University of Michigan College of Engineering Alumni Newsletter Summer 2001 Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering Six More Years! in industry who work for service Table of Contents By Jeffrey Liker, Newsletter organizations and ask how to measure Editors Note .............................. 1 Editor and Professor, IOE your effectiveness. Some of us may From the Chair ........................... 2 have given you glib responses in the Alumni Society Merit Award ...... 3 A lot has happened since the Winter, past but we learned first hand what a Alumni Survey 99 Result ........... 4 1999 Newsletter. A highlight for IOE challenge it is. was that we were accredited for the Program Updates ...................... 9 maximum six years by ABET (accredits An important part of the evaluation Department Updates ............... 14 engineering schools). ABET used to was whether we used constituent input Student Organizations ............. 16 have a long list of things to teach for to develop our mission statement and Faculty Focus........................... 18 engineering schools, with some specific learning objectives. We involved Adjunct/Visiting Faculty Focus 24 requirements for each field like IOE. alumni through our external advisory Special Honors......................... 28 For this recent accreditation we board and our Alumni Academy as Charitable Contributions.......... 29 decided to apply under a new system well as held focus groups for students. they recently rolled out. In this case a ABET required a number of learning Alumni Updates ....................... 30 system similar to a Total Quality objectives in basic math and science Editor: Jeffrey Liker, Professor, IOE Management program was used. As knowledge and some innovative Assistant Editor: Kuo-Ting (Ken) Hung, a department we needed to define our objectives like learning to work as a BSE EECS 96, MSE IOE 98 learning objectives for our students team, learning professional ethics, and Comments?: [email protected] and how we will measure these. Then learning about environmental impacts. we had to develop the measures and One thing you learn about standards skill objectives for IOE: demonstrate we were beginning to use like ISO 9000 is do not promise more them for continuous improvement. than you need to because you will be 1. Human Resource held to it. Well we did not follow this Management (Social) Skills (e.g., We now have sympathy for all of you advice. We came up with additional manage people, understand diversity, change management, etc.) 2. Business Management Skills (e.g., global management, A peaceful business law, engineering economy, afternoon at the reflecting pool etc.) fountain, outside 3. Personal Management IOE building. This Skills (e.g., goal setting, time addition to North management, lifelong learning skills) Campus was a 4. Macro Analysis (e.g., gift from the Engineering Class problem definition, designing of 1947. At the products and processes) distant 5. Critical Thinking (e.g., background is the (Continued on page 2) Lurie Tower. IOE Alumni Newsletter 1 From The Chair From the Chair needs of students and faculty and to tell me about their wonderful By Lawrence M. Seiford, making the department run so experience at Michigan - praise for the Department Chair and smoothly. We are extremely proud that faculty and staff, the value of IOE Professor, IOE our undergraduate student advisor, course work, and/or warm memories Pam Linderman, was honored with the of extracurricular activities. After my Greetings to all IOE alumni and College of Engineerings Excellence in first year, I understand this pride and friends! We are reaching the end of Staff Service Award. am pleased to be part of this tradition. the academic year, and I have found You, our loyal alumni, are part of an my new position as chair to be both These are exciting and challenging incredible legacy. Please visit our alumni challenging and rewarding. The times for educators. The rapid web page, http://ioe.engin.umich.edu/ caliber and professionalism of our advancements in technology have had, alumni.html to update your information. students, faculty, and staff make and will continue to have, a dramatic Id also be delighted to hear from you me proud to represent IOE locally impact on the way we do business. regarding any suggestions you have for and at professional meetings Many of you may be aware that MIT our future. (E-mail: [email protected]) across the country. recently announced their intention to make nearly all of their course Our graduate and undergraduate materials available free on the World programs are ranked #2 in the Wide Web. Their goal is to support (Continued from page 1, Six More Years!) nation and we continue to be a education worldwide, including synthesize information, product popular department of choice innovations in the process of teaching logical inferences, define ambiguous with approximately 550 IOE and learning itself. The University of problems, etc.) undergraduates - truly the best and Michigan has joined fathom.com, a 6. Operations Management the brightest of Michigan consortium of prestigious institutions. (e.g., understand quality concepts, cost Engineers! For example, the Fathoms primary goal is to open the accounting principles, capacity plans, president, vice president, and enormous intellectual resources of basic ergonomics) secretary of the (graduating) Class these institutions to Internet users. 7. Information Systems (e.g., of 2001E are all from IOE. In The College of Engineering is understand a programming language, addition, you can imagine how pleased working with Shanghai Jiao Tong understand software development as I was at the College of Engineerings University to develop undergraduate an example of the engineering Graduation Exercises to discover that and graduate courses in industrial (and process, learn basics of database all three student speakers were from mechanical) engineering based on the structures, skills in identifying IOE. Michigan Engineering model. This will information systems requirements) change how China educates its future 8. Operations Research (broad As described in Faculty Focus, the engineers. These three examples understanding of O.R. as tools for faculty continue to excel in all aspects clearly illustrate the forces of planning, formulate problems as of their work. Among the special technology and globalization currently optimization models, learn basic tools honors this year were the awarding reshaping education. of optimization to improve system of the Herrick Professor of performance) Manufacturing endowed We all know that change is here to stay. professorship to Steve Pollock and Im convinced, however, that one thing We developed a whole set of measures the IOE Award for Outstanding will never change: the significance of the - senior exit surveys, employer surveys, Accomplishment to Chip White. Michigan experience! In my travels revised course evaluations, faculty self- across the country and around the assessment AND the alumni survey. Last, but not least, I would like to world, I have met a number of you - As it was, IOE was one of the few recognize our dedicated and loyal staff loyal and enthusiastic alumni who departments that already had an for their commitment to meeting the couldnt wait to congratulate me and (Continued on page 8) PB IOE Alumni Newsletter Alumni Society Merit Award The University of Michigan College of Engineering Alumni Society awarded John A. Muckstadt the Industrial and Operations Engineering Alumni Society Merit Award at the Colleges annual Alumni Society Awards Dinner held on October 13, 2000. The Alumni Society Merit Awards were established to honor distinguished alumni who personify the Colleges tradition of excellence and who have had continuing impact on their fields. The Award is given to one alumnus from each of the eleven academic departments within the College. Recipients are selected by the departmental committees whose members are chosen and headed by the department chair. professor at the Université Catholique Engineers. He has served as a de Louvain, Belgium (1980), the consultant to numerous industrial Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, organizations, including the Chicago Belgium (1981-82), and the University Pneumatic Tool Company, IBM, Bell of Michigan (1987). At Cornell he Atlantic, GM, RAND corporation, has served as the chairman of the TRINOVA Corporation, SAS Airlines, Graduate Professional Programs GE, and Xerox, as well as to several Committee and was the founding government agencies. director of the Cornell Manufacturing Engineering and Productivity Dr. Muckstadt received an IIE Program (COMEPP), which is now Transactions Award in the area of Best the Center for Manufacturing Paper in Scheduling and Logistics Enterprise. Dr. Muckstadt was also the Focus Issue for his coauthored paper director of the School of Operations with Dr. Charles R. Sox, Optimization- Matthew Fondeur Research and Industrial Engineering based planning for the stochastic lot- John A. Muckstadt studied at the at Cornell University from 1987 to scheduling problem. In 2000, he was University of Rochester for the A.B. 1996. Currently, he is conducting awarded the College of Engineering degree in Mathematics and at the research in manufacturing logistics and Excellence in Teaching Awards from University of Michigan for the M.S. inventory control. He has written more Cornell University. In the same in Industrial Administration, the M.A. than fifty papers on these subjects. year,