Fall 2020

Parnell Recipient of the
J. Steinhardt Prize from INFORMS

Professor of Practice Greg Parnell has been awarded a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the field of military operations research.
Parnell, who serves as director of the Master of Science in Operations and Master of Science in Engineering Management programs, has been selected as the 2020 recipient of the J. Steinhardt Prize from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

Rossetti Receives International Teaching Award

Professor Manuel D. Rossetti has been notified he is the recipient of the 2020 Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers' Modeling and Simulation Division Teaching Award. The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) was founded in 1948 and is the largest professional society dedicated to the advancement of the industrial and systems engineering profession throughout the world.

Heather Nachtmann Selected as
Editor-in-Chief of The Engineering Economist Journal

The refereed journal is published jointly by the Engineering Economy Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). The journal publishes articles, case studies, surveys, and book/software reviews that represent original research, current practice, and teaching involving problems of capital investment.

Industrial Engineering Faculty Featured for COVID Response

University of Arkansas faculty members were featured on a podcast from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers for their work during the fall and spring to adapt to COVID-19.

The podcast Problem Solved, sat down with leaders from the I.E. profession including: Kim LaScola Needy, dean of the Graduate School and International Education and a professor of industrial engineering; Manuel D. Rossetti, professor and director of the interdisciplinary Data Science Program; and Eileen Van Aken, professor and head of the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.

The University of Arkansas' Data Science program has named Manuel D. Rossetti to be the program's inaugural director. He brings more than two decades of teaching and research experience to the role.

Karl D. Schubert has been named associate director for the program. Schubert is a professor of practice, having joined the University of Arkansas after a corporate career including c-suite leadership roles at global organizations.

Mock Interviews Go Virtual
for I.E. Students

Mock interviews have been a staple of the Industrial Engineering program for several years, and as COVID-19 continues to impact how organizations around the world work, the experience has gone virtual for 2020.

Andrew Alseth Completes National Science Foundation Internship with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Master's student Andrew Alseth recently completed an internship with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) in Richland, Washington. The experience was funded through a National Science Foundation INTERN supplemental funding award.

Welcome Dr. Rocky Gay

Rocky Gay has joined the MSOM program. Gay previously held industrial engineering positions in the energy sector. Further, he led the US Army’s Center for Accessions Research and developed initiatives that increased the Army’s size, to meet the demands of two simultaneous wars without a draft. His military service has included leadership roles in the Middle East and Europe that ranged from combat actions to peacekeeping/nation-building. He also taught Systems Engineering at West Point. He is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Scrum Master, Agile Coach, PMP and a retired US Army Colonel.

Rocky is teaching Operations Management and Project Management.

Phan, Fertic Awarded MSOM Scholarship

Hai Phan and Ashley Fertic have been awarded the MSOM scholarship for the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, respectively.

The MSOM Scholarship Fund is made possible thanks to gifts from alumni and friends of the Master of Science in Operations Management program.

More information about the scholarship can be found here.