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Summer 2003

T H E A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E F O R I S y E A T G E O R G I A I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y

Computers in the Classroom Make Learning a Game

It's Not Pretty, But It's PowerfulISyE Developing New Method of Integrated Learning

The New IE: Students Work to Master Communications Skills

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www.isye.gatech.edu engineering ENTERPRISE Summer 2003 1

ngineeringngineering

Spring 2003

T H E A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E F O R I S y E A T G E O R G I A I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y

t h e C H A I R

E d u c a t i o nby William B. Rouse

Education is the theme of this issue of Engineering Enterprise. Education, research,and service are the primary “offerings” of the Georgia Tech enterprise. In this issue,you will see how these three offerings come together to enhance the content and deliv-ery of education at Georgia Tech.

Education in Industrial and Systems Engineering necessarily emphasizes gain-ing knowledge of manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, finance, and human sys-tems, as well as methodologies such as simulation, optimization, statistics, andstochastics. However, as my high school math teacher taught, “What is clearly per-ceived is clearly expressed.”

I am continually impressed by how articulate our many successful alumni are.They know how to communicate – tell the story, make the case, close the deal. Com-munication is an essential skill for engineers and everyone. Judith Norback’s programon workplace communication is no longer leaving these skills to chance. She isresearching how best to gain communication skills and, in parallel, implementingwhat she learns in our senior design courses.

Quite frequently, as I look up from my desk and out the window towards FerstDrive, I see one or two hand trucks arriving with more paper. We consume an enor-mous amount of paper. I cannot help but wonder if there are not electronic means tosubstantially decrease this consumption. Amy Pritchett, when she is not focused onair traffic management, is leading an NSF-sponsored research project to create andevaluate ITWeb, a web-based means for course management accessible by bothinstructors and students.

I used ITWeb this past semester for my graduate course on decision-making. Notonly did I avoid passing out any paper this semester, I also found that ITWeb changesthe nature of instruction. The students tend to download the lectures and read themprior to class. During the class, they want to go beyond the lectures and discuss impli-cations and experiences with theories, methods, and tools. In this way, teachingbecomes much more collaborative.

Education is also becoming more interactive. Interactive games are enabling stu-dents to put their knowledge to work in operating supply chains and managing beerdistribution, to name just a couple of games. This enables better understanding ofcauses and effects, as well as initial skills in using the knowledge gained from the class-room. We can surely expect use of game-based education to increase as students likemy 8-year-old son, steeped in GameBoy and the like, make their way to Georgia Tech.

Our education initiatives have many sponsors including the National ScienceFoundation, Sloan Foundation, Keck Foundation and, of course, the State of Geor-gia. Alumni have also been great benefactors. In this issue of Engineering Enterprise wehighlight John Morris. His generosity has enabled the Morris Fellowships which helpattract many of the "best and brightest" to Georgia Tech. There are, of course, manyother alumni who have also been very generous in their support of education. We aremost appreciative of all these benefactors.

In the true spirit of Industrial and Systems Engineering, we are proactively employ-ing the discipline’s concepts, principles, methods, and tools to understand andenhance our own offerings. Education and research in education are prime areas forthe types of innovations you would expect from a world-class institution. We intendto live up to these expectations.

William B. Rouse is the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and Professor of the

School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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2 engineering ENTERPRISE Summer 2003 www.isye.gatech.edu

JOHN MORRIS FELLOWSHIPSBRING ISYE THE BEST

If there is any doubt how importantprivate dollars are to a state university,just ask R. Gary Parker, ISyE director ofGraduate Studies. They certainly makehis job easier. As part of The Campaignfor Georgia Tech, alumnus John Mor-ris, BIE 1965, created a fellowship fundfor graduate study that “has literallyaltered the way we can do business inthe recruitment of top graduate stu-dents,” says Parker.

The John Morris Fellowships vary inamount, duration, and semester offered.But their availability and flexibility arehelping ISyE land top graduate studentswho could attend other institutions.“The use of the John Morris Fellowshipfunds has been a godsend for us inleveraging our strength in attracting theabsolute best Ph.D. students,” says Parker.“And even for the ones we don’tget, I promise you that we make theirdecision particularly difficult.”

Fellowship money controlled by theSchool serves as “add ons,” says Parker,funds added in addition to existingassistantships. Assistantships for teach-ing or research, usually a 1/3 time posi-tion, typically equal a tuition waver andstipend. It is not a lot to live on, espe-cially if the graduate student has a fam-ily. “What has really been thedistinguishing characteristic with theMorris Fellowships is that John allowedus to ‘relax’ restrictions on its use, inparticular, allowing us to award some of

this money to non-U.S. applicants,”continues Parker.

ISyE has the best program in theUnited States, but “we are competing ona world-class stage, and put brutally,many of the best Ph.D. applicants outthere are simply not from the U.S.,” saysParker.“Compounding this is the cold,hard fact that our competitors at Cor-nell, Stanford, and MIT, by virtue oftheir private standing, simply do nothave to worry about citizenship mattersin the way we, as a public institution, do.Virtually all of the fellowship money thatis offered by Tech and/or by the govern-ment (the National Science Foundation,the Department of Defense) requires cit-izenship.”Also at issue for some prospec-tive students is the lure of a name likeMIT, Stanford, or Berkeley.

Daniel Espinoza is one of ISyE’s topdoctoral candidates, recruited by MIT,Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell. A nativeof Chile, the John Morris Fellowshipclinched his decision to attend GeorgiaTech. For starters, it allowed him tobring his wife with him. “I think thatwithout this support, we couldn’t behere, because the stipend that you get isnot enough for two people. We aregoing to be three soon, and my wifecan’t work due to visa restrictions,” hesays. Espinoza’s undergraduate work, inmathematical engineering at the Uni-versidad de Chile, was already a six-yearcommitment, with thesis.

Jerry O’Neal is another Morris Fel-low—a West Point mathematics andforeign languages graduate with morethan seven years experience in theArmy.“I considered other schools, butnone of them offered the package Techdid, and none of them had the strengthof the program,” he says.“The packagethey put together for us made all thedifference. To be honest, for us thetougher decision was whether I wouldbe able to do graduate school at all.”O’Neal and his wife have two smallchildren, and it is important to the cou-ple that she stay at home.

John Morris keeps in touch withthe fellowship program throughParker. “I owe a great deal of mysuccess to Georgia Tech and ISyE,”

he says. “I am very proud andthankful to be able to help ISyE tostay number one by helping toattract top graduate students. I amvery impressed by the quality andbreadth of the students and knowthey will be successful.”

Morris and his wife Cherie live inLaguna Niguel, California. John isretired co-chairman of StoneCreek Cap-ital, a merchant banking firm that spon-sors leveraged acquisitions and leveragedbuildups in partnership with manage-ment teams.He is a former trustee of theGeorgia Tech Foundation and an emeri-tus member of the ISyE Advisory Board.He is a member of the ISyE Hall of Fameand the ISyE Academy of DistinguishedAlumni, and he was honored with theCollege of Engineering DistinguishedAlumnus Award in 1996.

ISYE: ENDOWED CHAIRSCREATE A STAR BURST

Editor’s note: The following article was origi-

nally printed in the President's Report to the Geor-

gia Tech Foundation.

It is no secret that the team with thebest players wins, and that is true foracademic disciplines as well as athletics.The quality of an education and re-search program depends on the qualityof its faculty.

To build and maintain world-classprograms, a university must hire brightyoung faculty, retain outstanding mid-career faculty whom other universitiesare looking to hire away, and attract“superstar” faculty who are recognizedaround the world as leaders and inno-vators in their fields.

Georgia Tech’s School of Indus-trial and Systems Engineering hadbeen ranked first in the nation formore than a decade, but its mosteminent scholars were at the apex oftheir careers, and other universitiesalso were aspiring to excellence. TheInstitute realized that if this pro-gram was to continue to lead thenation for the next decade or more,it was critical to increase its intellec-

i n t h e N E W S

John H. Morris, BIE 1965


expertise, such as aspecialization in envi-ronmental and bio-logical issues.

