gold) 

Universidad Politécnica de San Luis Potosí (Gold) 

 

Region 14: Canada 

Professional chapters  

Atlantic Provinces

Toronto

University chapters 

Concordia University (Gold) 

Dalhousie University

Ryerson University (Gold) 

University of Toronto

University of Waterloo

University of Windsor (Bronze) 

 

Region 16: Central and South America 

Professional chapter 

Costa Rica (Gold) 

University chapters 

Alpha Chapter – Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica sede San Carlos, San Carlos, Costa Rica (Bronze) 

Caribbean Chapter – Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica

Chapter Liberty – Universidad Libre, Bogotá, Colombia (Gold) 

Continental University Chapter, Huancayo, Peru (Gold) 

Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería, Bogotá, Colombia (Gold) 

ESPOL (Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral), Guayaquil, Ecuador (Gold) 

IISE Javeriana Cali, Cali, Colombia (Gold) 

IISE Sergio Arboleda University, Bogotá, Colombia (Gold) 

LaSalle University – Bogotá, Colombia

Konrad Lorenz IISE Chapter, Bogotá, Colombia (Silver) 

Militar Nueva Granada University, Bogotá, Colombia (Gold) 

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia (Gold) 

ULACIT – San José, Costa Rica

UNITEC-Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras (Gold) 

UNITEC-SPS, Tegucigalpa, Honduras (Gold) 

Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, Barranquilla, Colombia (Silver) 

Universidad Central, Bogotá, Colombia

Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Lima, Peru Universidad Distrital, Bogotá, Colombia (Silver) 

Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru

Universidad Santiago de Cali, Cali, Colombia

Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador (Gold) 

UPTC-Sogamoso, Sogamoso, Colombia (Gold) 

 

Region 17: Southwest Asia 

University chapters 

Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan

 

Region 18: Central Asia 

University chapters 

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

IISE – VIT – Vellore, India

 

Region 19: East Asia 

Professional chapter 

IISE Hong Kong Limited

 

Region 20: Southeast Asia 

University chapter 

IISE Binus University Chapter, Jakarta, Indonesia (Gold) 

 

Region 21: Middle East 

University chapters 

An-Najah National University, Nablus, West Bank (Gold) 

Hashemite University IISE Chapter, Zarqa, Jordan

Industrial Engineering Society, American University of Beirut, Beirut

Islamic University, Gaza Strip

Lebanese American University, Beirut

Lebanese International University, Beirut

University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

 

Region 22: Arabian Peninsula 

University chapters 

American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) Industrial Engineering Chapter, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Khalifia University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Kuwait University, Kuwait City

Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Gold) 

 

Region 23: Europe 

University chapters 

IISE Istanbul Boğazici University, Istanbul

Istanbul Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

 

Region 24: Africa 

University chapters 

AASTMT, Alexandria, Egypt

IISE University of Ibadan Chapter, Ibadan, Nigeria