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Question: What
happened at The Ohio State University on Saturday February 23-25?
Answer: The 2007 IIE Region IV
Conference - THINK GLOBAL, THINK IIE !
The OSU Student Chapter of IIE, under the
direction of Emily Hehl, Student President and Michael Murrison, Regional
Conference Director, hosted the regional conference with eleven IIE Region
IV universities in attendance and numbering 160+ participants.
Registration and orientation activities
began Friday afternoon extending into the evening. Closing ceremonies
were held Sunday morning. In between was an interesting conference,
all-day on Saturday. After breakfast at The Blackwell Hotel, the
attendees migrated to Scott Laboratory for a full day of activities.
After Opening remarks, several guest
speakers presented views of the opportunities open to IEs in the world
today. Several life experiences were recanted to bring real life
experiences to the classroom world known to the students. A number of job
titles with associated experiences & responsibilities were outlined across
several industries.
The focus of the day was presentation of
Student Technical Papers in competition for advancement to the National
Student Technical Papers Competition. Several formal papers representing
personal research and capstone real-world technical projects were
submitted to the judging panel for compliance review in advance of the
physical presentation at the conference. The Panel of Judges included
Senior Chapter Board members Bob, Schroer, Chris Pounds, and Mike Devenney.
Scoring included 75% for written and 25% for verbal presentation. A
ranking of papers was determined for award presentation later at the
evening banquet.
Other activities of the day included
networking and team-building exercises sponsored by the OSU Student
Chapter and facilitated by OSU and visiting faculty.
The Formal Dinner & Awards Banquet was
housed in the Main Ballroom of The Blackwell Hotel. After a wonderful
dinner prepared by the 5-star restaurant staff, events took a more formal
tone. After opening remarks and introductions, the Keynote Speech was
provided by Dr, Deborah Nightingale, MIT, Director, Lean Aerospace
Initiative, Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Engineering
Systems Division. Dr. Nightingale, herself an OSU Graduate, relayed her
personal development and growth through positions of increasing
responsibility utilizing the basic Industrial Engineering skills learned
through her education and enhanced by experience.
Next on the agenda was presentation of
Technical Paper Awards by the judges. The winning submission told the
story of a Facilities Layout & Capacity Study completed at a Hospital
Prescription Pharmacy. The Student Team from Western Michigan University
applied several data collection methods, time study techniques, and
process simulation approaches to gain results and recommendations
presented to the Hospital confirming productivity and establishing
operational capacity for the next three years. A cash prize award is
presented to the top three papers. The Best Paper advances to the Nation
competition.
After Presentation of Student Chapter
Awards and closing remarks, the group left to continue networking
activities started the previous evening.
Congratulations to the OSU Student
Chapter and their leadership for hosting a wonderful regional conference.
Good Luck to the WMU Paper in the National competition. Next year the
event may travel to the University of Louisville, but that is yet to be
confirmed.
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