George is the former chairman and CEO of Medtronicand currently serves on the boards of ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs. He is alsoa trustee of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the World EconomicForum USA. He has made frequent appearances on television and radio, and hisarticles have appeared in numerous publications. He has been named to the “Top25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years” by PBS.

George received his bachelor’s in industrialengineering with high honors from Georgia Tech, his MBA with high distinctionfrom Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar, and honorary PhDs fromGeorgia Tech, St. Thomas University, and Bryant University.

In 1999, he and his wife Penny founded the GeorgeFamily Foundation as a way to foster wholeness in mind, body, spirit, andcommunity and to further the development of authentic leaders. Their interestsinclude integrative medicine, leadership, spirituality, and community.

The Georges, who reside in Minneapolis, MN, alsosupport academia at Georgia Tech through fellowships and an endowed chair inthe area of health systems.

Whatare some characteristics you believe every leader should possess?

BG:Leadership is about character, not characteristics. I could give you a list ofcharacteristics that are desirable, but I could also show you leaders who havethose characteristics and are poor leaders.

In 2006, we conducted research on 125 outstanding leadersasking them this same question. What we learned was that these leaders were notinterested in talking about characteristics. They wanted to discuss lifestories and their crucibles, and how they can stay true to their values. Thisresearch was the basis for my book, True North. Your “true north” is what youbelieve at your deepest level—your beliefs, values, and principles. The essenceof leadership is captured in your character.

Whatare some frequent mistakes you witness in leaders?

BG:One mistake is when leaders deviate from their true north. It is quite easywhen things are going well to practice good values. It is far more difficultand important to stay true when things do not go your way. A good question toask yourself is: are you true to your values when the pressure is on?

Closely associated with that is putting your ownpersonal interest ahead of the organization for which you are responsiblebecause you want to get ahead or look good. Another mistake is when leaders donot own responsibility and blame others instead.

Whatadvice would you give students who want to prepare for future leadershipopportunities?

BG:Go lead! There are myriad opportunities on campus to lead, whether at thegraduate or undergraduate level. I had tremendous opportunities when I was atTech. In my freshman and sophomore years, I lost some elections, until somefriends helped me get on track. After that, I ended up leading many studentorganizations at Tech. I learned a lot from those experiences, both in beingrejected and in landing leadership roles. When I was at Medtronic, some ofthose early leadership experiences on campus kept coming back to me—themistakes I made, what I’d learned from them, and how to build genuinerelationships with people. In my courses at Harvard, students learn to leadthrough a lot of personal sharing about their life stories, their crucibles,and their leadership experiences.

Whatadvice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the firsttime?

BG:I would advise them to learn everything they can about the experience and toengage in it 100 percent. Don’t look ahead to your next job, but make it ahabit to learn from the people around you, especially from you subordinates.Take some risks, and ask for help when it is needed.

It is extremely helpful to have a support group ofpeers around you, a true north group. This is a group of trusted peers withwhom you communicate on a regular basis. When you face dilemmas and difficultproblems, you can take them to your group. They will probably not give youmagic answers. However, they will be able to give you insights and help youuncover your blind spots which are essential in effective leadership.

Howdo you select people to participate in your true north group?

BG:You can start with a group of trusted peers. These groups are a two- waystreet, as you have to be willing to offer to them as much as they offer toyou. You select a group of people willing to be open, honest in giving andreceiving feedback, willing to share openly, and willing to be authentic intheir dealings and their relationships. My most recent book, True North Groups:A Powerful Path to Personal and Leadership Development is dedicated to settingup such a group or enabling your current group to have deeper and moremeaningful discussions about the vital questions of life.

Whatare you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

BG:I continue to learn every day. My role shifted completely when I completed myterm at Medtronic in 2002. Since then, I have been focusing on helping peoplebecome more effective leaders, from college students up to CEOs. I continue tolearn a great deal from my students even though they may be thirty yearsyounger than I. I learn from new CEOs and the challenges they face. These days,I’m learning how to lead better by learning directly from other leaders. AtMedtronic, I learned the importance of learning from my subordinates. Now, I’mexpanding my knowledge and focusing on learning from other leaders.

Haveyou found a vast difference in leadership styles among universities?

BG:I have found dramatic differences among academic institutions. Essentially, itcomes down to two questions: does the faculty genuinely want to learn from itsstudents and help them exchange knowledge amongst themselves or is the facultyprincipally oriented toward transferring knowledge to students? I see manyacademic institutions where the latter is the case. This is a missedopportunity. Great academics learn from their students every day.

The second question gets to the nature of the worldin the twenty-first century. Does the faculty work together across disciplinarylines? We live in a world of extraordinarily complex and intractable problemsthat are not subject to single-disciplinary solutions. Solving these problemsrequires that people work together across disciplinary lines. Although we hail scientificbreakthroughs like sequencing of the human genome, without multidisciplinaryapproaches it will take decades to translate that into benefits for mankind.This is one of the things Georgia Tech does very well.

Howcan universities and businesses work together to bridge the gap from academicresearch to technology transfer?

BG:Some academic institutions are far too preoccupied with research grants andwith publication of knowledge. They have not spent nearly enough time lookingat how this knowledge is utilized in real-world situations. I think by engagingwith business, academics can learn how business operates and how it usesinformation. Also, academics should consider how they approach businesses whenit comes to their theories. I think it is best to come from a place of testingtheir theories instead of getting businesses to adopt them. Great academicinstitutions seek out businesses to work with to learn what they are doing andthen see if they can take those specific cases and translate them to be usefulto many other organizations.

Often businesses are too focused on achievingmeasurable results and are unwilling to take the disruptive or radicalsolutions that may be needed to improve performance. Academic institutions canplay leading roles by providing test beds for radical innovation. We’ve seenthat take place in medical technology. An example is the Georgia Tech-Emoryresearch collaboration. I’ve seen it in the computing field where academicinstitutions were way ahead in spawning innovations like Google, Facebook, andApple. That’s why business and industry should be hungry to work with academicinstitutions.

Whatare some ways that ISyE could lead more effectively?

BG:I think the role of industrial and systems engineering is to become the greatintegrator and the systems thinker to guide us to those breakthrough ideas thatwill move society forward. It is essential that we solve critical issues todayby looking at the whole system, something that is not being done in healthcare,for example.

I see ISyE as theintegrating force throughout Georgia Tech. Every student at Tech, no matter thediscipline, needs to have that broader approach to systems thinking and shouldbe required to take courses in industrial and systems engineering. It is theonly way we are going to be able to solve the critical issues we face today inhealthcare, logistics, energy, the environment, and manufacturing.

But raw materials had to be sourced. They weregrown, mined, hunted, or collected—perhaps in a land “far far away,” so therewas a need for perilous sea voyages, dusty camel treks over desert dunes,arduous hikes along treacherous mountain ranges, or perhaps just a donkey cartride to the next village. “If I can make one for myself, why not make more thanone to barter or sell for other useful things?”—enter the village marketplace.Of course, in the olden days people also felt the effect of seasonality, sothere were barns, stockpiles, and mounds of pickled fish.

Much may have changed since the days of the DutchEast India Company—we now talk of inventory control, distribution channels,intermodal transportation, and lean manufacturing—but the key activities thatcomprise supply chains are as old as time. An outsider to the field would thusbe excused for wondering what the hullabaloo of the past few decades is allabout. The truth is that the revolutionary developments in industry andbusiness over the last two centuries—and indeed the last few decades—hasnecessitated an entirely new approach to managing these fast-paced “chains” ofactivities that now span continents and involve multiple players. Companies intoday’s global markets recognize that it really is no longer “my productagainst your product,” but “my supply chain versus your supply chain.” It is aprevailing thought that a properly deployed, balanced, and strategicallyaligned supply chain is a competitive weapon in the battle for market share andrevenue. It is the study and pursuit of this balance, alignment, efficiency,and responsiveness that has spawned supply chain engineering.

The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial andSystems Engineering (ISyE) has had its finger on the pulse of this new fieldsince the school’s founding in 1948. Research and courses were not restrictedto manufacturing alone, as was the norm in industrial engineering at the time,and included physical distribution and material handling. Beginning in the1960s, ISyE broadened its methodology expertise into operations research,entering the domain of transportation routing, network design, and inventorycontrol. Through the 1970s and 1980s, a variety of ISyE research centers inmaterial handling, logistics, and transportation were established. In 1992, theLogistics Institute was created to consolidate the wide range oflogistics-related research and education efforts that have helped ISyEestablish its number one ranking among industrial engineering programs.

The widespread recognition of the term “supplychain” has come primarily as a result of the globalization and outsourcing ofmanufacturing since the mid-1990s. Globalization accented the need forlogistics strategies to deal with large and complex commercial networks. Therehas been an increasing trend to use the term “supply chain” to refer tostrategic issues and “logistics” to refer to tactical and operational issues.This growing association of supply chain with strategy is reflected in theCouncil of Logistics Management’s changing its name to the Council of SupplyChain  Management Professionals (CSCMP) in2005.

CSCMP made the distinction that “logistics is thatpart of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls theefficient, effective, forward, and reverse flow and storage of goods, services,and related information between the point of origin and the  point of consumption in order to meetcustomers’ requirements” while “supply chain management is the systemic,strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functionswithin a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain forthe purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companiesand the supply chain as a whole.” Maintaining its relevance to industry, theLogistics Institute changed its name to the Supply Chain & LogisticsInstitute, reflecting the breadth and depth of ISyE’s expanding mission ofdeveloping technology and people to address the rapidly evolving engineeringand management needs of the field.

However, don’t let the fact that there is a formaldefinition of supply chain management and an official-sounding council togovern its practice fool you into thinking there is widespread agreement in thesupply chain industry. Debate rages regarding its definition, what itencompasses, and its rightful place in an organization. The discussion willmost likely continue for the simple reason that supply chains varysignificantly from industry to industry. Despite this grappling abouttechnicalities, there are pertinent supply chain “truths.” First and foremost,there is no supply chain without a customer. Whether that customer is a motherof five buying groceries in a retail store, a billion-dollar airline expandingits fleet, a starving tsunami victim in need of basic necessities, or a trooperin need of ammunition on the battlefield, there is a need that must besatisfied. What sets supply chains apart is how effectively and efficientlythey satisfy this need. Two other central truths are that of alignment andbalance. Added to this balancing act is the concept of strategic alignment withthe organization’s goals—miss this and you will find yourself walking the wrongtightrope— to the detriment of the organization.

Commercial supply chains are, by far, the mostwidely studied and prioritized supply chains, simply because they affect everyaspect of our daily consumer lives. They have in common the overridingobjective of making and sustaining a profit but can differ vastly in how theygo about doing so. Take for example the difference between a supply chain for aretail distributor of fast-moving consumer goods and that of a high-techelectronics manufacturer.

Walmart comes quickly to mind in the retail sector.They will tell you very succinctly that they are not a series of stores spreadout over the globe but rather well-defined and managed geographically dispersedsupply chains. Can you question their level of success? Walmart does notmanufacture anything. They are best at capturing point-of-purchase demand andthen anticipating and even shaping demand through volume purchases and discountpricing.

Intel, on the other hand, boasts a high- techelectronics supply chain that is also considered a best of breed in itsindustry. They manufacture integrated microprocessors. Their success lies intheir ability to navigate the perils of the high-tech industry, where the shelflife of a product is usurped by tomorrow’s technological advancements. Marginson new product releases must be realized and captured quickly before they becomecommoditized or replaced by advanced technology. The time criticality of theindustry and the nature and value of raw materials and finished goodsprioritize lead time and speed to market as key decision variables within thehigh-tech industry.

Humanitarian supply chains are typically associatedwith disaster-relief efforts but also include the long-term, sustaineddistribution of services and material aid to impoverished individuals orcommunities. A good example of this comes from South Africa, where donatedbreast milk is collected, pasteurized, and redistributed by an NGO to prematureinfants with no access to their mother’s own milk.

The infants’ predicament is not linked to a disasterper se, but is the result of the HIV pandemic and a lack of infrastructure andresources in the country’s public healthcare sector. Disaster or no disaster,these supply chains do not seek to make a profit— instead they seek to spendevery penny to save more lives and improve quality of life. A whole differentset of complexities comes into play. Resources are always scarce as demandalmost always exceeds supply. Coordination, collaboration, and flexibility areabsolutely necessary but difficult to achieve when lives are at stake.

In military supply chains, the word isreadiness—poised to respond rapidly to low-probability, high-impact events thatcould occur almost anywhere and affect the security and safety of an entireworld. It is understandable that these supply chains are gigantic, heavilyregulated, and laden with inventory. When responding to one of these events,robustness and reliability become the key performance measures. There can be nodisruption of supply to the battlefield, regardless of how many bridges getblown out or how many depots are infiltrated. Furthermore, soldiers in thefield must receive their supplies when, where, and in the condition theyexpected, and there is very little room for error. Although military supplychains are concerned about the bottom line and cost-efficiency, a much higher priorityis placed on establishing and maintaining predetermined readiness levels.

From these few examples, it is clear that successfulsupply chains need to be custom built to fulfill their purpose. That is why thefield is termed supply chain engineering. Creating a supply chain from scratchor reengineering and optimizing an existing supply chain network to capitalizeon new opportunities both require rigorous analysis and thoughtful design.

For each of these scenarios, the starting point isunderstanding the context. This goes far beyond understanding just theorganization—which may be but one player in a vast supply chain. A deepappreciation of the dynamics of the entire supply chain is required. Who arethe players, and how do their actions affect each other? What are the competingsupply chains within the same industry, and what are the complementary supplychains in other industries? What is required to establish and maintain acompetitive edge within the industry? Furthermore, if the supply chain has aglobal reach; one has to also understand how politics, trade agreements, laws,and regulations affect the supply chain.

Against this backdrop, the supply chain can bedesigned. Of tantamount importance is the understanding of the organization’sstrategic objectives and securing the buy in of upper-level management.Misalignment is easily the most common affliction of modern supply chains. Thewrong set of metrics drive the wrong behavior—often departments areindividually optimized to the disadvantage of the organization as a whole.Typically these first steps are considered the more “business” side of supplychain engineering.

Only once you have defined the strategy andestablished and aligned your key performance metrics against the backdrop ofthe problem context does it make sense to roll up your sleeves and jump intothe tactical and operational aspect. This may include network optimization,organizational realignment, decision modeling and analysis based on landedcost, and risk management or more tactical initiatives such as inventorymanagement, transportation management, SKU rationalization, vendor sourcing,and procurement strategies. The toolset available to the supply chain engineeris vast—borrowing from industrial engineering, operations research, business,and finance—and choosing the correct tool for the job is a fine art learnedthrough experience and exposure.

The result of the engineering process is typically asmall number of alternate designs (typically one or two) for the decision makerto choose from. Each of these designs will have been thoroughly evaluated bymeans of simulations, pilot projects, and/or quantitative analysis tounderstand and predict both the operational and financial outcomes of itsimplementation.

Supply chain engineering is both a science and anart. It requires rigorous analysis—both quantitative and qualitative—but alsointuition, experience, and creative problem solving. Similarly, it is a fieldthat allows for specialists and generalists, strategists and implementers. Onecould specialize in the development and application of network optimizationalgorithms or become a consultant who studies the industry and the company inorder to help define the problem.

Supply chain engineering is a field that gives you awide range of career options. Within academia, there are a variety of researchtopics to be advanced and a multitude of young minds to educate and train.Industry offers an equally wide range. One could work for a consulting firm andget exposure to many different kinds of supply chains, be part of an internalsupply chain team that designs and manages the global supply chain of a Fortune500 company, or even be the chief supply chain engineer for a start-up company.One could work for the military, non-governmental organizations, governments,or organizations like the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Indeciding on whether to embark on a supply chain engineering career, thequestion is not whether there is work for you in the industry you arepassionate about but rather whether you are passionate about the way ofthinking, the problem solving skills, and the paradigms of supply chainengineering.

For more than sixty years, ISyE has provided aleadership role in the evolution and growth of supply chain engineering. Thisis reflected in the evolution of the School’s undergraduate and graduate curriculumas well as faculty research and outreach. ISyE’s progress has been led by twostrategic objectives:

• To offer more opportunities forspecialization at both the undergraduate and graduate levels
• To recognize the importance of applyingour industrial engineering methods to increasingly complex and global productsupply chains

While ISyE still offers only one BS degree inindustrial engineering, the BSIE degree now includes four unique curriculumtracks for students to follow, one of which is supply chain engineering.

The number of master’s degrees offered by ISyE hasgrown steadily during its history, the most recent addition being the Master ofScience in Supply Chain Engineering. The first twelve graduates of thisprofessional master’s program will receive their diplomas in December 2011.Visit www.sce.gatech.edu tolearn more about this program.

ISyE also offers the Executive Master’s inInternational Logistics & Supply Chain Strategy (EMIL-SCS), which wasintroduced in 2001. EMIL-SCS offers real-world, practical value throughtraditional course work, live cases, corporate site visits, webinars, and corporate-sponsoredsupply chain projects at the leading cusp of industry trends. Designed forexperienced executives, the EMIL-SCS program is built around five intensivetwo-week residences in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Noeducational experience in supply chain engineering would be complete withoutemphasizing the “global” component. For this reason, great effort is made toincorporate cultural, geographic, academic, and experiential diversity intoboth the EMIL-SCS and the MS SCE programs. Visit www.emil.gatech.edu tolearn more about the EMIL-SCS program.

Notably, education and training is only one facet ofISyE’s impact on the field. An impressive group of professors and PhDcandidates fervently pursue research adding to the field of supply chainengineering. Many of the faculty members are thought leaders in their ownspecialty, and numerous Georgia Tech publications are considered key referenceswithin supply chain engineering. But beyond the intellectual towers of academialies industry—where the true value of all this new knowledge is put to thetest.

To remain relevant, ISyE (and especially the SupplyChain & Logistics Institute) actively engages in industry discussionthrough participation in associations and councils. A number of researchcenters have been established, both in the United States and abroad, thatinvite industry membership and participation. ISyE’s approach to industrycollaboration actively seeks to close the gap between state-of-the-art andstate-of-practice issues. The world of supply chain engineering is growingdaily, both in scope and significance. Through its education, research andindustry outreach, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and SystemsEngineering is staying at the forefront of this evolution.

Senior Design is a unique opportunity for companiesand organizations to partner and interact with these bright, creative, anddedicated students, and is truly a win-win collaboration for both the studentsand industry partners. Student teams select a major design project from acompany or nonprofit organization and use their ISyE knowledge to develop asolution for the project client. These students gain confidence and practicalprofessional experience working as part of a team addressing real-worldproblems. The industry partner gains a team of six to eight exceptionallybright undergraduate students who can provide a variety of innovative andcreative solutions to an existing organizational problem. Many of theseorganizations end up making permanent job offers to students from the projectteam.

Each semester, there are approximately twenty teamswho participate in Senior Design. At the end of the semester, each teamcompetes for first place in a competition that highlights and celebrates theteam that developed the best solution for their project.

The GE Energy project team won first place in thefall 2010 Senior Design competition. Students Manan Bhatt, Saloni Desai, AvadhiDhruv, Mark Herman, Ariz Himani, Mohsin Lakhani, and Swathi Narayanaswamy,guided by faculty advisor Yajun Mei, won for their project, Parts Allocationfor GE Energy. The team designed a parts allocation system that enables sharingof gas turbine parts across GE Energy’s maintenance contracts. By employingsuccessive network flow optimizations and grouping methods, the projectdemonstrated annual savings of $8.7 million, resulting from reduced new partpurchases and increased utilization of contract assets.

The winner of the spring 2011 Senior Designcompetition was the Comcast team, guided by faculty advisor Alexander Shaprio.Students Ian Balmaseda, Thien Huynh, Daniel Kohlsdorf, Sagar Patel, AlejandroSantelises, Holly Thomasson, and Michelle Wang won for their project, ImprovingComcast’s Outage Detection System, which focused on reducing the number ofservice calls and unnecessary maintenance attempts for trucks that Comcastincurs because of inaccurate outage detection. A cost model was developed andvarious algorithms were created aimed at increasing the probability ofdetecting a genuine outage, thus lowering the unnecessary costs associated withresponding to outage reports. A conservative estimate of the project’s valueshows it may save Comcast $1.4 million annually.

For more information or to become an industrypartner, contact Associate Professor and Senior Design Coordinator Joel Sokolat jsokol@isye.gatech.edu or visit www.isye. gatech.edu/seniordesign.

“Jose has been a wonderful addition to the newly formedUndergraduate Advisory Council in the College of Engineering,” said Gary May,Dean of the College of Engineering. “His insights are extremely helpful as wediscuss issues and initiatives designed to enhance the educational experiencesof our undergraduates.”

When choosing a school to pursue his dream of becoming a giftedleader, Sarmiento said the choice was no accident or quick decision. BeyondISyE’s high rankings and excellent reputation, Sarmiento believed Georgia Techwould be action-oriented and could provide him with the momentum to achieve hisgoals to make a difference in the world. As a student, Sarmiento’s drive, passion,and leadership skills have been very evident to his classmates and the ISyEfaculty.

According the Chen Zhou, associate chair forundergraduate studies at ISyE, “The most fitting word to describe Jose is ‘intensity.’ He is always intensely involved in whatever he is doing whether it is figuringout better strategies for IIE events, finding cases or projects to support hisclass work, or teaching incoming students how to land intern or co-opjobs.  Jose is smart, reliable, and modest. You can always count on him togive 100% to his activities and endeavors.”

Sarmiento’s desire to become an authentic leader was nurtured through his invaluable life experiencesgrowing up in Venezuela. Working in a market back home, Sarmiento sawfirst-hand opportunities to improve output and moral. He plans to put hisleadership and industrial engineering (IE) skills into action with a futurecareer in agriculture. He believes a degree in IE will give him the tools andknowledge he needs to solve problems with a systematic approach, whileempowering others. According to Sarmiento, the power of a leader is measured by howpowerful he makes those who follow him.

For students considering coming to Georgia Tech to studyat ISyE, Sarmiento encourages them to believe in themselves and theirpossibilities. In his opinion, persistence is much more important than gettingit right the first time.

“There is a way for you to encompass something muchbigger than yourself and it’s done through persistence, through courage,through always trying to move forward regardless of what happens,” reflects Sarmiento.

In addition to his studies and campus leadershipactivities, Sarmiento is participating in the Co-op program with Delta Cargo,where he is enjoying expanding his horizons as he gains real-world experience.He expects to graduate from ISyE in the fall of 2012.

"Leon has provided important leadership on criticaldimensions including ISyE curriculum enhancements, campus-wide manufacturingresearch, and institute-level faculty governance,” said Jane Ammons, H. Miltonand Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair.  “He has also been a terrificcolleague and friend to faculty, staff, and students.  I would like to thankLeon for his contributions, and wish him joy and excellent adventures in thisnew chapter in his life.”

