About Us

Areas of Emphasis

• Decision Science/
  Operations Research

• Health Systems

• Human Factors and Ergonomics

• Manufacturing and
  Production Systems

• Quality Engineering

Recent Faculty Achievements

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering faculty members have made a direct difference in the lives of people and organizations throughout the world. They have:

• Influenced federal policy related to safety and health issues in the workplace.

• Designed ergonomically sound tools and workstations to reduce worker injuries and health problems.

• Designed new approaches for implementing office automation to increase productivity and reduce stress.

• Developed tools to dramatically improve our ability to optimize manufacturing systems.

• Created improved methods to monitor quality of care in nursing homes and quality of products in manufacturing and service industries.

• Helped corporations create factories of the future, improving the United States’ competitive position at a time when industrial vitality is a serious concern.

• Developed mathematical models that enable researchers to analyze diverse scenarios and recommend workable solutions to complex problems.

• Established new theories for enhancing quality and productivity in manufacturing service industries and government.

• Developed theories and approaches for re-engineering inner-cities to enhance the quality of life for economically disadvantaged residents.

Indicators of Quality

• Ranked #10 best industrial engineering undergraduate program in the U.S. (tie; U.S. News and World Report, 2010)

• Regularly ranked #1 in external research funding per faculty member among industrial engineering departments.

• Four named professorships

  • Patricia Flatley Brennan — Moehlman Bascom Professor

  • Pascale Carayon — Procter & Gamble Bascom Professor in Total Quality

  • John Lee — Emerson Electric Quality and Productivity Professor

  • Raj Veeramani — Robert A. Ratner Undergraduate Chair

• In the recently released review of doctoral programs performed by the National Research Council, the department ranked highly in:

  • Average number of citations per publication

  • Average number of research awards per faculty member

  • Number of PhDs granted

Research Centers

• Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies

• Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis

• Center for Human Performance and Risk Analysis

• Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement

• Center for Quick Response Manufacturing

• Trace Research & Development Center

• UW E-Business Consortium

Research Facilities

• Cognitive Systems Laboratory (CSL)

• Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support Systems (CHESS) Laboratory

• Flexible Manufacturing Cell Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory

• Human-computer Interaction Laboratory

• Laboratory for Manufacturing Processes Analysis and Control

• Large System Advanced Planning and Scheduling (LSAPS) Laboratory

• Living Environments Laboratory

• MacroErgonomic Safety and Health Laboratory (MESH)

• Manufacturing Systems Analysis Laboratory

• Naturalistic Decision-making and Simulation Laboratory

• Occupational Ergonomics and Biomechanics Laboratory

• Stochastic Systems Laboratory

• UW RFID Lab

• Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Optimization Theme

Department Facts

Faculty, 2010-2011 — 12 professors, 6 associate professors, 3 assistant professors

Graduate assistants, 2010-2011 — 16 teaching assistants, 40 research assistants

Department scholarships, 2010-2011 — 34 undergraduate scholarships ranging from $200 to $4,000 and totaling $56,850, 2 graduate scholarships of $1,000 or $1,200

Enrollment, 2010-2011 — 189 undergraduate students, 162 graduate students

Degrees conferred, 2010-2011 — 53 bachelors, 58 masters, 6 PhD

Research expenditures by source of funds, 2007-2008 — Federal: $8,299,575; Industry: $3,283,834; Private: $118,494; State: $517,376; Total: $12,219,279

Campus Research Facts

• UW-Madison and College of Engineering research facts