The synergy pro-duced by several emi-nent scholars arrivingat the same time alsohad a direct positiveimpact on recruitingfor more than a halfdozen other facultypositions. “People inthe School are pinch-ing themselves tomake sure it’s real,when they look atwho is joining the school this year,”Rouse said.

A new undergraduate initiative willcreate opportunities for students tointeract with the outstanding new fac-ulty who are joining the school.

tual depth and plan for a successionof superstars.

The vehicle for achieving these goalswas provided by The Campaign forGeorgia Tech in the form of severalendowed chairs. “Having one endowedchair for a program is nice,”said ProvostJean-Lou Chameau,“but when you haveseveral, that makes a big difference.”

Recruiting for an endowed chair forthe top program in the nation involvesmaking a list of the six or ten top mindsin the world in that discipline. Havingseveral endowed chairs to fill in thesame timeframe provides an opportu-nity to attract several of the big nameson that list rather than just one. It alsoallows a university to take advantage ofthe appeal that face-to-face collabora-tion has for the best minds in the field.

“You can create a burst of synergy,”Chameau explained. “One individualwill accept a chair because of the oppor-tunity to work with another outstand-ing individual from another universitywho is coming to Georgia Tech in thesame timeframe.”

That synergy is seen in the recruit-ment of William Cook from PrincetonUniversity to hold the Russ and Sam-mie Chandler Chair and Jan Lenstrafrom Eindoven in The Netherlands tohold the John P. Hunter Chair. Two ofthe world’s most outstanding scholarsin complex computational logisticsproblems, Cook and Lenstra wereattracted by the opportunity to worktogether at Georgia Tech and coordi-nate the resources their chairs provide.

It was also a factor in attracting BillRouse to the Stewart School Chair andChelsea “Chip” White to the Trans-portation and Logistics Chair. “Weknew each other for 25 years andworked on related issues,” said Rouse.“It was icing on the cake to finally be atthe same institution.”

The strategic use of endowed chairsby a school or department also canincrease national prominence in a rela-tively short time. ISyE’s new superstarswill strengthen the School’s already stel-lar reputation, propelling areas likeengineering statistics to the forefrontand helping to define new areas of

The School of Industrial and Systems Engineering also used endowedchairs to recognize the accomplish-ments of several outstanding mid-career faculty who might have other-wise been lured away by other

(continued on page 12)

L-R: John J. Bartholdi, William B. Rouse, William J. Cook, Leon F. McGinnis, Jan Karel Lenstra, Chelsea “Chip” White

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Computers in the Classroom make Learning agameComputers in the Classroom make Learning agame

oday’s generation of college students

grew up with computer games, so it

should come as no surprise that university

professors have turned to the genre to illuminate

classroom concepts. But to ISyE faculty, computer

games are more than just a fun way to learn. These

games have an ability to illustrate models that is far

superior to conventional classroom techniques.

“When you’re a teacher in a classroom, and

you’re supposed to cover a topic, it is easy to get

very specific and not worry about the linkages to

everything else the students are going to have to

learn,” says Paul Griffin, Associate Chair for Under-

graduate Studies. “Playing these games really helps

tie together what they learn in other courses, along

with things they haven’t learned—to see that every-

thing you do really impacts the other things.”

Griffin is interested in getting more gaming into

the curriculum, and ISyE faculty are taking him up

on that challenge. Below, we look at two of the

games already integrated into the ISyE curriculum,

and two that faculty are polishing in hopes they will

be included soon.


T


The Beer Game

Originally a management tool, the Beer Game was devel-oped at MIT in the 1960s to introduce people to the conceptsof system dynamics. Since then, it has been played all over theworld by a wide range of participants at all levels. But it isreally a supply chain game, says Griffin.“Students play a par-ticular component in the supply chain, so there will be agroup in the bottling plant, another group that is the distrib-ution center, the retail outlet, the manufacturing plant and soon.” The instructor then issues demand, which is unknown tothe supply chain. “It is very simple in that each group getsdemand from their downstream customer, and then satisfiesthat demand over 30 periods.”

“The further you are away from the customer, the more vari-ability you get in terms of inventory,”says Griffin.“Then you canstart talking about how to share information and coordinateactivities.” Students are currently using the Beer Game in ISyE3103, Introduction to Supply Chain Modeling: Logistics.

Readers can try the game for themselves at the MIT Forumfor Supply Chain Innovation: http://beergame.mit.edu/

Littlefield Technologies

Littlefield Technologies was one of the first academic com-puter games, developed by Professors Samuel C. Wood andSunil Kumar at Stanford University. It is a virtual factory thatstudents must manage 24 hours a day on the Internet. Origi-nally designed for MBA courses, the tool has proven to beequally successful with engineering schools, says Professor JimDai, one of the professors using the game in ISyE 3232, Sto-chastic Manufacturing and Service Systems.

“What is interesting about this game is that it plays on theInternet, with no special software, and no IT support—whichmakes it attractive,” says Dai. The game runs on the server thatis maintained by a commercial company that is based in Berke-ley, and students purchase an access code at the beginning ofthe semester.

Teams of four students play in real time—one or twoweeks—with one week representing a year.“The manufacturingsystem involves a lot of decisions, including when and howmuch to source raw materials, how many machines to purchase,

and the lead time quotation. If they ship late, the product getsdiscounted, and if it is late for two days, they don’t earn any rev-enue,” says Dai. “Once the game starts, the system will evolve,even if the students decide to do nothing. The goal at the end ofthe game is to have the highest cash value.”While playing, teamsknow the cash values of the other teams, but not the otherteams’ management decisions. As teams have the option todynamically make decisions, analyzing opponents rankingsearly on doesn’t mean anything.

“The game simulates a very realistic manufacturing system,”says Dai.“After playing this game, students have a perception ofa concrete manufacturing system. In the classroom, I just haveto mention it; I don’t have to explain it from scratch and takeup a lot of class time.”

The use of Littlefield Technologies is just one method ISyEhas adopted to enhance ISyE 3232, formerly Probabilistic Oper-ations Research, named least useful course in the early 1990s inan ISyE alumni survey. Dai also asks students to read The Goal:A Process of Ongoing Improvement, by E.M. Goldratt and J. C.Cox. Though novels are an unusual resource for engineeringcourses, The Goal is widely heralded for its interesting andattention-holding way of presenting management andaccounting theories such as the Theory of Constraints. Daidescribes it as “almost a love story. It explains terms, like bot-tlenecks and variability, that we’re going to cover in class.”

The Inventory Routing Game

Professor Martin Savelsbergh and his graduate students arein game designing mode. Their first is called, for lack of a bet-ter name, the Inventory Routing Game.

The logistics environment is ripe for games that help stu-dents truly grasp the complexity of the logistics system, saysSavelsbergh. “It lets them experience what it means to be insuch an environment,” he says.“Secondly, they should be con-trolling this system. They should make decisions about send-ing out the truck to pick up or deliver. They have to realize thatonce they have made a decision, there is no turning back. Theymay find out they waited too long.”

Savelsbergh’s game, designed for a master’s level logisticscourse, is controlled either by an individual or group of stu-dents. They control the environment for a simulated week, andat the end, teams compare incurred costs. The competitive fac-tor gives the game another edge over textbooks and class lecture.

“The benefit for the students is that they really experiencethe system and immediately see the effect that their controldecisions have. They learn much more quickly this way, gam-ing is fun, and they are competing against each other,” saysSavelsbergh. He adds that the method is particularly useful inreal-time transportation, logistics, and inventory.