McGinnis, a registered professional engineer in the stateof Georgia, received his bachelor’s in industrial engineering from AuburnUniversity, and a master’s and PhD in industrial engineering from NorthCarolina State University. McGinnis has been a leader in developing andadministering industry-focused and interdisciplinary education and researchprograms at Georgia Tech. He helped establish the Material Handling ResearchCenter in 1982 and managed one of five research programs over the next decade.He also helped establish the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems Program (CIMS)in 1983, which received a LEAD Award from ASME for excellence in graduate-levelinterdisciplinary manufacturing education, and served as Director from 1988 to1998. As CIMS Director, he lead a team that competed for and won a $1 millionTRP grant, resulting in the establishment of the Rapid Prototyping andManufacturing Institute within the Manufacturing Research Center. In 1994, helead a team of ISyE faculty to win over $2 million in grants from the W. M. KeckFoundation to create the Keck Virtual Factory Lab as a focal point for IEsystems design and control research.

McGinnis enjoys teaching students how to think likeindustrial engineers, particularly in developing and using mathematical andcomputational models to support design of facilities and control systems. Hisresearch focuses on fundamental representation issues in discrete eventlogistics systems, on performance assessment models, and on the development ofintegrated computational tools. The Institute of Industrial Engineers hasrecognized Dr. McGinnis with the Outstanding Publication Award, the David F.Baker Distinguished Research Award, and the Fellow Award. He has given theInyong Ham Lecture at Penn State, the Jones Lecture at Dartmouth, and theSchantz Lectures at Lehigh.

Though he is retiring, McGinnis plans to remain active in his research,collaborations, and the advisement of his PhD students.

The three finalist teams, listed in alphabetical order byorganization, include:

• Caterpillar, Inc.
• Railcar Management, Inc.
• Whirlpool

The team who worked on a project sponsored by RailcarManagement, Inc. (RMI), a leading software solutions provider for railroadcompanies, received the coveted first place award in the competition. Guided byfaculty advisor, Xiaoming Huo, students Sikander Hajiyani, John Kang, ZacharyLaguna, Sojeong Lee, Camilo Lotero, Clara Moon, and Tina Yu were chosen fortheir project “Private Fleet Optimization.”

“We are ecstatic with the results of our three monthcollaboration with Georgia Tech and these undergraduate students,” said DavidBell, Senior Director of RMI’s ShipperConnect Solutions.  “The team was tasked with analyzing hundredsof rail shipment scenarios and transportation variables to deliver a solutionthat optimizes rail shipments and reduces transportation costs.  The projected savings are quite significantand we are evaluating how we can incorporate their findings into our rail fleetoptimization solution.”

The two other teams (Caterpillar and Whirlpool) were honoredas runners-up in the competition. 

The Caterpillar team included students Katie Davignon,Danielle DeBow, Christine Eldridge, Brad Gay, Young Gul Kim, Heeseung Moon,Courtney Suen, and Daniel Wood, guided by faculty advisor, Pelin Pekgun.Caterpillar purchases packaged products from over 1,000 suppliersglobally.  Suppliers individually selecttheir packaging material vendors, passing costs to Caterpillar.  To reduce costs by consolidating this largevendor base, the team designed and implemented a combinatorial auction in a projecttitled, “Caterpillar, Inc.: Consolidating Packaging Material Vendors to Reduce SupplyChain Costs.” This allows vendors to offer price discounts on product bundlesas well as bid on individual products. The team also developed a vendor selection tool via an integer programincorporating business constraints.  Thesolution provides an estimated annual savings of $700 thousand – $1 million inthe Midwest region, and is scalable for global implementation.

The Whirlpool team was guided by faculty advisor Seong-HeeKim, and included Michele Bertolino, Ana Herbst, Andy Jones, Adam Liem, TravisNemes, Melanie O’Gorman, Samantha Russel, and Eric Sood. For their projecttitled “Batching Outbound Shipments for Whirlpool Corporation,” the teaminvestigated the implementation of batch-picking shipments at a regionaldistribution center for Whirlpool Corporation, the world’s largest appliancemanufacturer.  An Excel-basedoptimization tool was created to strategically batch shipments to moreeffectively utilize carrying capacity of clamping forklifts across thenetwork.  Due to the decrease in laborhours, this could result in an estimated savings of $1.1 million annually.

All senior students in ISyE culminate their undergraduateeducational experience with the Senior Design course in order to providefirsthand experience at solving real world problems in a team environment.Students typically work in teams of five to seven individuals with 15-25 SeniorDesign teams running each semester. Each group is advised by an ISyE facultymember, and the faculty coordinator manages the overall course. Companiesinterested in submitting a project for consideration can either contact JoelSokol, at 404 894-6484 or can post a project through the ISyE webpage athttp://www.isye.gatech.edu/seniordesign/.Senior design teams look for projects before the start of the fall and springsemesters.

Thetraveling-salesman problem is one of the great unsolved problems inmathematics, capturing notions of complexity that are at the core of theinformation age. Using deep theory developed in the 1960s, an efficient methodfor solving the T.S.P. would provide an efficient method for solving anycomputational problem for which it is easy to verify that an answer is correct.Most mathematicians expect this to be impossible, but no one knows for sure.

In the article, Cookuses the traveling salesman problem, a specialty of his, to suggest optimaltravel routes that will save time and gasoline for those politicians who arepreparing to hit the campaign trail.

To see Cook’ssuggested routes, and read the article in full, click here

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Previous installments of the Cool Insights column:

Food Logistics, October 2011: Nick Pacitti, a lecturer at the GeorgiaTech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute and a partner with SterlingSolutions, authored the seventh installment for the Cool Insights column,titled “Beyond Current Perishable Logistics Strategies and Processes.”

Food Logistics, September2011:  Alejandro MacCawley, ISyE PhD student and research associatefor the Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center, authored the sixthinstallment for the Cool Insights column, titled “What You Produce… is WhatYour Consumer Gets?” 

Food Logistics, August2011:  Dr. Dario Solis, managing director of the Georgia Tech PanamaLogistics Innovation & Research Center, authored the fifth installment forthe Cool Insights column, titled “A New Cold Chain for Panama.”

To celebrate the opening of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain& Logistic Institute’s (SCL) Integrated Food Chain Center (IFC), FoodLogistics Magazine initiated a new column titled Cool Insights.  Thecolumn, which began with the April / May 2010 issue, has exclusively featuredthoughts from the faculty, staff, and partners of the IFC on various aspects offood chain.

“I was interested in the opportunity because it wouldgive me the real-world experience of running a small business, and it wouldalso allow me to make a difference in the lives of families in my community,”said Ehmann.

Ivy Insiders’ instructors are college students who have“beaten” the tests themselves and are now attending the most selective schoolsin the country. As a high school student, Ehmann scored in the 99^thpercentile on the ACT.

Once he completed the Ivy Insiders training, Ehmann startedhis business from scratch spending the first few weeks organizing the logisticsof his branch, and making a name for himself. By giving classroom presentationsat the local high school, hosting free SAT/ACT workshops, cold-calling familiesfrom local directories, setting up partnerships with local businesses, and receivingpress in several local papers, Ehmann was able to develop a presence for hisbusiness that rivaled other major test prep companies, such as Sylvan andKaplan. Throughout the summer, Ehmann was responsible for marketing the branch,making sales, following up with potential customers, teaching courses, andmanaging the branch office.

“Starting my own tutoring business is probably the mostchallenging, and at the same time most rewarding thing I have ever done. It wasa very successful summer, but it had its fair share of obstacles,” said Ehmann.

In two months, Ehmann’s branch brought in over $15,000.Because of his success, Ehmann was inducted into the Ivy Insiders Peak Performersprogram which only includes the top 10% of branch managers nationwide. However,for Ehmann, the real reward for the summer was the myriad of business skills heacquired.

“Starting a large-scale project from scratch, learninghow to market a product to a specific demographic, making sales (often tocustomers with whom you have never spoken), and operating a basic P/L statementare all skills which will benefit me throughout my professional career,”explained Ehmann.

Ehmann is a brother of the Theta Xi fraternity, marketingchair for the Georgia Tech Undergraduate Consulting Club, and a member of the InvestmentsCommittee. According to Ehmann, his involvement with various clubs both in highschool and college has developed him as a leader, project manager, and a team player.

In addition to his involvement with clubs and otherorganizations, Ehmann values the importance of community service, and iscurrently in the process of becoming a mentor at the BEST Academy through OneVoice Atlanta.

"Paul is a strong advocate for ISyE. His experience and capabilities make him the ideal candidate to serve in this important role for the ISyE graduate program," said Jane Ammons, H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair.

As associate chair of graduate studies for the number one ranked program of its kind in the nation, Kvam will oversee the graduate experience focusing on policy matters relative to all graduate academic programs, activities, and curricula, including graduate admissions, class scheduling, and performance assessment.

“In recruiting the best students around the world to join our PhD program, Gary Parker has helped keep ISyE at the top of our field for fifteen years,” said Kvam.  “Our biggest challenge is to sustain that high quality in our graduate student body so we can continue to be the number one program in industrial engineering for the next decade.”

Kvam joined the ISyE faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor.  He was promoted to associate professor in 2001 and full professor in 2006.  Prior to coming to Tech, he worked for four years as a scientific staff researcher at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. His research interests focus on statistical reliability with applications to engineering, nonparametric estimation, and analysis of complex and dependent systems. He has published over sixty articles in peer-reviewed journals in statistics and engineering, and is co-author of two textbooks: Nonparametric Statistics for Science and Engineering (with Dr. Brani Vidakovic) and Basic Statistical Tools for Improving Quality (with Dr. Chang Wook Kang).

Kvam is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, and a member of the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics and Institute for Operations Research and Management Science. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Iowa State University in 1984, a master’s in statistics from the University of Florida in 1986, and his doctorate in statistics from the University of California, Davis in 1990.

For more information aboutAlternative Apparel, visit their website at www.alternativeapparel.com.  Follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/alternativeappareland on Twitter at http://twitter.com/alternativeapp.

The citation reads:

"The paper shows that the Chvátal-Gomory closure ofcompact convex sets is a rational polytope. For the special case of rationalpolytopes, this is a well-known result. The new result includes the case ofirrational polytopes and thus resolves a question that was posed by Schrijver (1980)and had remained open since. Solving this long-open question is already awonderful contribution, finally completing the Chvátal-Gomory theory forpolytopes. The paper goes beyond this and also provides a solution forarbitrary compact convex sets, completing the program started in a paper by Deyand Vielma (2010) for the case of ellipsoids and continued in an earlier paperby Dadush, Dey, and Vielma (2011) for the case of strictly convex bodies. The importanceof this contribution lies in providing a foundation for a finite linear cuttingplane theory for convex integer optimization.

The paper uses techniques from convex geometry and thegeometry of numbers in an expertly way. In the proofs, the authors avoidexplicit calculations in favor of soft analysis, including techniques from point-settopology, which makes the paper particularly elegant."

The 2011 INFORMS Annual Meeting was held at the CharlotteConvention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 13, 2011.  INFORMS,the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the field ofoperations research (OR), management science, and business analytics, servesthe scientific and professional needs of Operations Researchers and those inthe Management Sciences including educators, scientists, students, managers,and consultants.

Shan Ba won the Best Student Paper Award for the paper“Multi-Layer Designs for Computer Experiments,” co-authored with Vengazhiyil. Hewas identified as the winner based on the presentation of four finalists whowere selected from a pool of seventeen students through a rigorousdouble-blinded review process. Chia-Jung Chang received the Best Poster Awardfor her paper “Model Calibration through Minimal Adjustments,” also co-authoredwith Vengazhiyil. Chang is a joint student of Vengazhiyil and Jan Shi, theCarolyn J. Stewart Chair and Professor in ISyE. She placed first among the tenposters competed in the QSR Section.

Naval ResearchLogistics (NRL), one of the mostprestigious journals in operations and logistics research, presents the KuhnAward annually to recognize an exceptional paper published in NRL during the previous three years, selectedby a committee of NRL associateeditors.

Andradottir received a bachelor’s degree in mathematicsfrom the University of Iceland in 1986, a master’s degree in statistics fromStanford University in 1989, and a PhD in operations research from StanfordUniversity in 1990. She joined the faculty of Georgia Tech in 1995. Herresearch interests are in simulation, applied probability, and stochasticoptimization.

Ayer was chosen as the first place winner for the DoingGood with Good OR Competition for his project “Redesigning the Breast CancerScreening Policies.”. Submissions for this award were expected to have asignificant societal impact and include innovation through theory and creativecomputational methods.

For this project, Ayer researched the role of behavioralheterogeneity in women's adherence on optimal breast cancer screeningrecommendations.. His research suggests that heterogeneity in women’s adherencebehaviors should be explicitly considered in cancer screening recommendations. Anaccount of the award, citation, recipient, and qualifying service will bepublished in OR/MS Today, the INFORMSmember magazine. Ayer will also be invited to submit a full paper to a futureissue of an INFORMS journal, such as Operations Research or Interfaces.

Ayer was also chosen as the second place winner among 74submissions in the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society(MSOM) Student Paper Competition for his paper “A POMDP Approach to PersonalizeMammography Screening Policies.” He was also selected as a finalist among 62submissions for the Decision Analysis Society Student Paper Competition.

This paper analyzed the potential risks, including highfalse-positive rates, which are involved in mammography as a mode for breastcancer screening. In contrast to prior research and existing guidelines whichconsider population-based screening recommendations, Ayer proposes apersonalized mammography screening policy based on personal riskcharacteristics of women and their prior screening history. Ayer is invited tosubmit the abstract of his paper for publication in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Ayer received a bachelor’s in industrial engineering fromSabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey and his master’s and PhD degrees inindustrial and systems engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Ayerconducts research on stochastic modeling and optimization, with applications inmedical decision making, health policy, healthcare operations, serviceoperations, and public policy.

The award is the oldest and most prestigious honor for doctoral dissertations in the transportation science and logistics area. The twenty-four submissions were judged on fundamental contribution and originality of the ideas or methods; practical importance or applicability in solving important real problems; and clarity and excellence of the exposition.

Heier Stamm received her bachelor’s from Kansas State University in 2004 and her doctoral degree from Georgia Tech in 2010. She joined the industrial and manufacturing systems engineering department of Kansas State University as an assistant professor in December 2010. She has received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research and IIE Memorial Fellowships and was the recipient of National Engineers Week Foundation New Face of Engineering in February 2008.

Swann received this award for her work in health& humanitarian response, a field with significant challenges includingdisrupted infrastructure, limited resources, and a variety of disconnecteddecision makers. A worldwide expert in this area, Swann takes a systemsapproach whether she is working to effect change locally, nationally, orglobally, developing models and methods that can improve quality of life.

Developing educational and outreach programs, Swann, along with Co-Directors Ozlem Ergun and Pinar Keskinocak, hosts an annual conference on health and humanitarian logistics where shebrings participants from all over the world in to discuss opportunities,challenges and successes in the field. In April, she was a discussion leader at the World Economic Forum.

Swann has worked with the Atlanta Food Bank on improvingdistribution processes and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta on an obesityproject.  She has also worked with theAmerican Red Cross and the state of Georgia on modeling influenza pandemic andstrategies for food distribution. Additionally, Swann has collaborated with theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Salvation Army, the WorldFood Programme, and the World Health Organization.

In her role as professor, Swann advised a team ofISyE students on a project to improve bus assignment and scheduling logisticsfor the Gwinnett County Schools that resulted in an estimated recurring savings of $2.6million a year.

As a recipient of this prestigious award, Swann wasprofiled in a special section publishedby the Atlanta Business Chronicle highlighting her achievements, contributions,and demonstrated social responsibility. She is in the company of an auspicious group ofindividuals who were selected for the award from more than 550 nominations,more than double the number of nominations received last year.

For more information about the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 Award,click here.

Since graduating, Sherri has been working as a consultantat Clarkston Consulting, and Eric is a software implementation consultant atPower Plan Consultants. They both share a common goal for the future: neverstop learning.

ISyE:  What prompted you to pursue yourundergraduate degree after being in the workforce for ten years?  Was it something you always wanted to do?

SR:  I would haveliked to go to college after high school, but it always seemed like anunrealistic option for me. I come from a family of a single mom with threekids, and no influential adults in my life had a college degree. Finances weretight and school was expensive. My mother doesn’t have a degree, but she has anamazing work ethic and a constant desire to succeed in life. She instilledthose values in me and my brothers, and it helped me to excel professionally. Iworked for a few companies and was always put on the fast track to management.I came to a point where I was on a great track to make a career out of retailmanagement. But I wanted more. I wanted something more challenging.  

ER:  I alwayswanted to go to school, but as Sherri stated, I didn’t really have theopportunity.  Although I had a relativelysuccessful career, I never felt that I was intellectually challenged at myjob.  After talking it over with my wife,then girlfriend, Sandra, we came up with a plan to send me to college.  Without Sandra’s encouragement and influence,I probably would have never gone to college.

ISyE:  What influenced your decision to study atGeorgia Tech?

SR:  Both Eric andI were attracted to Georgia Tech because it had the #1 IE program in thenation.

ISyE:  How was it that you and your sibling decidedto get your degree at the same time, and at the same school?

SR:  We both hadtoyed around with the idea, and then Eric started talking about really takingthe steps and moving to Georgia to pursue a degree from Georgia Tech. The morewe talked, the more we realized how much we could be there and support eachother. I was nervous about going back to school, but when Eric told me Iwouldn’t be alone, I knew this was the time to take the leap or I may never go.

ISyE:  Did you both have the same classschedule?  In what ways did you supporteach other with your work load?

SR:  Though wedidn’t always have the same schedule, were always there to motivate each other.We each have different skills and were able to combine those.

ER:  We always hada reliable study and homework partner in each other. We each have differentstrengths and skills, which made us a great team.

ISyE:  How do you think your “non-traditional”undergraduate experience compares to that of a traditional one?

ER: Our experience was very different than that of atraditional undergraduate experience. We missed out on the social side ofthings, like living in dorms and being involved in Greek life. It had been sometime since we had been in a classroom, and there were many times when we fellbehind in the information needed for the class. The age differenceautomatically makes you feel a little different. At first this seemed like anegative trait to have, but as we got to know more students, we realized we hada lot to offer them by having some real world work experience. We felt at timesalmost like an unspoken mentor. 

On the plus side, we were very focused and able toappreciate the value in learning the material. We viewed the classroom in thesame way we would a work office, and treated it with the same maturity andprofessionalism.

ISyE:  What was your favorite spot on campus?

ER:  The ISyE mainbuilding was near most of our classes where we did most of our studying, andthere was a microwave there.

SR:  Juniors was myfavorite spot on campus, and our favorite place to eat.  We were always looking for an excuse to gothere. Sadly, it closed.

ISyE:  What is your fondest memory of your GeorgiaTech experience?

SR:  Graduation dayat the Dome when Professor Chen Zhou walked over and shook my hand, congratulatedme, and wished me luck on my future. That was the moment I realized I did it!

ER:  The weekbefore we started at Tech, Sherri and I snuck into the IC building.  We walked around, looked at the classrooms,and talked about what we thought it would be like to go to Tech.  We were both so excited at the opportunity togo to such a prestigious school.

ISyE:  You both graduated with high honors.  What do you feel contributed to your academicsuccess?

SR:  Determination.We both knew how great the opportunity to attend college was for us. We hadboth had a challenging path just to get there, and knew that we were settingthe example for future generations. We didn’t want to just get through it, wewanted to achieve success.

ISyE:  What is the most important thing you learnedwhile at ISyE?

ER: Both of us agree that learning how to handle anyproblem presented to us was very important. In ISyE, you are given problemsoutside of your scope of knowledge. You have to be able to do research to findanswers, leverage all available resources , and break the problem down intosmall achievable pieces. You gain a special confidence after solving a fewproblems that seemed impossible in the beginning.

ISyE:  What advice would you give to a studentconsidering coming to Georgia Tech to study ISyE?

SR:  Be prepared tofind answers outside of the classroom. The professors give you work that isbeyond what is covered in the lecture, and you have to learn how to researchand solve problems on your own. It’s hard and can be frustrating at times, butit prepares you to have confidence when faced with something outside of yourcomfort zone—a valuable tool to have when starting a career.

ER:  Be prepared towork hard!

ISyE:  Can you tell us one interesting thing aboutyourself, that you don’t mind us sharing with the rest of the world?

ER:  I’mhappily married and the father of a three and half year old daughter , who wasborn my second year of college.  Myfamily has served as my support structure; I don’t think I would have done sowell at Georgia Tech if it weren’t for them.

What does asimplex have to do with the simplex method? Why is a pivot called a pivot? Whydid George Dantzig wait a year before trying to use his own algorithm, and whydid he finally stop waiting? Learn the answers by watching this video.

The two-day biannual meeting, themed “Building CustomerValue Through Supply Chain Service Innovation,” was hosted by the Georgia TechSupply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL), a unit of the H. Milton StewartSchool of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and featured presentations anddiscussions by some of the most prominent experts in the industry.

After a welcome and introduction by Jaymie Forrest,managing director for SCL, Lorenzo Vicens, the directing partner for IntelectaS.A. of the Dominican Republic, gave the opening keynote, “Building CustomerValue Through Innovation.” During his presentation, Vicens stressed theimportance of innovation in facilitating trades in America.  “Innovation will become the dominant force inthe marketplace,” said Vicens.

Following Vicens’s opening remarks, Soumen Ghosh,professor of operations & supply chain in the College of Management,moderated a panel titled, “Building Customer Value,” asking the question, “Howdo we understand what customer value is?” Panel members included: ManpreetHora, assistant professor of operations in the College of Management, AjayKohli, professor of marketing in the College of Management, Rick McDonald, vicepresident of global logistics for The Clorox Company, and Nancy Nicodemus,senior director of marketing research at UPS. The panel members provided theirperspective from the standpoint of how they engage in customer value creationin their organizations, whereas the academic panel members addressed the theoreticalside of how firms can create, build, and deliver customer value in order toenhance their competitive advantage.

After the panel discussion, Jason Denmon, accountexecutive at Fortna, made his presentation on “Building Customer Value—ServiceInnovation.”  Customer expectations aredriving innovation and change at a furious pace. According to Denmon, cooperativecompetition is becoming the norm, causing manufacturers, wholesalers, andretailers to go after the same consumer. Denmon’s presentation covered recent trends, such as the rise of thee-commerce channel, and offered ways to proactively design supply chains forthese increased service requirements.

The second day of the meeting began with a discussion byMichael Stolarczyk, president of Kontane Logistics and author of Logical Logistics. In his presentation,“Building Value Through Vested Collaboration,” Stolarczyk spoke on the“knowledge economy,” and the importance of creating an atmosphere of solidcommunication and dialog. “The knowledge economy requires empathy andcollaboration,” said Stolarczyk.

Wally Buran, EVP of Firestorm, former global supply chainpractice lead for Deloitte and Monitor Group, gave the next presentation,“Driving Value in your Customer’s Value Proposition.” Buran discussed a casestudy and the approach used for achieving success: identify service portfolioopportunities, simulate capability requirements, and transform supportstructures and systems.

Next, Jorge Fares, supply chain and logistics systems forOXXO, presented “The Challenge of Supply Chain Transformation in Retail.” Openinga new store every eight hours, OXXO is an example of a company with amazinggrowth and challenges, trying to build its competitive advantage on theconstant evolution of its supply chain. According to Fares, innovation, emphasison excellent logistics execution, and building relationships is essential inthe retail industry but most important is the availability of product

The last two presentations of the day were given by MariaRey, senior lecturer in SCL Rey began with a discussion on “Demand-DrivenSupply Chain Strategy,” using the fundamentals of economics as a tool tounderstand demand. The session reviewed demand-driven supply chains, includingtheir ability to capture demand signals and use them to shape and profitablyrespond to demand.

