News and Awards

Susan Xu Receives NSF Grant

The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of $167,066 to The Pennsylvania State University for support of the project entitled "Collaborative Research: Reliability Analysis of Spatial Systems with Local Interactions." This project is under the direction of Susan H. Xu, in collaboration with Li Haijun of Washington State University (PI, awarded $154,063) and Way Kuo of the University of Tennessee (co-PI, awarded $88,864).

SC&IS Participates in PSU International Studies Program

The SC&IS Department participated this summer in the PSU International Studies program at the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai in Florence, Italy. This was the first time faculty from PSU directly participated in a course at this Institution. The six-week three-credit course was “Production in Italy.” Seventeen PSU business students from varied majors and 14 students from the University of Connecticut comprised the class. The course introduced business students to a variety of manufacturing businesses as well as a number of unique manufacturing processes. Manufacturers included olive oil processing, a marble quarry, a textile mill, winery, as well as motorcycle and automotive manufacturing (Ducati and Lamborghini). Class assignments included student journals documenting their observations of key lessons learned and a “lean” exercise. Frank Chelko represented PSU while Dr. Jeff Rummel represented the University of Connecticut.

Dennis Lin on Sabbatical in Germany and China

During his the 2008/09 academic year Dennis Lin will be a Mercator Visiting Professor at the Department of Economics at Justus-Liebig University Giessen in Germany, and a Chang-Jiang Scholar at the School of Statistics at the Remin University of China.

OEM Remanufacturing Round Table Meets At Smeal

Top managers from Alcatel-Lucent, Bosch Tool, Caterpillar, Cummins, GE Transportation and Xerox, all OEMs that engage in product recovery and remanufacturing , met May 1 and 2 at a round table held at Penn State's Smeal College of Business.

Promotion and Tenure

Congratulations to Elena Katok on her promotion to the rank of full professor and to David Huff on his promotion to clinical associate professor.

Big Ten Information Systems Research Symposium

Edward Glantz recently participated in the 7th Annual Big Ten Information Systems Research Symposium hosted by the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. 

SC&IS Graduate Students Receive Scholarships

Congratulations to Zheng (Justin) Jia on receiving one of the four Jeanne and Charles Rider Graduate Fellowships for 2008-2009 and to Andrew Davis on receiving one of the two Liberti/Olian Scholarships for 2008-2009.

Two SC&IS Majors Win Richter Scholarship Awards

Douglas Burke and Andrew Spicher, Supply Chain and Information Systems majors at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, were chosen by the R. Gene and Nancy D. Richter Foundation as two of six students around the country to receive the 2008 R. Gene Richter Scholarship Award.

Three SC&IS Professors Win Dillwyn Paiste Awards for Excellence in Teaching

Dr. Robert Novack, associate professor of supply chain and information systems, Dr. Edward Glantz, clinical assistant professor of information systems, and Frank Chelko, instructor of operations and supply chain management, were winners of the Dillywn P. Paiste, III Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

2008 R. Hadly Waters Supply Chain Symposium

The 18th Annual R. Hadly Waters Supply Chain Symposium, Managing Supply Chain Complexity, was held on April 24, 2008, at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, University Park, Pennsylvania, with approximately 200 supply chain professionals in attendance.

Supply Chain Management Association Tours Staples Distribution Center

The Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA) went on a field trip to the Staples distribution center in Chambersburg on Friday, April 4, 2008.

Management Information Systems Association (MISA) Wins Most Improved Organization of 2008

Congratulations to Management Information Systems Association (MISA) on winning the "Most Improved Organization of 2008" award for Smeal Student Clubs. MISA received $500 for the club.

Valery Pavlov Receives Smeal Doctoral Dissertation Award

Congratulations to Valery Pavlov on receiving a Smeal Dissertation Award. The award is based on an evaluation by the Competitive Research Grants Committee and will providing funding for Valery’s research experiments.

Senior SC&IS Student Named ‘Next CEO’

Douglas Burke, a senior majoring in supply chain and information systems, outlasted nine of his classmates on April 21 to win the college's unique executive simulation challenge, The Next CEO.

