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| Home : Volume 32 : Winter 2006 | |
| Making connections: The Institute of Industrial Engineers student chapter | |
Associate Professor Darek Ceglarek (bottom left) with members of the Institute of Industrial Engineers student chapter. Nearly 120 students currently belong to the UW-Madison chapter. |
Students who declare the same engineering major see a lot of each other in class. And, “If you're going to go through school with the same people, you might as well be friends with them,” says senior Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) major Tom Best.
Best's personal sentiment could also be the motto for the group he leads on campus: the UW-Madison student chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Through activities ranging from dodge ball and karaoke to visits with potential employers such as Rockwell Automation and the Mayo Clinic, the group works hard to build connection and community among ISyE students, especially those just starting out.
“Over the past couple of years, our chapter presidents and officers have made it a priority to interact with the younger students and get them involved and excited about the group,” says ISyE senior and chapter vice-president Warren Long. “We really try to make our organization one that freshmen can fit right into,” Best adds.
It's a winning strategy. The chapter's ranks have swelled since 2003 from 65 members to almost 120 today, an accomplishment that helped it net a coveted Gold Award from the national IIE last fall. Earning the distinction, which recognizes outstanding chapter improvement and progress, was definitely a goal, says Best.
“We wanted to increase our standing nationally because we are a highly ranked industrial engineering department nationally,” he says. “A lot of highly ranked departments at other universities have strong IIE student chapters.”
But the UW-Madison chapter's strength doesn't lie simply in numbers. The group hosts luncheons with faculty so students can interact with their instructors outside the classroom. It arranges plant tours and visits with companies to show members the myriad ways they can apply the tools of industrial engineering in the workplace.
The chapter also boasts an expanded community outreach program, thanks to the efforts of past outreach chair Jessica Harris and current chair, junior Maria Brewer. Last fall, for example, IIE students participated in projects sponsored by Caring Home Makeover and Habitat for Humanity, which renovate and build homes for underprivileged local families; raised $1,000 for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts; and collected 300 pounds of canned goods during a Halloween trick-or-treat food drive. The chapter also regularly holds events with school age and high school students to teach them about industrial engineering, which is more about engineering the processes used to manufacture a product than the product itself.
Cementing it all are social events, filled with many of the things college students can't resist, like free pizza and soda, pool and darts and Badger sports like UW hockey. The group's officers wisely recognize that purely fun activities help lure members into attending outreach events, joining chapter committees and maybe even becoming officers themselves one day. “One thing will get you to the first meeting,” says Long. “And then you're hooked.”
The UW-Madison IIE student chapter is advised by ISyE Associate Professor Darek Ceglarek. For more information, visit homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~iie.
Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu
Date last modified: 03-Feb-2006
Date created: 03-Feb-2006
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