Complementing her discussion, Rey facilitated aroundtable titled, “Sensing, Shaping and Response: How does your company doit?” The discussion explored demand sensing, and collected ideas on howcompanies use demand signals to drive supply chain decisions in the valuenetwork. Ending the session, Rey advised, “If you want to get a supply chainorganization that’s more demand driven, connect with the sales and marketingteams and understand the force of commercial strategy.”

The Executive Forum will meet again in April of 2012. Tolearn more about Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain Executive Forum, visit http://www.scl.gatech.edu/professional-education/scef/.

The class began its residence in Panama City with a lecture from PatriceFranko, Grossman Professor of Economics and International Studies at ColbyCollege, who presented a review of Latin America from a geopolitical andsocio-economic perspective.  After receiving a solid foundation of theregion, the class traveled to J. Cain & Company, a third-party warehouseservice provider located on the campus of Manzanillo International Terminal(MIT).  The students were presented with an overview of the facility, andthe benefits of being located within the MIT Logistics Park and the benefitsand challenges of being inside the Colon Free Trade Zone. 

Following the J. Cain visit, the class toured the MIT Logistics Park site. Therethey learned the importance of MIT throughout Central America with an emphasison port operations and performance metrics, rail integration and its support ofthe Panama Canal and the canal railway, and intermodal truck operations. The last essential site visit in Panama was the Panama Canal Authority, wherethe students learned the rich history of building the Panama Canal, as well asthe detailed future plans to expand the canal by 2014.

For the next leg of the trip, the class traveled to Lima, Peru.  There,John Bartholdi, Manhattan Associates Chair in Supply Chain Management andprofessor at the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at GeorgiaTech, lectured on warehouse optimization, facility design, IT systems, andsoftware to enhance order fulfillment and distribution.  Following thelecture, the class visited Ransa, an integrated logistics service provider,where they learned about port operation logistics services, focusing onfacilitating trade in and out of Lima in support of the mining, retail,consumer, and cold chain industries. 

The class began its second day in Lima with part two of Dr. Bartholdi’swarehousing lecture.  The class alsovisited Alicorp, a company dedicated to the preparation of mass consumptionproducts, industrial supplies, and animal nutrition food.  Company representativespresented an overview and then took the class on a tour of the plant anddistribution center. The final site visit in Lima was to Jorge ChavesInternational Airport for an operational look into  their import - export processes, customregulations, and the cold chain supporting fresh fruits, vegetables, andflowers. The class left Lima and flew to Cuzco, Peru, where they visited MachuPicchu over the weekend to hike and explore the Inca ruins.

The class began the second week of its residence in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with AntonioGrandini, Brazilian supply chain and logistics consultant, who discussed taxstrategies in Brazil, as well as case studies on Landed Cost Models used tooffset the impact of the Brazilian tax regime. Later that day, the class met with Lars Meyer Sanches of LALT/UNICAMP (Laboratoryof Apprenticeship on Logistics and Transportation). Sanches addressed logisticsand supply chain challenges and opportunities, contract logistics, and managingcorporate taxes in Brazil. 

From Sao Paulo, the class took a bus trip to Campinas, Brazil, to meet with representativesfrom Dell Hortolandia to discuss logistics issues and opportunities workingwith customs in Brazil, outbound shipping to other countries within LatinAmerica and to non-Latin American regions, and ocean/air inbound and outboundshipments.  Following the Dell visit, the class toured Viracopos/CampinasAirport Infraero, a customs bonded import-export facility.  As a majorhub, Viracopos utilizes express lanes for courier traffic, which areexceptionally quick and less bureaucratic for Brazilian standards.

The third day in Brazil included a visit to the Port of Santos for a harbortour, and an overview of the Port of Santos and its role in support ofcontainerized ocean cargo in and out of Brazil.  While visiting the Portof Santos, the class got the chance to board an incoming ocean vessel andtransit with the ship into the Port of Santos.  The class also visitedELOG-Columbia, where they received an overview of EADI Bonded Warehousing andtook a look at the 3PL industry in Brazil.

On the last dayof the residence, the class listened to a lecture from Maria Rey Marston,senior lecturer in the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute at Georgia Techand executive director of the Center for Emerging Logistics & SupplyChains. Marston spoke on logistics and supply chain management in Latin America,with a specific focus on infrastructure needs and understanding the LatinAmerican consumer. 

That afternoon, the class participated in the online supplychain strategy simulation game “Fresh Connection”, which they first began inResidence II.  Teams were formed and challengedto collaborate and employ a supply chain strategy to rescue a virtual fruitjuice manufacturer from its downfall. Using the knowledge obtained during Residence I and the experiencegained during Residence II, they were to return this company to sound financialperformance.

The class will meet again February 19 through March 2, 2012 forResidence IV in Asia.

For more on the EMIL-SCS Program, contact ErinHowlette at erin.howlette@isye.gatech.eduor visit http://www.emil.gatech.edu/.

The three course series fulfills the need for greater capacity building in thehealth and humanitarian sectors and the completion of all three courses resultsin a logistics certificate. The courses will be taught by three professors fromthe H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, AssociateProfessor Ozlem Ergun, Joseph C. Mello Professor Pinar Keskinocak, and HaroldR. and Mary Anne Nash Associate Professor Julie Swann.

Click on a course below for more information:

• Pre-planningStrategy for Humanitarian Organizations
  Wednesday, February 1, 2012
  Thursday, February 2, 2012

• TacticalDecision Making in Public Health and Humanitarian Response
  Wednesday, May 9, 2012
  Thursday, May 10, 2012
  Friday, May 11, 2012

• SystemsOperations in Humanitarian Response
  Wednesday, September 12, 2012
  Thursday, September 13, 2012
  Friday, September 14, 2012

The courses will include many interactive components,such as case studies and games, which help professionals in the humanitarianworld link the challenges and decision-making trade-offs they face in practicewith the systematic approaches, tools, and techniques presented.

The Center for Health & Humanitarian Logistics at Georgia Tech, a unit ofthe Supply Chain & Logistics Institute and a part of the School ofIndustrial and Systems Engineering, works to improve humanitarian logistics(including short or long term, man-made or natural disasters) and ultimately thehuman condition by system transformations through education, outreach, projectsand research.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among thehighest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.  Academymembership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to"engineering research, practice, or education, including, whereappropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature" andto the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, makingmajor advancements in traditional fields of engineering ordeveloping/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

Cook, known widely for his work with the Traveling Salesman Problemand his research in combinatorial optimization and integer programming, is oneof sixty-eight newly elected NAE members and nine foreign associates. Amongthose newly elected, Cook joins two Georgia Tech alumni in this honor: Parker H. "Pete" Petit (ME 1962, Masters in EngineeringMechanics, 1964) and Linda Griffith (CE 1982). Within ISyE, Cook sharesthis distinction with EllisJohnson (1988), GeorgeL. Nemhauser (1986), H.Donald Ratliff (1996), WilliamB. Rouse (1991) and Jeff Wu (2004).

In addition to his researchinterests in combinatorial optimization and integer programming, Cook isalsoheavily involved in research dealing with computational issues involved intreating hard discrete problems such as large instances for the celebratedtraveling salesman problem. He is the author or editor of seven books, thelatest due out in this year, and the current editor-in-chief of the MathematicalProgramming Computation journal. Other awards include the I.E. BlockCommunity Lecturer prize from the Society for Industrial and AppliedMathematics and the Beale-Orchard-Hays Prize for Excellence in ComputationalMathematical Programming.

Previous installments of the Cool Insights column:

Food Logistics, September2011:  Alejandro MacCawley, ISyE PhD student and research associatefor the Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center, authored the sixthinstallment for the Cool Insightscolumn, titled “What You Produce… is What Your Consumer Gets?” 

Food Logistics, August2011:  Dr. Dario Solis, managing director of the Georgia Tech PanamaLogistics Innovation & Research Center, authored the fifth installment forthe Cool Insights column,titled “A New Cold Chain for Panama.”

To celebrate the opening of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain& Logistic Institute’s (SCL) Integrated Food Chain Center (IFC), FoodLogistics Magazine initiated a new column titled Cool Insights.  The column, which began with the April /May 2010 issue, has exclusively featured thoughts from the faculty, staff, andpartners of the IFC on various aspects of food chain.

Read the following interview to learn more about Breona.

ISyE: Finish the sentence: Few people know that…

BJ:  My two passions are dancing and Spanish.I am the vice president of the Spanish Speaking Organization, and a member ofthe Ballroom Dance Club at Georgia Tech. I studied abroad last summer in Spainand Mexico, and hope to travel back one day soon. If I could use my engineeringskills to assist in furthering the development of the Mexican infrastructure,it would be a dream.

ISyE:  Is there any one person who has been aninspiration to you or someone that you consider your hero? Who and why?

BJ:  My mother is myinspiration. As a soldier for the Army Reserve, she is also my hero. She hasalways been there for me to encourage me in my pursuits, advise me when I havea problem, and give me confidence in my abilities. She is a strong woman whohas shown me that I can overcome any struggles that I may have in life.

ISyE: Tell me alittle about yourself. Where are you from originally?

BJ:  Originally bornin Flint,MI, I moved to Woodstock, GA in 2005 and where I attendedhigh school. I enjoy music, cooking, reading, rock climbing, and being involvedon campus to meet new people.

ISyE: What motivated you to come toGeorgia Tech?

BJ:  Georgia Tech is anamazing Institute and always in the top ten of public colleges in the nation.That reputation attracted me to Tech. In high school, I loved math and science,and I felt that Tech would give me an opportunity to pursue my interests and guideme to a career path that I would love.

I initially came to Georgia Tech as pre-architecture, butafter completing a Senior Project with two practicing architects, I decidedthat it was not my passion. Still fascinated with science and math, I decidedto pursue engineering. After much research, I chose industrial engineering, asit would offer me great flexibility in my choice of profession, and I wouldhave the opportunity to interact with both people and machines on a dailybasis.

ISyE: I understand that you participatein the Co-op program.  Tell me about yourexperience.

BJ:  I am in my secondrotation as a co-op at Manhattan Associates, a supply chain software companywhere I work as a consultant. My day-to-day job includes testing issues,creating reports for the issues, and participating in conference calls withclients to resolve any concerns they have.

ISyE:  What has been your favorite IE course so far?

BJ:  ISyE 2028. I learned the software “R”and found that Statistics is a powerful tool that can be utilized in everydaylife. Also, my professor, Heeyoung Kim, was enthusiastic about her position andmade me excited about statistics as well.

ISyE:  What is something every student should dowhile at Georgia Tech?

BJ:  Every student atTech should see a DramaTech play, go to a show at the Ferst Theater, spend anight in Tech Rec, and take advantage of the facilities in the CRC.

ISyE: Tell me about a favorite ISyE experience you have had.

BJ:  I found my probabilityclass quite interesting, especially after I started to fully understand it. Oneday, my professor was speaking on a particular topic and he proclaimed, “It’slike magic. It is magic, in fact. It’s probability!” It was one of the funniestmoments in my ISyE career.

ISyE:  What are your prospective careergoals?

BJ:  In the future, Ihope to help others through service and through my profession. I would like tohave a career that involves some travelling, holds my interests and challengesme, and also allows me to help humanity in some way - no matter how small orlarge. One of my biggest goals is to own a restaurant. It would be wonderful touse my engineering skills to be successful in the culinary arena.

ISyE: What was the last book you read for pleasure?

BJ:  Crossfire by Dickand Felix Francis. Now I am reading I’d Know You Anywhere byLaura Lippman.

ISyE:  What piece of technology could you not livewithout?

BJ:  I could not livewithout my laptop. I store all pictures, music, and documents on it and it hasbeen with me through all of my college years.

ISyE: What music do you listen to?

BJ:  I love all music. Especially JohnMayer, Teena Marie, Usher, NeverShoutNever, Reik, and Linkin Park.

ISyE: What is your favorite spot on campus?

BJ:  Campanile handsdown. It’s a reminder of the beauty and focus of the Tech community, and thechanging of the colors is reminiscent of the growth that each studentexperiences while at Tech.

ISyE: What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

BJ:  Life is what youmake it.

ISyE: What advice would you give a student considering coming to Georgia Techto study at ISyE?

BJ:  I would suggestthat the student keeps an open mind, studies hard, and explores differentoptions in the ISyE major, as well as the clubs and organizations at Tech.

The abstract fromSwann’s presentation reads:

In the developing world, it iseven more important than otherwise to allocate limited healthcare resourceseffectively (and possibly equitably). Operations Research and scientificmethods for the system can help improve these decisions.  We focus onscientific innovations to improve the allocation of limited resources across anetwork, especially in resource-poor settings.  Examples includepharmaceuticals to ongoing health clinics, disaster response supplies,or the distribution of breast milk to underweight infants in ways thatpromote effectiveness, efficiency, and equitability.

Keeping with the2012 AAAS theme, “Flattening the World: Building the 21^st CenturyGlobal Knowledge”, the symposium will cover multiple disciplines includinganthropology, engineering, and public health. This symposium will present casestudies of various innovations to make health care more affordable in bothdeveloping and developed nations. Speakers will include the inventors of newtechnologies, public health experts, and anthropologists who will discussissues related to culture, equity, ethics, and use.

AAAS is an internationalnon-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world byserving as an educator, leader, spokesperson, and professional association. TheAnnual Meeting is one of the most widely recognized pan-science events, withhundreds of networking opportunities and broad global media coverage.

For moreinformation, visit http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2012/program/symposia/submit/.

During his time in ISyE, Jin was the recipient of severalprestigious awards including: 2010 INFORMS QSR Best Student Paper AwardFinalist for “Reconfigured Piecewise Linear Regression Tree for MultistageManufacturing Process Control”, Runner-up for the 2008 Best Poster Award for“Intermediate Adjustment Feedforward Control,” in the College of Engineering GraduateSymposium, and the 2007 Forging Industry Educational & Research FoundationScholarship.

To learn more about Ran Jin,continue reading the interview that follows.

ISyE:  Ran Jin,what motivated you to achieve your career goals?

RJ:  When I was a kid, my father told me: “Youcan't expect to be both grand and comfortable.” Now, even if I am having great difficulty achieving my career objective,I feel being persistent seems to be the only choice.  I want to contribute something in my areawhen I still have the chance. 

ISyE:  Tell usabout yourself.

RJ:  I was born in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province,China. My hometown is famous for panda bear and spicy food. I received mybachelor’s degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University inBeijing, China.  Afterwards, I joinedProfessor Jan Shi’s research group at the University of Michigan where Ireceived a master’s degree in statistics, as well as in industrial engineering.

Outside of work, Ienjoy photography, kayaking, and reading books, specifically history andeconomics related. I enjoy cooking, and I seldom repeat what I cook because Ialways want to try something new. 

ISyE:  What influenced yourdecision to get your PhD at Georgia Tech?

RJ:  Professor Shi heavily influenced my decisionto pursue a PhD at Georgia Tech. I think the most important part of the PhDstudy is to find a good advisor. A good advisor can lead you to the objectivethat you want to achieve. A good advisor is a tour guide to help you quicklyexplore the areas that you might have interests in. Professor Shi is such agood advisor.  When Professor Shi decidedto join the faculty at Georgia Tech, I wanted to transfer with him, and I feelthat was probably the best decision I ever made.  Another aspect that drew me to Georgia Techwas the size of the ISyE faculty. I was happy to have so many faculty membersin our department, with flexible course choices and many research collaborationopportunities. 

ISyE:  Tell us about a favorite or most memorableISyE experience you had.

RJ:  I highly enjoyed the seminarsgiven by world class scholars invited to our department.  As a graduate student, the learning, dialog, andquestions with these scholars helped me understand what defines good research,and what makes that research outstanding in the academic society. 

ISyE:  What is something every student should dowhile at Georgia Tech?

RJ:  Go workout at the CRC! As astudent, balancing work and life is important. Besides, how many students from other schools have a chance to goworkout on an Olympic site?

ISyE:  Where was your favorite spot on the GeorgiaTech campus?

RJ:  The lawn beside the ISyE and InstructionalCenter buildings. From this spot, I enjoyed many picnics and beautiful views ofthe campus.

ISyE:  What have you been doing since finishing yourPhD last April?

RJ:  I moved to a new place andjoined the VT faculty.  Joining the VTfaculty is a completely new start for me. It means challenges, and alsoopportunities.  Being outstanding in thistop IE department of the country is not easy, but fortunately I have a lot ofgreat colleagues to learn from.  

ISyE:  Would you say that ISyE prepared you for yourcurrent position?

RJ:  ISyE prepared me for almostevery aspect of my current position. ISyE has one of the best industrialengineering programs in this country, with teaching and research beingperformed by some of the best scholars in the field.

ISyE:  What do you do to make learning more engagingfor students?

RJ:  I use multiple types of media,such as video and images, to help students link new material to informationthey already know.  I teach students howto solve real-world problems, rather than focusing on textbook problems.

ISyE:  What piece of technology could you not livewithout as an instructor?

RJ:  PowerPoint. Without the PowerPointpresentation, it is hard to use video, photos, or data plots to illustrate theideas behind the problems I teach.

ISyE:  Tell us alittle bit about your PhD thesis and current research.

RJ:  My thesis is about how to manufactureproducts with better quality.  To improvethe quality, we need to understand the relationship between the quality and theimportant factors to change the quality. Nowadays, the manufacturing system becomes more complex, and we may havelimited knowledge about this relationship from an engineering perspective.  On the other hand, the advancement of sensingtechnology gives us a data-rich manufacturing environment.  My thesis is about how to integrate theengineering domain knowledge and operational data to model the manufacturingprocess, and improve the quality.  Iapplied this methodology in the semiconductor manufacturing processes.

My current research involves engineeringdriven data fusion in manufacturing system modeling and quality improvements,with specific interests in the variation reduction in product realization andmanufacturing scale-up, and quality engineering based on high definitionprofile data.

ISyE:  What is your favorite book?

RJ:  Modern History of China, byTsiang, Tingfu. The reason why this is my favorite book is that the author hasa completely new angle and new evidence to show the history of China from years1840 to year 1911, with only 50,000 Chinese characters (It could be verychallenging even with 500,000 Chinese characters).   I believe this should be the first book toread to understand the Chinese modern history. Dr. Tsiang’s personal experiencesare also interesting to me. He was a faculty member at Tsinghua University inthe 1920s, where I completed my undergraduate degree.

Recently, I have been reading Economic Imperialism, by Wuchang Zhang.

ISyE:  What is the best piece of advice you everreceived?

RJ:  Actually I got two from myadvisor Prof Shi about how to work efficiently:

“Have a beginning and an end.”

“Only Handle It Once”(OHIO)

TheCenter for Health and Humanitarian Logistics in the H. Milton Stewart School ofIndustrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) has become a key global player inhelping to ensure that disaster relief supplies—food, clean water, medicine,etc.—arrive at their intended destination as quickly and efficiently aspossible. In addition to developing methodologies and technologies tofacilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid to disaster sites around theworld, the Center is also fostering increased planning for disaster relief andthe effective execution of humanitarian efforts.

Additionalresearch focuses on developing concepts and tools for optimizing healthcaredelivery processes by applying cutting-edge supply chain engineering principlesto the design of healthcare delivery systems. The Center works with governmentand non-government organizations, particularly those in developing countries.

TheCenter’s long-term viability and effectiveness has received a significant boostthanks to a recent seven-figure estate commitment from Richard E. “Rick” ZaleskyJr., also known as “Zaz”, CE 1978, and Charlene Oxford Zalesky, HS 1977. Inaddition to their estate provision, the Zaleskys have also pledged ongoingannual support for the center, which allows them to see the tremendous impactof their giving during their lifetimes.

Afterreading about the Center’s work in 2009, the Zaleskys inquired about how theymight learn more and provide support. Soon afterwards, the Zalekys met with the Center’s three co-directorsand co-founders, Ozlem Ergun, associate professor in ISyE, Pinar Keskinocak, the Joseph C.Mello Professor of ISyE, and JulieSwann, the Harold R. and Mary Anne Nash Professor of ISyE, to find out moreabout the Center’s projects and collaborative work.

TheZaleskys were very excited to learn how basic industrial engineering techniqueswere being utilized to help humanitarian organizations throughout the worldimprove their effectiveness.

“Any technical university canpresent papers showcasing their models and academic proposals.  However, Ozlem, Julie, and Pinar have createdsomething truly outstanding. They collaborate to bring people, technology, andinnovation together to make a difference in our collective human condition nowand into the future,” said Mr. Zalesky.

Theywere equally impressed that some of these organizations, such as the Red Cross,Salvation Army, and World Vision, were organizations they were personallysupporting. 

“Thismeant that our philanthropic dollars were going further. Every dollar spent onpreplanning and prepositioning typically results in a savings between seven andten dollars in actual relief aid. That kind of multiplier got our attention,”said Mrs. Zalesky. 

Mrs.Zalesky attended the 2010 Health & Humanitarian Logistics Conferenceorganized by the Center. Because she was so impressed with the collaborationsand projects with high-level participants from thirteen countries, the Zaleskysdecided to help sponsor the 2011 conference.  

Alongtime executive with Chevron in Houston, Mr. Zalesky is a member of theGeorgia Tech Advisory Board and the Chemical & Biomolecular EngineeringAdvisory Board. He was named a College of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus in2007. Mrs. Zalesky, who holds an MBA from Golden State University in additionto her Georgia Tech degree in Health Systems, is a member of the Industrial andSystems Engineering Advisory Board. Their son, Zack, will complete hisundergraduate degree in mechanical engineering in the spring of 2013; and theirdaughter, Zola, hopes to matriculate at Tech in fall 2012.

“GeorgiaTech has meant a great deal to our family over the years,” said Mr. Zalesky. “Our familyactually started at Georgia Tech when Charlene and I met as Sophomores and latermarried in our senior year. Webelieve the success we have enjoyed in our careers is due in large part to thesuperb education we received at Georgia Tech. When you graduate with a degreefrom Georgia Tech, you are ready to take on the toughest challenges in anybusiness endeavor with the confidence that you will be successful.”

Whenasked how she believed its affiliation with ISyE affected the Center’s abilityto carry out its mission, Mrs. Zalesky responded, “We can think of no betterassociation than the number one ISyE program in the nation.”

TheISyE community is especially grateful to the Zaleskys, not only for their philanthropicsupport, but also for their passionate belief in the Center’s work.   

“Whenyou couple the hard work and dedication of the faculty and students working inhealth and humanitarian logistics with the support and concern for thebetterment of humanity that the Zaleskys display, incredible things happen,”said Jane C. Ammons, H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair ofIndustrial and Systems Engineering. “We are so fortunate to have theirinvolvement and we vastly appreciate how they have helped ISyE take thisimportant education, outreach, and research to a higher level that is helpingthe world in countless ways.”

Toinquire about making a gift or becoming involved in supporting the Center forHealth and Humanitarian Logistics or any initiative within the H. MiltonStewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, contact Director ofDevelopment Nancy J. Sandlin at 404.385.7458 or nancy.sandlin@isye.gatech.edu. 

(Thisarticle first appeared in the 2011 summer issue of Campaign Quarterly.)

For Zhou, the game is an opportunityto make teaching more innovative and an ideal way to get the students engaged intheir studies.

“The game gives students achance to see how what they learn in the course can be beneficial for improvingthe efficiency in production systems.  Nothingis more stimulating than being directly involved in the action and seeing itsimpact,” said Zhou.

The game incorporatesCaterpillar’s guiding principles into the classroom focusing on manufacturingengineering and supply chain logistics, demonstrating the benefits of properinventory management, business flow, and the importance of meeting customers’needs.  By exposing students to thecomplex objectives and constraints involved in a manufacturing process, such asresponsiveness to customer demand and removal of waste, the game provides the studentswith a very practical hands-on approach to some ISyE concepts. 

“These games give studentsa glance at what a future in industrial engineering would be like in a realworld setting.” said Troy Watson, Caterpillar engineer and game facilitator.

The students found thegame to be both beneficial and enjoyable.

“The supply chain activitywas a real-life application of one of the fundamental concepts of industrialengineering deficiency. I learned what works and what doesn't work in assemblylines, and how to eliminate wastes to save time, energy, and money duringproduction. Above all, I learned that the customers' desires are the mostimportant thing, behind safety,” said Emily Russell, an ISyE undergraduatestudent in Zhou’s class.

Caterpillar has beeninvolved on the Georgia Tech campus for several years, but this is the firsttime the simulation game has been integrated into an ISyE classroom.  

With several manufacturingfacilities opening in the South, Caterpillar has increased its recruitingefforts at Georgia Tech over the last few years, targeting ISyE students forvarious positions such as those in supply chain logistics and manufacturing. Caterpillarutilizes the CPS game to better engage with freshman ISyE students. 

Additional feedback fromthe class:

“After playing this game,I walked away feeling more ready and more eager to become an industrialengineer," said Keri Strucher.

“This game really gave mea better understanding of what ISyE is all about. I learned so much about mymajor during this game and I can see how this can apply to real life on a muchbigger scale,” said Erin Kelly.

“The game was a reallygreat experience for me because I needed to see the application of what we arelearning in the classroom. Now I am much more confident in my ability tocontinue in my major and eventually begin my career in industrialengineering," said Mackenzie Sloan.

“Even though I'm a firstyear student at Georgia Tech, playing the supply chain game with Caterpillarmade me feel like an employed engineer for an hour!” said Erin Lightfoot.

“Fun. Entertaining.Educational. I wish every class was like that!” said Leon Heimer.

ISyE:  Tell me a little about yourself.

CP:  I am a second year undergraduate student at ISyE and have loved every bit of it!  The PS program really drew me to Tech because it is like a family- the connectedness and kindness of the program really shines through.

ISyE:  What motivated you to come to Georgia Tech?

CP:  Georgia Tech had a perfect balance of a work hard/play hard mentality that I couldn’t find at other schools. The classes are very rigorous and challenging, but the sports are always there to cheer on the Yellow Jackets! I also wanted to go to a place where I could find some diversity and try something new- something I didn’t have in upstate New York.

ISyE:  What piqued your interest in becoming an industrial engineer?

CP:  Throughout high school, I have always loved working with numbers and anything scientific. However, at the same time, I loved business and the decisions that are made in the business realm of companies. Therefore, ISyE was the best combination of the things I enjoy, and it is something that I can be happy about the rest of my life.

ISyE:  Who is your favorite professor and why?

CP:  I would definitely have to say John D. Cressler who is currently teaching COE 3002 for management and technology, as well as the Honors Program. He really cares about every student learning the material and gives that extra push. He wants to see every student succeed to the best of their ability.

ISyE:  Favorite IE course so far and why?

CP:  I have just started taking ISyE courses this semester, my first course being ISyE 2027. It is interesting thus far.

ISyE:  What is something every student should do while at Georgia Tech?

CP:  Study Abroad! Georgia Tech has an amazing study abroad program, and there is something for everyone’s taste. After my freshman year, I decided to go on the Oxford Study Abroad program which was definitely the greatest experience of my life. The places we traveled, the friends we made, and the fun we had surpass anything I have ever experienced before. The Office of International Education works with each student to give them the best experience they could ever imagine.

ISyE:  What are your prospective career goals?

CP:  I really want to concentrate in financial optimization and then find the perfect school to get my MBA. From there, I just want to find a job that will make me happy, which could include non-profits, managerial positions, business transactions, or something in the amusement park industry.

ISyE:  What are some of your non-academic interests?

CP:  I enjoy being on the Student Center Programs Council concert committee, which plans the homecoming concerts and other live performances throughout the year. I also enjoy sports, hiking, travelling, working with disabled children, playing percussion, listening to music, and exploring Atlanta.

ISyE:  How do you spend your free time?

CP:  I really enjoy trying new things with friends, whether it be different kinds of foods, exploring new places, or running distances I have never ran before. However, sitting down and taking a quick rest is always nice too!

ISyE:  What was the last book you read for pleasure?

CP:  Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Objectivism at its best.

ISyE:  What piece of technology could you not live without?

CP:  Transistors- they are literally in everything.

ISyE:  What music do you listen to?

CP:  I love all kinds of music, but I really appreciate bands that can perform live. The experience of a live concert cannot match that of a disc.

ISyE:  What is your favorite spot on campus?

CP:  Bobby Dodd Stadium; there’s nothing like game day.

ISyE:  Tell me about one of your accomplishments?

CP:  My greatest accomplishment occurred in ninth grade. Unfortunately, I used to be a very obese child growing up, but in ninth grade I decided to change that. I was fed up being so out of shape. Throughout the next six months, by watching what I ate and going to the gym four times a week, I was able to work off sixty pounds. Ever since then, I have been able to maintain a proper weight/muscle ratio.

ISyE:  What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

CP:  Wherever you go in your future, never forget where you’ve been and the people that have touched you. 

ISyE:  Is there any one person who has been an inspiration to you or someone that you consider your hero? Who and why?

CP:  I would definitely have to say my parents. They have sacrificed so much to raise my family and make sure that all of us succeed. I will definitely model my family style off of them.

ISyE:  Finish the sentence: Few people know that...

CP:  I have eight brothers and sisters- five of which are adopted; three from China, and two from Guatemala.

Registrationis required and includes a dinner reception with the speakers on the evening ofThursday, October 20, as well as the symposium and lunch on Friday.  Guests are encouraged to register at theirearliest convenience.

For moreinformation about the event, including the symposium program and registrationlink, click here.

Students Morgan Doty, Bryce Dykes, Kathleen Hendrix,Ralph Long, Dana Lupuloff, Douglas Meagh, Jeff Phillips, and Michael  Vallecoccia were selected as one of sixfinalists for the Doing Good with Good OR Student Competition for their submission, “Gwinnett County PublicSchools: OR/MS Drives Improvements in Bus Logistics and School Times.”  The submission was a a solution to helpGwinnett County Public Schools reduce transportation expenses in the face ofconsiderable budget cuts.  By developingassignment and scheduling heuristics implemented by a user friendly applicationand informed by a regression and forecast, the total number of buses needed fordaily transportation was reduced significantly. The overall reduction of over 100 buses resulted in an initial savingsof $2.9 million and recurring savings of $2.6 million each year.

Guided by faculty advisor Dr. Julie Swann, students Doty,Dykes, Hendrix, Long, Lupuloff, Meagh, Phillips, and Vallecoccia completed thisproject as part of their required ISyE course, Senior Design, where they werealso chosen as one of the top three finalists out of twenty-four Senior Designteams. 

Turgay Ayer, assistant professor of ISyE, was also selectedas a finalist for the Doing Good with Good OR Student Competition for hissubmission “Redesigning the Breast Cancer Screening Policies: PersonalizedMammography Screening,” which he submitted while studying for his doctorate at University ofWisconsin-Madison.   Additionally, Ayerwas chosen as a finalist for the Decision Analysis Society Student PaperCompetition for his paper “A POMDP Approach to Personalize Mammography ScreeningPolicies,” as well as a finalist for the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society Student Paper Competition.

Daniel Dadush,an Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization PhD student at Georgia Tech, wasselected as the winner of the Optimization Society Student PaperPrize for his paper “On the Chvatal-Gomory Closure of a Compact ConvexSet.”  The paper was co-authored withSantanu Dey, assistant professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrialand Systems Engineering (ISyE), and Juan Pablo Vielma, who received his PhDfrom ISyE in 2009 and was the 2007 recipient of the Optimization SocietyStudent Paper Prize. Vielma is currently the assistant professor in thedepartment of Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. The prizeis awarded annually at the INFORMS Fall National Meeting for an outstandingpaper in optimization by a student author.  Also for this paper submission, Dadush, Dey, and Vielma were nominated as finalists for the Junior Faculty Interest Group Paper Award.

Eva K. Lee, professor of ISyE and director of theCenter for Operations Research in Medicine and HealthCare, was selected as a finalistfor the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice.Lee will deliver a thirty minute presentation on her submission "Designing Guest Flow and Operations Logisticsfor the Dolphin Tales" during one of the Wagner Prize sessions.

Antonius Dieker,assistant professor of ISyE, was nominated as a finalist for the Junior FacultyInterest Group Paper Competition for his submission "Sensitivity Analysis for Diffusion Processes Constrained to an Orthant." The paper was co-authored by Dieker's PhD student, Xuefeng Gao.

Shan Ba, PhD student in ISyE, was nominated as a finalist for the Quality, Statistics, and Reliability Best Student Paper Award for the paper "Multi-layer Designs for Computer Experiments," co-authored with Roshan Vengazhiyil, associate professor in ISyE.

INFORMS,the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the field ofoperations research (OR), management science, and business analytics, servesthe scientific and professional needs of Operations Researchers and those inthe Management Sciences including educators, scientists, students, managers,and consultants.

True North Groups containsin-depth ideas about forming your group, developing its norms, handlingdifficult group situations, and creating a high-performing group.  It alsoincludes an extensive resource manual that outlines how to form a group of yourown, along with a complete set of program ideas.

“Doug and I have both benefited from participating in twoTrue North Groups over the years.  One is a men’s group that has meetweekly for the past 36 years and the other is a couple’s group that has met for28 years,” said George.

George is a professor of management practice at HarvardBusiness School where he teaches leadership and leadership development. He has incorporatedthe True North Group into his courses at the Harvard Business School, wherethey have had significant impact on the MBA students and mid-career executiveswho have participated in them. True North Group members have shared the smallgroup principles with participants in such organizations as the Young PresidentsOrganization Forum, Spirit Search, and Masterminds.

In addition to this recent publication, George is theauthor of the best-selling books:  7Lessons for Leading in Crisis, TrueNorth: Discovering your Authentic Leadership, Finding Your True North (workbook), and Authentic Leadership.

George is the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, andcurrently serves on the boards of ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs. He is also atrustee of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the World EconomicForum USA. He has made frequent appearances on television and radio, and hisarticles have appeared in numerous publications. He has been named one of “Top25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years” by PBS.

True North Groups:A Powerful Path to Personal and Leadership Development is available forpurchase at Amazon.  For more information about True North Groups,visit www.billgeorge.org.

"We could be talking about a fleet of airlines, trucks, trains, ships -- or a manufacturing system," Gebraeel said. "In any of these cases, it's extremely useful for a number of reasons to be able to accurately estimate the remaining useful lifetime of the system or its components."

Watch this short video of Nagi Gebraeel as he discusses his research of complex engineering systems.

Internationalcooperation in humanitarian efforts is one of the multiple themes to beaddressed during this year’s France-Atlanta conference. In recent years,humanitarian emergencies, particularly those following natural disasters, haveraised a major issue: how to achieve coordination and synergistic collaborationamong different NGOs and government organizations, so as to avoid overlappingefforts, waste of resources, and inefficiencies. During this roundtablediscussion, representatives from French and American NGOs and governmentagencies such as Handicap International, CARE, Medshare, and USAID will reflecton the tools that could be developed in order to improve management ofhumanitarian crises.

This isthe second year Georgia Tech will be partnering with the Consulate General ofFrance in Atlanta to present the France-Atlanta conference. “France-Atlanta:Together Towards Innovation” will be held October 26- November 12, and willinclude a series of fifteen French-American events centered on innovation,including scientific symposiums, business workshops, cultural events, andhumanitarian focus events. 

“I am sopleased to partner once again with Georgia Tech to present this new edition ofFrance-Atlanta. I believe this is through cooperation in sectors of the futurethat our two societies will thrive and tackle the 21st century challenges,” saidPascal Le Deunff, Consul General of France in Atlanta.

TheFrance-Atlanta conference, which drew 3,500 participants last year, wasdesigned to strengthen ties between Franceand the southeastern United States. The conference is presented under the High Auspices of the Ambassador ofFrance to the United States, His Excellency Mr. François Delattre, the Governorof Georgia, the Honorable Nathan Deal, and the Mayor of Atlanta, the HonorableKasim Reed.

Click here to register for the roundtable discussion. For moreinformation about the 2011 France-Atlanta conference, visitwww.france-atlanta.org.

The World Economic Forum was held in Rio de Janerio, Brazil onApril 27-29.  Sessions are designed topromote interaction between discussion leaders and participants, facilitatingdiscussion on challenging and complex issues.

Dr. Swann focuses on developing models and analyticalmethods to solve problems in logistics and supply chain management, and informdecisions in health systems and policymaking.  Dr. Swann’s research areasintersect in her work in humanitarian supply chains. In this area, she isdeveloping educational and outreach programs to governmental and non-governmentalorganizations that are involved in planning for and responding to health andhumanitarian crises. 

For more information about the 2011 World Economic Forum onLatin America, click here.

To celebrate the opening of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain& Logistic Institute’s (SCL) Integrated Food Chain Center (IFC), FoodLogistics Magazine initiated a new column titled, Cool Insights. The column, which began with the April / May 2010 issue, has exclusivelyfeatured thoughts from the faculty, staff, and partners of the IFC on variousaspects of food chain.

Aka alsovolunteers her time to help African refugee families as they adjust to a newlife in the United States, specifically encouraging them to further theireducation.  In addition to her volunteer work, Aka is a member of theStudent Alumni Association and the African Students Association at GeorgiaTech.

To learnmore about Aka, continue reading the interview that follows.

ISyE:  How are you contributing to EWB-GT’sfundraising efforts?

AA:  I have been helping the fundraising team on aproject to implement a clean water distribution system in Cameroon,Africa.  I have been making phone callsand distributing information to potential sponsors who may be interested insupporting this trip, and EWB-GT in general. Gifts in support of this project will assist with travel expenses, aswell as the cost of construction for the water distribution system, solar pump,and storage tank.

ISyE:  For any of our readers who would like to helpsupport this project, where can they go for more information?

AA:  That would be great!  Anyone who wishes to make a donation to the GeorgiaTech Foundation in support of EWB-GT can contact Nancy Sandlin, the director ofdevelopment for ISyE, at 404-385-7458, or nsandlin@isye.gatech.edu.

ISyE:What have you enjoyed most about working with EWB-GT?

AA:  EWB-GT is 100% run by students.  It is amazing that students can take whatthey learn in class and apply it to such a great cause.  For example, Georgia Tech students areresponsible for designing the water tank and water distribution system whichwill be used in Cameroon. 

ISyE: Howdo you plan to apply what you are learning as an ISyE student to EWB-GT?

AA:  As an industrial engineering student, I planon working with the team to offer more efficient and cost effective ways tohelp those in need.  For example, I canuse statistical data to determine how much water a community needs each day, orto assist in finding out the probability of disease in the water.  I hope to have the opportunity to travel withEWB-GT, and work on location. 

ISyE:  With the strenuous work load from yourclasses, how do you have time to volunteer?

AA:  It is always easy to find time for things welove.  When I have a little free timeaway from my books, I find time to do what I am passionate about.

ISyE:  What motivated you to pursue a degree inindustrial engineering?

AA:  I have always known I wanted to be anengineer, but I wasn’t sure in what capacity I wanted to pursue thisfield.  My strength lies in mathematicsand problem-solving.  As an industrialengineer, I can use my strengths for the good of humanity, helping underprivilegedcommunities, which is where my passion lies.

ISyE:  What are your hobbies and interests?

AA:  I enjoy Agbadja, a traditional dance from myhome in Togo, and listening to soukousse and zouk music, popular music in Africanculture.  I also like to travel andexplore other cultures.  On my last visitto Africa, I visited Benin, my family’s native country, to learn more about myheritage. 

ISyE:  What is your favorite thing to do on the GeorgiaTech campus?

AA:  The Georgia Tech Christian Campus Fellowship(CCF) is a great place to meet fellow students and make friends here oncampus.  I enjoy attending the CCF eventsand listening to their guest speakers.

ISyE:  How do you hope to contribute to society,making the world a better place, as an industrial engineer?

AA:  Using my skills as an industrial engineer, Ihope to work with disadvantaged communities, helping them gain access to suchbasic needs as clean water, food, and healthcare. 

"This sustained recognition is a remarkable tribute to our outstanding students, alumni, staff, and faculty," said Jane Ammons, the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair.

Georgia Institute of Technology sustained its top tenranking, coming in 7th among public universities in the 2012 edition.  Georgia Tech has ranked in the top 10 ofpublic universities for more than a decade.

Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering ranked 5th in theundergraduate rankings for engineering programs at universities where thehighest degree is a Ph.D.

Aerospace Engineering maintained its 2nd place ranking inits discipline.  Biomedical andMechanical Engineering are also ranked 2nd, both moving up from 3rd last year.Civil Engineering maintained its 3rd place ranking and EnvironmentalEngineering moved up two spots, also ranking 3rd. Electrical Engineering movedup to 4th from 5th last year.

Georgia Tech's College of Management maintained it 28thranking this year.

The Institute’s internships and cooperative educationprograms are also highlighted in “Programs to Look For”.

To view the complete U.S.News & World Report rankings, click here.

Abu Dhabi, thelargest of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), approachedGeorgia Tech to help build the educational base Abu Dhabi needs to transitionfrom an oil-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.  White was not the only Georgia Tech professorat Khalifa University; professors in Tech’s biomedical engineering andaerospace engineering schools also spent last year helping Khalifa University buildacademic programs and recruit faculty.

Learn more about White’sresidence in Abu Dhabi in the interview that follows.

ISyE:      Describethe student body and campus at Khalifa University.  How does it compare to Georgia Tech?

CW:        As this is only their third year, KhalifaUniversity has a small student body population, and most are undergraduates.  Compared to Georgia Tech, the student bodyand campus itself is much smaller, comprised of only six buildings.  Unlike other academic institutions in theregion, Khalifa University is research intensive and multi-cultural, and thefirst public co-educational university in the UAE.  Seventy percent of thestudents are Emirati, citizensof the UAE.

ISyE:      What are some of the challenges involved in building a university fromscratch?

Coming from GeorgiaTech where regulations, policies, administrative procedures, and facultygovernance have been established for decades, it was challenging to develop andimplement such practices in a new university.

Some things thatare very common in the university system here are issues there because of theirculture and laws.  For example, in theUAE, non-Emirati can have work visas for a maximum of three years, which bringsinto question whether or not tenure, in some form, is a viable concept.  It will be interesting to see how theygrapple with this and other challenges.

ISyE:      Whatwould you consider your most significant accomplishments while in Abu Dhabi?

My most significantaccomplishment was hiring the new faculty and achieving initial accreditation.  Also, we were able to begin the process ofgetting the new faculty started on research projects.  I made contacts with several governmentagencies and private firms to solicit what research would help them betterperform their missions.  We are off to agood start for what we have set out to do.

ISyE:      Nowthat you’ve spent a year in an oil rich country, what is your opinion on fuelconservation?

I think we would bevery wise to be a more energy independent country.  Interestingly, the UAE is more invested insolar energy than we are per capita, and they realize the limitations of fossilfuels.  Also, they are very interested inconservation and have tremendous respect for the environment, providing a good examplefor the rest of the world to emulate.

ISyE:      Whatare some of the challenges you faced working in a different time zone and adifferent work week structure?

The weekend in AbuDhabi is Friday and Saturday, with the work week being Sunday throughThursday.  That means there were onlythree overlapping days between here and there, which made my work week stretch outto almost seven days a week as I was very actively engaged in research withEastern Time Zone colleagues.  Inaddition to the work week difference, I was eight hours ahead of my researchcolleagues and graduate students in the United States, making it challenging tocommunicate.  In a way, my day startedtwice.  I would get up and be at KhalifaUniversity at 8:00 a.m. UAE time.  When Ileft work at 5:00 p.m., it was 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. in the U.S.  As my day was ending in Abu Dhabi, the dayfor my colleagues and graduate students back in the States was justbeginning.  This is when emails wouldstart coming in and I would have Skype meetings with those in the Eastern TimeZone.  

ISyE:      Didyou stay in the expat bubble or immerse yourself in the nation’s culture?

Only 10% of peoplein Abu Dhabi are Emirati, the rest are expats.  We lived in the Shangri-la Hotel which wouldbe considered an expat bubble. 

Three blocks awayfrom the Shangri-la was a co-op where one could buy food or clothing. When weshopped there, we were often the only non-Emirati there.  

Dubai was less thantwo hours north of Abu Dhabi.  There, wewould shop at one of their large souks, which is a traditional Arabic market.  We attended the Al Dhafra Camel Festival, anannual celebration where locals participate in activities such as camel races,trading, and camel beauty pageants.  Itwas one of many very interesting opportunities for us to engage in the Emiraticulture.

During Ramadan, theCrown Prince of UAE, hosts Iftar lectures, which occur right before Iftar, theevening meal when Muslims break their fast.  I attended two lectures in Abu Dhabi.  One lecture was on the Future ofSustainable Transportation, and another lecture I attended was entitled FundamentalistIslam versus Modernist Islam.  Therewere approximately 400 people there, mostly Emirati.  The lectures and the related socialinteractions were fascinating.

We also enjoyedexpat activities in Abu Dhabi.  Duringour stay, we were able to experience events such as a Formula 1 race, a tennismatch between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the world's top two tennisplayers, and attend a concert guided by cellist Yo-Yo Ma.  We were withinseven minutes of walking distance to 14 restaurants. Several of them were notedas being the finest in the region.

The expat cultureis quite different than living here in the U.S. In the expat community, there are only other expats. So, it promotes asocial cohesion that we do not experience here. While we are delighted to be back, we miss the friends we made whilethere.

ISyE:      Whatdid you enjoy most about the culture of Abu Dhabi?

It is a veryexciting time to be in the Middle East and Abu Dhabi and experience its healthyand vibrant culture.  The people of the UAEare very family oriented and have strong family traditions.  I respect them tremendously for that.  I enjoyed getting to know them and lookforward to going back.

ISyE:      Wasthe trip a success?

No matter how youdefine success, the answer is yes. Professionally and personally, it was asuccess. We are still basking in the glow of an idyllic year in Abu Dhabi andthe sense of accomplishment as well.

ISyE:      Howwill you apply what you learned in Abu Dhabi to your work at Tech?

One thing I becameaware of while working at Khalifa University, is that if you are building auniversity to be an agent of social and economic change, the focus on researchshould include, perhaps emphasize, innovation. After my experience in Abu Dhabi, I am more inclined to believe thefocus of our work should be to continue past the idea stage, and work towards creatinga product, service, or process that will make a societal impact.  Rather than stopping after our research hasbeen published, our goal should be to put our research into practice.

Spending a year inAbu Dhabi, I have come back with a refreshed cultural and geopolitical point ofview.  The more we appreciate and respectother cultures, the more we realize that there are more similarities thandifferences between us.  The people ofthat region are doing remarkable things and there is much to be learned fromtheir culture.  I wish Khalifa Universityall the success in the world.

Sokol was selected from a large number of applicationsfor his innovations in project-based learning. An example of Sokol’s innovations in the classroom is his projectTeamBuilder, an online team-building software he developed for ISyE students inthe capstone design course Senior Design. Realizing that the task of finding compatible teammates is in many wayssimilar to dating, Sokol used an open-source online dating software andmodified the code to create a site appropriate for teammate-matching.  Sokol developed the software with theobjective of decreasing the high levels of intra-team conflict within projectteams, as well as to improve the experiences and achievement of the studentswho were unable to find a team on their own. Students are encouraged to start a TeamBuilder profile the semesterprior to Senior Design.  The profiles focuson five areas of information: personal details, time preferences/work styles/goals,project interests, academic/professional background, and specific skills/strengths/weaknesses.  The TeamBuilder profiles assiststudents in finding teammates with compatible goals and work ethic, andcomplementary skills and abilities.

Since Sokol implemented TeamBuilder three years ago, only1-2% of students have been unable to find a team (down from 5-10%), and thenumber of teams self-reporting significant conflict has been cut in half.  Last year, TeamBuilder won the Class of 1934Outstanding Innovative Use of Education Technology Award, Georgia Tech’shighest award for innovative education technology. 

Sokol's research interests include operations researchand its application in a wide variety of areas, from logistics, manufacturing,and network design to biology, social logistics, and sports modeling. Hisresearch has won the EURO Management Science Strategic Innovation Prize, andhis LRMC method (predictive modeling for the NCAA basketball tournament) hasbeen featured in the New York Times and on CNN and ESPN.  Sokol is also a recipient of some of GeorgiaTech's highest awards for teaching.

The FOEE Symposium brings together some of the nation’smost engaged and innovative engineering educators in order to recognize,reward, and promote effective, substantive, and inspirational engineeringeducation through a sustained dialogue within the emerging generation ofinnovative faculty.

Residence I of the EMIL-SCS program has a reputation ofbeing compared to a military boot camp for academics.  This new class of 2012 had a similarexperience.  Residence I is hosted on theGeorgia Tech campus, with lectures taught by several members of Georgia Tech’sfaculty, and accompanied by faculty with expertise in specific logistics andsupply chain strategy areas pertinent to the industries the student bodyrepresents.

During week one, the class received instruction from Dr.Stephen Timme, president of FinListics Solutions and CFOEd and adjunct professorat Georgia Tech, who taught Supply Chain Finance.  The class then worked with Dr. Ed Frazelle, foundingdirector of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL) at Georgia Techand president and CEO of Logistics Resources International.  He guided the class through an intense andinteractive Supply Chain Strategy workshop.  In conclusion of their firstweek, the class received an introduction to analytics from Georgia Tech ProfessorsDr. Jim Dai and Dr. John Vande Vate.

There was a brief reprieve from all of the intense study withan excursion to a weekend Braves game. The outing provided an opportunity for the class to really get to knoweach other.

Week two began with Dr. Anton Kleywegt’s intense session ofRevenue Management and Inventory Management taught by Dr. Mark Ferguson’s, bothGeorgia Tech associate professors.  Thefinal lecture focused on outsourcing and third party logistics, specificallylooking into best and worst practices and industry benchmarks.  This lecture was presented by Dr. Chris Norek, senior partnerof Chain Connectors Inc., Greg Skrovan of Intel, and Bill Taylor of RyderLogistics.

Withthe lectures completed, the class participated in a discussion centered around identifying specific personal talents, and helpingindividuals discover how to build upon their talents to develop strengthswithin their roles at work.  Atthe beginning of the residence, the class was asked to complete the #1 Wall Street Journal and #1 BusinessWeek bestseller StrengthsFinder2.0 assessment.  This best sellingbook accompanied with an individualized personal assessment provides anin-depth look at a person’s strengths, and how to best utilize those strengthswithin the workplace.  Upon completion ofthe assessment, the class was joined by Karla Brandau from Improving HumanCapital, LLC, for a fun and thought provoking session on how tounderstand and focus on individual strengths. 

The final chapter of the residence was to form the GlobalSupply Chain Project teams.  With theguidance of EMIL-SCS Executive Director Dr. John Vande Vate and ManagingDirector Greg Andrews, the class formed six teams that range in industries fromretail to healthcare.  When the classmeets again for Residence II, the Global Project Teams will provide a projectupdate, and will continue to present their updates at each residencethereafter.  In June, this class willparticipate in their 2^nd residence, this time meeting in Europe.

For more about the EMIL-SCS program, visit their website at http://www.emil.gatech.edu/

The next day, Professor Owen Darbishire, from PembrokeCollege in Oxford, lectured on different labor and employment models in the UnitedStates, European Union (EU), and Japan, with a focus on the various constraintsthey impose and opportunities they create.  Specifically, he lectured on the laborpolicies of the EU, such as what managers should consider when establishinghuman resource policies for their companies.

The class then visited the Port of Duisburg, the world’slargest public inland port located on the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhrrivers, and received an overview of rail infrastructure across the EU.  That afternoon, the class traveled toBorgholzhausen to visit Kraftverkehr Nagel, a German family-owned food logisticscompany.  There they discussed over-the-road transportation and coldchain in Europe, focusing on the competitive landscape including nationalcarriers and European players in Central and Eastern Europe.

On the last dayin Cologne, the class met with Mathias Paul, vice president of strategy forDB Schenker, to discuss rail cargo operations in the EU.  Following Mr. Paul’s discussion, Jan Bender, headof foreign trade compliance for Air & Ocean Transport of Dachser, met withthe class.  Dachser is an internationalfreight and logistics service provider, headquartered in Kempten (Allgäu/SouthwestGermany).  Bender gave an overview of howcustoms operates in the EU including the Customs Union, the 27 differentCustoms administrations that implement it, and the challenges this raises bothfor the Customs administrations and for international trade.  The class explored some of the differencesthat naturally arise among the different administrations of any such system.  After an intense morning, the class boarded a trainfor Munich, Germany.

The firstmorning in Munich, the class met with Egge Haak, consultant partner ofInvolvation, a supply chain management consulting firm based in the Netherlands.  Haak led the class in an intense andinteractive session of Fresh Connection, a web-based role-playing simulationgame developed by Involvation.    EMIL-SCS Teams were formed and challenged tocollaborate and employ a supply chain strategy to rescue a virtual fruit juicemanufacturer from its downfall.  Usingthe knowledge gained through Residence I, they were to return this company to soundfinancial performance. 

Later thatafternoon, the class traveled to Audi in Ingolstadt.  There the class learned about how Audi‘enthuses’ its customers worldwide, with particular focus on their many customizedcustomer programs.  The class had beeninformed prior to the visit that they too would provide similar examples fromtheir companies.  This made for anengaging afternoon of ideation and creative brainstorming.  Following the discussion, the students touredthe plant and took pleasure in viewing Audi’s most luxurious automobiles on theassembly line. That evening, the class was treated to an authentic Bavariandinner at Munich’s famous Augustine-Keller restaurant.  Dating back to 1812, the restaurant serveshearty and Bavarian specialties like knuckle of pork, potato dumplings, andweiner schnitzel. 

The next morning, the class met with MAN Truck & BusGroup, the largest company in the MAN Group and one of the leadinginternational providers of commercial vehicles and transport solutions, for asite visit, supply chain discussion, and factory tour.  While there, the class also met with FAUN, acustomer of the MAN Truck & Bus Group. FAUN is the most successful, privatelyowned, manufacturer of waste disposal vehicles in Europe.  Dr. Armin Vogel, FAUN’s managing director,led a discussion on the environmental regulations and compliance policies within the EU. 

Over the weekend, the class traveled to Krakow, Poland andvisited Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and State Museum.  The class toured the Nazi concentrationand extermination camps built and operated in Polish areas annexed by NaziGermany during World War II. It was the largest of the German concentrationcamps, consisting of Auschwitz I (the base camp), Auschwitz II–Birkenau (the exterminationcamp), and Auschwitz III–Monowitz, also known as Buna–Monowitz (a labor camp).

In Krakow, Dr. Staab re-visited the class for a recap and PartII discussion of the EU financial crisis, sovereign debt issues, as well asother political and economic issues.   Thatafternoon, Philipp Holzer, regional manager of sea freight from KUEHNE + NAGEL inEastern Europe visited with the class to present a brief overview of the state of the ocean cargo industry,particularly of the EU based carriers, along with an overviewof distribution and fulfillment operations within the EU.

The next day, the class took a train to Rzeszów, Poland tovisit WSK, "PLZ-Rzeszów" S.A, one of the leading players in theCentral Europe aerospace industry. They presented an overview of one of the most remarkable stories of enterprisetransformation and leadership – the evolution and restructuring of WSK,"PLZ-Rzeszów" S.A from the Solidarity movement of 1980, and thesubsequent break with Soviet Union through today.   They also discussed the development of the Aviation Valleyin Southeastern Poland. 

The last two days of the residence in Poland brought multiplevisiting speakers from Russia with an expertise on ‘How to do Business in Russia’from a supply chain perspective.  Theclass first met with Elena Panfilova, general director for the Center forAnti-Corruption Research and Initiative Transparency International in Moscow.Ms. Panfilova provided an in-depth overview of how corruption impacts business,and presented solutions on overcoming these challenges.  Following that presentation, the class met Dr.Nikolay Selishchev, senior specialist of the part development team at HyundaiMotor Manufacturing Russia.  Dr.Selishchev presented Hyundai’s sourcing and procurement strategy in Russia and the former Soviet Union.  Bernd Eikens, seniorvice president of UPM Kymemme and EMIL-SCS Class of 2011 alumnus, provided anoverview of the commodity sector in Russia. Additionally, two members of the class provided an overview of doingbusiness in Russia from their company’s perspective.  Class member Rebecca Lehlbach, senior managerof Americas Logistics for Dell, brought in a local expert, and class member JoeShearn, vice president of distribution for Tiffany’s & Co., provided anoverview of their company’s experiences in Russia. 

This trip proved to be an expansive lesson in history, andhow history has greatly impacted business today in Europe.The students left Europe having had a richexperience, both from a corporate and a cultural perspective.

For more on the EMIL-SCS Program, contact ErinHowlette at erin.howlette@isye.gatech.eduor visit http://www.emil.gatech.edu/.

Humanitarian logistics encompasses a broad range of activities related topreparing, responding, and recovering from natural and man-made disasters aswell as ongoing humanitarian crises due to war, famine, and infectiousdiseases. In humanitarian organizations, inefficiencies in preparation,response, or recovery can cause drastic results including the loss oflives.  Addressing the unique skills needed by professionals in thehumanitarian world, Humanitarian Logistics Professional Courses, include methodologiesfor assessment, mobilization of resources, procurement, transportation, anddistribution. 

The program is comprised of three courses:

• Pre-planningStrategy for Humanitarian Organizations
• SystemsOperations in Humanitarian Response
• TacticalDecision Making in Public Health and Humanitarian Response

Thecourses include many interactive components, such as case studies and games,which help professionals in the humanitarian world to link the challenges anddecision-making trade-offs they face in practice with the systematicapproaches, tools, and techniques presented.

Through extensive phone and online surveys among health and humanitarianlogistics professionals, research has found “there is clearly a gap in supplychain logistics as applied to complex humanitarian emergencies and learningopportunities to do better.  This kind of training could be very useful.”

The Center for Health & Humanitarian Logistics at Georgia Tech, a unit ofthe Supply Chain & Logistics Institute and a part of the School ofIndustrial and Systems Engineering, works to improve humanitarian logistics(including short or long term, man-made or natural disasters) and ultimatelythe human condition by system transformations through education, outreach,projects and research.

For more information about the certification program or its courses, pleasevisit http://www.pe.gatech.edu/subjects/humanitarian-logistics, or send anemail to humloged@isye.gatech.edu.

This report, co-produced with Georgia Tech's ExecutiveMasters in International Logistics & Supply Chain Strategy, provides a gauge on roles, responsibilities, compensation, andopportunities prevalent in the industry today.

More than 400 qualified respondents were surveyed in anattempt to create a higher level of visibility into the profession andhopefully a benchmark from which we can all improve as we move forward. Thisreport is made available for free courtesy of sponsors BravoSolution and CDCTradebeam.

Key themes include:

• Career Path & Compensation
• The Gender Gap
• Supply Chain Education
• The Supply Chain Department
• Job Roles & Responsibilities

Thestudents met for two-weeks of intensive classes (residences) every three to four months,and participated via distance learning alternatives between residences.  In total, there are five EMIL-SCS residences: two residences in North America, and one residence each in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Residences focus on the regionalinfluences shaping logistics as well as topics like reverse logistics, laborrelations, freight management, procurement, distribution, and warehousing.

Readmore about the EMIL-SCS Class of 2011’s five residences:

• ResidenceI:    Georgia Tech campus
• ResidenceII:   Europe
• ResidenceIII:  Latin America
• ResidenceIV: Asia
• ResidenceV:  North America

Inaddition to the residences, the EMIL-SCS class is required to complete an18-month, team-based Global Supply Chain Project.  Replacing the traditional thesis, eachproject is handpicked by a participant’s sponsor organization to address one ofits current, real-world supply chain challenges.  Most projects provide a minimum savings of$1,000,000 and are designed to provide significant value to the sponsoringorganizations.

The EMIL-SCSprogram, offered through Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial Engineering,prepares executives from the world's leading companies to face a multitude ofglobal logistics and supply chain issues by teaching them to design creativelogistics solutions while expanding their network of international government,industry, and academic contacts. 

Pleasevisit www.emil.gatech.edu formore information.

To celebrate the opening of theGeorgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s (SCL) Integrated FoodChain Center (IFC), FoodLogistics Magazine initiated a new column titled, Cool Insights.  The column, which began with the April / May 2010 issue, hasexclusively featured thoughts from the faculty, staff, and partners of the IFC onvarious aspects of food chain.

Clickhere to read more about the column and to find links to the sixinstallments from 2010.

Anderson was an honors graduate of Georgia Tech's H. MiltonStewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) in 1956. Andersonrecently received an honorary degree at Georgia Tech’s 240^thcommencement ceremony on August 5, 2011, for his work to secure a greener worldfor future generations through his championing of the business case forsustainability.

Anderson founded Interface, Inc. in 1973 to produce thefirst free-lay carpet tiles in America.  Interface is now the world’slargest producer of modular commercial floor coverings and interior finishes.He moved from day-to-day management of Interface Inc. in 2001 and spent thenext 10 years as non-executive chairman, focusing his time and energy on thebusiness case for sustainability, delivering more than 1,000 speeches andauthoring two books on the topic.  By serving as the driving force behindthe company’s efforts to completely eliminate any negative impact it has on theenvironment by 2020, Anderson earned the well-deserved global recognition asthe “greenest chief executive in America.”

"Ray is one of my few heroes.  He put the company he built and his personal fortuneon the line when he committed Interface, Inc. to sustainability.  Who else has done that?” said Craig Tovey, professorin ISyE and in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech.  “He eloquently communicated his profound understandingof how externalities and corporate governance fundamentally drive againstsustainability in the U.S.   We will misshim and his leadership."

A loyal and devoted supporter of his alma mater for morethan five decades, Anderson served as chair and vice chair of the Georgia TechAdvisory Board as well as serving on the ISyE Advisory Board.  He has alsoserved on the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees, the Capital CampaignExecutive Committee, and his 40th and 50th class reunion committees. Inpartnership with Interface, Anderson established the Anderson-Interface Chair inNatural Systems at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and SystemsEngineering at Georgia Tech.

“Ray was an inspiration to me and to many of us here atGeorgia Tech,” reflects Valerie Thomas, Anderson-Interface in Natural SystemsAssociate Chair.  “He shook things up; he made change that will continue.Ray challenged us to redesign the industrial system to eliminate waste of allkinds. We have a long way to go and we need to take giant steps. Ray took giantsteps himself, transforming the sleepy carpet industry into a model forsustainable manufacturing worldwide.”

Anderson is a College of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus,a recipient of the Dean Griffin Community Service Award, and a member of theCollege of Engineering Hall of Fame, and the ISyE Hall of Fame.

In 2007, Anderson received the Purpose Prize from CivicVentures, a think tank and incubator that generates ideas and invents programsto help society achieve the greatest return on experience. The same year, hereceived the International Quality of Life Award from Auburn University. In2001, he received the George and Cynthia Mitchell International Prize forSustainable Development. In 1996, Anderson received the inaugural MillenniumAward from Global Green and won recognition from Forbes magazine and Ernst& Young, which named him Entrepreneur of the Year. He also has been honoredby Southface Energy Institute, SAM-SPG (Switzerland), the U.S. Green BuildingCouncil, the National Wildlife Federation, the Design Futures Council, the Children’sHealth and Environmental Coalition, Harvard Business School Alumni (AtlantaChapter), the International Interior Design Association, the Southern Institutefor Business & Professional Ethics, the Possible Woman FoundationInternational, the World Business Academy, and the Council of ScientificSociety Presidents.

A former board chair for the Georgia Conservancy, Andersonserved on the boards of the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, Rocky MountainInstitute, the David Suzuki Foundation, LaGrange College, Emory UniversityBoard of Visitors, the ASID Foundation, Worldwatch Institute and Melaver Inc.He was also a member of the advisory boards of the Harvard Medical SchoolCenter for Health and the Global Environment and the Upper ChattahoocheeRiverkeeper. He holds eleven honorary doctorates.

"Not only did Interface and the world lose a great mantoday, but I lost a friend and mentor,” said Interface President and CEO DanHendrix. “Ray's iconic spirit and pioneering vision are not only his legacy,but our future. We will honor Ray by keeping his vision alive and the companyon course."

For those who would like to share thoughts aboutRay and his life, visit the blog "In Memoriam" at http://raycandersonblog.com/

This residence focused on manufacturing, logisticsinfrastructure in the Americas, and NAFTA-US-Mexico trade agreements.  The students began the first week in Louisville,KY with a two-day course taught by Dr. Mark Spearman, founder, president, andchief executive officer of Factory Physics, Inc.  The course covered Factory Physics, Inc.’s techniqueswithin the four walls of manufacturing with the objective of removingconstraints, improving throughput, and improving productivity. 

On day-two, the class visited UPS Worldport Hub for a discussionwith UPS-SCS.  The class took anoperations tour and reviewed a case study on end of runway fulfillment.  Additionally, UPS-SCS presented an overviewon their global service capabilities. Once that portion ended, the class began a tour of UPS WorldportHUB.  Worldport serves all major,domestic, and international hubs, and tours can only take place between 12:00 a.m.and 2:00 a.m. to view and understand the operational footprint of an integratedcarrier-forwarder involved in the domestic and international movement of smallpackage, parcel, hundred weight, palletized heavyweight and groundfreight.   

From Louisville, the class boarded a bus to Columbus, Ohio.  There they toured Limited Brands andparticipated in a site visit and supply chain discussion on DC operations (in,out, returns), labor and service management, benchmarking metrics, and anoverview on their DTC delivery network. 

EMIL-SCS alumna Maria Rey (MS IL 2002), executive director of the LatinAmerican Logistics Center, provided two half-days of instruction.  On her first day of instruction, Rey provideda close look into the Mexican consumer, current geopolitical issuesinfluencing and shaping logistics and supply chain management in Mexico, thecurrent economic climate in Mexico with special attention on near-shoring andthe migration of manufacturing back into Mexico, Mexico’s role in Central and SouthAmerica, and risks and promises of doing business in Mexico.  On day two, Rey discussed the scope,implemented areas, and pending issues of the NAFTA Agreement. She also reviewedthe benefits of Maquiladoras and the challenges within cross-border supplychains. 

Prior to leaving Columbus, the class toured LongabergerCraft Company, discussing their product portfolio, sourcing strategies for rawmaterials, manufacturing and production, distribution, direct to consumerchannel, and transportation and logistics strategies.  The class also visited with RickenbackerInland Port to view an Inland Intermodal Facility utilizing air, rail, and truckmodes of transportation combined with foreign trade zone, distribution, and warehousingoperations.

The class then returned to the Georgia Tech campus inAtlanta to present their global projects to the EMIL-SCS staff and advisoryboard, and complete the final course work of the program. In lieu of atraditional master's thesis, the student executives participate in a team basedglobal supply chain project. Participants are encouraged to tackle projects with a minimum impact of$1,000,000.  The projects give studentsan opportunity to gain knowledge through the EMIL-SCS academic curriculumgarnered over the 18 month program and apply those resources to a criticalsupply chain concern specific to their sponsoring companies.    

With coursework ongoing through their presentations, thestudents received instruction from Shijie Deng, associate professor in the H.Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), whoprovided the students with a general introduction into the concepts of riskmanagement in the financial and operational aspects of logistics and supplychain management.  Jim Kellso, supplychain strategist with Intel Corporation and former EMIL-SCS advisory boardchair, gave a presentation on supply chain innovation, optimization/customeralignment, and transformation. John Campi, managing partner with GenesisManagement Group LLC, presented global sourcing strategies to mitigate andreduce risk in the supply chain. Lee Marston, a research fellow, with theInformation Systems Research Centre at the Cranfield University School ofManagement, gave a review of supply chain technology, highlighting how to buildIT/SCM organizational capability, IT-enabled SCM innovation, and the future oflogistics and SCM technology.

The last two site visits for the class were to Ciba Visionand Norfolk Southern.  At Ciba Vision,they were given an overview and presentation of the pharmaceutical industry andmanufacturing optical lenses. Specifically, they discussed manufacturing and research, FDA complianceand regulations, and distribution and fulfillment.  The class also went on a manufacturingtour.  Lastly, at  Norfolk Southern Intermodal yard in Austell,Georgia, the class learned about intermodal trends in the U.S., Cofc versusTofc volume, interchange agreements with UPSP-BNSF, involvement withdevelopment of railroad in emerging markets, capacity and volume constraintissues, capital investment plans for relief efforts, security concerns, andgreen-sustainability initiatives that are currently underway.

Congratulations EMIL-SCS class of 2011.  The EMIL-SCS program and ISyE are extremelyproud of the newest group of alumni and excited about their future, as well asthe continued networking and partnership opportunities with both the alumni andtheir sponsoring companies. 

For more about the EMIL-SCS program, visit their website at http://www.emil.gatech.edu/.

Two publications have recently featured articleshighlighting the research being done at EVC:

Science Daily and Nature Immunology.

In 2010,during SALA's sixth annual conference, over 11,000 visitors attended thelogistics fair & trade show, 130 major national and international companiespresented their business, products & services.  More than 600 visitors attended theInternational Logistics Congress in partnership with Georgia Tech. Georgia Techand the EMIL-SCS program successfully highlighted the event as the marqueeacademic institute with four keynote speakers.

Thisyear, three Georgia Tech lecturers will present at the logistics conference.  Maria Rey, Senior Lecturer, Customized Programsin the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL), will speak on theimportance of "Driving Revenue Growth via Supply Chain Strategies", Bill Rouse,ISyE professor and Executive Director of the Tennenbaum Institute, will speak tothe topic of "Enterprise Transformation". EMIL-SCS instructor Lee Marston, Senior Partner Newton Vaureal, LLC willspeak on "Supply Chain Innovation with Emerging Technology".  In addition to these speaking engagements,Georgia Tech will also be represented on the trade show conference floorthrough the EMIL-SCS, ISyE, SCL exhibition booth.

Within theSALA international conference, participants will not only have the opportunityto experience renowned speakers that are international experts in theirrespective fields, they will also hear the latest trends and innovations withinthe logistics and supply chain industry.

The SALALogistics International Logistics Fair & Conference remains the only eventin the region that specializes in Supply Chain and Logistics.  Marking its seventh year, the show through isinnovative and academic agenda continues to grow and attract visitors andexhibitors from Columbia and its Latin American neighbors. 

To findmore information on the SALA International Logistics Fair, click here.

AboutEMIL-SCS:

TheEMIL-SCS Program is offered through the # 1 nationally ranked Industrial andSystems engineering school at Georgia Tech. The academic program is designed to cover the extended supply chain andregional differences across Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States.EMIL-SCS provides participants with the analytical skills and intellectualframework necessary to compete in today's global marketplace. Please visit ourwebsite at www.emil.gatech.edu for more detailed information.

Wureceive the award for his “fundamental contributions to the planning,analysis and interpretation of statistical studies that have had a profoundimpact on the practice of statistics, especially in engineering; this includessignificant results on resampling methods, theory of experimental design andpioneering work in industrial statistics that have changed the way statisticalstudies are used to optimize products and processes.”

Wu’sresearch contributions span the full range of statistics, from theory toapplication, and touch many applied domains, from sample surveys tonanotechnology. They are notable for their combination of novelty, technicalstrength, and far-reaching vision. He has made especially significantcontributions to experimental design. As one of his supporters wrote, “In viewof Professor Wu’s contribution to design of experiments, it is particularlyfitting for him to deliver a lecture that honors R. A. Fisher, commonlyregarded as father of the modern theory of experimental design.”

TheR.A. Fisher Lectureship was established in 1963 by COPSS to honor both thecontributions of Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher and the work of a present-daystatistician for their advancement of statistical theory and applications.  COPSS has required that the Lectureship beawarded each year and that when possible the lecture be presented each year atthe Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM), the largest gathering ofstatistician held in North America.

Wudelivered the Fisher Lecture, entitled Post-FisherianExperimentation: From Physical To Virtual, on August 3, 2011 at the JSM inMiami Beach, Florida with over 1000 attendees.  

COPSSsponsors two prestigious awards, the COPSS President’s Award and the COPSSFisher Lecture Award.  The former isgiven to the best statistician under the age of 40 and the latter is forlifetime achievements.  In 1987, Wureceived the COPSS President’s Award. Besides Wu, only three other individuals have received both of theseprestigious awards. 

Wu'sother honors include membership on the National Academy of Engineering, Memberof Academia Sinica, Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies PresidentsAward in 1987, honorary professor at Chinese Academy of Sciences, and anhonorary doctor of mathematics at University of Waterloo. He earned his BS inMathematics from National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in Statistics from theUniversity of California, Berkeley. Wu joined Georgia Tech in the summerof 2003.

The class then traveled to Shanghai to begin theirsubmergence into China Logistics.  Thefirst visit was to GM International Headquarters in Pudong.  The class was welcomed with a corporateoverview, and then transitioned into the 'China customer', specifically lookingat market nuances and how they differ. Discussions were held on the background on auto dealerships andaftermarket retail network in China,differences across provinces, and the evolution of imports versus domesticsupply. 

Following the presentation anddiscussion with GM, Professor Changkai, in the School of Labor and HumanResources at Renmin University of China, provided an overview of the laborclimate in China.  Professor Changkaidiscussed  social, political, andeconomical influences on the labor market; work rules, practices, andgovernment regulation in the work force; wage creep ending cheap labor inChina; labor migration away from the eastern cities; and the impact of ASEANlabor, especially the rise of Vietnam.  

The class traveled from Shanghai toChangshu to visit UPM Kymemme Paper Mill to explore the commodities sector inChina.  The UPM Paper Mill is the biggestproducer of uncoated fine papers in China.  Two thirds of the mill’s production is soldthrough UPM’s sales network to the Chinese market.  The class delved into the history of the mill in China, the drivers formanufacturing in China, customers and competitors, the uncertainties of thecommodities sector, sourcing raw materials into China, navigating China customsregulations, tax strategies, currency valuation, exports of finished goodsinternationally, and movement of finished goods to satisfy domesticdemand. 

On the last day in Shanghai,the class met with Home Depot Chinaand Schneider Trucking in China.  Ms. Hua Li, Managing Director-ASO from HomeDepot discussed sourcing strategies in Asia, and provided a comprehensive lookat retail in China.  Martin Winchell, Managing Director ofSchneider Global Logistics Tianjin, provided an overview on trucking inChina.  He also discussed the fundamentaldifferences between China and the United States, provincial and territorialconstraints, road infrastructure, and driver availability with professionaltraining certification.  After a half dayof lecture, the class boarded a flight to Hong Kong for their second week.

Week two began with an intensediscussion on strategic sourcing and procurement strategy with Francis Cherian(EMIL-SCS 2008), Supply Chain Strategy Consultant.  The lecture focused on how to develop astrategic sourcing methodology, supplier relationship management, supplierrationalization, and enablers, specifically, how to execute and create aframework for initiating strategic sourcing within your company.

The class also visited Hong Kong AirCargo Terminals Limited (HACTL), the world’s leading international air cargoterminal operator, located at Hong Kong International Airport. The classexplored issues around facility capacity, throughput of air cargo volume,automated terminal storage and retrieval systems, software informationmanagement system, major airlines partnering with HACTL, custom issues, andsecurity issues.  There was alsodiscussion around airports in southern China (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Yantian)competing for their volume.

The class visited Modern Terminals,an EMIL-SCS tradition, for a class discussion on berth capacity at the port,throughput, yard and terminal storage, yard management system, gate dwell time,peak volume, and the major steamships partners. The class also toured the port and control tower.

The next day, the class boarded atrain to Guangzhouto meet with Jabil Circuits and Guangzhou International Airport Administration.Jabil is an electronics solutions company providing comprehensive electronicsdesign, production and product management services to global electronics andtechnology companies.  The class wasgiven an overview of their global operations and China operations, reviewedmarket trends in contract manufacturing, and discussed sourcing, design, andlogistics.  Prior to their arrival, Jabilasked for the class to examine a specific problem they are having in two aircargo lanes.  The tour completed withclass presentations.

On the last day of class, after twopacked weeks, the class met with the Hong Kong Trade and DevelopmentCouncil.  While there, they also met withthe Hong Kong Logistics Association to discuss logistics infrastructure in HongKong, in the Pearl River Basin, and the role Hong Kong will play as Chinacontinues their huge development in South China.  That afternoon, the class visited Li &Fung Limited, which is the export trading arm of the Li & Fung Group,managing supply chains for major brands and retailers worldwide.  Following the overview and discussion, theclass toured the massive showroom that mimics their designs and productsextremely familiar to consumers all over the world.

For more on the EMIL-SCS Program, contact ErinHowlette at erin.howlette@isye.gatech.edu or visit http://www.emil.gatech.edu/.

A native of Cuba, Ortegaattended Acadamia Valmaña, a private elementary and secondary education schoolin Havana. At the age of 16, following his graduation, he and his mother agreedthe best course of action would be for him to attend college in the UnitedStates. His mother—who left Cuba shorty after the revolution that brought FidelCastro to power—found a placement service in Cuba to help determine collegesthat matched his aptitude, and Georgia Tech turned out to be just the right fit.

“Georgia Tech gave atremendous amount of assistance to Cuban émigré students in the 1960s,including me,” Ortega said. “I still remember a group of us sitting in theoffice of the late A. P. (Neil) de Rosa, director of placement, receiving hisreassurance that the loan program for Cuban students would be soon forthcoming.I have always been very grateful for that assistance and I wanted to find a wayto express my gratitude that would also help other students of Cuban descent.”

Because of the profoundsense of gratitude that both Ortega and Ayers feel toward their respective almamaters, they are endowing chairs at each institution: Ayers at Johns HopkinsUniversity and Ortega at Georgia Tech.

Ayers’ endowment funds achair in the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in gratitude for herbasic nursing education, which set her on a lifelong path in a career sheloves.

Ortega recently made aseven-figure bequest commitment, the bulk of which will fully endow theHumberto J. Ortega Chair in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial andSystems Engineering.  The chair holderwill be an eminent teacher-scholar in an area of study to be determined by theschool chair and the dean of the College of Engineering.

Ortega’s commitment alsoestablishes the Humberto J. Ortega Endowment Fund for the support ofReconstruyendo El Puente (Rebuilding the Bridge), a scholarship fund thatsupports
Georgia Tech students of Cuban descent. Ortega first heard of the program fromfellow alumni in Miami who started and are spearheading the effort to providesupport for this group of students, expected to swell in the future as theisland nation returns to normalcy after the Castro era. A 2007 PhilanthropyQuarterly story about a commitment to the program from Teresita and Juan A.Michelena, ME 1962, also strongly influenced
his decision.

Ortega retired as a seniorstaff engineer from ExxonMobil Research and Engineering in 2000 following a32-year career in Information Systems Technology. Ayers, a psychiatric nursepractitioner, holds a nursing diploma from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing aswell as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in advanced practice psychiatricnursing from New York University. She also holds a post-master’s certificate asa psychiatric nurse practitioner from Columbia University. Ayers previouslyserved as director of the Mental Health Department at Ryan Community HealthCenter in New York and as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Mount SinaiHospital in New York. After retiring from Mount Sinai in 2004, she taught atseveral local nursing schools before returning to direct patient care in herown private practice, Katey Ayers Health Consultants. She currently is on themedical staff of Christ Hospital in Jersey City and has a contract with ChristHospital to provide services as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, using herSpanish language skills to treat the large, diversified Hispanic population ofHudson County, New Jersey, where she and Ortega live.

(This article first appeared in the Winter 2011issue of Campaign Quarterly.)

Johnson will be among the many alumni, students, faculty,and staff who this fall will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of thematriculation of African American students at Georgia Tech. In the fall term of1961, Ford Greene, Ralph Long Jr., and Lawrence Williams became the firstAfrican American students to enroll at the Institute. This pivotal event cutagainst the grain of popular opinion in the South in the early 1960s, signalinga decades-long transformation that has resulted in Georgia Tech’s currentstatus as the nation’s No. 1 producer of African American engineering graduatesat the doctoral level and the No. 2 producer at the undergraduate level.

In appreciation for and recognition of this milestone event,Johnson has made two new philanthropic commitments to Tech. The firstestablishes the need-based Ronald L. Johnson Scholarships for undergraduatestudents, with first preference for academically qualified African Americanstudents in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.The second commitment establishes the Ronald L. Johnson Roll Call EndowmentFund, whose distributions may be expended at the direction of the Institutepresident.

The creation of the scholarship fund supports the ongoingefforts of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO) to establishendowed scholarship funds not only in honor of the early trailblazers and themore than 6,800 black men and women who have earned Georgia Tech degrees, butalso to make a financial difference for future generations.

“Over the past fifty years, Georgia Tech has built aninternational reputation for its fostering of diversity within the context of ahighly competitive academic environment,” said Johnson, who currently serves assenior vice president of referee operations with the National BasketballAssociation. “We know that the minority students who study at and graduate fromTech are among the nation’s brightest; they have to be in order to succeedhere.”

Johnson made an expendable gift to fund a one-timescholarship for an African American student during the 2009-10 academic year.“During the fall Homecoming, I had the privilege of meeting the recipient ofthe scholarship I funded,” said Johnson. “His achievements and his goals forthe future inspired me to endow the scholarship in perpetuity. I hope this newscholarship program will inspire its recipients to follow that example. Thoseof us who benefit from a Georgia Tech degree have an obligation to provideopportunity for the next generation of black students.”

“All of us in the GTBAO are tremendously grateful to GeneralJohnson for his generous support of scholarships for black students to obtain arespected and valuable Georgia Tech education,” said Sonya C. Rush, ChE 1981,chair of GTBAO’s fundraising initiative. “His support provides momentum for ourefforts to continue building a meaningful legacy at Georgia Tech. Through thecreation of endowed scholarships such as the Ronald L. Johnson Scholarship, weseek to enhance Georgia Tech’s competitiveness in recruiting talented blackstudents and to facilitate the successful matriculation of black students whowill be innovative leaders in all sectors of society. Our fundraising goal,symbolic of the fiftieth anniversary, is $2,011,000 by 2011. I encourage allalumni, faculty, staff, and friends to join us in this effort, which is vitalto ensuring Georgia Tech’s status as the defining technological researchuniversity of the 21st century.”

(Thisarticle first appeared in the 2011 winter issue of Campaign Quarterly.)

The results-based executive learning program began in February2010 to meet the needs of companies looking to extend lean from manufacturinginto logistics and the supply chain. Originating in Atlanta, the program expanded to Panama in October 2010and will begin in Mexico this summer.

Focusing on building the lean supply chain professional, theprogram transforms how supply chain professionals think, act, and lead by teachingthem to develop and implement strategic and tactical elements of lean principlesin the supply chain in an interactive setting. It is geared toward committed supply chain professionals who want toadvance their lean knowledge and drive lean in the supply chain.  Participants meet for three days per monthfor a three-month period while completing a job application project in betweencourses. 

“The continual increase we see in attendance for the LeanSupply Chain series is a testament to the quality of the program,” said CaroleBennett, Director of Program Development and Marketing at the SCL.  “This August we will kick off the firstcourse with our largest class yet.  Eventhough we receive consistent positive feedback, we are continually working to improvethe courses with each new offering. Attendees really enjoy leaving with tools they can use to solve the problemsthey encounter in their workplaces.”

The next series of courses includes:

• Building the Lean Supply Chain Problem Solver│August9-11, 2011│Atlanta, GA│2.1 CEUs
• Building the Lean Supply Chain Professional│September20-22, 2011│Atlanta, GA│2.1 CEUs
• Building the Lean Supply Chain Leader│October18-20, 2011│Atlanta, GA│2.1 CEUs

For more information on the courses or to register, callJoene Owen at 404-894-2362 or visit http://www.scl.gatech.edu/professional-education/LEAN/.

About the GeorgiaTech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute

The Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute(SCL) is the world’s largest supply chain and logistics research and educationenterprise, globally recognized for its breadth and depth in supply chain andlogistics expertise.  A unit of GeorgiaTech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, SCL hassixty years of active collaboration with industry.

About LeanCor SupplyChain Group

LeanCor Supply Chain Group is the only Third-Party Logistics(3PL) provider wholly dedicated to lean logistics.  Its purpose is to support its customers inpreparing their people, perfecting their processes, and successfullyimplementing and operating the lean supply chain.  LeanCor designs, implements, and manages theflow of materials, and information throughout the supply chain for companies ofvarious sizes and industries.  Servicesinclude lean third party logistics services, warehousing and facilitymanagement, training, and consulting.

"Pre-Positioning of Emergency Items for CAREInternational" is by Serhan Duran, currently at the Middle East TechnicalUniversity in Ankara Turkey, and by Marco A. Gutierrez and Pinar Keskinocak ofthe H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, GeorgiaInstitute of Technology. It appears in a special issue of the INFORMS journal Interfacesthat is dedicated to the new, growing field of humanitarian logistics, whichrelies on industrial concepts like supply chain management to benefit thepublic sector.

The special issue is edited by Ozlem Ergun, PinarKeskinocak, and Julie Swann, who are directors of the Georgia Tech Center forHealth and Humanitarian Logistics.

A podcast interview with Professors Keskinocak and Swann isat: http://www.scienceofbetter.org/podcast/swann.htmland at www.scienceofbetter.org/podcast.

"The team's work not only gave us excellentrecommendations regarding locations, inventory levels, and an expansion strategyfor the network, but is also serving as the basis for funding proposals for thenetwork," writes Rigoberto Giron, Associate Vice President, StrategicInitiatives and Supply Chain Management, CARE, in a post-script to the study."By pre-positioning we expect to reduce response time from weeks to 48-72hours, reduce procurement costs by buying in larger quantities, reduce freightcosts by using transportation resources more efficiently and improvecoordination with other responding organizations."

The models created by the team helped CARE Internationalreview 12 suggested international locations for opening new CARE warehouses andfinalize three, in Dubai, Panama, and Cambodia. They also helped CARE determinethat, although more is better, the benefits of multiple relief-supplywarehouses declines after the number reaches three to four, thus helping CAREmake maximum use of its limited resources.

In their research, the authors considered two kinds ofcapacity constraints: the number of warehouses to open and the inventoryamounts to keep throughout the pre-positioning network. They ran their modelfor the option of opening between one and nine warehouses and for three levelsof inventory – high, medium, and low.

With funding limited, they also helped make the criticaldecision which warehouse location would be most valuable to open first. Theyrecommended that CARE open its first depot in the Middle East, expand toCentral America, and then to Southeast Asia. Given a gradual roll-out plan,they were able to determine that once all three warehouses were operational,the supplies should be divided 35% in Dubai, 15% in Central America, and 50% inCambodia.

If CARE obtains the resources to open a fourth warehouse inAfrica and a fifth in Europe, the authors' sensitivity analysis shows that therelief organizational will be at its highest possible state of readiness torespond to unforeseen disasters anywhere in the world.

The authors were able to make recommendations by modelingthe frequency, location, and magnitude of future demand based on historicaldata about earlier CARE relief operations.

One of the first applications of the research took placeduring the 2010 Haitian earthquake. With a million water purification kits andother supplies at depots, CARE was able to rapidly deliver water purificationtablets to victims of the earthquake from its Panama warehouse.

The team's model is a mixed integer program that was run ona 4 x 900 MHz processor using ILOG OPL Studio with the CPLEX solver.

About INFORMS

The Institute for Operations Research and the ManagementSciences (INFORMS®) is an international scientific society with 10,000 members,including Nobel Prize laureates, dedicated to applying scientific methods tohelp improve decision-making, management, and operations. Members of INFORMSwork in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields asdiverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, financialengineering, and telecommunications. INFORMS serves the scientific andprofessional needs of operations research analysts, experts in analytics,consultants, scientists, students, educators, and managers, as well as theirinstitutions, by publishing a variety of journals that describe the latestresearch in operations research. INFORMS Online (IOL) is at www.informs.org. Further information aboutoperations research can be found at www.scienceofbetter.org.

Dr. Ayer received his PhD in Industrial and SystemsEngineering with a minor degree in Mathematics from the University ofWisconsin (UW)-Madison.  He was a guest lecturer ofhealth systems engineering and engineering economic analysis at the universityfrom 2006-2010. 

His research interests include stochastic optimization,completely and partially observable Markov decision processes, medical decisionmaking, healthcare operations management, artificial intelligence, decisionsupport systems, service operations, and public policy.

Dr. Ayer is the recipient of various awards including theINFORMS Seth Bonder Scholarship, Society of Medical Decision Making Lee LustedAward, finalist in INFORMS Doing Good with Good OR competition, RadiologySociety of North America Best Informatics Session Presentation Award, andINFORMS Best Interactive Session Award. His works have been published oraccepted for publication in OperationsResearch, Cancer, RadioGraphics, Imaging in Medicine, and Encyclopedia of Operations Research andManagement Science.

According toRatliff, any organization involved in the importation, manufacturing,production, storage, transportation and sale of food needs to understand theconsequences, requirements and cost of compliance associated with the FSMA.

Read entirefeature article>>

The column, which beganwith the April / May 2010 issue, has exclusively featured thoughts from thefaculty, staff, and partners of IFC on various aspects of food chain.

Previousinstallments of the Cool Insights column:

Food Logistics, April/May 2011: Dr. H. Donald Ratliff authored the thirdinstallment for the Cool Insights column, titled “How Can We Get ValueFrom Product Traceability?”.   

Food Logistics, March 2011:  Nick Pacitti, Sterling SolutionsLLC, Memphis and co-founding member, Integrated Food Chain Center, authored thesecond installment for the Cool Insights column, titled “Collaboration IsCritical For Cold Chain Improvement.”

Click hereto read more about the column and to find links to the six installments from2010.

ISyE associate professor Shabbir Ahmed works on improvingintensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment plans to minimize damage tocritical organs.  His work is featured onpages 19 and 20.

“Previous models would produce one treatment plan in anhour and then if it was not exactly what the clinician wanted, someone wouldhave to change the requirements and rerun the program to create a new treatmentplan,” explained Ahmed.  “Our programproduces several optimized solutions in a fraction of the time.”

Eva Lee, an ISyE associate professor, is contributing tothe area of cancer treatment by addressing motion issues for certain organswithin the body and incorporating biological information into treatmentplanning.  Her work is featured on page21.

“Accounting for motion in the image-guided treatmentplanning dramatically improves under-dosing the tumor tissue and even reducesthe dose to normal tissue and critical organs,” said Lee.

Ming Yuan, ISyE associate professor and Georgia CancerCoalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar, is using computational and mathematicalapproaches to analyze how gene expression evolves over time in individuals withbreast cancer.  His work is featured onpage 26. 

“We want to know which genes are abnormally expressedover time and behave differently than the majority of genes because that wouldmake them likely drug targets,” said Yuan.

Research Horizonsmagazine is published three times a year to communicate the results of researchconducted at Georgia Tech.  The magazineis published by the Research News & Publications Office, and supported bythe Executive Vice President for Research and the Georgia Tech ResearchInstitute.

Accordingto CAS, “Wu is one of the most-influential experts in statistic design ofexperiments, and high-tech and industry application areas.”

The awards ceremony was held at the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science(AMSS), a CAS national institute, in Beijing on April 27, 2011.  At theceremony, Wu delivered a lecture entitled, “Statistical Design and Modeling ofExperiments with High-Tech Applications”, drawing on his ongoing research atGeorgia Tech.

As part of the Professorship, he visited two branches of CAS in April and May,AMSS in Beijing, and the University of Science and Technology of China inHefei.  In Hefei, he gave a lecture entitled, “A Fresh Look at EffectAliasing and Interactions: Some New Wine in Old Bottles”.

Dr. Wu’s research achievements cover mathematical statistics and industrialstatistics theories, methods and applications.  Dr. Wu's honors includemembership on the National Academy of Engineering (2004), Member (Academician)of Academia Sinica (2000), Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies(COPSS) Presidents Award in 1987, honorary professor at Chinese Academy ofSciences, and an honorary doctor of mathematics at University of Waterloo. Heearned his BS in Mathematics from National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. inStatistics from the University of California, Berkeley.  Dr. Wu joinedGeorgia Tech in the summer of 2003.

The Einstein Professor Program aims to enhance the training of strategicscience and technology experts and talented senior scientific leaders, and tostrengthen Chinese scientists' contacts and exchanges with top scientiststhroughout the world.

CAS is a leading academic institution and comprehensive research anddevelopment center in natural science, technological science and high-techinnovation in China.  CAS strives to build itself into a scientificresearch base at an advanced international level, a base for fostering andbringing up advanced S&T talents, and a base for promoting the developmentof China's high and new technology industries.