Computers in the Classroom Make Learning a Game

The logistics environment is ripe for games

that help students truly grasp

the complexity of the logistics system


The General Algebraic Modeling System(GAMS) is a high-level modeling systemfor mathematical programming problems.It consists of a language compiler and astable of integrated high-performancesolvers. GAMS is tailored for complex,large scale modeling applications, andallows you to build large maintainablemodels that can be adapted quickly to newsituations.

GAMS Development Corporation1217 Potomac Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20007, USATel.: +1-202-342-0180 • Fax: +1-202-342-0181

[email protected] • http://www.gams.com

OPTIMIZATION

GAMS

“We haven’t done a serious analysis of the effectiveness of thegame,” Savelsbergh continues, “but we will in the near future.Games aren’t suited for everything you want to teach, but espe-cially for these real-time dynamic situations, it is the best way togo. People need to understand the complexity of the systems.”

Savelsbergh hopes to market the Inventory Routing Game.“There aren’t that many games out there at this level. The rep-resentation is fairly close to reality. The Beer Game isextremely simple compared to what we try to do,” he says.“Developing such games at the level we want them is verytime consuming. If you invest the time to do that, you shoulddo more than just teach your students.”

He adds that he and his campus colleagues are consideringstarting a center at Georgia Tech to develop such games.“Teaching in the future won’t be what it used to be. It will haveless lecturing and will be more tool-based. We’re brainstorm-ing the best way to move forward in a structured way.”

The Supply Chain Game

Professor Leon McGinnis, Associate Professor ChristosAlexopoulos and Assistant Professor Stylianos Kavadias ofthe DuPree School of Management are working to breaknew ground with their Supply Chain Game, whichMcGinnis believes is the first of its kind. “We play on anetwork,” he says. “That ratchets up the level of the game,because you have to manage all the levels of interaction ofthe players, just like in real life.”

“Simple business simulations, like the beer game, haveproven remarkably effective instructional tools for explainingsupply chain, but are typically narrowly focused.” says Alex-opoulos. “Participants in the beer game, for example, are onlyconcerned with inventory of a single product and can only con-trol it via the size of their orders to their supplier. Further, in typ-ical business simulations, teams of players running identicalorganizations compete head-to-head in a computer-generatedmarket. This represents an idealized competitive situation moretypical of team sports than of globally competitive business andis antithetical to the concept of supply chains.”

The Supply Chain Game, focused on the automotive indus-try, is a multilevel scenario.“Students play the role of a decisionmaker in a supply chain,” says McGinnis. The roles range fromsuppliers to second tier producers and auto assemblers; thegame models the various markets.“The students must decidehow much capacity to provide and at what price. If they are asupplier, they must negotiate contracts. If they are a finalassembler, they decide how many to produce. And they have adeadline when the decisions must be entered.”

Participants enter decisions on a quarterly basis.“The deci-sions are put together in the competitive framework,” says

McGinnis.“Then they see how many they sell. They won’t nec-essarily sell as many as they’ve planned, because they might runinto quality problems,” he adds.

“The game aims to reflect the decisions made by each of theinvolved parties and the influence of these decisions along asupply chain,” says Alexopoulos.“In particular their effects onupstream and downstream operations.”

The team has been working on the game for the past year,with funding from General Motors and the Georgia Tech Mod-eling and Simulation Research and Education Center and assis-tance from doctoral candidates Ralph Mueller, Melda Ormeci,and Wuthichai Wongthachanekorn. This summer it will face itsfirst test, with 12 students fine tuning the moves. “The nicething about it is that all the players essentially interact througha browser,” says McGinnis. “We can have teams from all overthe world.” If things go well, it will be introduced into ISyEtransportation and logistics classes at both the undergraduateand graduate levels. They hope it will eventually be added tocontinuing education courses, offered on-line similarly to theLittlefield Technologies game.

8 engineering ENTERPRISE Summer 2003

POWERFULIt’s not pretty, but it'sIt’s not pretty, but it's


earning isn’t what it used to be. Thanks to theexploration of web-based technologies, ISyE stu-dents in some courses can now learn more from

their instructors through the Internet. These students are usingITWeb, a web-based educational technology developed as partof a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation.

An evolving database of course concepts and instructionalmaterial, ITWeb seeks to make student access to knowledgeeasy and efficient through an integrated curriculum. Officiallycalled the Integrated Curriculum Delivery System, the projectis led by Associate Professor Amy Pritchett and Director ofInformation Technology Mark Iken, with support from grad-uate students Alex Quinn, Lee Nickles, and Mahima Ashok.

Pritchett compares ITWeb to “an academic library that ismore focused, organized, and aware of the relations”among itsholdings. Quinn more succinctly describes it as “a step towardan Amazon.com model of education.”

Many educators believe that the traditional organization ofa curriculum into standardized courses limits the extent thatstudents can perceive and understand the relationship betweenconcepts, and makes it difficult for students to explore conceptsin an interdisciplinary manner. Pritchett and her colleaguescontend that an integrated curriculum, which highlights therelationships between concepts, is better suited to conceptualreinforcement and knowledge exploration.

The goal of ITWeb is to enhance the quality of learning byproviding tools that foster holistic comprehension. Thesetools, which remain under development, include a topic net-work that enables the viewing of an educational curriculum asa map or cartography of concepts and themes rather than as aseries of disconnected courses. An integrated curriculum bet-ter reveals the interconnectivity of topics, focusing on theneeds of students and instructors with personalized learningand teaching experiences.

ITWeb’s search techniques will allow learners to delve deeperinto topics of interest, a practice that is key in diminishing thefragmentation of knowledge. ITWeb provides information toprofessionals, teachers, alumni, and current students, adaptingand presenting information to suit individual needs and pro-moting balanced understanding in the place of fragmented andpartial knowledge.

At this point in its development, the organizers see the pro-ject as a supplement to courses. As of spring semester 2003,there were ten active courses, and 1,500 students are registeredwithin the system. “We have a bootstrapping problem,” saysPritchett.“The faculty need to put more information into thesystem for it to be a complete database, and yet without a com-plete database to search through, the benefits of an integratedcurriculum aren’t visible to faculty and students.”

ITWeb is very flexible, both for students and faculty.Faculty create and support courses—adding content anddetermining which additional content relates to it. Theycan add lecture notes, post examples of student work forreview, and e-mail studentsdirectly from the program.Students can use the coursewebpages to guide initialinteraction with the system,viewing materials, com-pleting assignments, and re-ceiving grades.

They will also have theopportunity to explore rele-vant topics from other coursesthrough related topic links,concept maps, and keywordsearches. As students completeadditional courses, the systemtracks their progress, allowingthe system to tailor the presen-tation of information to the students based on their knowledgeand past experiences. Work can stay in the program forever,meaning alumni can recheck notes years after taking a course.

The researchers are examining methods for marketing theITWeb for other purposes, such as continuing education ordistance learning efforts.

So, the question is, with so much information readily avail-able, do students actually need to attend class? Pritchett is up tothe challenge; she knows there is plenty she can do to stimulatelearning.“It forces me to think creatively about my lectures,”she says,“and to be humble about what students really need mylectures for when they can use ITWeb.”

ISyE Developing New Method of Integrated Learning

Curriculum Integration

Course management tools

Online tutorials and demos

Discussion boards and chat capabilities

Exploratory learning and guided instruction

Knowledge refreshing for workplace

professionals

Knowledge sharing between faculty,

students, and alumni

ITWeb supports:

L

10 engineering ENTERPRISE Summer 2003 www.isye.gatech.edu10 engineering ENTERPRISE Summer 2003 www.isye.gatech.edu

hree recent IE graduates returned to campus this spring tovisit the Senior Design class. They were ready to be grilledabout their jobs. But Scott Sherris, BIE 1999; Ryan Ogden,

BIE 1995; and Erin Chandler, BIE 1999, did not come to talkabout industrial engineering. They came to discuss communi-cation skills. The graduating seniors, soon to face their own firstday on the job, listened eagerly as the trio discussed the lessons,mistakes, and successes they learned the hard way—on the job.

