Industrial Engineering Master's Student Receives Graduate Research Award

Photo by Tamara Ellenbecker

Luisa Janer Rubio

Master's student Luisa Janer Rubio was recently selected as the recipient of a very competitive Graduate Research Award from the Transportation Research Board for her project "Simulation Modeling of Alternative to Ease the Congestion of Passengers and Items at the Composure Area of Security Checkpoints."

The research stipend is part of the Graduate Research Award Program on Public-Sector Aviation Issues for the academic year 2016-17. Sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation and administered by the Airport Cooperative Research Program of the Transportation Research Board/National Academies.

Rubio's research will be considered for presentation at the January 2018 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting and for publication in a subsequent volume of the Transportation Research Record, the peer-reviewed journal of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

"Luisa is an immensely talented and hard-working young woman who is more than deserving of such an honor. She is a joy to interact with and always produces outstanding results. I and the Industrial Engineering department are very proud of her accomplishments," said Manuel D. Rossetti, Rubio's academic adviser and associate department head for Industrial Engineering.

Recently completing her bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, Rubio stayed at the U of A for her master's degree. Her areas of interest include network optimization, development of transportation systems, simulation modeling and transportation logistics. Rubio is involved in several professional organizations including INFORMS, and the Institute of Industrial and System Engineers. Rubio hopes to complete her degree in spring 2017, then to work for a company where she can pursue a professional career in transportation systems.