Graduate Students

Buket Cilali is currently a PhD student and a graduate assistant in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. She started her doctoral studies in 2019. She earned her B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering in 2016 from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. During her undergraduate education, she completed three internships at companies with international operations. For her senior project, she worked on attribute based demand forecasting for a retail company. After graduation, Buket started to work as a project manager in a private pension and insurance company. While she appreciated her industry experiences, she decided to go back to school to continue learning. In her free time, Buket likes to attend theater events and is especially fond of musicals. And she also likes to spend time painting and playing the cello.

Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Jeff Lineberry is a Doctoral Candidate in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He completed his M.S. degree in the Department of Operations Research at Naval Postgraduate School, where his thesis dealt with estimating production cost while linking combat systems and ship design, an Office of Naval Research investigation and Naval International Cooperative Opportunities in Science and Technology Program (NICOP) initiative.

Jeff is currently serving as a US Navy Lieutenant Commander instructing mathematics at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Jeff’s most recent experience includes his role as a Simulation Officer for US INDO-PACOM Detachment 701 and a temporary employment as the lead Operations Research System’s Analyst for an INDO-PACOM Joint Test and Evaluation Quick Reaction Turnaround investigation on the Joint Accuracy of Nationally Derived Information. Throughout his professional career, Jeff has performed individual and recurring assignments in support of critical projects utilizing a broad range of scientific methodologies necessary for the development of reports and models used to successfully review and evaluate a multitude of unique operational investigations.

For other professional information, please see Jeff’s LinkedIn.

Ghaneshvar R.C. is a Ph.D. student in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, having started in the Spring of 2020. He is originally from Bangalore, India, where he got his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from RV College of Engineering, and he recently earned an MS degree in Data Science and Analytics at OU where his thesis dealt with the application of machine learning techniques to model interdependent network restoration. His research interests lie mainly in optimization. In his free time, he likes to cook, take photographs, watch TV shows and cooking videos, play basketball, and occasionally travel.

Deniz Emre is a Ph.D. student in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. She started pursuing her Ph.D. degree in the Fall of 2020. Deniz received B.S and M.S degrees in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. She spent two semesters at Korea University’s Industrial Management Engineering Department in Seoul, South Korea as an undergraduate exchange student. Deniz’s graduate research at Bilkent University was focused on multiobjective optimization and her thesis work was presented at the 2019 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle. Deniz is from Ankara, Turkey and in her spare time she enjoys exploring healthy food recipes, dancing, and traveling. Deniz is excited to further advance her academic career at OU ISE with a mission to contribute to high-quality research focused on solving complex problems that matter.

Alice Nanyanzi is a Ph.D. student in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, a journey that commenced in the fall of 2023. Originally from Kampala, Uganda, she began her undergraduate studies with a focus on Computer Engineering, earning a B.S. degree from Busitema University. Building on this foundation, she attained a structured M.S. degree in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Cape Town, followed by a research-focused M.S. in Mathematics from both Stellenbosch University and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in South Africa.

Her academic trajectory took an enriching turn when she assumed the role of a teaching assistant at AIMS-South Africa. This experience not only provided a peek into an academic career but also allowed her to actively engage in the innovative teach-as-you-learn model. It was during this period that she faced a pivotal decision on whether to pursue advanced studies further, ultimately finding fulfillment in the multidisciplinary domain of ISE at OU. The confluence of computation and mathematics at the heart of ISE aligns closely with her academic interests.

Outside the realms of academia, Alice finds joy in the rhythmic expression of dance, playing volleyball, fashion and designing, engaging in creative DIY projects, and delighting in carefully observing the world around her. For more details on her professional journey, feel free to visit her LinkedIn profile.

Undergraduate Students

Former Students

Alireza Rangrazjeddi is a Ph.D. student in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at OU since Spring 2019. He received his B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering in 2005 from Azad University in Iran, and he subsequently spent five years in industry. In 2013, he completed his M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering at the University of Technology, Malaysia, where his thesis focused on developing a mathematical formulation to optimize the competitive strategy of enterprises. Alireza also had research experience in applying simulation, data analytics, and experimental design techniques in the service and transportation sectors, resulting in five papers and conference presentations. He has also worked in several national and international companies, where he was involved in large-scale construction projects as a member of the project management team.

