New Kids on the Block - Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Fall • Winter 2011iEConnectionsEngineering success since 1909<strong>New</strong> <strong>Kids</strong>on the BlockThe Harold and Inge Marcus Departmentof Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering1

Fall • Winter 2011Inside this IssueLeadershipineducationserviceresearch2 10 121 Message from the Department Head2 <strong>New</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> on the Block6 Alumni Spotlight: Mike Marino7 Seibel Recognized with OutstandingEngineering Alumni AwardMarcus Department Grad Honored byPenn State Alumni Association8 Ph.D. Candidate Receives Prestigious NSF FellowshipWeisleder Named Student Marshall forSummer Commencement9 Two IE Students Receive College HonorsIE Students Raise Money for Cancer Research10 Focus on Research: Kimberly-Clark Latin AmericaOperations12 CIHDS 2011 Workshop Focuses on Challengesin Healthcare13 Simpson Receives ASEE Fred Merryfield Design AwardIE Connections is published twice yearly by the Harold andInge Marcus Department of Industrial and ManufacturingEngineering in the College of Engineering at Penn State.Editor: Amanda BucherGraphics & Design: Heather ReeseCover Photography: Gene MaylockPeter and Angela Dal Pezzo Department Head Chair: Paul GriffinUndergraduate Program Coordinator: Elena M. JoshiGraduate Program Coordinator: M. Jeya ChandraDepartment Contact: 310 Leonhard Building,Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802;Phone: 814-865-7601; Fax: 814-863-4745www.ie.psu.eduThis publication is available in alternative media on request.2The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access toprograms, facilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related toability, performance, or qualifications as determined by University policy or by state or federal authorities. It isthe policy of the University to maintain an academic and work environment free of discrimination, includingharassment. The Pennsylvania State University prohibits discrimination and harassment against any personbecause of age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation,gender identity, or veteran status. Discrimination or harassment against faculty, staff, or students will notbe tolerated at The Pennsylvania State University. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy tothe Affirmative Action Director, The Pennsylvania State University, 328 Boucke Building, University Park, PA16802-5901; Tel 814-865-4700/V, 814-863-1150/TTY. U.Ed. ENG 12-14

IE ConnectionsMessage from Department Head<strong>New</strong> OpportunitiesThis past year has broughtsome exciting changesto the Harold and IngeMarcus Department ofIndustrial and ManufacturingEngineering. Oneof the key ways this hashappened is by welcomingto our faculty the fiveassistant professors shownon the cover of this issue.Each of them has uniqueskills and interests thatPaul Griffinsignificantly broadens theresearch and educationalportfolio of the department. You can read about their interests,accomplishments and more on page 2.As we continue to grow, one of our goals is to increase ourconnectedness with other departments in the College ofEngineering and even other Colleges in the University. OurCenter for Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems (CIHDS)is one example of the department’s interdisciplinary efforts.This center, directed by Marcus Department ProfessorHarriet Nembhard, is made up of faculty from fivecolleges at Penn State and is sponsored by several industrypartners including Siemens and Lockheed Martin. Thisyear CIHDS was awarded a National Science FoundationIndustry/University Cooperative Research Center. It is alsopart of Penn State’s newly awarded $30 million Center forTranslational Science Institute. The results have been manynew exciting research opportunities for our faculty andstudents as well as new curriculum that has been developedin the area of healthcare delivery. You can read more aboutCIHDS and their 2011 meeting on page 12.It also continues to be the case that our student populationcontinues to grow, particularly at the undergraduate level.Our entering class this year is twice the size that it was twoyears ago. There is also increased interest among freshman inindustrial engineering. The number of freshman that chosethe major as their first choice is twice as high as it was twoyears ago. This obviously brings some challenges in termsof continuing to deliver a world-class curriculum to a risingstudent population, but it is a challenge we welcome.Let me conclude by saying that I am very excited about all ofour new hires. I have no doubt that over the next several yearsfuture issues of this magazine will contain the many outstandingaccomplishments that these faculty have achieved. I alsohave no doubt that they will help us to continue to build thefoundation by which the first IE program in the nationprovides the best graduates for industry and academia.Paul GriffinPeter and Angela Dal Pezzo Department Head ChairTo view IE Connections on yourmobile or handheld device scan theQR code to the right.1

