Message from the Chair

It is my honor to continue to serve as the chair of the ISE Department. Since 2017, I’ve had the privilege of learning about the impactful research that the ISE faculty and their students conduct, and the faculty’s passion for teaching our undergraduate and graduate students about the fundamental sciences of Industrial Engineering.

Last year was a special one since it marked the first time since COVID-19 pandemic shutdown that our students, faculty, and staff returned to work in person. It felt special to once again see and interact with colleagues, students, and friends in person rather than by Zoom only! Also, last year, marked the second consecutive year that the ISE faculty had substantially increased their research productivity and expenditure. This impressive trend will continue in the foreseeable future thanks to the ISE faculty’s success in participating as PI and co-PI on several important center-level research grants. In the 2022 BuckISE newsletter, you can read about some of these grants which have a strong emphasis on the application of machine learning, and artificial intelligence to tackle problems impacting health care, lightweight material design, automation, robotics, and advanced manufacturing of low-cost tooling.

When it comes to being internationally recognized for their seminal research, two ISE faculty stand out. The ISE Professors William Marras and David Woods were named to the inaugural class of the Titans of The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Ohio State was one of only two universities to have two professors named to the prestigious group. This is not surprising since the late Professor Tom Rockwell pioneered the science of safety, design, and human factors engineering in the ISE Department. He encouraged other longtime faculty members to join him at Ohio State, including Distinguished University Professor Bill Marras and Faculty Emeritus Phil Smith. To ensure the legacy would continue, the Rockwell family recently established the Dr. Thomas H. Rockwell Sr. Endowment Fund to be used for industrial and systems engineering graduate student development opportunities.

In the 2022 BuckISE newsletter, you can also learn more about the success of our students doing impactful research with the ISE faculty, including the story about the ISE grad student who is helping support NASA’s Artemis Lunar Venture.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not express my deep gratitude for the ISE alumni’s generous gifts to various programs in the department, particularly supporting undergraduate and graduate student fellowships.

I look forward to hearing from you about the stories and news that are featured in the 2022 BuckISE newsletter.