Today’s industrial engineers are required to be savvy com-municators. The fast-paced world of technology makes it moreefficient to complete many tasks, but it also brings young grad-uates under closer scrutiny from their bosses, peers, and clients.A practicing engineer needs to be more familiar with e-mailand PowerPoint programs than with slide rules.

ISyE is responding to this new environment with an inte-grated communications program, designed to help under-graduates incorporate strong presentation and commu-nications skills directly into their assignments. This workplacecommunications initiative is woven into the projects of theSenior Design course, promoting and polishing the reports stu-dents must deliver to the class and their clients.

It is all part of a greater effort led by Dr. Judith Norback,director of Workplace and Academic Communication, withthe help of Dr. Joel Sokol, Dr. Faiz Al-Khayyal, and Dr. PaulGriffin. Dr. Norback joined ISyE with a mission to preparestudents for the written, oral, and interpersonal communica-tion skills they need to advance in the information age. Withfunding from two prominent alumni, Mel Hall, BIE 1967,and Hayne McCondichie, BIE 1952, MSIE 1953, Norback is

conducting research and designing curriculum that will even-tually touch ISyE students during all four years of theirundergraduate education. In addition, Norback and PeterMcGuire of Tech’s School of Language, Communication, andCulture were recently funded by the National Science Foun-dation to bring workplace communication into technicalcommunication, another course required for ISyE students.

For now, the Senior Design students are the primary bene-ficiaries, and they are very happy about it. Most wish they hadeven more experience with the techniques; others lament thelack of a public speaking course within the program.

Maxine Gardner will graduate in December 2003, just daysafter she receives her commission in the U.S. Navy. At thatpoint she will either report to a ship or begin flight school.Either way, there is little room for miscommunication. “Mygoal is to go into management, and I will have people belowme,” says Gardner.“Communication is very important whenyou are working with others. You have to be able to conveyyour ideas, and you have to get the facts to them. It’s veryimportant to know what they are thinking so there are not anymisperceptions.”

Norback’s communication program is more than goodgrammar and public speaking skills. After all, this is GeorgiaTech. Today’s IEs need a wide range of skills, and Norback istaking the scientific approach toward her subject. Languageand presentation are essential, as are videotaping and critiquingstudent presentations. Norback is going farther, visiting theworkplace, interviewing employers, and building a database ofinformation that will be available to all students and alumni.

?by?, ?The New IE The New IE

Today’s Students Work to Master Communications Skills

Today’s Students Work to Master Communications Skills

TT


Inside her web-based collection are sample reports, memos,business plans, letters, updates, and a host of other documentsthat may confront a young IE.

“Integrating workplace data into the instruction results inhigher content validity,”says Norback.“We teach students whatwe claim to teach them: workplace communication skills.Many students are required to transfer their learning from theclassroom to the workplace. The communication instructiondoes not require transfer, because it reflects the setting in whichthe students will apply their enhanced skills.”

“The thing that sets us [ISyE] apart is that we don’t assumethat we know what is needed in the workplace,” she continues.“We ask the experts, those IE grads who are working: ‘What arethe most important things you write and create on your job?’Then we ask them about the purpose, the audience, the exactsteps they are taking to create the different materials.” One ofher interview subjects explained that he found out who wasgoing to be at each meeting and interviewed them as to theirexpectations. By researching and preparing information, andplacing it within the notes section of a PowerPoint presenta-tion, he can anticipate and answer most questions.

Learning to read and interpret physical expressions isanother challenge for successful communicators: usingeye contact, avoiding distracting gestures, transitioningtopics smoothly, responding to evidence of dissatisfac-tion. “There are times when an IE has to work withpeople on the line and explain change,” says Norback, “Sothey have to read where there is dissatisfaction—a frown,or a questionable look—and meet that head on.” Day-

dreaming is another side effect of poor communication,says Norback. “We’ve taught students how to bring audi-ence members back and grab their attention so that theystay with you.”

Students are particularly interested when recent graduatesrelate their experiences in the workplace. Scott Sherris co-opedwith UPS before being hired full time. “Part of my job is tobring our company kicking and screaming into a new era ofcommunications,” he says. “Now, we get too much informa-tion, and we get it immediately. We don’t have a long time todeal with it before new information comes in. We are able tomake changes that we never could before, so it makes the job ofan IE bigger—it is more time-based and a little less analytical,I think.”

Ryan Ogden enjoyed his stint as a panel member, althoughreturning to campus in a suit was slightly rattling. He plans towork further with Dr. Norback on the communication pro-gram.“I remember my first month or so on the job, figuringthings out on my own,”he says.“There was no basis as to whatto expect from professionalism, conducting meetings—andcommunication is a major part of that.”

Hayne McCondichie, a former newspaper editor and one ofthe alumni who invested in the project, is pleased at the progressbeing made on workplace communication within ISyE.“Thereis nothing more valuable in the world than good communica-tion skills,”he said.“If I had to criticize my Georgia Tech educa-tion, that’s what was missing.”

Not anymore.

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universities, including John Bartholdi,who holds the Manhattan AssociatesChair of Supply Chain Management,and Leon McGinnis, who is the EugeneC. Gwaltney Professor of Manufactur-ing Systems.

Although Chameau developed thestrategy to use endowed chairs to ele-vate the already top-ranked ISyE toan even higher level, he creditsrecently retired School Chair JohnJarvis and new Chair Bill Rouse withmaking the plan a reality.

EMIL 2003 CONCLUDES WITHCAPSTONE EVENT

On June 5, 2003, ISyE’s ExecutiveMaster’s in International Logistics(EMIL) program and Cap GeminiErnst & Young (CGEY) teamed up tohost The EMIL Capstone Event andBusiness Case Competition. EMIL is amaster’s degree program that helps theworld’s leading companies develop cre-ative, global logistics solutions bygrooming their supply chain executives.The Capstone Event, the culminationof the 18-month degree program,brought together EMIL participants,advisory board members, and facultymembers to showcase the participants’international supply chain and businessmanagement knowledge while givingadvisory board members a betterunderstanding of what goes on in theEMIL “classroom.”

To kick off the program and build acommon foundation of understanding,participants and advisory board mem-bers attended a “trade show” of sorts:faculty members presented highlightsfrom the five program residences in sixdifferent, interactive learning modules.“Those attending could go to anybooth to get a refresher on industrytrends and leading practices for topicstaught during the residences,” says Dr.John Vande Vate, EMIL executive direc-tor.“The modules helped create a com-mon starting point and language forthe remainder of the Capstone Event,

in addition to giving the advisory boardmembers a ‘hands-on’ understandingof how the EMIL program works.”

To make the transition from knowl-edge gathering to idea application,EMIL participants from companiessuch as Intel, Ford Motor Company,General Motors, and Baxter Healthcarethen faced-off in a global supply chainbusiness case competition. Teams offour to five participants were chargedwith forecasting the future of supplychain management over the nextdecade. They identified the “leadingedge” of supply chain management anddescribed how companies could utilizethis knowledge as a competitive advan-tage. Team members addressed theentire supply chain, including procure-ment, manufacturing, transportation,warehousing, consumer management,and reverse logistics, all within an inter-national context. Based on these results,EMIL advisory board members servingas competition judges presented theEMIL Supply Chain Leadership Award tothe winners: Jonathan Hartman, FordMotor Co.; John Kehoe, Baxter Health-care; Cheryl Martin, U.S. Postal Service;and Jim McCabe, Milliken & Co.

“During the past 18 months, theEMIL participants have learned best

practices from international thoughtleaders during their European, LatinAmerican, Asian, and U.S. residences,”says Vande Vate. “This competitionallowed participants to apply this inter-national supply chain knowledge to thereal-world and be critiqued by seniorexecutives from their own companies. Itwas the ultimate real-world test.”