IE Highlights<strong>New</strong> <strong>Kids</strong>on the BlockABy: Amanda Buchers the fall semester started there were new facesand names to learn in the Harold and Inge MarcusDepartment of Industrial and ManufacturingEngineering, and not just those of incomingstudents. Five new assistant professors joined thedepartment, bringing with them a variety of backgroundsand research interests. Dr. Paul Griffin,Peter and Angela dal Pezzo Department Head Chair, believesthat the new faculty will have a great impact on the department.“We see these individuals as not only the future of ourdepartment, but as the future of their respective fields,” saidDr. Griffin. “By bringing these individuals together at PennState we believe we will continue to be a leader in researchand education in industrial engineering.”2

IE HighlightsDr. Scarlett MillerDr. Necdet Serhat AybatPh.D., Industrial Engineering and OperationsResearch, Columbia UniversityResearch Areas: Large-scale optimization,convex optimization, compressive sensing, matrix rankminimization, medical imagingDr. Aybat was born inIstanbul, Turkey, and receivedhis B.S. and M.S. degreesin industrial engineeringfrom Bogazici University inIstanbul. In 2006 he movedto <strong>New</strong> York City and beganhis Ph.D. work at ColumbiaUniversity.He became interested in thefield of operations researchdue to his love of math andusing it to improve the qualityof life. “With the techniques used in OR, the scope of thingsyou can do is limitless,” said Aybat. “You can color your oldblack and white picture album or you can reduce the radiationexposure of a CT scan by more than 75 percent to diminish itsside effects on the patients.” Dr. Aybat hopes that the researchhe is able to conduct at Penn State will have a lasting impacton the welfare of society.In his field of operations research, Dr. Aybat sees many newexciting trends emerging. “Recent improvements in acquisitionand storage technology are allowing us to acquire moreaccurate and finer application-specific data, whether it is tickby-tickprice data from the stock market or frame-by-framehigh resolution images and videos from surveillance systems.Many important large-scale applications can be modeled asoptimization problems with millions of decision variables andvery often, the desired solution has lots of structure that weknow beforehand. Using the prior information on the solutionwe desire, and designing efficient, application specific optimizationalgorithms for large scale problems provides us withthe opportunity to improve our understanding of the application;and it is likely to result in effective solutions to manyimportant practical problems.”While Dr. Aybat says he misses the hustle and bustle of citylife, he’s enjoying a renewed connection to nature living inState College. When not working he enjoys traveling, playingbasketball and tennis and going to movies.Ph.D., Industrial and Enterprise SystemsEngineering, University of IllinoisResearch Areas: Human-computer interface,ergonomics, creativity and designDr. Miller comes to Penn Statefrom the University of Illinoiswhere she received her Ph.D.in the spring of 2011. Prior tothat, Dr. Miller received herB.S. and M.S. from the Universityof Nebraska. Despitebeing an “Air Force brat” andmoving around, she considersNebraska her home state andis a loyal Cornhusker.Dr. Miller says she alwaysknew she wanted to be anindustrial engineer because she was fascinated with bothengineering and psychology, leading her to the human factorsfield. Once she began her undergraduate program she knewshe wanted to be a professor. “There is something aboutresearch and working with students that really excites me,”she said. “I honestly think I have one of the best jobs in theworld because I get to conduct top-notch research that drivesthe future of the field and I get to work with and mentor ourfuture leaders.”Miller finds her field exhilarating because it is on the fringe ofso many different disciplines, including engineering, computerscience, information science, psychology and design. “Theemerging trend is to merge design processes in all of theseareas and better support the processes through technology.Coming together and identifying the innovation process andhow it effects company innovation, as well as how we teachstudents to innovate is a very hot topic.”At Penn State, Dr. Miller holds a joint appointment with theMarcus Department and the School of Engineering Design,Technology, and Professional Programs. She is also interestedin collaborating with companies and alumni for research andteaching purposes. In the spring she will teach a graduatecourse that takes company sponsored problems and givesthem to students to solve.Outside of the classroom, Dr. Miller enjoys sports, cookingand hiking in the Pennsylvania mountains.3

