The Department of Industrial Engineering’s research funding, graduation rates, scholarship, and service are experiencing unprecedented levels of success and notoriety. This upward trend is a sign of the inherent skills that make up the collection of faculty in the Clemson IE department. In addition to the diverse skillsets of the IE faculty, their leadership skills are being recognized and utilized both on campus and throughout the professional community.
Several faculty members hold leadership roles with the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE), which is the flagship organization for industrial and systems engineers. Dr. Scott Mason sits on the IISE Board of Trustees as the Senior Vice President of Continuing Education with IISE. Dr. Mary Beth Kurz recently completed her one-year term as the President of the Operations Research (OR) division of IISE. Her successor as President of the OR division is another IE faculty member, Dr. Sandra Eksioğlu. Dr. Kevin Taaffe serves as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Vice President of IISE. Also, Dr. Cole Smith is the incoming Chair of the Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Department Heads (CIEADH) at IISE.
For the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), Smith is the current vice chair and president elect for the 2016-17 INFORMS Computing Society, and finished a term in 2016 as Chair of the Association of Chairs of Operations Research Departments at INFORMS. Dr. Burak Eksioğlu served as the co-chair for the 2017 INFORMS Computing Society Conference that was held in Austin, TX in January.
In the logistics and supply chain industries, Dr. Bill Ferrell is the current President of the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE). The purpose of CICMHE is to increase awareness, understanding, exploration, and development of material handling and logistics by fostering and nurturing high value projects and events.
Within Clemson University, Kurz also serves as Clemson University’s Faculty Senate President for the 2016-17 term. Kurz is the first IE faculty member to have the privilege of serving as the Faculty Senate President for Clemson University. “It is a tremendous honor and responsibility,” said Kurz. She went on and said that “I have served as a Faculty Senate member for the past two terms and completely understand how the faculty senate is the lifeline between faculty and administration, which is critical to Clemson’s commitment to investing in top talent and to other university goals.”
