SPRING 2018 Newsletter
Message from the President
  

Happy Spring! On behalf of the Manufacturing & Design (M&D) board, I would like to thank you again for your membership and continued support to our division.
 
In this Spring 2018 newsletter, you will get introduced to two M&D board officers, Dr. Lourdes Medina (President-Elect) and Dr. Guha Manogharan (External Relations Director). You can then read Dr. Manogharan's summary of the recent America Makes' annual TRX meeting and announcement of the upcoming FAIM 2018 meeting. You can also enjoy the inaugural article of the student committee section authored by the committee chair, Pedro Huebner. In this article, Pedro, who will join the faculty of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma this Fall, provides insights and advice to prospective faculty job applicants based on his own experiences over the past year.
 
Last but not the least, I would like to extend a personal invitation to you to attend the IISE Annual Conference to be held in Orlando this May. In the last section of this newsletter, you will find a summary of the 18 M&D sessions and special events including the M&D Town Hall on Sunday, May 20 at 5 PM.
 
If you are interested in organizing new activities or serving on division committees, please do not hesitate to contact me ( [email protected] ) or Dr. Medina ( [email protected] ).
 
I look forward to seeing you in Orlando!
 
Sincerely,
Rohan Shirwaiker, PhD
Meet the Officers

Lourdes Medina, President-Elect 

Lourdes Medina, PhD, is the President-Elect of the M&D division and is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez Campus (UPRM). She received her Ph.D and M.S in Industrial and Systems Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University - University Park. Her research interests are in product design and development, complexity, decision analysis and engineering education in application areas of medical devices and FDA. At UPRM, she teaches a range of courses including process automation, medical device design methods and systems engineering. She is an active member of IISE and has served as track chair in IISE - M&D and Engineering Education.


Guha Manogharan, External Relations Director
 
Guha Manogharan, PhD, serves as the External Relations Director of the M&D division and is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University - University Park. He received his Ph.D and M.S in Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University. His research interests are in additive and hybrid manufacturing including: 3D Sand-Printing, material development, post-processing and inter-disciplinary applications of AM. At Penn State, he teaches a range of courses including metal AM processing, machine design and product design. He is an active member of IISE, SME and ASME.

Exciting events of interest to M&D division members:

Summary of America Makes - TRX Meeting:

America Makes  https://www.americamakes.us/ , the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute gathered approximately 150 participants from the industry and research community who are involved in additive manufacturing at its annual Technical Review and Exchange (TRX) meeting which was held at UTEP campus in El Paso, TX on March 14-15, 2018. The America Makes' TRX is an opportunity to gather and discuss America Makes funded projects in-depth for both members and non-members this year. Networking breaks were given to encourage networking and collaboration between members and non-members.

Some of the America Makes Projects  that were presented during this TRX in the Materials and Processes swim-lanes of the America Makes Technology Roadmap included topics of interest to M&D: High performance AM Thermoplastics, AM for Metal Casting, Biomimetic Multijet Materials and Additive Manufacturing Build Interruption Effects, among others.
Announcement of FAIM 2018:

Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University is organizing the 28thFlexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing Conference (FAIM2018) in Columbus, OH on June 10-14, 2018.
 
FAIM is the leading annual international forum for dissemination of current research on all aspects of automation and manufacturing, and highlights how theoretical models and principles underpin practice in a production environment. The conference will link researchers and practitioners both from industry and academia specializing in automation, manufacturing, and other related engineering disciplines from around the world. This year's conference theme is Global Integration of Intelligent Manufacturing and Smart Industry for Good of Humanity.
 
The FAIM2018 conference will gather more than 160 researchers from 30 countries who will present their research in many topics related to smart and digital manufacturing (including Industry 4.0, cloud manufacturing, additive and hybrid manufacturing among others) with keynote presentation by Dr. Behrok Khoshenvis from USC, Dr. Richard Wysk from North Carolina State University, Dr. Branislav Borovac from University of Novi Sad, and Dr. Mitsuo Gen from Tokyo University of Science.

For more details and registration information visit  www.faim2018.org.
Student Committee
Finding a Job in Academia: A Shared Experience From One Student to Another
Picture this: the time is early summer 2017, and I am just a couple of months away from entering the last of five long years as a PhD student. I had recently passed my PhD proposal defense exam. The future never seemed so close, and for a long time I had this one thought following me around: where do I want to be once this is over? Of course, how easy it is to answer that question varies from one individual to another. When it comes to research, teaching, and service, many of the experiences that I have had as a graduate student were positive and encouraged me to follow a career along that same pathway. Little had I known that a whole new journey was about to begin. There is much more to finding a job in academia than I could have ever anticipated. I eventually succeeded, and with good mentorship and a lot of energy, you can do it too. Here is a little bit of what I learned.