<strong>New</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> on the BlockDr. Guodong (Gordon) PangPh.D., Operations Research,Columbia UniversityResearch Areas: Applied probability, stochasticnetworks, queuing systems, large-scale service systemsDr. Pang, originally fromShandong, China came toPenn State after earning hisPh.D. from Columbia University.Before that, he receivedhis M.S. from VirginiaTech, his M.A. from QueensUniversity, Ontario, and aB.S. and B.Eng. from TianjinUniversity in China.Dr. Pang loves both researchand teaching. His interestsare in applied probability,stochastic modeling, stochastic networks, queueing systemsand service engineering. In particular, he is interested in theoperational aspects of large-scale service systems. His mostrecent research is on the healthcare and energy systems. Thisincludes helping to reduce the impact of disruptions on theperformance of service systems such as call centers and emergencydepartments.This past summer Dr. Pang visited the Technion in Haifa,Israel, to work in the area of health queueing networkswith Dr. Avishai Mandelbaum, the Benjamin and FlorenceFree Chair Professor of Operations Research, Statistics andService Engineering. As a result of the visit, Dr. Pang willbe offering a new graduate course in the Marcus Departmentnext spring entitled “Service Networks: Empirical Analysis,Modeling and Management.”Dr. Pang grew up in the famous Mountain Tai area in China,and has always been a lover of the outdoors. One of the biggestattractions of State College for him is its peaceful, quietand natural environment. “The surrounding mountains ofHappy Valley make me feel like I’m in my childhood home.“He very much enjoys hiking in the area. He also likes readingand musicals.Dr. Christopher SaldanaPh.D., Industrial Engineering, Purdue UniversityResearch Areas: Micro/nano-manufacturing,sustainable manufacturing, machining applications insurgery, pharmaceutical materials processingDr. Saldana came to PennState after receiving his M.S.and Ph.D. at Purdue Universityand completing a postdoctoralposition at Universityof California – San Diego.He received his B.S. fromVirginia Tech University.Dr. Saldana’s interest inacademia peaked whenhe was an undergraduateengineering tutor at VirginiaTech, his interest in engineeringformed long before that. “I’ve always been interested inproblems of a physical nature and have, since my undergraduatedays, maintained a manufacturing focus to my studies andresearch.” Despite experiences in industry and with a nationallaboratory, Dr. Saldana feels that Penn State is the best fit forhim. “I can’t imagine anything better than working at one ofthe best IE programs in the country,” he added.Dr. Saldana sees a wider focus in manufacturing emerging.“For hundreds of years the myriad of physical processes thatencompass manufacturing have been studied. While this remainsthe primary concern of the manufacturing community,broader scientific interest in manufacturing can be found inthe extension of its empirical and analytical constructs to shednew, processing-focused insight on physical problems in a varietyof areas.” He added, “There are unique opportunities forextending manufacturing research into alternative domains,significant work and interest continues with regard to classicalmanufacturing professing investigations and the developmentof new manufacturing technologies. Manufacturerstoday face the same problems they always have—limitedproduction speeds and inefficient processing methods—but inan increasingly challenging operating environment.”Dr. Saldana holds a Harold and Inge Marcus Career professorshipand he hopes to use this position to bring new ideasto the classroom and the research laboratory. He’s an avidrunner and recently started cycling.4