The participants finished the daywith a 15-minute presentation of their18-month Global Supply Chain Pro-ject. Rather than pursue a traditionalmaster’s thesis, EMIL participantswork in teams to complete an 18-month Global Supply Chain Project.Participants and sponsoring compa-nies use this opportunity to utilizeGeorgia Tech’s vast knowledge and re-sources to focus on their own criticalsupply chain concerns. Parameters forthe project are flexible enough toensure that it will benefit the compa-ny’s overall supply chain strategy.Teams work together to remove costs,speed cycle time, or enhance revenueacross the supply chain. Projects aredesigned to extend beyond the partici-pants’ current scope of responsibilities,preferably including sourcing, opera-tions, and/or markets on at least twocontinents. Most projects are designed

(continued from page 3)

L-R: John Kehoe, Baxter Healthcare; Jim McCabe, Milliken & Company; Cheryl Martin, U.S. Postal Service;Jonathan Hartman, Ford Motor Company


to provide significant value to thesponsoring organizations, with a min-imum savings of $1 million.

The event was designed based onCap Gemini Ernst & Young’s Accelerat-ed Solutions Environment, described as“unique environment and facilitationcapability used to rapidly visualize andsolve complex business challenges.”Under normal circumstances, partici-pants gather in a custom-designedspace for up to four days of intensivework towards a clearly defined objec-tive. Facilitators work to design anddeliver events that leverage a combina-tion of environment, facilitation pro-cesses, technology, knowledge, and col-laborative work techniques. Theseevents foster creative thinking andalignment that helps clients deliversolutions weeks or months ahead ofconventional approaches.

John Kehoe of Baxter Healthcare, a2003 graduate, felt the Capstone Event

was a fitting conclusion to his experi-ence:“It was a wonderful way of bring-ing together 18 months of significantlearning, tying it together, and thenprojecting it into the future of whatcould be,” he said.

ALUMNUS PARKDEVELOPS NEW PROTOCOL

Pennsylvania State University Re-searcher and Professor Jonhgun Park,who received his Ph.D. from ISyE in2000, is credited with developing a fastermethod for more efficient sharing ofwidely distributed Internet resources,including Web services, databases, andhigh performance computers. Park saysthe new technology improves the allo-cation of Internet resources and speedsit up to 10 times faster.

Park, who teaches at Penn State’sSchool of Information Sciences andTechnology, proposed his new pro-tocol at the IEEE Symposium onApplications and the Internet inJanuary in a paper, “A Scalable Pro-tocol for Deadlock and LivelockFree Co-Allocation of Resources inInternet Computing.”

According to Science Daily, Park’sproposed algorithm enables bettercoordination of Internet applicationin support of large-scale computing.The protocol uses parallel ratherthan serial methods to processrequests. That helps with more effi-cient resource allocation as well assolves the problems of deadlock andlivelock caused by multiple concur-rent Internet applications com-peting for Internet resources.

Park is currently fine-tuning theprotocol and a new generation willbe presented later this year.

REAL WORLD EDUCATION FOR WORLD-CLASS EXECUTIVES

For more information, visit http://www.emil.gatech.edu or call 404.385.2538

Executive Masters Internat ional Log ist ics

TODAY’S COMPANIES NEED TO:• Increase supply chain efficiencies.• Move to a global supply chain strategy.• Groom their rising stars.• Expand collaborative relationships.

LEARN to improve supply chain efficienciesby grooming your executives in GeorgiaTech’s Executive Master’s in InternationalLogistics (EMIL) Program.

EXPERIENCE real-world results by learningbest practices from the world’s leadingexperts in EMIL’s five 2-week residences at key locations around the globe.

BUILD a team that can deliver measurableresults by linking finance with global supplychain management.


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GEORGIA TECH BUSINESS NETWORK:THE CHANGING NATURE OFTHE ENTERPRISE AND SECURITY

Public and private sector enterprisesneed to form a new mindset in order tobattle today’s security threats, saysRichard A. DeMillo, Imlay Dean andDistinguished Professor of Computingat Georgia Tech. DeMillo addressedthose attending the May meeting of theGeorgia Tech Business Network, whichfocused on Security: Business Threats,Challenges, and New Opportunities.

DeMillo, who also serves as directorof Georgia Tech’s Information SecurityCenter, was formerly chief technologyofficer for Hewlett-Packard, and oncedirected the Computer and Computa-tion Research Division of the NationalScience Foundation. His addressopened the meeting, providing thegroundwork for a panel discussion fea-turing Christopher Klaus, foun-der and chief technology officer ofInternet Security Systems, and DougLewis, chief information officer of SixContinents Hotels. Chelsea C. “Chip”White III, ISyE Chaired Professor inTransportation and Logistics and direc-tor of Georgia Tech’s Trucking IndustryProgram, moderated the program.

DeMillo discussed the “death of theenterprise,” a trend which is having aprofound impact on security. Today’s

business entities, similar to our nation’sinterests, no longer reside in facilitiesthat can be protected by guns andarmies, he said. “The notion of whatwe’re trying to defend has grown froma border or theatre of operations to anambiguous world,” said DeMillo.“Attacker and defender [as titles] don’tmake sense anymore. People movethroughout the sphere of influence.”

“Homeland security is really anenterprise security problem,” he con-tinued.“We’re now spending billions ofdollars on homeland security. Are wemaking the investment wisely? Almostcertainly not.” Today’s technology, heargued, while aptly sophisticated, is nothuman-centric.“It doesn’t matter howgood the firewall is if you haven’ttrained the network administrator. It’sa mindset problem.”Until this changes,the U.S. is doomed to repeat past mis-takes of the 1960s.

Klaus and Lewis continued thediscussion, detailing the implica-tions of DeMillo’s speech andopening the meeting to questionsfrom the audience.

The Georgia Tech Business Networkwas created by the School of IndustrialEngineering for all Georgia Tech alum-ni to continue the Tech connection, fos-ter lifelong relationships, enablecontinued learning and knowledgesharing, and ultimately, increase thevalue of a Georgia Tech degree. The

organization holds quarterly meetingson a variety of topics, in addition tosmaller meetings throughout the year.For more information, visit the websiteat www.gtbn.org.

STUDENT CHEATS DEATH TWICETO GRADUATE

As hundreds of proud parentscheered on their graduates at SpringCommencement, few had more pridethan the family of William Palmer, BIE2003. Palmer enrolled at Tech in fallquarter 1994. A fifth-year co-op stu-dent in the spring of 1999, he was justfinishing up his degree when he wasinvolved in an auto accident that lefthim with severe brain injuries and in acoma. After he had been in the comaone month, doctors told his parents hehad only a five percent chance of sur-viving. Then, after the fifth week,Palmer woke up.

Recovery wasn’t easy; Palmer hadto learn to walk again after spendingso much time in the coma and hadlost much of his short-term memory.But by the fall, he had re-enrolled atTech and was on his way to finishinghis degree.

“It was rough going back toschool,” he said.“But I was determinedto make it.”

Just a few short weeks after hereturned to Tech, Palmer developed asevere headache. Knowing this could bea sign of something serious, he begandriving to Piedmont Hospital.

“I remember driving there and theneverything cut out, like nothing,” saidPalmer. “I hit a pole and a building. Iremember walking out of the car andsitting on the curb.”

Palmer had suffered a brain hemor-rhage and was taken to Grady Hospital.While at Grady, a drainage tube rippeda hole in his stomach, which was dis-covered only after he was transferred toa hospital in Dayton, Ohio. He devel-oped Methicillin Resistant Staphylo-coccus aureus (MRSA), a bacterialinfection that is resistant to antibiotics.

L-R: Dr. Chip White, Dean DeMillo, Chris Klaus, Doug Lewis


His heart rate hovered above 170 beatsper minute and he had a fever of 105.9degrees Fahrenheit. He was an houraway from death when the doctorsfound and treated the infection.

