Texas Tech University

IMSE

Chair's Message

October 2016:

Texas Tech University is now listed among the nation's top doctoral universities in the latest Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. It is part of 115 elite universities listed in the Highest Research Activity category and is one of 81 public institutions in the top tier. Texas Tech was one of only 15 universities to move into this category since the previous ranking in 2010.

Hong

I would like to take this opportunity to share some additional achievements of the department of industrial engineering at Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering (WCOE), Texas Tech University. Our department continues to increase momentum and achieve significant goals. After becoming the interim chair in 2013, our department set two goals, to increase student enrollment for graduate and undergraduate students by 10 percent and increase restricted research expenditure (RRE) by 10 percent. I can proudly acknowledge that we have met both these goals. In 2013-2014 total enrollment increased by 25 percent, graduate enrollment increased 45 percent and undergraduate enrollment increased 11 percent. In 2014-2015, total enrollment increased by 21 percent, including an increase of 29 percent of undergraduate students and 13 percent of graduate students. Our total student count has now reached an unprecedented 390. We are also proud to have the highest number of doctoral students across all the engineering departments in WCOE. On the RRE front, in 2013-2014 we reached 62.4 percent and in 2014-15 we reached 70.2 percent. The department significantly exceeded the two goals of 10 percent increase in the last two years.

Our faculty members continue to be very active in the areas of research projects and proposal submissions.

  • Dr. Weilong Cong, newly hired (2014), in the area of advanced manufacturing engineering, received his first NSF grant in 2015 with the research focused on "Fundamental Research on Hole Drilling and Surface Grinding of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Composites with Rotary Ultrasonic Machining."
  • Dr. Mario Beruvides continues his collaborative research project, "Organizational Health System Dynamics Model" with CNS. CNS has consecutively funded the project for three years.
  • Dr. Ismael D Farris continues work on his research with the Naval Office of Research (NOR) focused on "Non-convex Combination Nonlinear Optimization: New Methodologies and Critical."
  • Dr. Hong Chao Zhang received a distinct multidisciplinary research project in 2015 in the area of highway construction. Funded by the Texas Department of Transportation with $4.5 million, the project's focus is to assess the environmental sustainability of flexibility pavement systems.

Texas Tech University's distance education program is ranked 16 among all universities. The Industrial Engineering distance learning program, Engineering Systems Management is popular among masters and doctoral students.

Industrial, manufacturing and systems engineering would like to welcome Dr. Changzue Xu and Dr. Dongping Du. Currently, our efforts are also directed toward hiring two more faculty members. Another area of excitement is the new Industrial Engineering building, which will have new infrastructural amenities, labs and state of art facilities.

I would like to conclude by expressing a firm belief that our industrial engineering department will continue to excel in all aspects of engineering education. I could not be more proud of our department's accomplishments and would like to welcome and encourage you to join our research and educational activities.

Hong C. Zhang, Ph.D., P.E.
Interim Chair & Derr. Endowed professor
Hong-Chao.Zhang@ttu.edu