Currently, he is a member of the Risk-Based System Analytics Laboratory at OU as a research assistant. Alireza’s current research interests are mainly dealing with mathematical optimization, game theory, and machine learning in an algorithmic environment, applied in risk and resilience analysis of interdependent infrastructure networks following a disruptive event. Alireza has a strong desire to have a positive impact on society, and he found ISE to be the right major to implement this desire.

He is a member of the OU student chapter of INFORMS and enjoys reading and watching science fiction movies, particularly anything related to aviation, space, and beyond.

Leili Soltanisehat is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, having started doctoral studies in Fall 2018. She received her B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering in 2010 from Bu-Ali Sina University in Iran, ranked as a top student and honored with the M.S. fellowship award. Leili completed her M.S. in Socio-Economic Systems Engineering at Bu-Ali Sina University in Iran in 2013, where her thesis was mainly focused on analyzing the productivity of industries in Iran, using an econometrics approach. She received her second M.S. in Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at Old Dominion University in the USA in 2018, where she worked on analyzing blockchain technology applications to cyber-physical system security. She received the GA-Rookie award for her academic accomplishment at Old Dominion University.

Leili had research experience in applying data analytics, agent-based modeling, decision making, and experimental design techniques (mainly for analyzing social systems, cyber-physical systems, and the energy sector). Her research has resulted in five journal papers and nine conference presentations. Leili’s research interests are mainly focused on modeling and simulation techniques, data analytics, and optimization, with applications in socio-economic systems. Leili won two scholarships from the MIT Sloan School to attend the Systems Dynamics summer school and Complex Systems winter school in May 2017 and Jan 2018, respectively.

Currently, Leili is a member of the INFORMS Subdivisions Council and the officer of the OU student chapter of INFORMS. Leili’s hobby includes playing santoor and piano, planting, cooking, reading novels, traveling, and camping with friends.

Nafiseh Ghorbani Renani is a Ph.D. student in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, beginning doctoral studies in the Spring of 2016. She received her B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering in 2008 from Yazd University in Iran, ranking as the top student among her IE graduating class. Nafiseh completed an M.S. in Industrial Engineering at UTM University in Malaysia in 2013, where her theses work mainly focused on selecting a suitable distribution network design for consumer products. She also had research experience in applying simulation and experimental design techniques in service and transportation sectors, resulting in two journal papers and conference presentations. She has also worked in the production control and planning department of a carpet company in Iran, where she implemented and computerized a production planning system. Nafiseh’s research interests focus mainly on optimization and mathematical programming. She is now working on the area of network interdiction problems and associated solution algorithms to cope with the interdependent infrastructure networks. Her recent papers in this area have appeared in Reliability Engineering and System Safety and Computers and Industrial Engineering, with several others under review. While at OU, Nafiseh was a member of the leadership team of the OU student chapter of INFORMS and represented the School of ISE in the Graduate Student Senate.

Yasser Almoghathawi earned his Ph.D. degree from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in Spring 2018, having both M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. A KFUPM faculty member while a doctoral student at OU, Yasser is now an Assistant Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Yasser's dissertation work dealt with the optimal restoration of interdependent infrastructure networks, along with several variations on this theme. From his dissertation work, he has one paper published in Reliability Engineering and System Safety, and several in various stages of review. Yasser was instrumental in mentoring M.S. students Elyssa Mooney, Hannah Lobban, and Deniz Berfin Karakoc. While at OU, Yasser was heavily involved in the OU student chapter of INFORMS, and he represented OU ISE and the lab at several INFORMS conferences.

Yasser's MS thesis dealt with the optimal location and configuration of base stations and frequency assignment for cellular mobile networks. Prior to OU, Yasser's work has appeared in Wireless Networks and in Advanced Materials Research, and he has presented research at the 2013 International IIE Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. His research interests broadly deal with applications of operations research, including optimization, mathematical modeling, sequencing and scheduling, stochastic processes, supply chain, and planning and control. He worked in industry for over five years, primarily as a project planning and control engineer in Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), a leading petrochemicals company. He's prepared to turn friends and colleagues in Saudi into Sooner fans.

