Six faculty members from the Wm Michael Barnes ’64 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering received recognition from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) during its annual conference in May.
“I am proud of our faculty and how they are representing industrial engineering at the national level,” said Department Head Dr. Lewis Ntaimo.
Two professors were named 2022 fellows, the highest classification of IISE membership.
“It is a great honor to be elected as a fellow,” Dr. Amarnath Banerjee said. “I would like to thank my department colleagues for nominating me for the award and our peers in IISE who selected me for the award.”
Dr. Zhijian “ZJ” Pei said he was grateful to be named a fellow.
“Industrial and systems engineering is one of the best engineering disciplines,” Pei said. “We find better ways to make products and provide services. Both my children have degrees in industrial engineering.”
Dr. Hamid Parsaei, professor, received two awards: the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award and the Joint Publishers Book-of-the-Year Award.
“I extend my heartfelt thanks to many colleagues who took a chance on me over the past 38 years by granting me the opportunity to work with them and benefit from their wisdom, experience and guidance,” Parsaei said.
Dr. Alaa Elwany, associate professor, received the George L. Smith International Award for Excellence in Promotion of Industrial Engineering Award. Elwany promotes industrial engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands by organizing workshops that involve prominent participants from three continents to promote stochastic operations research and its applications. He has also contributed to training students to solve core industrial engineering problems at leading organizations, such as Philips Healthcare and ASML, and organized study abroad opportunities for students through the Arab Academy for Science and Technology in Egypt.
“Engineering is a discipline with no borders, and I have been particularly fortunate for having gotten the opportunity to engage with some of the finest members of the international industrial engineering community,” Elwany said.
Dr. Ranjana Mehta, associate professor, received the Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering, which honors an innovative technical contribution to the industrial engineering profession that may be recognized through either theory, design, application, implementation or leadership.
“Research and development efforts in my lab translate the fundamental science of neuroergonomics into meaningful industrial engineering tools, practices and workplace safety standards,” Mehta said.
Dr. Farzan Sasangohar, assistant professor, received the Dr. Hamed K. Eldin Outstanding Early Career IE in Academia Award, which recognizes individuals in academia who have demonstrated outstanding characteristics in education, leadership, professionalism and potential in industrial engineering.
“I am grateful for the recognition I have received for my early career research, teaching, service and my overall scholarly and practical contributions,” Sasangohar said. “Winning this award would not have been possible without the inspiration I have received from my mentors, colleagues and students.”
All six were recognized in a ceremony in Seattle, Washington.