Ashlea Bennett Milburn, assistant professor of industrial engineering, has received the Teaching Excellence Award in Transportation and Logistics from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. The award was presented at the annual IISE Conference held in May at Anaheim, California.

John White, industrial engineering professor and chancellor emeritus, who nominated Milburn for the award, said, "To claim Dr. Milburn is a gifted teacher is an understatement, especially if phenomenal, superb, and extraordinary rank higher than gifted – for that is what she is, phenomenal, superb, and extraordinary."

Ed Pohl, industrial engineering department head, said, "Dr. Milburn takes great pride in her teaching and is one of the most creative faculty members when it comes to getting students actively involved in their learning. She emphasizes project based learning and has been extremely successful doing it. She works hard to find practical 'real world' problems for her classroom by partnering with local industry."

In review of Professor Milburn, the Industrial Engineering Personnel Committee included the following statement: "…The Committee members acknowledged that Dr. Milburn is a skilled communicator. She is a thoughtful and professional colleague. She chooses her words carefully. When she speaks, you know to listen to what she says. Her desire to strengthen the department is genuine and she makes every effort to 'raise the bar' for her students and her colleagues."

A recent student had this to say, "Another thing that sets Dr. Milburn apart in her teaching style is her use of real world problems directly applicable to the students and our experiences. In class lectures and assignments, she ensures interaction with the material is relevant and appropriate. This not only enhances our understanding of the subject, but it also excites and motivates students to learn."

Milburn also recently received a $500,000 CAREER award through the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program. The grant will fund her research to develop decision-support models that identify scenarios in which the integration of information posted to social-media could improve emergency response.

Milburn joined the industrial engineering faculty in 2010. She received her doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, after earning a master's degree from Virginia Tech and a bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas. Her primary areas of teaching and research are healthcare systems engineering, humanitarian logistics and transportation logistics.