Several members from the Wm Michael Barnes ’64 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISEN) were recognized during the 2024 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Annual Conference and Expo.
Dr. Lewis Ntaimo was named a 2024 IISE Fellow, the highest classification of IISE membership. It is given to leaders who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial engineering. Ntaimo is a professor and the department head, as well as the holder of the Sugar and Mike Barnes Department Head Chair. “I am very honored to be elected to IISE Fellows,” said Ntaimo. “I appreciate all my colleagues who nominated me for this outstanding recognition.”
Additionally, former student Dr. Joe Michels, P.E., C.P.L. ’86 was also named a 2024 IISE Fellow. He is currently the managing principal at Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC in Fort Worth, Texas, and is actively involved with the department in providing leadership and mentorship to both graduate and undergraduate students. “This honor is very humbling,” said Michels. “I am indeed honored to be recognized by my many colleagues for a lifetime of engineering accomplishments.”
The Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering, which recognizes innovative technical contributions to the industrial engineering profession, was given to Dr. Farzan Sasangohar. He is an associate professor in the department and a Mike and Sugar Barnes Faculty Fellow.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering,” said Sasangohar. This recognition reflects the hard work and dedication of my entire research team. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues and students, and I look forward to continuing our efforts to apply human factors engineering to new areas of endeavor."
Dr. Maryam Zahabi received the Dr. Hamed K. Eldin Outstanding Early Career IE in Academia Award, given to individuals in academia who have shown outstanding characteristics in education, leadership, professionalism and potential in industrial engineering. Zahabi is an assistant professor in the department and a Mike and Sugar Barnes Faculty Fellow.
“Receiving this award is a great honor that reflects not just my efforts, but the incredible support and collaboration from my mentors, colleagues and students in ISEN,” said Zahabi.
Dr. Mykyta Makovenko received third place in the Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award, recognizing the year’s best PhD dissertations in the field of industrial engineering. Makovenko was advised by Dr. Sergiy Butenko.
The Student Simulation Competition, sponsored by Rockwell Automation’s Arena Simulation Software Group, awarded third place to an ISEN team. Students on the team included Dayo Olaoisebikan, Michael Gruver, Nicole Prado, and Marina Viteri with Dr. Andy Banerjee as their advisor.
“We had a very talented group of students that took the initiative of learning an entirely new simulation software (Arena) within a matter of weeks and participated in the competition,” said Banerjee. The amount of motivation demonstrated by the team was incredible. It is a testament to their dedication that the team was able to be one of the finalists in the national competition amongst a group of about 22 teams from different countries. My heartiest congratulations to our wonderful team. I hope this recognition will motivate other students to participate in this and similar competitions.”