Nazanin Morshedlou, Ph.D. defended her dissertation in Spring 2018. Her dissertation dealt with the development of a restoration work crew routing problem, integrating infrastructure network restoration with elements of a vehicle routing problem. While her dissertation contributions are still under review, other work at OU has appeared in Transportation Research Part B, the Journal of Infrastructure Systems, and the International Journal of Production Economics. Her work has also been presented at several conferences, including annual meetings of INFORMS and IISE. Outside of faculty at OU, she has collaborated with Giovanni Sansavini at ETH-Zurich. Nazanin was given the 2017 Pursuit of Excellence Award for graduate students by the Gallogly College of Engineering. She is currently assisting the collaborative research efforts of Drs. Barker, Gonzalez, and Mohebbi as a post-doctoral scholar.

She received her B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and her M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from University of Tehran, both in Iran. Previous research primarily dealt with transportation systems, including the application of queueing theory to traffic flows, stochastic vehicle routing problems, and disaster management. Her prior work has appeared in the Journal of Manufacturing Systems and in the International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing. Her work on vehicle routing was given the best paper award at the 9th International Industrial Engineering Conference held in Tehran in 2013. As a teaching assistant, she worked as an instructor in the manufacturing laboratory at Sharif University of Technology from 2009 to 2012, and she was also a teaching assistant in operations research and queuing theory at University of Tehran from 2011 to 2013. She interned with Siemens during the summers of 2015 and 2016.

Nazanin is a member of the OU student chapter of INFORMS, and apart from her academic life she plays the piano, paints, and is a big fan of performing arts (she has been instructor of classic dance and traditional Iranian dance).

Mohamad Darayi earned his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering in the summer of 2017, and he is currently an Assistant Professor in Systems Engineering at Penn State Great Valley. He received his M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), where he focused on supply chain coordination with contracts, and his B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from University of Tabriz, both in Iran. His principal research interests in (i) infrastructure network resilience, where is dissertation work focused on the economic resilience of transportation networks, and (ii) system simulation modeling and analysis applications in healthcare, manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics management. Research work during his Ph.D. studies has been published in Networks and Spatial Economics and Computers and Industrial Engineering, with other manuscripts still under review. He is happy to be the biggest Sooner fan in Malvern, PA!

Seyedmohsen Hosseini is an assistant professor within the Industrial Engineering Technology program of the School of Construction at the University of Southern Mississippi. He earned is Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering in the Summer of 2016. His research primarily explored the use of Bayesian networks to quantify resilience with applications in physical infrastructures and in supplier evaluation and selection.

Mohsen authored a review (the first, to the authors' knowledge) of engineering resilience measures for Reliability Engineering and System Safety. The use of Bayesian networks to quantify resilience appeared in Computers and Industrial Engineering and the International Journal of Production Economics, with more work in submission. Prior to OU, Mohsen's previous research focused on developing efficient meta-heuristic algorithms for solving large scale optimization problems, including dynamic facility layout and aircraft landing problems, with work appearing in Neural Computing and Applications and Journal of Air Transportation Management, among others.

Mohsen was born in Babolsar, in the Mazandaran province of Iran. He received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Mazandaran University of Science and Technology in Iran and his M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Mississippi State University. He speaks Persian, German, and English languages fluently, along with a conversational understanding of French.

Hiba Baroud is an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Vanderbilit University. An OU College of Engineering Hughes Centennial Fellow, she earned her Ph.D. from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2015. Her research work explored Bayesian methods to study the likelihood of disruptive events in infrastructure networks, as well as addresses the resilience to and interdependent impacts of disruptions to infrastructure networks.

Hiba was instrumental in the OU student chapter of INFORMS and presented her work at the INFORMS Annual Meeting on several occasions. As a student she also presented work at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference, the International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR) in New York City, NY in 2013, the Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium in Charlottesville, VA in 2014, and the International Conference on Vulnerability and Risk Analysis and Management and International Symposium on Uncertainty Modelling and Analysis (ICVRAM-ISUMA 2014) co-conference in Liverpool, UK in 2014. Her work has twice been awarded the Best Paper Award in the Homeland Security Track of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference (in 2012 with Cameron MacKenzie, Ph.D. and in 2013 with Raychal Lurvey and Cameron MacKenzie, Ph.D.). Her work with Dr. MacKenzie was also given the top poster award at OU's Graduate Student Research and Performance Day in 2012. In the summer of 2013, she had an internship with IBM at the Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, and she spent the summers of 2014 and 2015 at the Summer Doctoral Institute organized by the Center for International Business Education and Research at the George Washington University.