IE HighlightsDr. Conrad TuckerPh.D., Systems Engineering,University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignResearch Areas: Complex systems design, predictivedata mining, machine learningIllinois at Urbana-Champaign.Born in Sierra Leone, WestAfrica, Dr. Tucker has amulti-cultured background,either living or visiting morethan 20 countries, spanningfive continents. After livingin Sierra Leone, Australia andNigeria, Dr. Tucker and hisfamily relocated to Marylandin 1997. He completedhis B.S. at Rose-HulmanInstitute of Technology andhe received his M.S., M.B.A.and Ph.D. from University ofAs the son of academics, Dr. Tucker always knew he wantedto work in academia. “Being a professor of industrial engineeringinterested me because of the diverse areas of researchthat are possible, both theoretical and applied. It is rewardingto be part of an academic community that has such a strongpartnership with industry.”Tucker sees data mining design as an area of research thathas strong relevance to almost every facet in society. “I seean emergence of human-based networks shaping informationflow and knowledge discovery. With the advent of smartphones and other portable media, there will be a seamlessintegration of multiple information sources. The developmentof theoretical models that extract previously unknownknowledge from large data repositories has implications rangingfrom more efficient healthcare systems to stronger, moreintelligent national security protocols.”Like Dr. Miller, Dr. Tucker holds a joint position with theSchool of Engineering Design, Technology, and ProfessionalPrograms. In addition, he runs the Design Analysis TechnologyAdvancement Laboratory which focuses on a multidisciplinarydesign optimization approach to solving complexengineering design problems by creating a synergisticmethodology that incorporates the objectives of data mining,machine learning, engineering design and manufacturing.“We see these individualsas not only the future of ourdepartment, but as the futureof their respective fields,”said Dr. Griffin. “By bringingthese individuals together atPenn State we believe we willcontinue to be a leader inresearch and education inindustrial engineering.”To learn more about these faculty members,as well as how to contact any faculty and staff inthe Marcus department visit:http://www.ie.psu.edu/FacultyStaff/FacultyStaff.htmlTucker likes State College’s proximity to Maryland where heenjoys visiting family when he needs to recharge. He’s alsoexcited to discover the area’s great fishing spots.5

Student <strong>New</strong>sPh.D.CandidateReceivesPrestigiousNSF FellowshipWeisleder namedstudent marshalfor summercommencementBy: Jane HarrisPedro Neto, a doctoral candidate in theHarold and Inge Marcus Department ofIndustrial and Manufacturing Engineeringis the recipient of a 2011 National ScienceFoundation (NSF) Graduate ResearchFellowship. Neto will be using the fellowshipto apply the methods of operationsresearch to sustainability issues under theguidance of Terry L. Friesz, Harold andInge Marcus chaired professor.The fellowship provides three years ofsupport for students who are pursuingresearch-based degrees. The awards aregiven to candidates who demonstrate theirpotential to successfully complete graduatedegree programs in NSF-supported science,technology, engineering, and mathematicsdisciplines.Dan Weisleder with College of Engineering Dean David WormleyDan A. Weisleder was the student marshal for the Collegeof Engineering at Penn State’s summer commencementceremony on Aug. 13. Weisleder received a bachelor of sciencedegree in industrial engineering with a minor in economics.He chose Dr. Soundar Kumara, the Allen E. and Allen M.Pearce Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,to be his faculty escort.College of Engineering student marshals are selected fortheir outstanding academic achievement and contributionsto engineering student life.Weisleder is the son of Susana and Isaac Weisleder of Aventura,FL. He is a 2006 graduate of Liceo Hebraica Moral y Luces inCaracas, Venezuela.At Penn State, Weisleder was named to the dean’s list everysemester and was nominated for the 2011 Outstanding SeniorAward given by the Harold and Inge Department of Industrialand Manufacturing Engineering. He is a member of the NationalSociety of Collegiate Scholars and the Society of HispanicProfessional Engineers. His additional Penn State activitiesincluded the Venezuelan Cultural Association, where he heldthe office of general secretary, and intramural soccer, where hewas a member of the 2011 championship team.Following graduation, Weisleder joined LAN Cargo as arevenue management analyst.8