Douglas Burke and Andrew Spicher Receive R. Gene Richter Scholarship Award

Douglas Burke and Andrew Spicher, Supply Chain and Information Systems majors at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, were chosen by the R. Gene and Nancy D. Richter Foundation as two of six students around the country to receive the 2008 R. Gene Richter Scholarship Award.

Senior Award Recipients

Congratulations to SC&IS majors Douglas Burke, Amanda Garries, and Jessica Volpe upon receiving the Ralph H. Wherry Student Service Award.

S.T.A.R.T. Diversity Award Presented

Congratulations to Shanice Barnum (SC&IS) for her first place S.T.A.R.T. (Striving Toward Awareness & Respect for Tomorrow) Diversity Award. Shanice’s presentation was entitled Diversity Has No Identity.

Students Compete in Boeing Case Competition

Congratulations to all of the participants in the first Boeing Undergraduate Supply Chain Case Competition. Seven groups of three Supply Chain students and one Finance/Accounting student competed for the $2,000 in prize money provided by Boeing. Students were required to use their knowledge of LEAN concepts and apply them to a real world business problem. Special thank you goes to Kitty Riley, Norm Aggon and Tami Barnes for their administrative support of the competition and to Frank Chelko for being the Penn State Judge (along with three Boeing judges) in the competition. The kickoff dinner and presentation dinner hosted by Boeing in the Business Building Dinner Theatre were an added bonus to the entire event.

Smeal’s Supply Chain/Logistics Program Ranked 5th by U.S. News

U.S. News has ranked Smeal’s supply chain/logistics programs as fifth in the nation, up from 6th last year. The U.S. News rankings are based on peer assessment (25%), recruiter assessment (15%), starting salary (14%), employment at graduation (7%), employment after three months(14%), GMAT score (16.25%), undergraduate GPA (7.5%), and acceptance rate (1.25%).

In Memoriam: Michael H. Rothkopf, 1939-2008

Miichael Rothkopf was an applied mathematical modeler who studied and wrote about auctions and bidding since 1965. Most recently he was Smeal Chaired Professor of Supply Chain and Information Systems at Penn State's Smeal College of Business.

Smeal Student Society Honors Kitty Riley

The Smeal Student Society has honored Kitty Riley by choosing her to be in the Smeal Student Society Spotlight. Stop by and see the poster about Kitty in the Atrium.

MBA Team Takes Third Place in Logistics Case Competition

Our MBA students: Jodie Vanderman, Brad Updegrove, Quang Dang, Hovig Vartan, Philip Cahill, and Aron Meadow excelled in their performance at the 11th Annual FedEx Freight International Graduate Logistics Case Competition in Fayetteville, AR.

SC&IS Faculty Teaching Quality Improvement Team Recognized

An SC&IS Faculty Teaching Quality Improvement team will be one of several quality teams recognized on April 30 by Provost Erickson and the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. Current SC&IS faculty team members include Edward Glantz, Norm Aggon, Kitty Riley, Gary Gittings, Evelyn Thomchick and Marilyn Blanco.

Kumar Appointed to Editorial Board of New Journal

The IEEE Computer Society has appointed Akhil Kumar, professor of information systems at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, as an associate editor of its new journal, IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, set to launch this year.

Lilien Awarded Highest Honor For A Marketing Educator

The American Marketing Association (AMA) has named Gary Lilien, distinguished research professor of management science at Smeal, as the 2008 recipient of the AMA Irwin/McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award, the highest honor a marketing educator can receive.

Bob Novack Gives Resume/Interview Workshop

Thanks go to Bob Novack, who once again had standing room only at the Resume/Interview Workshop sponsored by MISA, SCMA, and BASH. The workshop was held the week before the SC&IS Career Fair so students received valuable help in their preparations to meet with companies coming on campus.

Jun Shu and Russell Barton Present at NSF Foundation Conference

Jun Shu and Russell Barton presented their work on "Supply Chain SPC" at the National Science Foundation CMMI Grantees Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee, on January 7-10, 2008. They received a grant in 2006 from the Manufacturing Enterprise Systems Program.

Ed Glantz Cited in USA Today

Ed Glantz was cited in an article in USA Today about virtual office hours. He has used virtual office hours for the last six years.

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