This is the inaugural issue of our new department newsletter, the “ISE Insider.” We seek to share the exciting activities and accomplishments of our students, faculty and staff who are creating opportunities and recognition for the department.
The department is one of the most established and renowned in the U.S. In 2019, the department will celebrate 85 years and it continues to elevate its status as a major player in the future of ISE.
Over the years, students and faculty have worked through the department to contribute to the ISE discipline in different ways, including developing new methods for making complex human and technological systems more efficient. However, one thing that has remained constant is excellence in what we do. This year several of our students, graduates and faculty have achieved important honors for academic and research excellence. I believe these accomplishments demonstrate our pursuit of excellence and I look forward to the continuing contributions the department will make to the ISE discipline in the future.
In addition to our student and faculty achievements, there are many other positive changes occurring. During the past spring semester, our faculty search resulted in two new tenure-track hires in the new human-system engineering (HSE) area. These faculty will lead our efforts in teaching, research and world-class lab development for human interaction with wearable technologies, human factors in healthcare, and human activity analysis for safety. Through the support of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, we recently hired two new permanent lecturers. We have also hired a new marketing and communications specialist, who was primarily responsible for this newsletter, and you will be seeing many more marketing pieces coming from the department in the near future. In addition, we have hired a new dedicated development officer and we are creating a new strategy for connecting our activities with those friends, alumni and corporations that seek to support UF ISE in its future success.
Related to our hiring activity, we have a new vision for the department to be a resource for comprehensive training and research opportunities and to be an engine for ISE research with societal-level impact. This vision requires a continuing expansion of faculty to increase breadth coverage of the ISE discipline. In the next academic year, we will continue to grow the new HSE area with two hires in transportation human factors and human performance modeling. In addition, the department is developing a new focus in data analytics to complement existing strength in optimization. We are conducting a search for four faculty in data analytics and operations research with methodological expertise and domain knowledge. The department will also develop a new computational lab for hosting data analytics faculty research. In 2019-2020, our expansion will continue with an additional search for multiple faculty with expertise in smart production and manufacturing as well as supply chain and logistics systems. These new faculty will support our existing SCALE (Supply Chain and Logistics Engineering) Lab and elevate our research activity to the center and/or institute level. The new faculty will also develop courses and curriculums at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The existing ISE faculty are invested in this vision and the college is highly supportive of the department’s growth.
Focusing on the near term, we are preparing for our ABET review during the Fall term. Our ABET team has conducted a rigorous self-study of the department’s progress over the past 6 years. The faculty, students and staff are preparing to present a consistent message on our continuous improvement process and progress in student outcomes assessment. We look forward to the ABET review for feedback as a basis for further enhancing our continuous improvement process.
In general, these are very exciting times for the UF ISE department and I am excited about being a part of the Gator Nation! I invite you to contact the department to express any interest you may have in joining our progress or to provide input on our on-going programs.
Sincerely,
Dave Kaber
Dean’s Leadership Professor and Chair, Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering