In the nomination letter, Dr. Shi was noted for exhibiting excellence in classroom teaching and mentoring, being astonishingly successful in advising graduate students, making important contributions to the broad research area of engineering statistics and quality control, applying in-process quality improvement methodologies in various production systems with significant economic impact, extensively contributing to teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses, demonstrating dedication to continuing education and in his leadership roles, as well as his significant contributions in community service.

Susan Albin, Professor at Rutgers, Fellow of IIE, Editor-in-Chief of IIE Transactions, and the current President of INFORMS stated, “Professor Shi and his students are extremely creative, have deep and interdisciplinary knowledge, approach all activities with enthusiasm, work extremely hard, are generous with their time and effort, are wonderfully successful, and contribute so much, along so many dimensions, to the Industrial Engineering community.  Professor Shi deserves this award because he instills a set of values in his students that yield this result. … He has trained twenty-three doctorates.  This is a very large number in 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 with Prof. 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 exemplars in our field.”

Joining the Georgia Tech faculty in 2008, Shi acknowledges the support of his colleagues in his research, teaching and service over the years. His other IIE awards include three Excellence in Service Awards from IIE Transactions in 2002, 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 Science Foundation CAREER Award (1996).