As a result of his two brain in-juries, Palmer’s left side is slightly par-alyzed and he has to use a motorizedwheelchair to get around. His physicaltherapist doesn’t believe he will everwalk again, which means Medicarewill not pay for his therapy, butPalmer isn’t giving up. He’s doing hisown brand of physical therapy in thegym. He points out that after bothaccidents his doctors didn’t think hewould live. Once he survived, theytold him he would never graduatefrom college. He has proven themwrong three times, and he aims to doit again. He may seem stubborn, butthat’s all right with him.

“My ex-girlfriend told me ‘I knowyou’ll walk again because you’re sostubborn.’ I said, ‘You mean deter-mined.’And she said,‘No, I mean you’restubborn.’ But that’s okay. Not only amI going to walk again, I’m going to runagain,” said Palmer.

ISYE CONTINUESIN LEADERSHIP POSITION

The School of Industrial and Sys-tems Engineering has been named thenumber one program in industrial andmanufacturing engineering in the Unit-ed States for the thirteenth year in a row,according to U.S. News & World Report.

We are pleased, once again, to receiverecognition for the School’s continualquest for excellence. This honor is adirect reflection of the efforts of ourdiverse, professional faculty and the aca-demically talented students they teach.Without the dedication and curiosity ofthese people, there would be no ISyE.

Following ISyE in the top five are (2) University of Michigan, (3) Pur-due University, (4) PennsylvaniaState University, and (5 – tie) Stan-ford University and the Universityof California-Berkeley.

C O M M U N I T Y

K N O W L E D G E

C O N N E C T I O N

Sponsored by the

School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

William Palmer, BIE 2003


Georgia Tech’s College of Engineer-ing as a whole remained a member ofthe elite top five, behind only the Massa-chusetts Institute of Technology, Stan-ford University, University of Califor-nia-Berkeley, and the University ofIllinois. Seven of the College’s 11 engi-neering programs ranked within the top10 of their respective disciplines.

C.F. JEFF WU IS NEW COCA-COLACHAIR IN ENGINEERING STATISTICS

C.F. Jeff Wu joins ISyE in July as theCoca-Cola Chair in Engineering Statis-tics. Wu comes to Georgia Tech fromthe University of Michigan, where heserved as H.C. Carver Professor of Sta-tistics and Professor of Industrial andOperations Engineering. Prior to thishe was the GM/NSERC Chair in Qual-

ity and Productivity at the Universityof Waterloo.

A world-renowned statistician, Wureceived the prestigious COPSS (Com-mittee of Presidents of Statistical Soci-eties) Presidents Award in 1987. Thisaward, commissioned by five statisticalsocieties, is given to the best researcherunder the age of 40. He is also an electedmember of Academia Sinica and a Fel-low of the American Society of Quality,the Institute for Mathematical Statistics,and the American Statistical Associa-tion. He has won numerous awards,including the 1990 Wilcoxin Prize forthe best practical application paper inTechnometrics; the Brumbaugh Awardfor the single most important paper toquality control among publicationssponsored by the American Society forQuality Control; and the 1997 JackYouden Prize for the best review paperin Technometrics. He was the 1998 P.C.

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The Changing ISyE Curriculum

Knowledge is by nature dynamic. ISyE faculty regularly struggle toincorporate new ideas in industrial engineering, technology, and edu-cation into the School’s curriculum. Other factors, such as GeorgiaTech’s switch to the semester system in 1999, can also be the catalystfor change. Below, Dr. Paul Griffin, associate chair for UndergraduateStudies, discusses recent and potential changes in ISyE undergradu-ate coursework:

ISyE 2030, Modeling in IE

2030, which Griffin refers to as “an introductory class,” was addedat the time of semester conversion. According to the Georgia Tech cat-alog, “Coverage includes projects involving information collection, dataacquisition, analysis, and presentation, as well as the motivation anduse of analytical algorithmic, conceptual, and computational models.”While not an overview of IE, “the whole purpose is to show them theseare the kind of problems that they are going to end up solving as an IE,”says Griffin. “The focus is on how to start thinking like an IE and startthinking about the kind of topics that you’ll see.” The two-hour class, witha three-hour lab, requires that students have completed CS 1322 andISyE 2027, or the math department equivalents.

ISyE 3232, Stochastic Manufacturing and Service Systems

Griffin says 3232 has undergone major changes in the past fouryears. Expanding from a quarter to a semester is one difference. “They

are still covering the same math,” he says, “but they’ve added in thiscontextual knowledge of the practical side. It is not just a simple,abstract thing that they are manipulating anymore.” Students now prac-tice factory physics by playing the Littlefield Game (see article page 6),a simulated factory environment that gives them hands-on, real timeexperience with stochastic movements of material in manufacturingfacilities and the supply chain.

ISyE 4104 and 4105, Senior Design I and II

ISyE’s capstone course has faced some challenges now that it isa two-semester requirement. “For some companies that is too long tocommit for a project,” says Griffin. “Most projects have a shorter life. Ithas also taken a lot of resources—you need a faculty contact for twosemesters per student.” Twelve-person groups are the norm, somethingGriffin calls “ludicrous.” This spring semester, faculty conducted adesigned experiment, running a one-semester sample of the coursewith groups of five. “We’re looking at the quantifiable benefit of workingwith smaller groups,” Griffin continued, adding that external reviewerswill be comparing student’s work. Faculty will review the results and voteon whether to change to a one-semester format this summer.

Student Voice Council

This new student organization, organized spring semester, formedto give students a means of expressing concerns. “There are things

Mahalanobis Memorial Lecturer at theIndian Statistical Institutes.

His research work is widely cited,and he is listed as “ISI Highly CitedResearcher” in 2003 on www.isihigh-lycited.com. He is also well cited in pro-fessional journals and magazines,including a feature article about hiswork in Canadian Business and a spe-cial issue of Newsweek on quality. Hehas served as editor or associate editorfor several prestigious journals, such asAnnals of Statistics, Journal of AmericanStatistical Association, Technometrics,and Statistica Sinica. Wu has publishedmore than 100 research articles in peerreview journals. He has supervised 29doctoral candidates; 14 of these arenow working in major research depart-ments in statistics/engineering/businessin the U.S. and Canada, and two aresenior vice presidents at major U.S.companies. He also co-authored, with


Mike Hamada, the award winningbook Experiments: Planning, Analysis,and Parameter Design Optimization(Wiley, 2000).

Wu is excited about joining the ISyEfaculty. “One of my lifetime goals is todevelop an industrial statistics programthat will become a new paradigm androle model in the engineering college,”he says.“During my first visit to ISyE inFebruary of 2002, I was immediatelyimpressed and convinced that thiswould be the place for me to carry outthis vision. With their resources, repu-tation, and innovative outlook, GeorgiaTech and ISyE provide an ideal envi-ronment to develop a world-class pro-gram in engineering statistics andquality engineering.”

Wu earned his bachelor’s in Mathe-matics from National Taiwan Universityand his doctorate in Statistics from theUniversity of California-Berkeley.

NEW GTRI DIRECTOR JOINSISYE FACULTY

Dr. Stephen Cross will arrive oncampus this September to serve as vicepresident and director of the GeorgiaTech Research Institute. He will also jointhe ISyE faculty as professor. Cross iscurrently the director and chief execu-tive officer of the Carnegie Mellon Soft-ware Engineering Institute (SEI), anapplied research laboratory at CarnegieMellon University (CMU). He alsoholds a joint appointment as a researchprofessor in the Robotics Institute of theSchool of Computer Science.

“I have known Steve for more than20 years, since I served on his Ph.D.committee at the University of Illinois,”said Dr. Bill Rouse, ISyE Chair. “Hisresearch in AI and decision support sys-tems in the Air Force, the Defense

Advanced Research Projects Agency,andCMU make Steve an excellent additionto the Human Integrated Systems inter-est area in ISyE. Steve is very well con-nected and highly regarded in Washing-ton, and we hope he will be able to helpaccelerate several ISyE initiatives.”

