{"id":30217,"date":"2026-06-12T12:03:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T17:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/?p=30217"},"modified":"2026-06-17T17:23:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T22:23:53","slug":"college-hosts-international-conference-on-industrial-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/college-hosts-international-conference-on-industrial-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"College hosts international conference on industrial engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering recently hosted an international conference of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Society (IEOM)<\/a> on campus with Associate Professor Wilkistar Otieno serving as the Conference Chair. The June event drew hundreds of participants from 35 countries who gathered to provide insights into the latest advancements in these fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UWM faculty members presenting included Wilkistar Otieno (Women in Industry and Academia), Matthew Petering (Supply Chain Management), Iftekharuddin Khan (Continuous Improvement), and several students who gave research presentations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alumnus Ahad Ali (PhD ’03) launched the organization in 2009. Since then, the IEOM Society has become a global organization for academics, researchers, and industry scientists, to exchange ideas. IEOM has more than 49,000 members from 151 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Canan Bilen-Green, UWM Associate Provost, Academic Affairs, gives the opening remarks. <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Two
UWM teaching faculty Iftekharuddin Khan (left) poses with Ahad Ali (PhD ’03), who launched the IEOM Society in 2009. He also is associate professor at Lawrence Technological University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"A
Graduate student Sajede Farahani (second from right) was one of the UWM students who made a research presentation at the event. Others pictured are (from left) UWM Associate Professor Wilkistar Otieno (conference chair and mentor to Farahani), Ahad Ali and Don Reimer, founder and CEO, respectively, of the IEOM Society. <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"A
A portion of the conference attendees met at the new Chemistry building. Next year’s North American IEOM conference will be hosted by Northeastern University in Boston. <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Three
Associate Professor Wilkistar Otieno was given a teaching and curriculum development award by Paul Perkins (just left of Otieno) of Amatrol, a manufacturer or technical learning systems for her contributions to curriculum development in connected systems. Otieno also was named an IEOM Fellow at the event. Ahad Ali (far left) and Don Reimer, founder and CEO, respectively, of the IEOM Society were present.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Opening remarks or keynotes by UWM faculty over the four-day event included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n