College of Engineering Partners With Area Leaders at 2022 UP.Summit Community Day

The M.S. in Operations Management program was invited to collaborate with the U of A's Division of Economic Development, Division for Research and Innovation and College of Engineering for the 2022 UP.Summit Community Day held June 5 at Thaden Fieldhouse in Bentonville. This all-day event was geared toward the future of transportation and advanced air mobility while showcasing the latest technologies and flight demonstrations.

The UP.Summit was founded by UP.Partners, a multi-strategy mobility-focused investment firm that forges alliances with some of the world's most impactful transportation technology companies in an effort to help move people and goods cleaner, faster, safer and at lower cost — on the ground, in the air, on the sea and in space. UP.Summit was founded in 2017 and is jointly organized by UP.Partners, Tom and Steuart Walton, and Ross Perot Jr.

The event featured demonstrations of electric and autonomous aircraft, electric and autonomous cars and trucks, remote-controlled construction equipment, hydrogen-powered yard trucks, drones, and many other prototypes. This was an opportunity to introduce to the community one of the newest programs on campus, the M.S.O.M. Advanced Air Mobility Autonomous Operations MicroCertificate.

Richard Ham, associate director of the Master of Science in Engineering Management and Master of Science in Operations Management, described the significance of the event to the university's mission.

"The university leadership and faculty have been active in research and education vital to achieving the type of innovation on display at the event. Our students have gone on to employment with some of the companies represented and have searched for answers to many of the challenges in ongoing research," Ham said. "Our new Microcertificate in Advanced Air Mobility prepares students in both roles."

The Department of Industrial Engineering in the College of Engineering has two professional graduate degree programs: the M.S. in Operations Management and the M.S. in Engineering Management. The Operations Management Program began in 1974 and is designed for professionals from a broad range of backgrounds, including business and government operations. Students learn how to create value to the production of goods and services while working with worldwide suppliers and customers. The Engineering Management Program began in 2017 and prepares engineers to lead and manage teams, projects and organizations with technical workforces to meet strategic objectives. The programs also include graduate certificates in operations management, engineering management, project management, lean six sigma and homeland security to broaden student understanding of current skills needed by operations and engineering managers. All programs have a goal of "Learn it Today. Use it Tomorrow."