Cross is a member of the U.S. AirForce Scientific Advisory Board and isthe past chairman of the DARPA Infor-

that can be very simple fixes that the School just doesn’t know about,”says Griffin. “There are things that we may see as minor, but can be ahuge deal. Like the mice in the computer lab. They were alwaysgunked up and you could never use them. So we switched them out tooptical mice.”

Core Curriculum Review

The Student Voice Council tackles larger challenges as well. “Thebiggest thing that came out is the issue of flexibility within the curricu-lum,” Griffin continues. “Essentially, every IE student takes the sameclasses. Students have very different interests—some want to go intologistics, while others want to pursue health systems or manufacturingor consulting. And we don’t give them the opportunity to learn moreabout their particular topics.” Students have indicated, through a survey,an interest in establishing topical tracks. “Since all of our courses arerequired, we have to decide that not everything we teach is core mate-rial. This is where the battle is, of course.” The goal is to get the core cur-riculum down to five or six classes (from 12). Each course eliminatedcan be turned into three electives, allowing for a much broader selec-tion of topics. Griffin frankly states that it is time. “Not only will the stu-dents like it, but to be honest, our curriculum is outdated. People bringin new materials, but there are whole new topics that we simply don’thave the flexibility to offer. If we have flexibility, that would make it easi-er to evolve and bring in new classes.”

No Ds Allowed

Griffin calls it “a minor thing,” but some students probably feel dif-ferently. “Now we don’t allow Ds in IE—those all have to be made up.To register for Senior Design, all of your IE courses must be C orabove,” he says.

Class Size

“We’re trying some experiments: going large class with recitationcompared to multiple offerings of classes,” says Griffin. Simulation willbe offered as a large class with breakouts this fall semester. Anyone incollege 20 years ago may remember this phenomenon, but for this gen-eration, it is a new idea. The School is also looking for the best deliverymechanism to bring classes with multiple sections down to the smallestsize possible.

Pre-reqs

ISyE requires two computer classes, more than any other Tech pro-gram. “More than two-thirds of our students are transfer students,” saysGriffin, adding that the computer classes must be completed beforeenrolling in the introductory IE classes. “They have been skipping overand taking courses out of sequence. We changed the pre-req systemto make it easier for the transfer students to naturally work into how wewant them to progress.”

Stephen E. Cross


elected in 2003 as Fellows of theAmerican Statistical Association. Thefellow status is the highest grade givento ASA members.

Assistant Professor Roshan JosephVengazhiyil has received a 2002 Distin-guished Dissertation Award from theUniversity of Michigan’s RackhamGraduate School. It is the most presti-gious award given by the School. He isthe first winner of the award from theDepartment of Statistics, where hereceived his Ph.D. in 2002.

Jeff Wu, Coca-Cola Chair inEngineering Statistics, has beenelected a Fellow of the AmericanSociety of Quality. This distinctionis reserved for ASQ members whohave demonstrated active participa-tion and significant contributions tothe quality community.

STUDENT NEWS

Matt Drake received honorablemention in the 2003 NSF GraduateFellowship competition. Drake wasalso selected to attend the Councilof Logistics Management DoctoralColloquium, and received theCouncil’s Graduate fellowship for2002-2003.

The following ISyE students werehonored at the 2003 Student AwardsCeremony spring semester:• Melissa Krenzel received the Insti-

tute of Industrial Engineers Award($500)

• Javier Estrella received the Alpha PiMu Outstanding Senior Award($500)

• Alejandro Toriello received thePaul T. Eaton Memorial Award in Material Handling ($150)

• Alana Long received the KurtSalomon Associates Scholarship in ISyE ($500)

• Monique Gupta and Alanna Mill-man received the Henry FordScholar Award ($1000)

• Eric Orrington received the AesoSystems Graduate Minority Engineering Award ($500)

• Tara Leigh Morris received theHelen E. Gregna OutstandingWoman Engineer Award ($500)

• Tiffany Massey received the Joe T.LaBoon Award for outstandingsenior cooperative education student (plaque)

• William Palmer received the CETL/Dow Foundation PerseveranceAward ($1000)

ISyE Junior Wins Prestigious

Goldwater Scholarship

Junior Monique Gupta, 20, doesn’twant much out of life, only to get aPh.D., an M.D., and improve the effi-ciency of gene transfer techniques andthe health care system. Scheduled toreceive her bachelor’s degree in Indus-trial and Systems Engineering (ISyE)next year, she has a bit of work to dobefore she reaches those goals. But win-ning the prestigious Goldwater scholar-ship has put her one step closer.

“She’s really the best I’ve seen inseveral years,” said Paul Griffin,Associate Chair for UndergraduateStudies in ISyE.

Gupta came to Georgia Tech fromMacon, Georgia, three years ago. Atthe time, she said, she didn’t reallyknow what she wanted to do, only that

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mation Science and Technology panel.He has published more than 50 paperson technology transition and the appli-cations of advanced information pro-cessing technology. He earned his Ph.D.from the University of Illinois, his MSEEfrom the Air Force Institute of Technol-ogy,and his BSEE from the University ofCincinnati. He is also a graduate of theU.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, the AirWar College, and the National DefenseUniversity.Cross was selected as a Fellowof the Institute of Electrical and Elec-tronic Engineers and a DistinguishedAlumnus of the University of Cincin-nati’s College of Engineering.

GTRI is the applied research arm ofGeorgia Tech. Some 1,200 employeesperform and support approximately$115 million in annual research formore than 200 clients in industry andgovernment. The GTRI mission is toplan and conduct focused programs ofinnovative research, education, and eco-nomic development that advance theglobal competitiveness and security ofGeorgia, the region, and the nation. Dr.Cross succeeds Dr. Edward Reedy, direc-tor since 1996, who is retiring fromGeorgia Tech after a 33-year career.

FACULTY NEWS

Assistant Professor Ozlem Ergunhas received the CAREER Award fromthe National Science Foundation.

Associate Professor Amy Pritchettwas awarded the prestigious “ExcellenceFaculty Award” at the 2003 GeorgiaTech Women in Engineering banquet.

Julie Swann and Paul Griffin havereceived the NSF Engineering the Ser-vice Sector Award for “Designing anOptimal Financing Mechanism forDental Care Among the Elderly.”Swann also received the NSF Manu-facturing Enterprise Systems Awardfor “Coordinating Pricing and Inven-tory Control,” with David Simchi-Leviof MIT.

Professor Kwok Tsui and ProfessorEmeritus Harry Wadsworth were

Monique Gupta


she wanted to study engineering. Afterbeing at Tech for a while, it all cametogether when she decided to major inISyE. “ISyE gives me an engineeringbackground, which helps with re-search analysis and technical writing,”Gupta said.

Healthcare system efficiency is alsoone of the major areas of concentrationin ISyE, said Griffin.

Gupta has been working on genetherapy techniques with Joseph LeDoux,professor in biomedical engineering atGeorgia Tech and Emory University.

Gene therapy is a novel approach totreating diseases, and most of it is still inthe experimental phase, said Gupta. Butthe idea is that scientists would firstidentify a gene in a patient that is caus-ing a certain disease. “A new genewould be created in a lab, and doctorswould use it to replace the gene that iscausing the problem. One way to deliv-er the new gene to the patient is by

using a retrovirus to carry the gene intothe affected area of the patient,”explained Gupta.

“Diseases that can be helped by genetransfer include rheumatic arthritis andjuvenile arthritis,” she said.

Before winning the Goldwater,Gupta won Tech’s four-year President’sScholarship, which is given to incomingfreshmen who demonstrate leadershipin their community and academicexcellence. By paying up to $7,500toward next year’s tuition, fees androom and board, the scholarshipshould help her save money for gradu-ate and medical school.