Hiba's work, as primary author or co-author, has appeared in Risk Analysis (second Risk Analysis paper), Transportation Research Part E, Annals of Operations Research, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, and the Journal of Infrastructure Systems. Hiba discussed one aspect of her research in this video, produced for the Student Merit Award of the Engineering and Infrastructure Specialty Group of the Society for Risk Analysis. Hiba earned her Master's of Mathematics in Actuarial Science from the University of Waterloo, Canada, where she focused in her research on the application of statistics, particularly time series models, to analyze financial data. Prior to that, she obtained her B.S. in Actuarial Science from Notre Dame University, Lebanon.

Cameron MacKenzie, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, within its Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering department. Cameron earned a Ph.D. from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in Spring 2012, exploring how industry preparedness decisions such as keeping inventory and using alternate transportation routes or multiple suppliers can be numerically evaluated using interdependency models. Results of this work have appeared in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans, Internatonal Journal of Production Economics, IIE Transactions, Annals of Operations Research, and the Journal of Infrastructure Systems, with more forthcoming. His work on measuring the worldwide impacts of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami was among the first appearing in scholarly journals. Other interests have focused on supply chain disruptions, measures taken to recover from them, and their broader multi-industry, multi-regional impacts. Some of Cam’s early work, which earned him a student merit award at the 2010 annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis, can be found in this video. Other accolades while at OU included top poster awards at OU's Graduate Student Research and Performance Day in 2011 (with Raghav Pant) and in 2012 (with Hiba Baroud), as well as the 2011 Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant by the OU Graduate Student Senate. Prior to joining OU, Cameron earned an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, where he specialized in decision and risk analysis.

Raghav Pant, Ph.D. is a post-doctoral Infrastructure Network Analyst with the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, having earned a Ph.D. from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in Spring 2012. His research, which was awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the OU School of ISE in 2012, developed measures and planning algorithms for resilience in interdependent infrastructure and industry sectors as well as pursued decision making under uncertainty in these interdependent sectors with the development of robust optimization formulations. He focused on applying his work to inland waterway ports, providing a niche in this little-explored infrastructure domain. Research results have appeared in Transportation Research, Part E, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Computers and Industrial Engineering (paper 1, paper 2), along with proceedings from the 2011 International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering in Zurich, Switzerland, the 2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference in Orlando, Florida, and the 2012 European Safety and Reliability Conference, Helsinki, Finland. Several other papers are in submission and in progress. Raghav's resarch poster with Cameron MacKenzie was given a top award at the 2011 OU Graduate Student Research and Performance Day poster session, and Raghav was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant by the OU Graduate Student Senate. His co-advisors were Dr. Kash Barker and Dr. Tom Landers, Dean of the OU College of Engineering. Before coming to OU, Raghav earned an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University and a Bachelors in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

Emma Kuttler

Emma Kuttler is an M.S. student in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. Her thesis develops a protection-interdiction-restoration model for multi-commodity networks. She previously earned her B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from OU in 2021 and was named Outstanding Senior in both ISE and the Honors College. As an undergraduate, Emma published research in multi-criteria decision-making. She has interned for MITRE, Textron Aviation, and Michelin. In her free time, Emma enjoys cooking, embroidery, reading, and hiking. She has also auditioned for multiple game shows and will someday appear on TV.

Originally from Prairieville, LA, Chris Bourgeois earned an MS in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, where he was co-awarded the Best MS Thesis award in 2021. He previously earned his BS in ISE with minors in Computer Science and Music from OU in May 2020. As an undergraduate, Chris served as Vice Chair of Data Analysis for Dance Marathon and as an Honors College Ambassador for Admissions and Recruitment. He has worked as a Software Development Intern at Velocity Squared and as an Engineering Intern at Williams. In his free time, Chris is a proud theme park fanatic, musical junkie, and tap dancer. For more information, visit his profile on LinkedIn.