Applying for academic jobs is almost a full-time job itself . Yes, and there is no drama here. Be ready to dedicate countless hours getting your application package tailored to each position that you are applying for. Impactful application dossiers, which are typically composed of a cover letter, a complete CV, and research and teaching statements, need to demonstrate that you know what you are getting into. Ask any of your professors that have once served in the search committee for a tenure-track position how many applications were received. The answer will vary from several dozen to a couple hundred. You will be one of those and, at that first stage, what brings you to the top is a dossier that was written with intent. Spend the necessary amount of time to research the department, the college, and the university. Read their vision, mission, and strategic plan. Research the people that will be interviewing you. Identify research centers and institutes that you could potentially be a part of. Mention all of that, within context, in your materials. Highlight your potential as a two-way exchange: what do they have that you can take advantage of, and what can you bring that will help them prosper? In other words, make your application package not just about yourself, but about the relationship you hope to create with your potential hirer.
 
Mentorship is key . The message here is plain and simple - do not do it by yourself. Have the supervision of someone with the experience to guide you through the process. Your advisor is perhaps the number one interested party in your success as an academic. After all, you are part of their legacy. Use their perspective and experience as tools to improve your application dossier, your communication and behavioral skills as an aspiring academic, and the seminars or lectures that you will be required to present later in the process. Talk to the senior professors around, and perhaps your department head/chair. All of them have served or chaired search committees, read through an unimaginable number of applications, and interviewed dozens of candidates. They know what is good or bad and they know what distinguishes a good applicant from rest of the pool. If you find it difficult to get direct mentorship, the internet is here to help you. It is fairly easy to find very interesting articles about the academic job market, lessons on dossier preparation, sample cover letters or statements, and shared experiences in general. However, be very careful! With a multitude of content comes a multitude of different perspectives and you may end up overwhelming yourself. Find materials that more closely relate to your background and your aspirations. Learn from them, but be critical and use those learnings to improve the candidate that you are, and not the candidates that those authors have been.
 
The process is long and stressful. Stay calm and believe in yourself . For more information read here. 

Pedro Huebner 
PhD Candidate, North Carolina State University
Chair, IISE M&D Student Committee 

Did you make your travel plans yet for IISE 2018 in Orlando, Florida?
Plan to Attend  the IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2018
at Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando, Florida
May 19-22


When you are at IISE 2018, come join us and meet other M&D members at:
  • M&D Town Hall on Sunday, May 20 from 5.00 - 6.20 PM in room Hibiscus 1
    • Meet your M&D officers who will update on the state of the division and new initiatives for the next year.
    • Provide your inputs and learn about how you can be involved in M&D activities
    • Recognize 2018 M&D Award winners:
      • Best Track Paper Award
      • Best Student Paper Award
      • Outstanding Young Investigator Award
      • Outstanding Service Award
  • Two organized panel discussions on:
    • "Hybrid Manufacturing" on Sunday, May 20 from 3.30 - 4.50 PM in room Hibiscus 1
    • "Priority Challenges in Design and Manufacturing for the Defense Industry" on Monday, May 21 from 8.00 - 9.20 AM in room Hibiscus 1
  • We have a total of 18 sessions planned for M&D track with a summary below. Refer to the program schedule for information on time and location.
  • Conference Program   https://www.xcdsystem.com/iise/program/2018/
     
Sunday, May 20
Monday, May 21 
Tuesday, May 22 
Robotics & Automation
 Additive Manufacturing 2
 Biomedical Manufacturing 1
Design for Manufacturing
 Additive Manufacturing 3
 Decision & Cost Models for Manufacturing
Additive Manufacturing 1 
 Additive Manufacturing 4
 Digital Modeling & Manufacturing
Materials Processing & Manufacturing 1

 Additive Manufacturing 5 
 Product/Process Design & Planning 1
Materials Processing & Manufacturing 2
 Biomedical Manufacturing 2
 Product/Process Design & Planning 2
Micro/Nanoscale Manufacturing
 Biomedical Manufacturing 3
Town Hall
Optimization in Manufacturing