The U of A Department of Industrial Engineering celebrated the achievements of its students during the annual Capstone Symposium and Student Awards Banquet, held April 27, 2026, at the Arkansas Union Verizon Ballroom. The full day of events highlighted a year of hard work, innovation and collaboration between students, faculty and industry partners. Industrial Engineering Department Chair Chase Rainwater said, "The Capstone Symposium and Student Awards Banquet are among our department's most important events of the academic year. They showcase not only the technical excellence of our students, but also their ability to create impact for industry partners."
Capstone Symposium
A cornerstone of the industrial engineering and operations analytics curriculum, the Capstone Experience requires every senior to complete a two-semester, team-based project under the coordination of Richard Cassady, industrial engineering professor. Working in teams of four to five, students partnered with leading organizations to solve real-world challenges. This year's partners included ABF Freight, ArcBest, Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation, Community Clinic, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, National Safety Apparel, Nature's Red, Parkland Health, Simmons Prepared Foods, Tyson Foods and Walmart.
During the fall semester, students built relationships with their industry partners, defined project goals and conducted preliminary analysis. In the spring, teams applied their technical and analytical skills to develop actionable solutions and assess their potential impact. The Capstone Symposium serves as the culmination of this work, where teams presented their findings to faculty, industry partners and peers. The highest performing teams were recognized with awards across five categories:
Capstone Experience Team Awards
Project of the Year:
- Project Title: Creating Balanced Nursing Schedules for Medical-Surgical Units Using an Optimization-Based Approach
- Team Members: Aiden Small - team leader, Austin Parker, Brock Bewley, Kaden Alvarado and Garrett Munoz
- Supported by: Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation
Outstanding Achievement in Computing:
- Project Title: Multi-Objective Carrier Selection Optimization Using Epsilon Constraints
- Team Members: Elise Batchelor - team leader, Diego Alcoreza, Ronni Formby, Ethan Garza and Steven Knox
- Supported by: ArcBest
Outstanding Achievement in Data Analysis:
- Project Title: Improving Portioning Decision-Making Strategy for Poultry Processing
- Team Members: Lauren Jones - team leader, Evan Bland, Landon Hufford, Logan McCann and Ani Thyagarajan
- Supported by: Simmons Prepared Foods
Outstanding Achievement in Methods:
- Project Title: Designing the Layout and Analyzing the Workflow of a Cochineal Harvesting Production Process
- Team Members: Luke Montgomery - team leader, Evangelina Hernandez, Holden Griffin, Elizabeth Vetter and Benjamin Baldwin
- Supported by: Nature's Red
Outstanding Achievement in Modeling:
- Project Title: Identifying Loads That Are Likely to Create Empty Miles in an Intermodal Network
- Team Members: Luke Thurmon - team leader, Trevor Ford, Ivan Luzcando, Ethan McCuistion and Reed Sincleair
- Supported by: JB Hunt Transport Services, Inc.
Student leaders, team members, faculty and industry partners were also recognized for excellence in collaboration and leadership.