Saf'a Maraqa  earned an MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a certificate in Data Science and Analytics. She earned her B.Sc. degree in industrial engineering from Hashemite University in Jordan in 2010, where she was awarded as being in the group of top students in her class. After working in the industry for almost seven years in her home country, she made the decision to relocate with her family to the US. Her experience is in the field of strategic and project management, and she earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate in 2014 after being involved with multiple projects in the social security and institutional development fields. Beside her official job she was a volunteer in Jordanian Engineers Association in Industrial Engineers and Media committees. Building on her past experience, her thesis work deals with infrastructure system restoration from a project manager’s perspective.

She loves meeting new people, enjoys the diverse community at OU, and most of all she appreciates having family and friends in her life.

Deniz Berfin Karakoc is an M.S. student in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, beginning her studies in the Fall of 2017. Deniz received her B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. Through her undergraduate studies, she completed four industry internships in various companies, including McDonald’s Turkey, to enhance her practical knowledge. Also while an undergraduate, Deniz was assigned as the undergraduate teaching assistant in two IE courses, and she also undertook research projects focusing mainly on logistics and network optimization. Her senior group project dealing with the optimization of logistic systems and distribution networks at a national fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company earned the “Best Project Award” and the “Best Poster Award" at the 2016 Bilkent University Industrial Engineering Annual Project Fair among 27 other competitors. This project was also selected as a finalist for the 2016 INFORMS Operations Research Undergraduate Prize, and Deniz presented their research in at the 2016 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Her research currently focuses on interdependent infrastructure network optimization with the main emphasis on community-based resilience.

Apart from school, Deniz spends her time mostly on reading, performing arts, traveling and experiencing new cultures. So far, she has visited 12 countries in four continents and still counting!

Lauren Yeagle, Fall 2018

Lauren Yeagle completed her M.S. degree in Data Science and Analytics at the University of Oklahoma after she earned a B.S. at OU in Industrial and Systems Engineering. She has worked as a business analyst intern at Bell Flight in Fort Worth, TX, creating regression models and developing data integrity procedures. She also has worked as a research assistant with Dr. Ziho Kang, studying the effectiveness of the FAA’s training programs. Her research focuses on measuring and optimizing influence in resilient community networks.

Hannah Lobban is working on her M.S. degree in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. She previously earned her B.S. in ISE with a minor in Spanish Language from OU. As an undergraduate she served as Activities Chair for both the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers and Dean’s Leadership Council. She has worked as an engineering intern at MedEncentive in Oklahoma City and as a research assistant for Dr. Kim Wolfinbarger, director of OU’s Engineering Leadership Program. In 2016 Hannah was awarded the Gilbreth Memorial Fellowship from IISE. Her research focuses on optimizing the allocation of resources to reduce the vulnerability of interdependent networks, particularly emphasizing socially vulnerable populations.

Sreeram Ganesan Meena earned an M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at OU in Summer 2017. His thesis research dealt with resilient supplier selection. He graduated with a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering in May 2014 from University of Mumbai, India. As an undergraduate he founded a Formula SAE team in his college and led the Vehicle Dynamics Team at the Formula Student Germany 2014. His hobbies include playing guitar, as well as sports like badminton and soccer, and he looks forward to maintaing his role as #1 Sooner fan.

A native of Edmond, Oklahoma, Matt McCarter earned an M.S. in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in Spring 2017, having earned a B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering in December 2015 and a B.M.A. in Voice in 2011. His thesis research developed a robust network vulnerability reduction formulation for multi-commodity networks and collaborated with Prof. Jonas Johansson at Lund University to apply his work to a Swedish railway system, resulting in a publication in Reliability Engineering and System Safety. As an undergraduate, he received awards for both OU ISE Outstanding Junior and Outstanding Senior. He was named to both the President’s and the Engineering Dean’s Honor Rolls for his entire engineering undergraduate tenure, and is a recipient of the George T. Gibson scholarship, the John T. Stupka scholarship, and the David F. Bradley scholarship. His senior design project involved process improvement and inventory optimization for FAA repair, maintenance, and overhaul operations at the Oklahoma City warehouse. His research interests include heuristic optimization, network analytics, fractal theory, and engineering pedagogy. As a professional musician, Matt volunteers for local fine arts organizations and performs often as a soloist of Classical and Renaissance repertory. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, camping, epistemology, and Oxford commas. Despite his graduation, Kash is continuing to mentor Matt in his quest to better appreciate American composers.

Elyssa Mooney earned an M.S. in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in Spring 2017 as part of the accelerated M.S. degree program, having earned her B.S. in ISE from OU in May of 2016. She is now employed by Walmart. Her thesis research developed a facility location model to enable interdependent infrastructure network recovery. In her final year as an undergraduate student, Elyssa served as President of the Institute of Industrial Engineers as well as a Dean’s Leadership Council mentor. She was awarded the ISE Advisory Board Scholarship in both in 2015 and 2016. Elyssa has worked as an Engineering Intern at Johns Manville and as a Logistics Engineering Intern at Walmart. She routinely brags about her quirky resemblance to Jessica Day.

Andrew Stewart completed an M.S. in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the fall of 2016, having graduated with a B.S in ISE from OU in May of 2014. Andrew’s undergraduate research experience with Dr. Binil Starly, currently with North Carolina State University, dealt with statistical analysis of 3D printed cellular constructs with the overarching goal of creating more efficient tissue scaffold designs. His MS research dealt with multiobjective decision making with interval-valued objectives. He received the Ryan Burge ISE Scholarship, Phillips 66 Scholarship, and Jimmie L. Dean Foundation Scholarship as an undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma. Andrew was also a two time Agile Product Design Intern for the Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth (CCEW). As a result of his time at CCEW, Andrew is also the co-inventor of two provisional patents, an innovative lightweight wheelchair lift system and an in-vivo tool/method of cleaning electrocautery instruments used in robotic surgery. Andrew is currently an Electronics Engineer for Northrop Grumman and strongly believes that if coach would’ve put him in in the fourth quarter, he would’ve been a state champion. No doubt. No doubt in his mind.

Mackenzie Whitman graduated with an M.S. in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering as part of the accelerated M.S. degree program, having earned her B.S. in the fall of 2014. Her M.S. thesis developed component importance measures for multi-commodity networks, the application of which to the Swedish rail network (in collaboration with Prof. Jonas Johansson from Lund University) resulted in a publication in Computers and Industrial Engineering. Mackenzie also assisted with Molly Floyd's work in project risk published in Engineering Management Journal. Her undergraduate honors research dealt with analyzing interdependent impacts of dock-specific disruptions at inland waterway ports, which she presented at the IEEE Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium in 2015, an extension of which is currently under review in an academic journal. Mackenzie received the ISE Director's Undergraduate Academic Scholarship and was a Dean's Leadership Council mentor. In addition, Mackenzie has research experience with Dr. Tohren Kibbey, professor in the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, and interned as a financial analyst for ABF Freight Inc. She was also a co-op participant at Disney World in the spring of 2014 and the fall of 2015. Mackenzie was born in the small town of Harrah, Oklahoma (which has more stoplights than Pawhuska), and is passionate about the environment, sports, brownies, and sleep. She enjoys having a last name for a first name.

Hailing from Edmond, Oklahoma, Matthew Stewart has always had a passion for efficiency and systemic improvement. He attended the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, graduating in 2010, before transitioning to OU for his B.S. in Industrial Engineering, with which he graduated in May 2014. Matthew worked with General Electric (GE) on his senior design project. The ergonomically friendly prototype projected an annual savings of over $25,000 to the company. As a graduate student, Matthew's research interests combine multi-objective optimization, decision analysis tools, and a project management application. He currently works full-time at Northrop Grumman as an Electronics Engineer on the Systems Integration & Test team as a function team lead. He can be found, on any Saturday, cheering on Sooner football and commenting on how football season is the only season worth mentioning.

