Dear colleagues,

We are thrilled to share some incredible highlights from the past six months showcasing the achievements of our faculty, students, and alumni. These include prestigious NSF grants, impactful outreach initiatives, and remarkable student successes throughout their Ph.D. journey—many of whom earned recognition at INFORMS and HFES.

Our ISE alumni continue to be outstanding ambassadors for both our department and the discipline, earning honors for their significant contributions.

We are deeply grateful to the Rankin and Alexander families for their generous gifts. Their endowment will empower both undergraduate and graduate students to pursue their academic aspirations within our department.

I invite you to scroll down and explore a summary of these accomplishments.

Wishing you a strong finish to the semester and happy holidays in advance!

Pratik J. Parikh, Ph.D.

IISE Fellow

Department Chair and Duthie Endowed Professor

Go Cards!

The grant is titled, “Exploring an Integrated Cognitive-Emotional State Assessment System to Support Real-Time Automation Intervention Design for Advanced Driving Systems.” If successful, this research will generate fundamental insights on the dynamic interplay of cognitive and emotional states in safety-critical tasks, representing a paradigm shift in how human-centered automation systems can enhance operator safety and trust. Read more

This 3-year grant is titled, “IRES: Digital Twin Technologies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.” Through immersive research at one of Europe’s largest logistics hubs—the Port of Hamburg in Germany—students will apply digital twin technology to real-world challenges like optimizing urban deliveries, mitigating supply chain disruptions, and improving port operations. Dr. Faisal Aqlan and Dr. Lihui Bai serve as Co-PIs on this grant. Read more

This past summer, our department hosted three NSF-funded research programs led by Dr. Faisal Aqlan. These innovative programs engaged teachers, students, and community partners in cutting-edge research at the intersection of engineering, technology, and education.

• REU (total 16 students participated since 2024)
• CEEEM (total 55 students participated since 2022)
• RET (total 36 teachers participated since 2022)