Department of Industrial Engineering

FALL 2024

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Dear colleagues,

As I reflect on our department's achievements over the past 3 years, I realize our growth and preeminence within UofL and in our discipline. Let me share some key updates here, with details presented in the rest of the newsletter.

Five new faculty joined our department; two faculty in 2024
Our faculty research awards exceeded $4.5 million
IE faculty continue to lead 3 UofL research centers
Department enrollment increased by >30%
New students come from more than 12 countries
Students continue to win accolades at UofL and in their professional society
Eleven-member industry advisory board advise our department; members are from Technology (Meta, Amazon), Manufacturing (GE), Aerospace (Boeing), Healthcare (St. Elizabeth), Retail (Kroger), Insurance (Humana), and two entrepreneurs

We remain dedicated to shaping our students into exceptional engineers within our discipline, while driving innovation to address critical societal challenges.

From all our faculty, staff, and students, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season!

Pratik J. Parikh, Ph.D.

Department Chair

Go Cards!

BY THE NUMBERS

>30%

enrollment growth in

last 3 years

>12 countries

represented

by our students

>$4.5 million

extramural funding in

last 3 years

>2,500 sq. ft

in new research

and teaching space

3 UofL centers

led by our

IE faculty

11 Industry Board Members

Meta, Amazon, Boeing, GE, Humana, and more

FACULTY RECOGNITION

Students nominated 5 of our IE faculty as Student Champions

Dr. Monica Gentili, Dr. Erin Gerber, Dr. Lihui Bai, Dr. Pratik Parikh, and Dr. Elizabeth Gentry (adjunct)

Dr. Yunmei Liu appointed Associate Editor for

IEEE Transactions on Human Machine Systems

Dr. Jacob Read joins our department as an Assistant Professor (Term)

Dr. Read earned his Ph.D. from our department in Summer 2024, with a focus in HFE. He also received his M.Eng. and B.S. from our department in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Dr. Read has been recognized with several honors, including the Graduate Student Council Research Grant Award, Graduate Student Dean’s Reception Invitation, and J.B. Speed School Outstanding Service Award. Additionally, he served as a subject matter expert on a committee focused on simulation technology adoption for law enforcement training throughout the state of KY and contributed to a variety of research projects with the US Air Force Research Lab while employed with Applied Decision Science.

RESEARCH GRANTS IN 2024

Dr. Wang and Dr. Segura serve as Co-PIs on a 3-year, $600,000, NSF grant titled, "Combining Machine Learning Explanation Methods with Expectancy-Value Theory to Identify Individualized Targets for Intervention for Engineering Student Persistence." More

Dr. Saleem awarded a 2-year, ~$200k, NSF grant titled, "Research Initiation: Introducing a Mixed-Methods Approach to Engineering Students through Human-Centered Design." More

Dr. Luis Segura awarded a seed grant from NASA-KY on a project titled, “An Integrated Physics and Machine Learning Framework for Defect Forming Mechanism Understanding in Multi-Stage Manufacturing of Flexible Electronics.”

Dr. Li Yang is a Co-PI on a team that recently received $1 million award from National Science Foundation to

develop additive manufacturing ecosystem in the Ohio Valley are that includes Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. More

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS