IOE ANNUAL ALUMNI NEWSLETTERFALL 1986

A PORTRAIT OF THE IOE DEPARTMENT AT AGLANCE

As part of the departmental review processwhich occurs every five years, a reviewcommittee published a formal report datedApril 1986.The review committee included IOEfaculty members, faculty members from otherdepartments, and prominent individuals fromother universities and industry.

National Image: The lOE programs, bothUndergraduate and Graduate, continue toenjoy an excellent reputation overall.

Faculty: In Fall 1986 the Department has 20regular faculty evenly distributed among theranks of Assistant, Associate and Full Professor.This compares with 16 regular faculty in 1981,an increase of 25% in the last five years.

Sponsored Research Dollar Volume: Theaverage new sponsored research project dollarvolume for the whole Department is $1.8million annually.

Faculty Publications: There were 112refereed publications (research papers), 4books, 50 book chapters, and 155 technicalreports, etc. (several of these are currently in therefereeing process) written by ICE faculty in thelast five years.

Student Body Size: The ICE Undergraduateand Master’s student registrations haveremained stable, but the number of registeredPh.D. students has increased 51% in the last fiveyears. In Winter 1986 term, there were 345undergraduate students, 62 Masters and 64Ph.D. students registered in the Department. Ofthe 126 graduate students, 72 are domestic and54 are foreign.

Degrees Awarded: In the last five years, onan average, the Department has awarded 103B.S.E. degrees, 46 M.S. degrees and S Ph.D.degrees annually. About 10% of the Mastersgraduates get dual M.S. degrees combined witha second MS. degree from a variety of other Uof M programs.

Courses Offered: On an average, 92 coursesare offered in the Department annually. 15% ofthese courses are staffed by flexible staff andanother 17% of these courses are staffed byfaculty from another cross-I isted department.

Class Sizes/Enrollments: The average classsize in IOE courses was 68, 38, 25 and 8,respectively, for courses at the 300, 400, 500 and600 levels. The average total annual student-course enrollments were 2,745 in all ICE courses.

Common Departmental Scholarship Funds:Currently, the Department spendsapproximately $75,000 annually for graduate

student scholarshIps. In addition to these, theDepartment allocated $94,586 this year forTeaching Assistants, Instructional Aide andgrader appointments.

Chairman: One of the outcomes of thereview was the reappointment of ProfessorStephen Pollock as chairman of ICE for the nextfive years.

Further information and supportingdocuments, tables, etc. are presented in thereport published by the review committee.

FACULTY CHANGES

Yavuz A. Bozer joined the ICE faculty inJanuary of 1986. He received his Ph.D. degreefrom the Georgia Institute of Technology inAtlanta where he worked as a consultant andfull-time Research Engineer. His major areas ofinterest include material flow systems (inwarehousing and manufacturing) and facilitieslayout and design.

Jay Elkerton joined the ICE faculty inJanuary of 1986. He is a Ph.D. graduate ofVirginia Polytechnic Institute and StateUniversity. His major areas of interest includehuman-computer interface design, cognitivefactors of human-system interactions andadaptive software interfaces.

Romesh Saigal, a distinguished Professorpreviously at Northwestern University, joinedthe IOE faculty in the Fall of 1986. He receivedhis Ph.D. degree from the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley. His major areas of interestinclude mathematical programming, fixed pointcomputing and optimization.

Aharon Ben-Tal has been visiting thedepartment since the begining of the Fall term.He is an Associate Professor at the Technion,Haifa, Israel. His major areas of interest includeNonlinear Optimization, Convex Analysis andStochastic Programming.

W. David Kelton, who has been with us forthe past three years as Assistant Professor,recently joined the University of Minnesota. Wewish him good luck and success in his newposition. He will be missed as a good friend andcapable colleague.

Dev Kochhar, Associate Professor, who hasbeen with us for the past six years, will beleaving us at the end of the Fall 86 term. He hasaccepted a position as a member of thetechnical staff at AT&T Information Systems inMorristown, New Jersey. We wish him the verybest in his future endeavors.

John Moore has been visiting thedepartment since the begining of the Fall term.He is Associate Professor/Chairman ofManagement Sciences at the University ofWaterloo. His current teaching and researchinterests include developing mathematicalmodels for planning and scheduling

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manufacturing facilities and software, databaseand computer interface design.

FACULTY NEWS

James Bean (and graduate student ChuckNoon) were finalists in the Institute ofManagement Sciences Edelman Award for aproject at Homart Development Co. that savedthe company approximately $100 million. Hisresearch activities continue to be in infinitehorizon optimization and its applications -

primarily equipment replacement. ProfessorsBean, Lohmann and Smith have had supportfrom IBM, AT&T, GM, DOT and NSF on this work.

John Birge continued his work on stochasticoptimization models and methods forscheduling jobs on unreliable machines. Hefinished a 3-year project with GM concernedwith the design of a scheduling system for theirfactory-of-the-future. He also received theYoung Investigator Award from the Office ofNaval Research. This award is the only suchaward in Operations Research and one of 13total awards in science and engineeringthroughout the United States.

Don B. Chaffin was chosen to be President-elect at this year’s national meeting of theAmerican Society for Biomechanics. He hasbeen elected to Fellow status in both theErgonomics Society of Great Britain and theHuman Factors Society. Also, Dr. Donald Millar,Director of the National Institute forOccupational Safety and Health has nominatedDon Chaffin to become a member of NIOSH’sBoard of Scientific Advisors.

Gary D. Herrin initiated three new researchprojects (funding in excess of $750,000): 1. AnExamination of the Validity of AlternativeEmployee Selection Tests (for the Association ofAmerican Railroads), 2. Development of aMethodology for Evaluation of Manual MaterialHandling (for the U.S. Army) and 3. ErgonomicsTechnology Development Project (for theChrysler Corporation).

Jeffrey Liker is completing work onparticipative ergonomics programs in two Fordautomotive plants. This work is the basis fororganizing ergonomics efforts (to redesignworkstations) at other Ford locations. Chryslerhas approved a grant to continue research onimplementation of ergonomics.

Jack R. Lohmann, during the past year, wason sabbatical leave. He had an appointment asa Visiting Associate Professor in the Departmentof Industrial and Systems Engineering at theUniversity of Southern California and (in theWinter term) as a Professeur Associe in theDepartment de Sociales Economiques, Scienceset Humaines at Ecole Centrale des Arts etManufactures in Paris, France. In addition tocontinuing his work on Replacement EconomicDecision Making with Evolving Technology, hehad the opportunity to interact with colleagues

during research presentations in Austria,Hungary, Sweden, Denmark and theNetherlands. Currently, he is in the third year ofhis five year NSF Presidential Young InvestigatorAward.

Katta G. Murty and Stephen M. Pollockvisited the Indian Statistical Institute (lSl) inIndia during Summer 1986 on an NSF-sponsoredproject. They gave seminars at a SummerInstitute on “Stochastic Models in Reliability andOther Areas” organized at ISI, Delhi, for facultyfrom Statistics, Mathematics and IE departmentsfrom universities all over India. They alsopresented research seminars at other Institutesin India including the Systems Research Institute(Pune) and Defense Science Laboratory (Delhi),and consulted on operations researchapplications at four major industrial plants inIndia. While in Bombay, they spent some timewith Chakor Doshi (an IOE alumnus) who isManaging Director of WalchandnagarIndustries, Ltd

Katta G. Murty’s new textbook “LinearComplementarity, Linear and NonlinearProgramming” covering the areas of LinearComplementarity, Quadratic Programming,new approaches to Linear Programming(Karmarkar’s algorithm and other such methodsof feasible direction approaches to LP) andNonlinear Programming, is being published byHeldermann Verlag, West Berlin, before the endof 1986.

Stephen M. Pollock and Damodar Golhar(Ph.D. 1983) recently published a paper inMedical Decision Making showing how asequential analysis of blood sugar levels cansave almost 50% (compared to existingmethods) of blood samples needed fordiagnosing diabetes.

INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS

The local chapter of lIE continues its criticalrole in providing leadership and direction toindustrial engineering students at theUniversity. The results of the election heldrecently are just in:

Mary Beth Soloy PresidentMichael Grossman Executive Vice-PresidentRenee Mortier VPChapter DevelopmentJerry Rattenbury VP ProgramsSarah Donmeyer VP FundraisingChris Rennie VP FundraisingKim Clack MembershipBarb Ziots Treasurer (VP Finance)Marisa Bahn VP CommunicationsSuloBardha Luncheon CoordinatorLillian St. Angelo Luncheon CoordinatorPaula Cupples Luncheon CoordinatorMartha Hunt U of M Eng. Council Rep.The chapter sponsors luncheons and invites

numerous speakers from various industries -

alumni are encouraged to volunteer for thisrewarding activity. The chapter also organizes

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social gatherings and student projects as well asencouraging membership in lIE.

IOE ALUMNI ACADEMY UPDATE

The University of Michigan IOE AlumniAcademy was founded in the fall of 1985 by agroup of alumni who wished to use theirexperience after graduation for the purpose ofmaintaining and enhancing the lOE program.The mission of the Academy is to strengthencommunications between the Academy’smembers and all the alumni of the departmentthrough regular interaction with the students,faculty, and staff of the department.

At the first meeting, the Academy approvedBy-Laws for the organization and discussedactivities to be carried out by the Academy. As aresult of the discussion, the ICE Alumni surveywas developed and the results appear in thisNewsletter. The Academy is also reviewingpotential activities such as creating a resumeclearinghouse for department alumni, planningan alumni day, and assisting the department inseveral other functions.

For those interested in further informationon the Academy’s activities, or for those whowish to be considered for membership, pleasecontact:

The ICE Alumni AcademylOE BuildingThe University of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan 48109-2117

Please remember that our accomplishments andthe lOE department can be strenghtened withyour participation.

ALUMNI SUPPORT

Even if you normally just “glance at” ournewsletter, we certainly hope you will read thissection and consider the importance of privategifts and alumni support to our Department andthe University in general.

Although we have all known the Universityof Michigan as a public (state supported)institution, the manner in which our Universityis funded makes it look very much like a privateinstitution. In fact, annual gifts to the Collegeof Engineering have grown rapidly in the recentyears. However, in terms of alumni support, weare still considerably behind private institutionssuch as Yale, Harvard, or Stanford.

The general public as well as our alumni areunaware that Michigan is increasingly privatelyfunded. They are unaware of the importance ofprivate support in determining the strength ofthe University. Considering the hard-earnedsuccess that many of you achieve as Michigangraduates, we hope reading this section willremind you that financial support to deserving

students can go a long way in helping themthrough the program.

There are two levels of support. The firstlevel consists of alumni who make regularcontributions to the University. The secondlevel consists of one-time gifts. These gifts aregenerally large and can come from individualsor corporations. Alumni need to be aware ofthe importance of their regular contributions onthe first level and that they should use theirinfluence within their professional communityto support the University on the second level.

If you think that you might have an interestin supporting the University or our Departmentwe encourage and urge you to act now. For thisreason we have set up a number of points ofcontact within the College for further inquiryand coordination:

Brad Canale Director of Development(313) 763-2160

Donations can be designated for theUniversity as a whole, the College ofEngineering or the IOE department. You caneven specify exactly what the funds are to beused for. You may support the University withthe following gifts:

1. Presidential Fund2. The University Library3. Other (please specify)

For supporting the ICE department, you mayalso select from the following list:

1. Wyeth Allen Scholarship (for undergraduates)2. Arthur Andersen IOE Scholarship (for

outstanding senior)3. Clyde W. Johnson Memorial Scholarship (for

deserving graduate and undergraduatestudents)

4. Rita and Theodore Williams Scholarship (forjoint MBA/MSE degree)

5. IOE Discretionary Funds (for equipment,facilities, books, software, seminar series)

6. lIE Activities7. Other (please specify)

We sincerely hope to receive yourcontribution in response to our newsletter.Please make your check payable to theUniversity of Michigan. If you prefer tocontribute to any of the IOE scholarships and/orfunds listed above, please indicate so in a coverletter or the “for/memo” section of your check.Otherwise, your contribution will be used at thediscretion of the University.

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Dan Atkins(313) 763-2174

Associate Dean forResearch

Robert Schneider(313) 763-5630

Director of CorporateRelations

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If you have questions regarding any one ofthe above potential uses or you think you mightbe interested in setting up a scholarship/awardfund please call:

Steve Pollock Chairman, fOE(313) 764-9403

Note: If you received degrees from severalUniversity of Michigan programs, you mayreceive more than one annual fund solicitation.The University appreciates your support of anyor all of these programs. Your gifts are taxdeductable as allowed by law.

ALUMNI NEWS

AMY HANCOCK BOYD (lOE 86) completedher Ph.D. and accepted a faculty position atColby College in Maine.

JOEL. S. DEMSKI (lOE 62, MBA ‘63) is the firstperson to be named to the Joan E. HorngrenProfessorship in Accounting at StanfordUniversity’s Graduate School of Business.Demski, who currently is the Holden Professor atStanford, is nationally known for his research onthe economic analysis of accountinginformation systems.

MONICA FOX (lOE 83) is employed atKelsey-Hayes. She is responsible for plant-wideimplementation of a production planning andMRP II system.

RONALD P. HARANDA (IOE 62), Director ofStrategic Planning for the Queen’s HealthSystems, was advanced to Membership status inthe American College of Healthcare Executivesat its 52nd Convocation Ceremony. To qualifyfor membership, Haranda demonstrated hiscommitment to continuing education,progression in professional experience andparticipation in community affairs andvoluntary health care activities.

STEVEN MIESOWICZ (lOE ‘84) recently tooka job at Hydramatic Division of General Motorsin Product Assurance.

ALUMNI SURVEY RESULTS

Last spring over 450 IOE alumni (40% ofthose surveyed) responded to a survey on theIOE department. The survey was developed andsupported by the the IOE Alumni Academy andwas part of the alumni input for the 5-yearprogram review of the Department.

The typical respondent to the survey: lastattended the Department in 1969; has an IOEundergraduate degree (73.8%), has anadvanced degree (86.2%); earned all degressfrom U of M (52.1%); does not currentlypractice industrial engineering (76.9%); hasgross annual income in the range of $50,000-$60,000 with 17.6% making more than$100,000; and strongly believes current students

should have coursework in software design(79.6%).

Other highlights from the survey are: themajority now work in a management position;98% feel the quality of education they receivedfrom the IOE department was good, excellent orthe best; the balance of theory and applicationwithin the program was at the right balance orslightly too theoretical; the most useful courseswere in information systems, engineeringeconomy, and organization and management;if alumni could change the coursework offeredin any of the areas, 33.6% would have made thecourses more applied.

In thinking of future trends anddevelopments in their profession or industry,alumni indicated that the new subjects theDepartment should be developing are artificialintelligence/decision support systems (29%),areas in organization and management (22.4%)or other Information Systems areas (18.7%).

A number of respondents providedcomments that were helpful and revealing.Particularly noted by graduates from the 50’sand early 60’s was a bias iii the survey to currentdepartmental activities and program. This willbe corrected in future surveys, since input isneeded about the durability of an lOE degree.

Follow up will be made with those whoindicated on their response that they would bewilling to help the Department with summerjobs, research projects, guest speaking, andfund raising.

A summary of the responses (shown eitheras percenta9e breakdown or average response,whichever ts appropriate) is shown on thefollowing survey sheet.

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University of Michigan tOE Alumni Survey 1986: Summary of Results

1. In what area is your undergraduate degree? (Please check one that best applies)[73.81 l.O.E. [12.81 Other engineering [0.5] Public Health

4.11 Psychology ( 1.51 Mathematics [7.21 Other

2. What is your most advanced degree? (Please check one that best applies)[31.31 M.S. (IDE.) [31.81 M.B.A ( 4.61 Ph.D. (l.O.E.)

5.11 M.S. (engineering) [ 4.11 Other Masters 1 3.61 Ph.D. (other).51 M.P.H. ( 4.61 JO. (Law) (13.8) Bachelors (no response)

3. Which of the following describes where you earned your degrees? (check one)[20.11 Advanced degree at U.M., undergraduate elsewhere (52.1] All degrees from U.M.[23.71 undergraduate at U.M., most advanced degree elsewhere [ 4.11 Other

4. Which of the following best describes the place you work? (check one)(24.1) Heavy Manufacturing (e.g. auto, steel, aircraft, microchips)[15.4) Light Manufacturing (e.g. custom machining parts, light electronics. etc.)1 2.2] Small Business [4.1) Hospital (33.81 Other1 2.6] Hospital Consulting Firm (7.71 Management Consulting

1.0) Construction [4.1)U.S. Government

5. Which of the following best describes your current job? (check one)1 4.01 Industrial Engineer 1 1.71 Operations Researcher [15.6] Corporate Executive[1.21 Quality Assurance Engineer 1 1.21 I.E. Manager 1 5.21 University Faculty

4.6) Information Systems Engineer 110.41 Project Manager [24.9) Other2.3) Software Engineer [15.01 Other Type of Manager8.1) Management Engineer 1 5.8) Private Consultant

6. In what income range does your current gross income fall? (This optional question is for the benefit of students in IOE whowish to have some idea of what they might look forward to)

1 0.5) $10k-$20l( [18.2] $41 K.$50K (10.7) $611C-$70K ( 7.01 $81 K-$100K1 1.11 $21 K-$30K 1 25.11 $51 K.$60K 1 7.01 $71 K-$8OK [17.61 Greater than $100K(12.81 $31 K-$40l(

7. How many courses did you take in each of the major areas of l.O.E.?2.7) a. Operations Research [1.31 f. Work Measurement1.7] b. Ergonomics 11.31 g. Simulation

[1.41 c. Production & Inventory Control [1.5) h. Safety Engineering & Management2.1) d. Information Systems ‘ [1.5) i. Organizational Management

[1.3] e. Engineering Economy I 1.21j. Hospital Engineering& Capital Budgeting (1.11 k. Facility Layout

8. Rate the usefulness of knowledge acquired from coursework in each of the areas below. Please use the following scale foryour answers:1. Not at all 2. Valuable as general 3. Used on Several 4. Used Regularly

knowledge occassions2.5 a. Operations Research 2.4 f. Work Measurement j. Hospital Engineeringjb. Ergonomics jg. Simulation 2.6k. Facility LayoutU c. Production & Inventory Control jh. Safety Engineering & Management3.2d. Information Systems i. Organizational Management3.2e. Engineering Economy &Capital Budgeting

9. To what degree would more coursework in the area have benefitted your professional work? Please use the following scalefor your answer:

1. Not at all 2. Slightly 3. Considerably 4. A Great deal

1.9 a. Operations Research 1.7f. Work Measurement ij. Hospital Engineering1.7 b. Ergonomics 2.3g. Simulation Uk. Facility Layout23 c. Production & Inventory Control 1.7 h. Safety Engineering & Management2.8 d. Information Systems i. Organizational Management

e. Engineering Economy & Capital Budgeting

10. To what degree have you designed software as part of your professional work (considering your entire career)?

[26.21 1 Not at all [34.61 2. Slightly [20.91 3. Considerably 118.3) 4. A Great Deal

11. To what degree would you recommend current student in IOE have some coursework in software design?

(0.111. Not t all 119.41 2. Slightly [53.91 3. Considerably 125.714. A Great Deal

12. Overall, how would you rate the quality of education you received from the IOE program (compared to what you’ve heardabout other programs in the area from your colleagues, etc.)

[0.511. Poor [1.612. Okay (42.513. Good (42.514. Exceptional [13.015. The best

13. How would you rate the balance of theory and application in the l.O.E. program for you professionally?

(1.711. Much too (38.712. Too 158.613. Right [1.114. Too (0.01 5. Much TooTheoretical Theoretical Balance Applied Applied