Molly Floyd earned her M.S. in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2015, having graduated with a B.S. in ISE from OU in May of 2014. Her thesis topic dealt multi-criteria decision making under uncertainty with application to project risk analysis, resulting in a publication in Engineering Management Journal. In the summer of 2013, Molly was funded by the Oklahoma's NSF EPSCoR program to conduct research with Dr. Barker and former Ph.D. student Hiba Baroud in the application of Hiba's Bayesian kernel model to existing data to study the likelihood of disruptive events in infrastructure networks. Results of her research were presented at the 2014 Systems and Information Design Symposium in Charlottesville, VA. She is currently an industrial engineer with the U.S. Postal Service. Molly is also proud to have stuck with The Office long after it was humorous, and she also cheats at Trivia Crack.

Robert Hague earned an M.S. degree from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2014. Since earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from OU in 1992, Robert has worked in various manufacturing industries as a design engineer and as a plant engineer. Robert is currently an Equipment Engineer at Tinker Air Force Base and is playing an integral part in helping Tinker's Maintenance Group migrate to a reliability and proactive based maintenance organization and is currently the team lead for the Predictive Maintenance Team (PdM). His thesis work, which was published in the International Journal of Production Research, addressed availability-based component importance measures. When not at work, Robert enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, and he also referees soccer games on weekends.

Robert Shaffer obtained a Master of Science degree in the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the spring of 2014, having earned a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering (computer option) from Oklahoma State University in 2001. Robert is an electronics engineer for Tinker's 76th MXSG, maintenance group, doing so for the past 11 years. He is currently a senior reliability engineer at OG&E. His thesis research dealt with stochastic importance measures for system availability. He spends the majority of his free time with his wonderful wife and family, doing his best to indoctrinate them in the philosophy of reliability. Other interests include market auction theory, market and volume profiling, psychology and performance, along with data gathering and analyses.

Chris Mance earned an M.S. in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. Chris earned his B.S. in Chemistry from OU in December 1991. He is currently a lead Logistics Management Specialist civilian for the Air Force Sustainment Center at Tinker Air Force Base. He manages the support and sustainment of 16 logistics and supply chain software systems. His research, published in Quality Engineering, explored the use of a two-sided power distribution to model the reliability of engineered systems. Other research interests of his include data science, process monitoring of complex systems, and system modeling and optimization. Chris enjoys cooking, painting, and making handmade glass marbles and other things he wants that no one sells. He spends his time with his wife and sons.

Tiara Chapel earned an M.S. degree infrom the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in May 2013 following a B.S. in IE from the University of San Diego in the May of 2011. Tiara's thesis work addressed the coordination of the supply chain for maintenance, reliability, and overhaul of multi-component systems. Tiara originally came to OU in the summer of 2009 to participate in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program funded by the National Science Foundation, going on to participate in another such program in the summer of 2010. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the National GEM Consortium, an organization that promotes graduate studies for underrepresented minority students. As part of her GEM Fellowship, Tiara had a 2012 summer internship with MITRE Corporation in McLean, VA, on a project to improve resource allocation within the US Army. She has continued her work with MITRE full time since completing her M.S. degree.

Sifat Kalam received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from University of Oklahoma in 2010 and completed her M.S. degree in May 2013. She is employed by Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) as a Supply Chain Specialist. Her thesis research, funded by the Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program, dealt with a heuristics and meta-heuristics based algorithm to model acquisition and preventive maintenance framework for multi-component systems. She is originally from Bangladesh and immigrated to U.S. during her undergraduate days and is now a U.S. citizen. She was heavily involved with the Student Association of Bangladesh at University of Oklahoma, leading the association in President and Vice-President roles. Sifat enjoys traveling and cooking, and her dream is to one day own a restaurant.

Jeremy Pfeifer came to the OU School of ISE in the fall of 2012. He earned an M.S. in Industrial Engineering at OU while working in parallel on a degree in Computer Science, Modeling, and Applications at ISIMA in Clermont-Ferrand, France. He earned his two-year university diploma in Technology from the Institute of Technology of Vichy in France. His research work focused on project management under uncertainty, developing a genetic algorithm to identify risks associated with complex project networks that was published in the International Journal of Production Economics. His other research interests include data mining, cloud computing, and big data. He is staying in Norman to work at financial risk and analytics firm MSCI. Though not easy to find in Oklahoma, Jeremy likes water sports and thrill attractions. He also discovered American football while at OU and is proud to now follow the Sooners.