Threeprofessors from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and SystemsEngineering, Associate Professor Ozlem Ergun, Joseph C. Mello Professor PinarKeskinocak, and Harold R. and Mary Anne Nash Associate Professor JulieSwann, edited the issue and also wrote the introduction on the importance ofusing operations research (OR) and management science (MS) in the decisionmaking process to analyze complex situations to have a wider, more systematicapproach to promoting human welfare. “These activities cover a wide range of issues from health care andeducation delivery to developing livable cities and ensuring homeland security,issues that impact the entire society.”

Thespecial issue also includes seven papers that address some of the key problemsfrom the humanitarian and public sectors and suggests potential solutionapproaches.  They are:

• Pre-Positioningof Emergency Items for CARE International (Serhan Duran, Marco A. Gutierrez, Pinar Keskinocak) Toimprove CARE’s disaster response, a research group from the Georgia Instituteof Technology collaborated withCARE to develop a model to evaluate theeffect that pre-positioning relief items would have on CARE’s averagerelief-aid emergency responsetime.

• OptimizingSchedules for Maritime Humanitarian Cooperative Engagements from a UnitedStates Navy Sea Base (JavierSalmerón, Jeffrey Kline, Greta Spitz Densham)  Global Fleet Station Mission Planner (GFSMP), an optimizationtool, aids in mission planning and scheduling humanitarian-assistance missionsfor the UnitedStates Navy.

• Helpinga Small Development Organization Manage Volunteers More Efficiently (MauroFalasca, Christopher Zobel, Cliff Ragsdale)  The authors develop a spreadsheet-based, multicriteria model forscheduling volunteers for a small development organization in a South Americancountry.

• QuantitativeMethods for a New Configuration of Territorial Units in a Chilean GovernmentAgency Tender Process  (GuillermoDurán, Rafael Epstein, Cristian Martinez, Gonzalo Andres Zamorano)  Operations research methodologies configure territorial units forproviding school meal services in Chile.

• AMathematical Programming Approach to Applicant Selection for a Degree ProgramBased on Affirmative Action (GuillermoDurán, Rodrigo Wolf-Yadlin) Mathematical programmingmodels are used in the applicant selection process for a master’s degreeprogram at the University of Chile.

• DoingGood with Good OR: Supporting Cost-Effective Hepatitis B Interventions (DavidW. Hutton, Margaret L. Brandeau, Samuel K. So) New combinations of decisionanalysis and Markov models analyze the cost-effectiveness of severalinterventions to combat Hepatitis B in the United States and China.

• A NonhomogeneousAgent-Based Simulation Approach to Modeling the Spread of Disease in a PandemicOutbreak (DionneM. Aleman, Theodorus G. Wibisono, Brian Schwartz) The Ontario Agency for HealthProtection and Promotion implements an agent-based simulation model forpandemic planning.

Interfaces, a bimonthlyjournal of INFORMS, is dedicated to improving the practical application ofOR/MS to decisions and policies in today's organizations and industries. Eacharticle provides details of the completed application, along with the results andimpact on the organization.

INFORMSis the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the fieldof OR, MS, and business analytics.  TheInstitute serves as a focal point for OR professionals, permitting them tocommunicate with each other and reach out to other professional societies, aswell as the varied clientele of the profession's research and practice. 

Click here to read the issue.

“The youngengineering innovators of today are solving the grand challenges that face usin the coming century,” said NAE President Charles M. Vest.  “We are proud that our Frontiers ofEngineering program brings this diverse group of people together and gives theman opportunity to share and showcase their work.”

The symposiumwill be held September 19-21 at Google headquarters in Mountain View,California, and will examine additive manufacturing, engineering sustainablebuildings, neuroprosthetics, and semantic processing.  Alfred Z. Spector, vice president of researchand special initiatives at Google, will be a featured speaker.

Dr. Serbanreceived her B.S. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Theoretical Statistics andStochastic Processes from the University of Bucharest.  She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Statisticsat Carnegie Mellon University.  Dr. Serban's most recent research focuses onmodel-based data mining for functional data and spatio-temporal data withapplications to industrial economics with a focus on service distribution.

“As children of Harold andMary Anne Nash it has been our pleasure to see all of the great work being doneat Georgia Tech in the field of humanitarian logistics,” said Ron Nash.  “This important area of study is poised tobring incredible benefits to those people displaced in disasters as we learnhow to become far more efficient in getting the right resources to those whoneed them the most.  Dr. Julie Swann has done pioneering work in this areaand shows the promise of far more valuable breakthroughs in the future. We are excited to be able to reward her achievement and to support her futureresearch and scholarship by having her named as the Harold R. and Mary AnneNash Professor at Georgia Tech.”

Julie Swann is an associate professor, and co-director and co-founder of theHealth and Humanitarian Logistic Center. Professor Swann, along with the other Center co-directors Özlem Ergunand Pinar Keskinocak, share the goal of positively impacting society throughadvances in science and technology.  Theyhave developed an astute awareness of the issues associated in areas such as healthsystems, humanitarian response, and education in these fields. 

“Iam truly honored to have been chosen for this professorship,” said Swann. “I am dedicated to having a societal impact through health and humanitarianresearch, and I'm delighted to partner with the Nash family in furthering thesecauses. Their support will help further the role that operations research andindustrial engineering can have in improving society.”

Swann originally planned to apply her interest in science toward a medicalcareer until she discovered OR/MS, where she could use her mathematical skillsto improve systems or processes.  She receivedher B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in1996 and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciencesfrom Northwestern in 1998 and 2001, respectively.

Dr. Swann focuses on developing models and analytical methods to solveproblems in logistics and supply chain management and inform decisions inhealth systems and policymaking.  Dr. Swann’s research areas intersect inher work in humanitarian supply chains. In this area, she is developingeducational and outreach programs to governmental and non-governmentalorganizations that are involved in planning for and responding to short- andlong-term humanitarian crises.  Recent collaborations have been to improveplanning and response to pandemic influenza and to design supply chains andprepositioning of inventory in global humanitarian supply chains.  She hasworked with numerous organizations including the American Red Cross, theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, the State of Georgia, The HomeDepot, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Waffle House, and theWorld Health Organization.  In 2004 she received an NSF CAREER award, andin 2009-2010 she was also on loan as a Senior Science Advisor to the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention with the Preparedness and Modeling Unit andworking on the H1N1 response.

The Nash family has a longstanding and deep connection to Georgia Tech,having had three generations educated here and launched into successfulcareers.  All three of the siblings, whofollowed in their father’s footsteps, have had children of their own graduatefrom Tech. Deborah’s son, Andrew Willingham, got a master’s in music technologyin 2010. Ron’s son, David Nash, received two degrees in 2003, in mechanicalengineering and international affairs. Mike is the father of two Tech alums,Jennifer Tench, Arch 02, and Michael Nash Jr., MS OR 05.

The fourth Nash sibling, Mary Alice, continued the family Tech tradition bymarrying Arthur Ivey, CE 81, and having a son, Benjamin Ivey, who is a currentTech student majoring in chemical engineering.

Inthe nomination letter, Dr. Shi was noted for exhibiting excellence in classroomteaching and mentoring, being astonishingly successful in advising graduatestudents, making important contributions to the broad research area ofengineering statistics and quality control, applying in-process qualityimprovement methodologies in various production systems with significanteconomic impact, extensively contributing to teaching both undergraduate andgraduate courses, demonstrating dedication to continuing education and in hisleadership roles, as well as his significant contributions in community service.

SusanAlbin, Professor at Rutgers, Fellow of IIE, Editor-in-Chief of IIE Transactions, and the currentPresident of INFORMS stated, “Professor Shi and his students are extremely creative,have deep and interdisciplinary knowledge, approach all activities withenthusiasm, work extremely hard, are generous with their time and effort, arewonderfully successful, and contribute so much, along so many dimensions, tothe Industrial Engineering community. Professor Shi deserves this award because he instills a set of values inhis students that yield this result. … He has trained twenty-threedoctorates.  This is a very large numberin a relatively short time and each and every student received superb training.The successes of the students are astounding. … As the Editor-in-Chief of IIE Transactions, I have worked withProf. Shi and his students who are active participants in editing the journal.… Prof. Shi is truly an outstanding educator. Each student has become a huge success. Prof. Shi, through his guidance,mentoring and teaching, has enabled all these individuals to become exemplarsin our field.”

Joiningthe Georgia Tech faculty in 2008, Shi acknowledges the support of his colleaguesin his research, teaching and service over the years. His other IIE awardsinclude three Excellence in Service Awards from IIE Transactions in2002, 2003 and 2004. He is also an INFORMS Fellow (2008), an ASME Fellow(2007), and an IIE Fellow (2007), and the recipient of a National ScienceFoundation CAREER Award (1996).

“I am honored to be named the Joseph C. Mello Professor,” said Professor Keskinocak.  “The opportunities to make a difference in world health and humanitarian response are vast.  Through this support, I, my colleagues, and our students, will be able to expand our reach and impact by pushing the boundaries of our research and education in this field.”

The Joseph C. Mello Professorship was created through an endowment established by Mello (B IE 1980) to support the work of an outstanding Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) faculty member whose work focuses on health care delivery operations.

 "Icouldn't be more pleased with the selection of Dr. Keskinocak as the MelloProfessor,” said Mello.  “Her work inhumanitarian logistics, applying industrial engineering know-how to globalhealth care concerns, integrates perfectly with those issues that my wife,Ginny, and I are so committed to."

Pinar Keskinocak, along with Health and Humanitarian Logistic Center co-directors Özlem Ergun and Julie Swann, have a passion for applying industrial engineering and operations research tools, techniques, and  expertise with the goal of having a positive global impact. They have developed an astute awareness of the issues associated in health systems, humanitarian response, and education in these fields.

ProfessorKeskinocak’s research focuses on supply chain management, with an emphasis onresource allocation, and she is actively engaged in research and applicationsin health care and humanitarian logistics. She received B.S. and M.S. degreesin industrial engineering from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, in 1991and 1992, and a Ph.D. in operations research from Carnegie Mellon University in1997. Before joining Georgia Tech, she was with IBM's T.J. Watson ResearchCenter in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Joseph Mello (B IE 1980), who recentlyretired from his position as chief operating officer for DaVita, the largestindependent provider of dialysis services in the United States, has been aleader in the health care industry throughout his career. While a student atGeorgia Tech, Mello worked as a paramedic at nearby Grady Hospital to helpcover the costs of his education. Since then, he has gone on to an illustriouscareer. In addition to DaVita, Mello has served in key management positionswith MedPartners Inc. and Vivra Asthma & Allergy Inc. Understanding theneed for increased research and intellectual scholarship concerning thesystems-based approach to health care delivery, the Mello’s have generouslysupported initiatives at Georgia Tech, including the establishment of the MelloProfessorship.

A member of the College of Engineering’s Academy of DistinguishedEngineering Alumni, Mello also provides volunteer leadership and service to theInstitute through his involvement with the ISyE advisory board.

Georgia Tech’s Hill Society, a prestigious association ofalumni, corporations, foundations, and friends who are principal benefactors ofGeorgia Tech, awarded Mello and his wife, Virginia C. Mello the Hill SocietyAward for their leadership in the health care industry.

Previous installments of the CoolInsights column:

Food Logistics, March 2011:  NickPacitti, Sterling Solutions LLC, Memphis and co-founding member, IntegratedFood Chain Center, authored the second installment for the CoolInsights column, titled “Collaboration is Critical For Cold ChainImprovement.”

Food Logistics,January/February 2011:  David Sterling,Sterling Solutions LLC, Memphis and co-founding member, Integrated Food ChainCenter, authored the first installment for 2011 titled "Cold Chain Innovation:Fundamentals First.”

Click here to read more aboutthe column and to find links to the six installments from 2010.

“Dr. Ammons brings with her a superb trackrecord as a researcher, advisor, and recognized leader in the field ofindustrial engineering. She brings with her a vision to lead the H. Milton StewartSchool of Industrial Engineering to higher levels of excellence within amulti-disciplinary and high-technology environment,” said Don P. Giddens, Deanof the College of Engineering. “Dr. Ammons is a well-rounded educator andadministrator, and we look forward to the development of new curriculum,service, and research endeavors.”

Dr. Ammons is the author or co-author of more than100 refereed and technical publications in the area of manufacturing systemsand supply chain engineering with a special interest in developing closed loop,environmentally sustainable systems. She has served in numerous School, Collegeand Institute capacities, including as the NSF ADVANCE Professor of Engineeringfrom 2002-2005. She has been principal or co-principal investigator on avariety of sponsored research programs, having enjoyed support from bothindustry and federal funding agencies.

In addition to her research and institutionalservice activities, Professor Ammons has been highly active in professionalservice external to Georgia Tech. Dr. Ammons is a Past-President of theInstitute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and has chaired the National ScienceFoundation Engineering Advisory Committee.  She is a member of the Technical Committee forthe Uganda: Millennium Science Initiative (MSI) Project co-financed by theWorld Bank and serves as a Program Evaluator for ABET, the engineeringeducation accreditation organization.

At Georgia Tech, Dr. Ammonshas been honored with eight teaching/faculty awards at the school anduniversity levels. In addition to her academic experience, Dr. Ammons hasworked as a plant engineer for an industrial manufacturer and is a registeredProfessional Engineer in the state of Georgia.

"Georgia Tech's ISyE has been such an important part of my academic life, and it is an honor to be named ISyE's new School Chair," said Ammons.  "I look forward to continuing my work, in this new capacity, with ISyE's renowned faculty, students, peers, and community as we continue to strengthen and influence what industrial engineers do today and will do in the future.  There are many global opportunities for industrial and systems engineers, and the grand challenges in the field are strategic imperatives for our efforts and impact."

The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial andSystems Engineering (ISyE) is the largest academic program of its kind in thenation with a strong foundation in optimization, stochastics, simulation, andstatistics.  Students and theinternationally renowned faculty understand, design, and optimize complexsystems in order to improve their performance in many operational settingsincluding supply chain logistics, transportation, finance, healthcare,telecommunications, manufacturing, humanitarian relief, security,sustainability, and others.  ISyE’sstrengths in education, emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, and strongdiscovery-to-application philosophy have enabled ISyE to achieve a premierposition in the field.  With the recentrelease of the 2012 U. S. News &World Report, ISyE again was ranked as the number one graduate program ofits kind, making this the 21^st consecutive number one ranking.  The School grants around 275 B.S. degrees,215 M.S. degrees, and 30 Ph.D. degrees a year.

The three finalist teams, listed in alphabetical orderby organization, include:

• Comcast
• Gwinnett County Public Schools
• United Parcel Service

The team whoworked on a project sponsored by Comcast garnered first place in thecompetition.  Guided by faculty advisor, Dr. Alexander Shaprio, seven students Ian Balmaseda, Thien Huynh, DanielKohlsdorf, Sagar Patel, Alejandro Santelises, Holly Thomasson, and MichelleWang made up the Comcast team. Theirproject,entitled Improving Comcast’s OutageDetection System, focused on reducing the number of unnecessary trucks andservice calls that Comcast incurs because of inaccurate outage detection.  A cost model was developed and consequentlyvarious algorithms were created aimed at increasing the probability ofdetecting a genuine outage, thus lowering the unnecessary costs associated witheach outage. Additionally, incoming call frequency was analyzed to detect unusualspikes in customer call patterns. A conservative estimated value added based onpart of the deliverables will save Comcast approximately $1.4 million annually.

The two other teams (Gwinnett County Public Schoolsand United Parcel Service) were honored as runners-up in the competition. 

Gwinnett County Public Schools is the second largesttransporter of students in the nation and is facing considerable budget cuts.  Working on a project titled, Gwinnett County Public Schools Bus Logistics,the team members included Morgan Doty,Bryce Dykes, Kathleen Hendrix, Ralph Long, Dana Lupuloff, Douglas Meagh,Jeffrey Phillips, Michael Vallecoccia, along with advisor Dr. Julie Swann. By developingassignment and scheduling heuristics implemented by a user friendly applicationand informed by a regression and forecast, the team was able to significantlyreduce the total number of buses needed for daily transportation. The overallreduction of over 100 buses resulted in an initial savings of $2.9 million andrecurring savings of $2.6 million each year. 

The teamwho worked with United Parcel Service (UPS) to Optimize the Smalls Cut-off included Stephen Cai, Allison Chan, Amy Chan, Se W. Chang, Christine Chuang,David Dongkuen Kim, and Derek von Zweck along with advisor Dr. Anton Kleywegt.  The objective of the project was to analyzethe effects of separating packages into small and large packages, and torecommend cut-off dimensions that minimize total cost.  A 3D bin packing algorithm was developed tosimulate the loading of packages into trailers. A mixed integer program wasused to calculate the optimum number of trailers needed on each route, on eachday.  By selecting the smalls cut-offthat optimizes the trade-off between handling costs andtransportation costs, UPS would realize cost savings of $17,000 daily at aterminal

“I am impressed by the amount of high-quality work ourstudents did to create real, significant value for such a wide range ofcompanies and organizations this semester," said Dr. Joel Sokol, SeniorDesign Coordinator. 

All senior students inISyE culminate their undergraduate educational experience with the SeniorDesign course in order to provide firsthand experience at solving real worldproblems in a team environment. Students typically work in teams of five toseven individuals with 15-25 Senior Design groups running each semester. Eachgroup is advised by an ISyE faculty member, and the faculty coordinator managesthe overall course. Companies interested in submitting a project for considerationcan either contact Dr. Sokol,at 404 894-6484 or can post a project through the ISyE webpage at http://www.isye.gatech.edu/seniordesign/.Senior design teams look for projects before the start of the fall and springsemesters.

AfterRogers’ opening remarks, Mike Thomas, interim School Chair, updated the Boardon ISyE School activities. With the March 2011 release of the 2012 Edition ofthe U. S. News & World Report’s BestGraduate Schools rankings, ISyE’s graduate program has now been ranked # 1in industrial & manufacturing engineering for 21 consecutive years. ISyE’sundergraduate program marked its sixteenth year as # 1 program of its kind inthe nation with the release of the 2011 edition of America’s Best Colleges by U.S.News & World Report.  The 2012rankings will be release in August 2011. The National Research Council rankedISyE’s faculty as # 1. This ranking is done once every ten years.

Asof fall 2010, ISyE had 1,183 undergraduates, 231 masters, and 171 doctoralstudents enrolled in its programs.  ISyEis the largest IE program in the country, and hasstrived to ensure continued and increased strength of the School’s foundationdisciplines (optimization, stochastics & simulation, and statistics) and tobroaden its impact beyond the academic community by addressing importantsocietal and economic challenges. 

Thomasalso introduced ISyE’s new one-year graduate program in supply chainengineering that will equip young professionals with problem-solving skillsnecessary to tackle the complexities of global supply chains.  The Board viewed a video, which highlightsNadia Viljoen, ISyE graduate student, discussing this new mastersprogram.  Check it out at:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUb4wDGg5Ck

Healso updated the Board on the new College of Engineering Dean search. Followinga national search, Gary S. May, alumnus, professor and current chair ofElectrical and Computer Engineering, has been appointed as the next dean ofGeorgia Tech’s College ofEngineering, effective July 1.  The ISyE school chair search is being chairedby Vigo Yang, AE school chair, with three candidates being considered asfinalists.

FollowingThomas’ School update, Rogers focused the Board’s attention on a workingdiscussion to review and offer enhancements to ISyE strategic plan (www.isye.gatech.edu/about/mission-statement) so that italigns with the Institute’s new plan and vision (www.gatech.edu/vision) and theCollege of Engineering’s vision and mission (www.coe.gatech/content/vision-mission).  Rogers compared and contrasted GTs newmission and plan with the College of Engineering and ISyE’s missions.  The Board then broke into six groups to workon one of the following areas  - thecurrent vision, mission, and key success indicators; academic and teaching;basic and applied research; leadership and reputation; global perspective andchallenges; and school effectiveness – looking for any glaring omissions andoffering suggestions.  Each sectionleader presented the results of the group’s conversation.  Rogers collected the information and will addto the framework to offer as suggestions to the School Chair.

JaymieForrest, managing director of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute(SCLI), presented an overview of the Center. SCLI has had 14 public executive education courses offered in Atlanta in2011 including two certificate programs: the Lean Supply Chain ProfessionalSeries and the Supply Chain Management Series. SCLI has developed two new certificate programs that will begin thisfall: a series in Health and Humanitarian Logistics and a series on Cold ChainManagement.  SCLI has also designed ninecompany-specific executive education programs including for companies in theUnited States, Mexico, Spain, China, El Salvador, and Panama.

SCLIhas launched the Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center as an international researchhub focused on designing, analyzing and improving the food chain for cold andperishable products. SCLI has also worked extensively on trade facilitation.  Because Latin American economies are growingand the U.S. trade is increasing at a faster rate with Latin America than withAsia, SCLI has focused on Latin America. SCLI has established the GT Trade,Innovation and Productivity Center in San Jose, Costa Rica (http://www.tip.gatech.edu/) and the PanamaLogistics Innovation & Research Center in Panama City, Panama (http://www.gatech.ac.pa/).  SCLI has future plans to open a center inMexico. The key components of these Logistics Innovation Centers are education,research, and competitiveness.

Thomas presented Rogers with a plaque expressingISyE’s appreciation for his service, visionary guidance and unwaveringleadership.  Rogersconcluded the meeting with advisory board business updates and wrap ups.  He then passed the gavel to Snowdon as shebegins her term as the new Advisory Board Chair. 

"Georgia Tech offers great opportunitiesfor students in the MS QCF program to collaborate with global financialservices firms," says Dr. Shijie Deng, Director of the QFC program."By forging close relationships with innovative companies in the Atlantaarea like Titan, QFC students will continue to have a significant advantage asthey enter the job market with unique and practical experience."

Titan’s core product (TickAnalyst) provides a tradable researchsolution combining multi-layered trading technology with proprietary automatedmodels and risk management tools for institutions. Its highly sophisticatedarchitecture is designed to perform thousands of decisions per second,isolating specific “rare market events” that result in a high probability ofprofitable success when the optimum conditions align.

 “Wehave accumulated a unique database of quantitative and qualitative data fromstructured and unstructured sources” stated John Coulter, President and CEO ofTitan. The number of social media sites and amount of stock related commentary availablein digital format is growing exponentially. We are pleased to share our tick data & behavioral trading signaldatabase with students of the QCF program and allow them to mine our database forall manner of quantitative modeling & research purposes.”

Titan’s data center is managed by Colocube viathe “Platform Equinix” private cloud in downtown Atlanta.  The power of the cloud enables Titan tomonitor real-time data and simultaneously sift though terabytes of historicaldata to generate behavioral trade recommendations.  Colocube employs best practices in securityand monitoring to ensure the highest level of protection for Titan and itscustomers.

AboutGeorgia Institute of Technology, Quantitative and Computational Finance Program

Themain objective of the Master of Science degree program in Quantitative andComputational Finance at Georgia Tech is to provide students with the practicalskills and theoretical understanding they need to be leaders in the formulation,implementation and evaluation of models used by the financial sector tostructure transactions, manage risk and construct investment strategies.  The MS QCF program is a full-timeAugust-through-December, 16-month program in Fall, Spring and Fall Semesterswith six core courses (18 credit hours) and six electives (18 credithours).  For more information pleasevisit www.qcf.gatech.edu.

About Titan Trading Analytics Inc.

TitanTrading Analytics Inc. is a premier provider of behavioral trading research.Trade signals are distributed via a powerful financial analysis and electronictrading software platform which captures and analyzes real-time market tick dataand identifies trade opportunities based on numerous historical patterns,identified by Titan’s Trade Recommendation Engine™ (TRE). Titan’s flagshipproduct, TickAnalyst™, delivers trading signals to proprietary trading firmsand hedge funds via a cutting edge browser-based interface.  Titan’s internally developed products andservices are at the forefront of the high growth global investment managementand automated trading industry. For more information visit www.titantrading.com.

Congratulationsto the following students:

The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial andSystems Engineering Leadership Award

Sanjana Rao and Aditya Singhal

TheLeadership Awards are given to the President of the Student Chapter of theInstitute of Industrial Engineers and to the President of Alpha Pi Mu, IE’shonor society.

The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial andSystems Engineering Senior Service Award

Yeun Jae Kim

This awardis given to a senior who has provided exceptional service to the H. MiltonStewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. 

Alpha Pi Mu Academic Excellence Award 

Stephen Cai

The AlphaPi Mu Honor Society presents $500 to a senior with the best academicachievement, including GPA, difficulty in the curriculum, research, and otherscholarly accomplishments.

Henry Ford II Best Junior Award

Nick Keith

Henry FordII Best Junior Award is administered in the College of Engineering and given tothe student at the end of the third year with the best academic performance inthe H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial Engineering.

ALCOA Scholarship

Erin Garcia

ALCOAScholarship of $2,500 is awarded to a senior with excellent academicperformance and service. 

Kurt Salmon Associates Scholarship in Industrialand Systems Engineering

Lane Bourgeois, Priya Boyington, Ansley Diebold,Sanjana Rao, Jennifer Sisson and TimothyTowns

The KurtSalmon Associates Scholarship of $1,000 is awarded to each selected senior inthe H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Thescholarship is based on academic merit and contribution in the school.

Jack C. Webb Scholarship

Nakul Chitalia, Jasmine Fu, Nicholas Hunt,Breona Jenkins, Andres Salazar, andSamuel Shew

The WebbScholarship is given to rising juniors and seniors in the H. Milton StewartSchool of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The cash award of $1000 each is based on extracurricular and communityactivities, scholarship, and leadership.

Silent Hoist/Crane Company Material HandlingScholarship

Colby Allen, Philip Pecher and Tim Wilson

The SilentHoist Scholarship is awarded to students in the H. Milton Stewart School ofIndustrial and Systems Engineering who have excelled in the area of materialshandling. The cash award of $2,000 will be shared by Colby, Philip, and Tim,who won second place at the CICMHE Design Competition 2010.

Council of Supply Chain Management ProfessionalsScholarship

Aditya Singhal and Allene Tang

The Councilof Supply Chain Management Professionals Scholarship of $1,250 is shared by theselected awardees who have a GPA of 3.0 or above and have contributed to thesupply chain engineering program at Georgia Tech.

The Frantz Family Young EntrepreneursScholarship

H. Kumar Thanguda

Thisscholarship, established in 2006, is presented to an industrial engineeringstudent who is interested in establishing a small business and gainingfinancial freedom. The student must have clear business objectives and goals,along with the demonstrated determination to pursue and reach those goals.

BP Georgia Tech Scholarship for ISyE Student

Kaydie Rudd

BPscholarship of $2,500 is awarded to an industrial engineering student who has aminimum GPA of 3.0, a strong interest in the energy industry, and hascontributed to the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and SystemsEngineering.

BP IIE Scholarship

Kyungha (Dianna) Lim

BPscholarship of $2,500 is awarded to an IIE officer who has a minimum GPA of3.0, has contributed to IIE GT chapter, and has strong interests in the energyindustry.

James G. Wohlford Co-op Scholarship 

Tyler Buffie

The JamesG. Wohlford Co-op Scholarship is awarded annually to a senior Co-op student whohas displayed outstanding integration of his or her work experience andclassroom education. Selection is based on interviews with the WohlfordScholarship Committee and a brief essay.

Work Abroad: Work Abroad Student of the Year

John Witmer

The WorkAbroad Student of the Year Award is based on a recommendation by the employer.The selection is made by considering all students who participated in the workabroad program.

“Back to Basics” was theoverall theme of the spring 2011 meeting held on April 19 – 20, 2011. The two-daybiannual Forum began with a joint meeting between the SCEF and the Council ofSupply Chain Management Professionals' (CSCMP) Atlanta Roundtable.   Jaymie Forrest, managing director of theGeorgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (GTSCL), joined Rob Doyle,president of the Atlanta CSCMP, in giving the Forum's opening remarks.  The remainder of the day was divided betweenpanel sessions and a keynote presentation. 

The two panel sessionsfocused on “Transportation Basics” and “Improving Warehouse ProductivityWithout Investment,” respectively.

Alan Erera, associateprofessor and co-director of the GTSCL Center for Global Transportation,moderated the first panel on getting back to basics in freight transportation.  Panel participants included:  Ed Medlock, SVP Distribution, Logistics andProgram Management, Quality Chain Co-op, Inc., Wendy’s; Brad Sawallich, generalmanager, National Account Center, CH Robinson, and Bryan Ward, director ofTransportation, The Home Depot.    Thepanel delved into the nature of increasing demands on transportation groups andthe actions that can be taken to address them. The list of basics for transportation has grown dramatically sincederegulation in 1977-81.  Technology toplan, manage, purchase and provide visibility for transportation went fromnonexistent to required.  Transportationgroups must now work with huge databases of different transportationrequirements, modes, costs, services and capabilities including transportationto and from multiple countries. Customers are requiring deliveries of smaller quantities with a widerange of service offerings and often on a tight time schedule. 

John Bartholdi, ManhattanAssociates Chair of Supply Chain Management and GTSCL director of research,moderated the second panel on improving warehouse productivity withoutinvestment.  Panel participantsincluded:  Doug Bands, industrialengineering project manager, Walgreens; Jim Bowes, CEO, Peach State IntegratedTechnologies; and Brad Grimsley, vice president, Mast Global Logistics, aDivision of Limited Brands.  Turmoil inthe financial world has made companies reluctant to invest. Yet customerdemands continue to escalate: for better service, smaller shipments, and morefrequent shipments.  The panel had alively discussion on the challenges of improving operations in this environment,whether through more careful investment or by avoiding investment. 

Steve Buffington, vicepresident of Supply Chain Development for The Coca-Cola Company, presented theForum’s first keynote address speaking on “Developing Supply Chain Talent.”  Sometimes resistance to change becomes abarrier to success.  Therefore, leadershipis both inspirational as well as operational. Since most people tend to want consistency,a good leader should be able to motivate employees to accept and buy into thechange that is needed.  Leaders need tobe “masters of change.”  Great leadersalso must be “and” instead of “or” oriented as in being able to control costAND have superior quality.   Success dependsas much on people as it does on brand distribution.

On the second day, the Forumbegan with a keynote presentation by Jose Hidalgo, LATAM head of procurement atNestle’s, speaking on “Principles of Supplier Management at Nestle.”  Hidalgo impressed upon the group theimportance of excelling in the basics and doing it well the first time.  He reiterated Buffinton’s call to become an“and” company allowing no room for the “or.”

The meeting proceeded with apanel session on “Inventory Basics.” Over the last 30 years there have been two “new” inventory basics:  (1) The globalization of supply has resultedin a requirement for much better management of inventory in transit andinventory to protect against variability in shipment times from suppliers. (2)The “leaning” of supply to retailers requires more frequent and predictabledeliveries, which in turn requires more management of the integration betweentransportation and inventory.  The panelcompared and contrasted the “old” basics – demanding forecasting, inventorypositioning, and replenishment – and the “new” basics.  Don Ratliff, UPS and Regent’s professor andGTSCL executive director, moderated the panel. Panel participants included: Wally Buran, former Global Supply Chain Practice lead, KPMG andEdenfield Executive in Residence; Jose Hidalgo; Robert Martichenko, CEO of LeanCor LLC; and Wooyong Shin, principal consultant of the SCM Consulting Gropy,Samsung SDS Co, Ltd.

Following the panel session,Robert Martichenko presented a session on “Lean Thinking and Inventory Basics”where he explored the fundamentals of inventory management and Leanthinking.  As the economy appears to berebounding back, many organizations are attempting to understand what they cando differently in order to be smarter and stronger in the future.  For many, the answer is to simply get back tobasics and focus on only those things that are critical to the customerexperience.  This is certainly truerelative to inventory management process, and this is where Lean thinking andgetting back to basics with inventory strategies have a close relationship.

Wooyong Shin then spoke on“Principles of Supply Chain Management at Samsung” where he discussed the SCMprinciples and strategies of Samsung focusing from demand back throughmanufacturing.

Rounding out the afternoon,Wally Buran presented the closing session on “Supply Chain Deployment.”  While most companies have developed supplychain strategies with varying degrees of effectiveness and success, manystruggle to deploy them effectively to drive measureable results and clearvalue.  Research shows there are severalcommon failure points that must be overcome, but equally important, four majorsuccess factors must also be leveraged: (1) Goals and visions must betranslated into targeted action plans. (2) Disparate actions and projects mustbe integrated across the supply chain into defined values streams. (3)Measurable “path to value” must be clearly defined and effectively shared. (4)Supply chain value streams must align and integrate with marketing and businessplans.  Buran’s presentation addressedthe major failure points, how to avoid them and what are the proven keys tosuccess of effectively deploy supply chain strategies.  Change is inevitable, growth is optional, hesaid.

The mission of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain Executive Forumis to provide resources and facilitation for its members and their companies asthey explore opportunities to enhance the success of their supply chains. Thisis accomplished through an interactive portfolio of resources that create valueand respond to the needs of individuals who have executive-level responsibilityfor supply chain activity.

For more information, visit:http://www.scl.gatech.edu/professional-education/scef/.

Administrative Service Award
Maria Hunter, Information Technology

Recognition of the Georgia Tech Chapter Sigma Xi Awards

Young Faculty Awards
Hyesoon Kim, Computer Science
Cheng-Yun Karen Liu, Interactive Computing

Faculty Best Paper Awards
Mark R. Prausnitz, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Cheng Zhu, Biomedical Engineering

Sustained Research Award
Dewey H. Hodges, Aerospace Engineering

Faculty Research Awards

Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor
Paul E. Hasler, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development
Mark R. Prausnitz, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Outstanding Faculty Research Author
Christopher W. Jones, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Outstanding Faculty Leadership for the Developmentof Graduate Research Assistants
Thomas Orlando, Chemistry andBiochemistry

Outstanding Achievement in Research Innovation
Henrik I. Christensen, InteractiveComputing

ANAK Award 
Doug Flamming, History, Technology and Society

Outstanding Staff Performance Awards
Andrea S. C. Be, Civiland Environmental Engineering                                                
Kathy B. Cheek, Interactive Computing
Nancy M. Gimbel, Undergraduate Programs Management                                        
Angela L. Hicks, Mechanical Engineering
Julia M. Sonnenberg-Klein, Georgia Tech-Savannah       

CETL Undergraduate Educator Awards
Klara J. Grodzinksy, Mathematics
Wayne E. Whiteman, Mechanical Engineering 

CETL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards

Michael A. Filler, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Eric M. Overby, Management

Academic Advisor Awards

Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advisor: PrimaryRole
Lindsay A. Green, Management

Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advisor: Faculty
Amy V. D’Unger, History, Technology and Society

Faculty Honors Committee Awards

Class of 1940 W. Roane Beard Outstanding Teacher
Carrie G. Shepler, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Class of 1940 W. Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher Award
Steven M. Potter, Biomedical Engineering

Outstanding Service Award
Barbara J. Ericson, Interactive Computing
Mark Guzdial, Interactive Computing

Outstanding Professional Education Award
David M. Collard, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor (Faculty)Award
Melissa L. Kemp (Junior), Biomedical Engineering
Ozlem Ergun (Senior), Industrial and Systems Engineering

Class of 1934 Outstanding Innovative Use of EducationTechnology Award
Ashwin Ram, Interactive Computing

Class of 1934 Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activity Award
Craig A. Tovey, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award
Mark Hay, Biology

Co-hosted by AFFI and GCCA, the Forum will be held June 5-7 at theWestin Westminster in Denver, Colorado.  The FoodLogistics Forum brings together a broad spectrum of industry leadersrepresenting frozen food production, foodservice, retail, and third-partylogistics (3PL) providers to explore the latest trends and information on thecritical issues impacting the cold chain industry.

The IFC Center is an industry/academic joint initiative dedicated to identifyingand resolving critical integration issues across the end-to-end foodchain.  The IFC Center focuses ondesigning, analyzing, and continuously improving cold chains for perishablefood products.

The IFC Center will play a significant role in bolstering the Forum’seducational offerings by providing an educational session and hosting a varietyof council meetings.  The Center willalso invite a broad group of food industry participants from within itsmembership, including representatives from some of the nation’s largest foodretailers, processors, transportation and logistics providers, to attend theForum, helping solidify its position as the premier food logisticsgathering. 

Online registration is now open for the Food Logistics Forum. For moreinformation, or to register, visit www.gcca.org/flfor www.affi.com/flf.

                                                          # # #

The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) is the national tradeassociation promoting and representing the interests of all segments of thefrozen food industry. AFFI works to foster industry development and growth, andadvocates before legislative and regulatory entities on the industry’s behalf.For more information, please visit www.affi.org.

The Integrated Food Chain (IFC)Center, a unit of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute,is a collaborative initiative that brings the food industry, academia andgovernment together to focus on integration issues for improving cold chainmanagement of perishable food products. The IFC center provides strategicleadership and direction for collaboration among all of the stakeholders in thefood chain to understand and prioritize problems; research and determine the methodologies,processes and technologies to overcome these problems; and leverage educationto provide the human capital necessary to plan and execute exceptional foodchains. For more information, please visit http://ifc.scl.gatech.edu/.

Comprisedof its Core Partners, including the International Association of RefrigeratedWarehouses, the World Food Logistics Organization, the InternationalRefrigerated Transportation Association, and the International Association forCold Storage Construction, the GlobalCold Chain Alliance (GCCA) represents all major industries engaged intemperature-controlled logistics. GCCA unites partners to facilitatecommunication, networking, and education for the perishable food industry. Formore information about GCCA, visit www.gcca.org.        

 Mihaela Serban, a sister ofDr. Nicoleta Serban of Georgia Tech, was diagnosed with leukemia in February2011. Without a bone marrow transplant, Mihaela’s rare disease has a prognosis of36 weeks.

 To join Logan’s family andfriends in memory of his 21^st birthday, and to help save the livesof Mihaela and other patients who need a donor, working with the NationalMarrow Donor Program (NMDP), Georgia Tech is organizing a bone marrow donordrive on campus. We rally you to register as a marrow donor and/or to donatefinancially to help register as many donors as possible.

Join the marrow registry

Date: April 27, 2011

Time: 11:00am – 3:00pm

Place: Georgia Tech StudentCenter Ballroom

The test only requires acotton swab brushed against the inside of your cheek.

 To join, you only need to be between 18 and 60, be willing to donate to any patient in need, and meet the health guidelines.

VIew a Youtube video on the "National Marrow Donor Program."

Thecost of adding a person to the marrow registry is $100.  However, Be The Match does not charge anyoneto join the registry.  Be The Matchrelies on voluntary contributions to help add more potential donors to theregistry.  Every $100 raised adds one newmember to the registry.  Please givewhatever you can afford at the marrow drive or go to Logan or Mihaela’sfundraising websites:

http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/goto/logan

http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/goto/teammihaela

Read what you must know before joining the registry.

Read the vital statistics about leukemiaand lymphoma and NMDP donor registry.

View "Be a Match."

This drive has been coordinated by Professor Eva Lee.

Two presenters,one from Georgia Tech and the other from US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)in Washington DC, joined the Wellington event by videoconference to discuss anew approach to tackling the global e-waste problem.

Dr Valerie Thomasis the Anderson Interface Associate Professor of Natural Systems in the StewartSchool of Industrial and Systems Engineering with a jointappointment in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech.  She has been researching the concept of SmartTrash for a number of years and believes that the time is right for electronicproducts to take ‘self responsibility’. “Product stewardship encourages suppliers to take responsibility fortheir own products at end of life, but I believe we can go even further and getthe products to take more responsibility for themselves,” she said.   “The secret is to attach the UniversalProduct Code (UPC) barcode or RFID (radio frequency identification) tag to the productitself, as opposed to the packaging which is typically discarded as soon as theproduct is installed.”  She cited asuccessful application with mobile phones in Europe where the data in thebarcode recorded full details of the materials used in manufacture, reducingcosts when the phones are sent for recycling.

Dr Thomas pointedout the costs of applying RFID tags at the point of manufacture have dropped toas low as US 5 cents, so there is no cost barrier to widespread implementation,even on low value items. “Once implemented, lots of new options becomeavailable for efficiently managing the re-use, refurbishment or recycling ofthe products,” she said. “But most importantly, it will make the disposal ofelectronic trash easy for the end consumer and even open up the possibility ofa cash return.  With cash incentives anduser-friendliness, consumers are much more likely to start disposing of theirelectronic waste in a responsible and environment-friendly manner.”

Angie Leith fromEPA provided the background to the development of RFID as a possible technologyfor tracking electronic products at end of life as well as for the distributionof new products to retailers.  “Westarted studying RFID technologies in 2002 to help us understand any possiblenegative effects on the environment, but now see them as a possible tool formanaging waste streams and increasing the levels of recycling.  In the USA in 2009, only 15% of theelectronic equipment entering the waste stream was recycled and our goal is to achieve recycling rates much closer tothe national average for other materials (33%), or even higher,” she said.

“Twenty-fivepercent of the states in America now have legislation covering e-waste, withmany banning electronic waste in landfills. We are relying on technology innovations such as RFID to help usimplement better e-waste solutions on a nationwide basis,” Ms Leith said.   But she did point out that this will rely oncomputer companies attaching RFID tags to their products at the point ofmanufacture. “While we will do everything we can to encourage this, we do notenvisage a legislative solution at this stage,” she concluded.

“Efficient andconvenient collection and disposal systems are critical for successful e-wasterecycling, but it is important that the mechanisms are also in place totransport the recovered materials into new manufacturing processes,” saidLaurence Zwimpfer, Chair of the eDay New Zealand Trust, and MC for the SmartTrash discussion. “This presents a special challenge for New Zealand, becauseof our geographic isolation from the main manufacturing nations in Asia andEurope.  We still have to pay to getextracted materials to these markets.  Wefind the Smart Trash approach very interesting and will certainly encouragemanufacturers to start tagging their products, but we believe there will stillbe a net cost to achieve sustainable e-waste recycling in New Zealand.  We will continue to press for productstewardship schemes to be put in place in New Zealand with supportinggovernment regulations to ensure all suppliers participate equitably incovering these costs,” he said.

The eDay NewZealand Trust was formed in 2010 to focus on the development of sustainablesolutions for the recycling of electronic waste in New Zealand and the Pacific.  It took over running the annual eDay, freee-waste recycling event in New Zealand, which in 2010 saw nearly 20,000 carsdropping off over 80,000 items of electronic waste, filling over 160 20’shipping containers. 

The Public AffairsSection of the Embassy of the United States of America arranges videoconferencepresentations from time to time on matters of public interest.

Click here toread the entire column.

The Cool Insights column, which Food Logistic’s magazinelaunched last spring to celebrate the opening of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain& Logistic Institute’s Integrated Food Chain Center (IFC), will continue for 2011 for a second year.

Clickhere to read the first installment for 2011 titled "Cold Chain Innovation: Fundamentals First," which appeared in Food Logistics’January / February 2011 issue.

Click here to read moreabout the column and to find links to the previous six installments from 2010.

GeorgiaTech's Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering is now offering aone-year graduate program in supply chain engineering that will lead to an MSin supply chain engineering.

The program will equip young professionals with problem-solving skillsnecessary to tackle the complexities of global supply chains.  Thecurriculum is built on a strong foundation in analytical methods which are thenrigorously applied in hands-on, learning by doing, supply chain courses.

This program was designed after listening to industry as well as students whatit is they expect from a high-caliber graduate program.  These insightshave led to an educational model significantly different from traditionalgraduate engineering education.  We offer smaller class sizes, intensiveindustry interactions, and team-based projects that will instill the knowledgeand experience required by a supply chain professional of the 21st century.

For more information visit the program's web site at www.sce.gatech.edu.

Bringing together participants from15 countries, the 2011Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference provided a forum for nongovernmentalorganizations (NGO), corporations, academia, and government to learn andcollaborate across their institutions, promote system-wide improvements in theirorganizations and the sector as a whole, identify important research issues tobe addressed, and establish priorities.

Occurring on March 3 and March 4, 2011, on the Georgia Techcampus in Atlanta, the conference met its objectives through panel discussions,focused workshops, lunchtime group discussions, and interactive poster sessionsall delivered by representatives from the humanitarian sector, government andmilitary, NGOs, foundations and private industry, and academia. Theinternational gathering drew participants from countries such as Canada,Colombia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, India, Kenya, the Netherlands,Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, the United States, and Zambia.

For those unable to attend this year’s conference, or whowould like to review panel discussions, videos are now available at theconference website.

Stephen Cross, Georgia Tech executive vice president forresearch, joined conference co-chairs Ozlem Ergun, Pinar Keskinocak, and JulieSwann in opening the conference. Panel discussions over the two-day periodincluded:

• Logistics of reducing impact of communicablediseases
• Delivering solutions for water and sanitation
• Technology to improve logistics decisions
• Preparedness to prevent, mitigate, or improvedisaster response and recovery I
• Preparedness to prevent, mitigate, or improvedisaster response and recovery II

The panels comprised representatives from Aidmatrix; AmericanRed Cross; Emory University; Georgia Institute of Technology; Girls in KindInternational; INSEAD; John Snow, Inc.; Kuehne+Nagel; Living WaterInternational; LLamasoft, Inc.; MIT Supply Chain Management Program; NationalPreparedness Directorate, FEMA/DHS; Oxfam America; Oxfam Great Britain; Partnersin Health; SIPRI Ethical Cargo; Task Force for Global Health – InternationalTrachoma Initiative; UNICEF Supply Division, Copenhagen; World Food Programme;and the World Health Organization.

The more than forty posters in the poster session addedbreadth to the topics covered. Click here to see a list of posters submitted and read the abstracts.

On the afternoon of the second day, at the conclusion of theconference, participants had the opportunity to attend three concurrentworkshops: Managing Performance in Humanitarian Logistics, USACE Simulation andModeling Program for Disaster Preparedness, and Technology at Work inHumanitarian Relief: Aidmatrix and UPSTrackpad Case Studies.

Georgia Tech and The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of UnitedParcel Service, were key sponsors of the 2011 conference, generously supportingthe conference at the Leadership level. Additional sponsors included FocusHumanitarian Assistance; Northrop Grumman; Science Applications InternationalCorporation (SAIC); and Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering, DistanceLearning and Professional Education, Health System Institute, H. MiltonStewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Institute for Leadershipand Entrepreneurship, and the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute.

The Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics,a unit of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute and part ofthe H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at GeorgiaTech, has as its vision to improve humanitarian logistics (including short- orlong-term, man-made or natural disasters) and ultimately the human condition bysystem transformations through education, outreach, projects and research.