Individual Awards
- Outstanding Team Leaders: Clara Ehorn Devine, Jacob Lane, Miles Nantze and Gabrielle Vite
- Outstanding Team Members: Andres Aponte Nunez, Benjamin Baldwin, Austin Parker and Ani Thyagarajan
- Outstanding Faculty Advisers: Professor Ashlea Milburn, Professor Manuel Rossetti and Professor Kelly Sullivan
- Outstanding Industry Partners: Harsha Anne (Simmons Prepared Foods), Othman Boudhoum and Bruce Nicholson (Walmart) and Casey Pinter (Tyson Foods)
Additional Capstone Experience Projects
Project Title: Improving Service Center Network Visibility With a Location and Allocation Mode
- Team Members: Jemima Pierre - team leader, Mattie Terrell, Valentina Suarez Auzza, Jack Benson and Kya Novack-Williams
- Supported by: ABF Freight
Project Title: Identifying Cost Effective Staffing Configurations for Inpatient Hospital Departments
- Team Members: Trey Merreighn - team leader, Marcus Faulkner, Luke Kelley, Hayden Leonard and Owen Miller
- Supported by: Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation
Project Title: Eliminating the Waiting Room in Primary Care Health Systems Using Discrete-Event Simulation
- Team Members: Jacob Lane - team leader, Connor Killion, Victor Romero, Joel Melendez Moreno and Landon Greer
- Supported by: Community Clinic
Project Title: Improving the DCS Design Process Using a Hexaly-Based Scheduling Models
- Team Members: Jacob Holmes - team leader, Kendell King, Ximena Castro, Landen Horton and Destanie Patman
- Supported by: J.B. Hunt Dedicated Contract Services
Project Title: Reducing the Assembly Area Footprint in the Fort Smith Postal Apparel Facility
- Team Members: Harry Wilson - team leader, Joe Samyn, Julia Weeks, Tripp Thomas and Harrison McWilliams
- Supported by: National Safety Apparel
Project Title: Evaluating and Improving Patient Transport Capacity Using Discrete-Event Simulation
- Team Members: Miles Nantze - team leader, Reagan Myers, Hannah Tejada, Thomas Hayes and Max Bante
- Supported by: Parkland Health
Project Title: A Data-Driven Decision Support Tool for Finished Goods Inventory Management
- Team Members: Brady Ramm - team leader, Stephan Boland, Fabiana Suarez, Matthew Clemente and Alexandra Henning
- Supported by: Simmons Prepared Foods
Project Title: Reducing Infeasible Production Planning Decisions in Beef Processing Through an Integrated Database and Dashboard
- Team Members: Gabrielle Vite - team leader, William Haney, Andrew Jolly, Gavin J. Piette and Alex Rapier
- Supported by: Tyson Foods
Project Title: Optimizing Store Departure Batching to Increase Vendor Backhaul Opportunities
- Team Members: Sarah Nesmith - team leader, Truman Hackworth, Kendall Kapp, Jonathan Thomas and Jackson Wray
- Supported by: Walmart
Project Title: Reducing Manual Effort in Supplier Cost Validation Using an AI-Driven Automation Framework
- Team Members: Clara Ehorn Devine - team leader, Kara Kelley, Aish Mistry, Andres Aponte Nunez and Mika Evans
- Supported by: Walmart Global Procurement
Student Awards Banquet
Following the symposium, the department hosted its annual Student Awards Banquet, an evening dedicated to recognizing the outstanding achievements of our students. The banquet celebrated academic success, research contributions, scholarships and service.
Awards presented included:
- Undergraduate Research Award: Lauren Jones
- Graduate Research Award: Nikesh Kumar
- Outstanding Senior Award: Jacob Holmes
- Outstanding Graduate Student: Mackenzie Johnston
Faculty, staff, alumni and donors were acknowledged for their continued support, which helps make these accomplishments possible.
Finally, student-sponsored awards were presented. These award winners were determined through a student vote.
Award Recipients included:
- Sophomore Scholar Award: Emerson Brown
- John L. Imhoff Distinguished Service Award: Lexie Willroth
- Outstanding TA Award: Mackenzie Johnston
- Outstanding Undergraduate TA Award: Miles Nantze
- Backbreaker Award: Brandon Crisel
- Best Teacher Award: Brandon Crisel
- Resident Raconteur Award: Professor David Paulus
Together, the Capstone Symposium and Student Awards Banquet showcased the department's commitment to experiential learning and student success, while celebrating the next generation of industrial engineering leaders as they prepared to graduate and go on to make an impact in their fields.
About the College of Engineering: The University of Arkansas College of Engineering is the state's largest engineering school, offering graduate and undergraduate degrees, online studies and interdisciplinary programs. It enrolls more than 4,700 students and employs more than 150 faculty and researchers along with nearly 200 staff members. Its research enterprise generated $47 million in new research awards in Fiscal Year 2025. The college's strategic plan, Vision 2035, seeks to build the premier STEM workforce in accordance with three key objectives: Initiating lifelong student success, generating transformational and relevant knowledge, and becoming the destination of choice among educators, students, staff, industry, alumni and the community. As part of this, the college is increasing graduates and research productivity to expand its footprint as an entrepreneurial engineering platform serving Arkansas and the world. The college embraces its pivotal role in driving economic growth, fueling innovation and educating the next generation of engineers, computer scientists and data scientists to address current and future societal challenges.
Contacts
Chase Rainwater, department chairperson
Industrial Engineering
479-575-6029, cer@uark.edu