Student NEWSTwo IE Students ReceiveCollege HonorsLast spring, Caitlin (Katie) Tice and LaurenKnobloch, won top honors for their dedicationto organizations serving Penn State’s College ofEngineering.Tice received the Joelle Award for Women inEngineering Leadership sponsored by the Womenin Engineering Program. This award is given to a junior orsenior who has demonstrated an outstanding record of leadership,service and citizenship that positively affects the climatefor women in the College of Engineering. She is involvedin several university organizations including the Womenin Engineering Program, the Society of Hispanic ProfessionalEngineers (SHPE), and the Engineering Ambassadorsprogram. She interned in the Office of Engineering Diversityand has served on a variety of panels in which she shared herexperiences as a female receiving an engineering education.She also participated in Spend a Summer Day in which shespoke to more than 300 prospective students about the Collegeof Engineering.Knobloch is recipient of the 2011 Priscilla Guthrie World-Class Engineer Award sponsored by the Penn State sectionof the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). This awardrecognizes a SWE member who best personifies the College’sconcept of a World-Class Engineer: aware of the world,solidly grounded, technically broad, innovative, effective inteams and successful as a leader. Knobloch has been a mentorand leadership team member for the Women in EngineeringProgram Orientation, an engineering counselor for the PennState MTM Engineering Camp for Girls, is a member of theSHPE, a member of the SWE, and a finalist in the Collegeof Engineering Internship Student of the Year. She internedin the Engineering Cooperative Education Department andcompleted a co-op with Johnson & Johnson.IE Students RaiseMoney for CancerResearchOn Apr. 8 and 9 undergraduate and graduate students fromthe Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial andManufacturing Engineering participated in the 7th annualPenn State Relay for Life to benefit the American CancerSociety.Due to generous donations from family, friends, faculty, staffand alumni the IE team was able to raise $6,000, makingthem the second largest fundraiser out of 156 teams in thisyear’s event. This is the fourth year that a team of industrialengineering students has participated in Relay for Life andthey raised a grand total of $28,770 for the American CancerSociety during that time.Each year the Relay campsites are decorated with a commontheme and this year’s theme was “Wish Upon a Cure”.Disney-inspired sites were spread across the Penn Stateagricultural fields and despite heavy rain, cold temperaturesand generally miserable conditions, team members persistedthrough the 24-hour event. A total of over $97,000 was raisedfor the fight against cancer.IE team raises $6,000 for Relay for Life9

RickWysk,RodolfoPortilo,andRaviRavindran

Faculty <strong>New</strong>sFigure 1: Footprint OptimizationThe Stage 2 analysis included capacity expansions in productionand distribution facilities already considered by the management.Close to a dozen new production lines were plannedwithin a two-year horizon. Although management had alreadydecided on their locations, multiple options were allowed inthe model to confirm their choices. The result showed that themajority of the chosen locations were optimal. Although thelocations were the best to maximize profit, the supply chainnetwork was still not capable of meeting the full projecteddemand.In summary, the KC-LAO project broke new grounds in boththeoretical and applied research. It became a model to showhow industry and university can work collaboratively to solvecomplex industry problems. Other benefits included summerinternships and full time employment for IE undergraduateand graduate students at KC-LAO and education opportunitiesfor KC-LAO personnel at Penn State. The partnershiphas also funded several research projects involving other IEfaculty—Professors Vittal Prabhu, Jose Ventura and RickWysk (now at North Carolina State).During the Stage 3 analysis, additional levels of facilityexpansions were considered. The results provided production,distribution and sales levels to maximize profits. However,the optimal demand fulfillment ratio was just below 100 percent,highlighting specific product-market combinations thatwere not profitable.Professor Ravi Ravindran was the principal investigator onthe footprint optimization project. Rodolfo Portillo (oneducational leave from KC-LAO) was the research assistant.Rodolfo’s work on the project later became part of his Ph.D.thesis.11

IE310 Leonhard BuildingPenn State UniversityUniversity Park, PA 16802ConnectionsNon Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDState College, PAPermit No.12011Spring EngineeringDesign ShowcaseStudents (L – R) Joe Brick, Aitan Lawit, Nick Kluthe andApril Kaszubski pose with Dr. Paul Griffin after presentingtheir capstone design poster ”Lean Course Scheduling System”during the 2011 Spring Engineering Design Showcase.14