NEWS

Three members of Louisiana Tech University’s student chapter of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) won first place at the 2023 IISE Southeastern Regional Conference at the University of Central Florida.

Industrial engineering students Wes Brady of Jackson, Kosi Anadi of Slidell, and Hayden Scaff of Fort Worth, Texas, won the Technical Paper Competition, a victory that earns them a spot in the Undergraduate Technical Paper Competition Global Finals at the IISE Annual Conference and Expo in New Orleans later this year.

At the competition, which included 16 other student chapters from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Puerto Rico, the trio presented their senior capstone research on optimizing bus schedules for Lincoln Parish schools.

The team says that they were encouraged by their senior design project advisor and Industrial Engineering program chair Dr. Jun-Ing Ker. Thanks to several courses, particularly Tech’s Industrial Engineering 420 Black Belt class, they felt well-prepared to make the presentation and broaden their professional connections at the conference.

“I chose to be a part of the Louisiana Tech University IISE Chapter executive board to share my passion for industrial engineering in hopes of positively impacting my peers,” Anadi said. “The faculty and education at Tech played an integral role in our group’s decision to compete in the IISE Southeast Regional Conference Technical Paper Competition. The coursework and hands-on approach offered at the University were essential to developing and preparing for our project. Representing Louisiana Tech University was an honor and an unforgettable experience.”

“Our professors have always pushed us toward excellence,” Brady said, and “all of our coursework was relevant to completing the paper,” Scaff added.

“This is a great achievement for our students and faculty, particularly Dr. Jason Howell and Dr. Beth Hegab, who spent time helping advise this group when they took INEN 407 Simulation and INEN 420 Six Sigma Black Belt Projects classes,” team advisor Ker said.

Learn more about the project at the College of Engineering and Science Design and Research Conference on May 5 when the team is scheduled to present its work in the Integrated Engineering and Science Building Room 110 at 1 p.m. The conference is free and open to the public.