Mary Gravette graduated in May 2013 with an M.S. degree from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Mary earned her B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Oklahoma State University in May 2003. She is currently an Aerospace Engineer civilian for the Department of Defense United States Air Force at Tinker Air Force Base. She facilitates Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and coordinates the Product Improvement Working Group (PIWG) for Aerospace Sustainment. Her thesis research work, which appeared in the Journal of Risk and Reliability, developed availability-based component importance measures to improve reliability-based sustainment decision making. Other research interests of hers include process improvement, data mining, preventative maintenance, and establishing predictability with reliability, availability and maintainability models. Mary enjoys discovering unique local restaurants, skiing down snow powdered mountains, and being waterside at tropical destinations. She spends her spare time with family and close friends.

Dustin Wagner earned an M.S. degree from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in December 2012 after having earned a B.S. in IE at OU in May 2010. A recipient of the 2011 Technical Women Organization's Scholarship, Dustin is currently employed with the Federal Aviation Administration. Dustin is interested in applying supervised and unsupervised learning methods for classification and regression analysis, and his thesis work applied these methods to the study runway excursion risk (appearing in the Journal of Risk Research).

Kaycee Wilson earned an M.S. in Spring 2012 from the OU School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, having earned a B.S. in IE at OU in the May of 2010. Originally from Midwest City, Oklahoma, Kaycee wasfunded through the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program. She was a research assistant working with co-advisors Dr. Kash Barker and Dr. Shivakumar Raman, developing a data-driven framework for making maintenance decisions for large-scale systems. Her work integrates optimization and reliability modeling to solve infrastructure sustainment problems. Her work earned her the Outstanding Masters Thesis Award in the OU School of ISE in 2012. Kaycee presented her work at the 2011 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, and at the 2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference with a paper in its proceedings. Several papers are forthcoming. Kaycee's undergraduate capstone work was awarded First Place in the IIE South Central Regional Technical Paper Competition as well as Third Place in IIE Global Technical Paper Competition.

Zach Walchuk completed his M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering in May 2011. Zach, a National Merit Scholar, earned his B.S. in IE at the University of Oklahoma in May 2009. His research work centers around the development of models describing the interdependent impacts of disruptive events interconnected industry and infrastructure sectors. Application areas include (i) the multi-regional impacts of disruptive events at commodity-specific docks in inland ports, and (ii) the widespread economic impacts of scarce resources. This second research stream resulted in a paper in Environment, Systems, and Decisions. The results of Zach's research can inform risk management strategies at inland ports in the former application, and measure the efficacy of sustainable alternatives to scarce resources in the latter. Zach is originally from Mankato, Minnesota, and works for Epic Systems in Madison, Wisconsin.

Raychal Lurvey, a National Merit Scholar and 4.0 GPA student, graduate Summa Cum Laude with B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering in May 2013. During her senior year, she participated in the Honors Research Assistant Program with Dr. Kash Barker in conjunction with the University of Oklahoma Honors College. Her honors project with Dr. Barker and Ph.D. student Hiba Baroud dealt with the development of a Bayesian kernel model to estimate the rate of occurrence of disruptive events along inland waterway networks, resulting in the Best Paper Award from the Homeland Security Track of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference in May 2013. In Spring 2013, she worked on a research paper involving a weighted extension of the Copeland Score to be used for stochastic ranking considering extreme events. Raychal is employed as a Software Quality Engineer at Northrop Grumman in Oklahoma City, OK.

Andrea Viacaba earned a B.S. degree in Production Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, in Fall 2009. For her senior year, she was selected to participate in a student exchange program at OU, where she worked with Dr. Kash Barker on a senior research project to enhance simulation-based decision making in extreme events with application to emergency room operations, published in Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory with Fatah Chetouane. Andrea subsequently earned an M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Houston in Fall 2011, where she was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant award given by the Cullen College of Engineering for a Spring 2011 engineering economy course. Her M.S. research work on selective support vector regression to natural gas price forecasting was presented at the 2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference. Andrea is currently employed as an Inventory Analyst with Daniel Measurement and Control, a unit division of Emerson Process Management in Houston, Texas. She holds a Six Sigma Green Belt certification.