The School of ISE provides our students with cutting-edge laboratories and other resources to lead them to successful professional careers.
The School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at OU was originally launched in 1965. The School has made significant achievements in each of research, education, and professional service during its growth, in the past 59 years of its existence. The past seven years have been especially tremendous for the School, with eleven (11) new faculty hires, establishment of a new Industrial and Systems Engineering MS online program, establishment of a new Engineering Analytics BS degree program (within ISE) and the revamping of the ISEPhD program.
We enter AY 2024-25 with 13.5 Tenure Track faculty members, 3 Research Assistant Professors, 1 Teaching Associate Professor, 40 PhD students, and 80 MS students, 165 undergraduates, and 2.5 staff members. Our graduates continue to deliver a pipeline of talent to a highly diverse set of academic universities and industry that includes Aerospace and Defense, Oil and Gas, Manufacturing, Amusement and Entertainment, Distribution Warehouses, and Health Care. Our students at all levels continue to win several national honors for both individual and team success.
ISE has moved up into the top 50 ranked Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems Engineering graduate programs per US News and World Report. ISE faculty family has been ramping up on research grants, publications, and other honors. We have grown from 6 faculty in 2017 to 17.5 currently. Two more endowed positions (Charles Jones Chair for Data Science and Analytics and Madeline Pfau Chair for Systems Engineering Leadership) are open for hire, and one more faculty line is forthcoming.
The School currently boasts 7 active NSF grants including 2 NSF CAREER awards, and 11 more Federal grants (from DoD, USAF, USDA, NIST, and NIH). Our faculty are participating in grants in collaboration with university-wide centers, Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute (OADII) and Data Institute for Societal Challenges (DISC). Our faculty are investigators in funding that exceeds $28 Million, with ISE share exceeding $8 million. Our faculty have published more than 100 archival journal articles in just the past three years in prestigious journals. Three members of our faculty team are elected Fellows of three different societies (IISE, ASME, and SME) and two others are senior members of two societies (INFORMS, IEEE).
In 2023-24, we have completed successful visits of both ABET and external Academic Program Review (APR). Our online MS program (that was launched in Fall 2021) now enrolls more than 60 students. We are launching a new program at the undergraduate level - BS in Engineering Analytics. We have implemented structure in the PhD program and modernized several programmatic measures, and have established standardized admissions and recruitment policies under the Graduate Liaison.
We have so far sent our faculty and undergraduates to do research abroad across three continents. Two of our faculty taught undergraduate courses abroad in Arezzo, Italy and Puebla, Mexico. One faculty member won a Fulbright Award and conducted research in Helsinki, Finland.
We have overseen renovations in Carson Engineering Center to house our laboratories and classrooms; we have taken an active role in the progression of newer manufacturing buildings being built for OU; and we are co-investigators for a 10,000 Sq. Ft. USAF supported research lab called Sooner Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory (SAML) shared with other Schools in the College. In outreach, we are establishing strong relationships with many Native American Nations. Our faculty and students attend IISE, INFORMS, SME, ASME, IEEE, ASQC, HFES and other meetings regularly.
We have achieved remarkable progress over the last 6 years at OU! Our faculty's dedication has been truly exceptional, laying the groundwork for exponential growth in research and transformative collaborations. Our industrial advisory board is an outstanding unit comprised of dedicated individuals who have helped us on creating strategic directions, and their tactical implementation. Exciting times lie ahead as we unveil a bold 5-year Strategic Plan, outlining key stanchions, tactics, and success metrics.
This plan defines our vision and sets the stage for defining the legacy of the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. As we look to the future, we are poised to make history and usher in a new era of success. Let's embrace this journey together!
Shivakumar Raman, Director
The University of Oklahoma
School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