This year the Barry M. GoldwaterScholarship and Excellence in Educa-tion Foundation awarded 300 scholar-ships out of a field of 1,093 applicantsfrom the U.S. and Puerto Rico. TheFoundation is a federally endowedagency established in 1986. The Schol-arship Program, honoring former Ari-

zona Senator Barry M. Goldwater, wasdesigned to foster and encourage out-standing students to pursue careers inthe fields of mathematics, the naturalsciences, and engineering.

ALUMNI NEWS

John Aderhold, BEE 1945 andMSIE 1967, has been elected to the Hallof Fame for the J. Mack Robinson Col-lege of Business at Georgia State Univer-sity. Aderhold, chairman of AderholdProperties, surprised his wife severalyears ago by donating the funds toname the Helen M. Aderhold LearningCenter at GSU, her alma mater.

Allison Hayes Crossen, BIE 1997,MSHS 1998, has joined North GeorgiaEMC in Dalton as Energy ServicesCoordinator. Crossen coordinatesenergy services for commercial and


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industrial customers in seven Georgiacounties.

Paul Edfeldt, BIE 1952, has beenappointed to the board of directors ofM-Power Ministries, Inc., a non-profitcorporation with the mission to rebuildurban communities in the Birming-ham, Alabama area. Edfeldt, who livesin Birmingham, is retired.

Andy Fiol, BIE 1993, and his family(wife Deanna, Zachary, age 6, Made-

line, age 4, and twins Caroline andEmily) moved to Charlotte three yearsago, where Fiol is working with a num-ber of new companies in various fieldsafter eight years with Milliken & Com-pany in its international business andeBiz initiatives.

Morris L. Gavant, MD, BSHS 1976,has been named Chief of Radiology atNorth Arundel Hospital in GlenBurnie, Maryland. Gavant is also a

partner with Advanced Radiology, Inc.He resides in Baltimore.

J. E. “Eddie” Hicks, BIE 1963,MSIM 1968, is the National Auto-matic Merchandising Association’s“National Industry Person of theYear.” Hicks is president and CEO ofPrestige Services in Clifton Park,New York.

Keith Hollingsworth, BIE 1990,MSIE 1992, Ph.D. 1995, has beengranted tenure in the Division ofEconomics and Business Adminis-tration at Morehouse College inAtlanta, where he is an associateprofessor. Hollingsworth was alsothe inaugural recipient of the Divi-sion’s Outstanding Faculty Award,determined by student vote.

Brig. Gen. Ronald L. Johnson,MSOR 1985, has been named BlackEngineer of the Year (ProfessionalAchievement in Government) by U.S.Black Engineer magazine. Gen. Johnsonis a West Point graduate and Com-manding General and Division Engi-neer for the Pacific Ocean Division ofthe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Steve Johnson, BIE 1983, recentlyco-founded, with Sandy Stephens, BIM1987, a new distribution and logisticsconsulting firm specializing in planningdesign and productivity improvementfor retailers and wholesale distribution.Johnson Stephens Consulting is basedin Atlanta. Johnson previously spent 14years in consulting with anotherAtlanta-based firm.

George “Fred”Milburn, ISyE 1979,has been promoted to the rank ofColonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. Mil-burn is the Future Operations officer ofI Marine Expeditionary Unit, deployedto the Middle East. He calls Carlsbad,California, home.

Randy Thayer, MSIE 1980, plantmanager of the Doraville, Georgia,General Motors Assembly Plant, hasbeen transferred to Michigan, where heis now plant manager of GM’s LansingMetal Center.

Stavros “Steve” G. Trastelis, BSTE1976, MSIE 1979, has recently addedoperations responsibilities to his job ascorporate vice president for TQM,

Jane Ammons Elected IIE FellowJane Ammons, NSF Advance Profes-

sor of Engineering and Professor of ISyE,has been named a Fellow of the Institute ofIndustrial Engineers (IIE). The IIE Fellowaward acknowledges outstanding leadersof the profession who have made signifi-cant, nationally recognized contributions toindustrial engineering. With more than17,000 members and 150 chapters world-wide, IIE is the world’s largest professionalsociety dedicated solely to the support ofthe industrial engineering profession.

Ammons, an IIE member for 28 years,is recognized for her “significant and sus-tained technical and service contributions tothe field of industrial engineering,” accord-ing to IIE officials. “Dr. Ammons hasachieved outstanding accomplishments inmanufacturing systems research, in engi-neering education scholarship, in service toIIE, and in service to interdisciplinary activ-ities as an ambassador for the industrialengineering field.”

She joins several current and emeritiISyE faculty who have been honored withIIE Fellow distinction, including:• Robert Lehrer (1963)• James Apple (1968)• Harold Smalley (1968)• Cecil Johnson (1980)• Gerald Thuesen (1987)• Michael Thomas (1988)• Jack Lohmann (1996)• Leon McGinnis (1996)• Don Ratliff (1996)• John Jarvis (1997)• Justin Myrick (2000)• Donovan Young (2000)• Jerry Banks (2002)


training and development, and strate-gic human resources at MicrofibresInternational in Winston-Salem,North Carolina.

Patrick Sweeney, BIE 1964, retiredin April as assistant director of the Vet-erans Administration Regional Officein Montgomery, Alabama, after 27years of Federal service. Sweeney previ-ously served the VA in Jacksonville,Florida; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta.He is a graduate of the Federal Execu-tive Institute and received its HonoraryLeadership Award in 1996. He lives inMontgomery, where he is active in localmediation, the United Way, and theAmerican Red Cross.

Justin Whitfield Wiechart, BIE1998, is a realtor with RE/MAX realtyTeam in Southwest Florida. Wiechartis the former president of the inau-gural Radiant Systems Georgia TechClub in Alpharetta, Georgia; she iscurrently working to develop a Ft.Myers/Naples Georgia Tech Club.Wiechart and her husband, MatthewWiechart, BME 1997, hosted a Fresh-man Send-Off picnic at their CapeCoral home in August 2002.

James A. Wills, BIE 1951, isretired after holding managementand engineering positions with theU.S. Department of Defense, KurtSalomon Associates, and variouscompanies in the garment industry.He lives in San Antonio, Texas, wherehe has a small sewing business.

Correction from Spring 2003 issue: Dr. Fay Cobb Payton, BIE 1989,received her Ph.D. in Information andDecision Systems from Case WesternReserve University. We apologize forthe error.

Marriages

Whitney Hopkins, BIE 2000, mar-ried Doug Appenfelder, BEE, in Janu-ary 2003. The couple lives in Atlanta,where Hopkins is a quality engineer forRadiant Systems and Doug is a networkengineer for Verizon Wireless.

Clyde A. Sheehan, BIE 1984,married registered nurse Susan Cole

of Savannah on November 10, 2001.The couple’s first child, ThomasAlexander, was born July 15, 2002.Clyde works in private practice as achild, adolescent, and adult psychi-atrist in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Births

Sarah Conklin Bridges, BIE 1995,announces the birth of Andrew David,born October 26, 2001, joining brotherJonathan. Bridges is CEO and CFO ofthe Bridges' home in Hendersonville,Tennessee.

Nicole Pitts Ferrell, BIE 1998,and her husband Cres Ferrell, ME1999, are parents of a new daughter,Charlotte Elaine Ferrell, born Octo-

ber 29, 2002. The family resides inAlpharetta, Georgia.

Brent Goolsby, BIE 1992, and JanetNelson Goolsby, BIE 1992, welcome asecond daughter, Ashlyn Brooke, bornSeptember 27, 2002.Ashlyn joins three-year-old Alexis. The family resides inMarietta, Georgia, where Brent is afinancial advisor with Schiffer, Wynne& Associates.

Deaths

William L. (Billy) Camp, BIE 1948,in Rome, Georgia. Camp was thefounder of Camp Oil Company.

Paul Ray Cheney, BIE 1950, inDawson County, Georgia. Cheney wasa retired engineering consultant.

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