Industrial Engineering Professor Receives Distinguished Educator Award

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Manuel Rossetti, industrial engineering professor, has received the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). The award recognizes educators who contribute significantly to the industrial engineering profession through teaching, research, publication, extension, innovation or administration. The annual award is nomination-based and is judged on evidence of teaching excellence, research accomplishment and innovation in teaching and learning, among other factors.

Rossetti's peers and colleagues recognize him for his achievements in teaching courses in computer simulation, inventory control, probability and statistics, database design, and transportation and logistics. He has been named outstanding teacher by the Industrial Engineering Department, was voted best teacher by undergraduate students repeatedly, received the John L. Imhoff College of Engineering Outstanding Teacher Award in 2011 and was elected a fellow of IISE in 2012. He received the Charles and Nadine Baum Teaching Award and was elected to the U of A Teaching Academy in 2013.

Ed Pohl, department head at the time the award was announced, said, "The Holzman award recognizes the top educators in the field of industrial engineering. Dr. Rossetti's accomplishments in the areas of teaching, research and innovation in teaching and learning are outstanding, and I am happy that he is being recognized for his contributions as an educator to our profession. I cannot think of a more deserving candidate for this honor."

His primary research and teaching interests include the design, analysis and optimization of logistics, manufacturing, health care and transportation systems using computer simulation and operations research techniques. Rossetti said his mission is to be "a world-class scholar who promotes innovative teaching and research within an environment that values learning, hard work, intellectual curiosity and collaborative research."

Rossetti has been with the Department of Industrial Engineering since 1999. He is highly recognized for his work in the field of computer simulation modeling and analysis and is the author of the internationally used textbook Simulation Modeling and Arena published by John Wiley & Sons.

"The Holzman award recognizes educators who have contributed significantly to the profession through teaching, research and publication, extension, innovation or administration. This holistic view of an educator has always been the cornerstone of my mission statement. I am extremely honored to join the ranks of those renowned educators that have previously received this award."

Rossetti received the award at the IISE annual conference May 20-24 in New Orleans.

About the Department of Industrial Engineering: The Department of Industrial Engineering was founded in 1950, led by department head John L. Imhoff, who believed deeply in the global impact of industrial engineering. Today, the department averages over 200 undergraduate students (sophomore through senior) and over 40 doctoral and master's students. In addition, the department has three online master's degrees: the Master of Science in Operations Management, Master of Science in Engineering Management and Master of Science in Operations Analytics. These three programs alone enroll over 2,000 students each academic year. A wide range of practical research is conducted in the department in the areas of reliability, maintainability and quality engineering; transportation, logistics and distribution; health care systems engineering; manufacturing and automation; engineering management and big data; and data analytics in each of the five research centers housed in the department. To learn more about the Department of Industrial Engineering please visit our website.