New Kids on the Block - Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

<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