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Alumni Updates

Alumni updates are published as they are received by the department. Alumni can submit updates to psuie@psu.edu.

Mike Sherwin (’01 M.S.)

Sherwin joined the University of Pittsburgh in the Swanson School of Engineering as an assistant professor of industrial engineering. Before becoming a faculty member, Sherwin worked with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation for nearly nine years.

Morgan Farnsworth (’12 IE)

Farnsworth was a nominee for the 2019 Women in Technology Award through the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania in the Art and Design division.

Thomas Green (’72 IE)

Green retired in 2019 after 36 years with GM/Delphi, one-year practicing law and eight years consulting as TJGreenLLC.

Leo Funk (’16 IE)

Funk has received a promotion to be a finance manager at Amazon.com, Inc. Funk will be relocating from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to Nashville, Tennesee.

Karan Arora (’16 M.S.)

Arora was promoted to local technical specialist to lead the industrialization of Mack Trucks’ first electric truck in North America.

Cyndy Bober (’15 IE & M.S.)

Bober was selected to move to the International Hilton Office to step into a managerial role covering sales analytics.

Gabrielle Pfeifer (’12 IE)

Pfeifer was promoted to the Vice President of Innovation and Digital Transformation at Infinite Computer Solutions.

Katie Blank and Sam May (’14 IE)

Blank and May, who met in program, are getting married November 2020. Blank works for Procter and Gamble, while May works for Sherwin Williams.

Jane L. Snowdon (’81 IE)

Snowdon has received the 2019 Achievement in Industry Award from the American Public Health Association’s Applied Public Health Statistics Section for outstanding contributions in industry to statistics and public health.  She is an associate chief health officer in the Center for Artificial Intelligence, Research, and Evaluation at IBM Watson Health.

Eric Burlingame (’14 IE)

Burlingame, business team manager for logistics engineering at Volvo Group, was selected for the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) 30 under 30 Supply Chain Stars. This program recognizes young purchasing and supply chain management professionals for their passion, creativity, and contributions to supply chain.

Tim Schoener (’85 IE)

Citizens and Northern Corporation appointed Schoener as a Class III Director of the Board of Directors for the Corporation and for the Bank at their July 18 meeting. He will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Jan E. Fisher from the board.

Susan Steadman (’83 IE, ’90 M.B.A.)

Steadman received the Medallion Award for her impact on the industrial engineering profession. The award honors those who have made significant contributions to the field in several areas. Recipients are recognized for exceptional leadership as advisers in developing and promoting young engineers, for creating a body of knowledge for the practice of industrial engineering through innovations in organizing educational materials that advance the development of industrial engineers, and for influencing the productivity of a company through applications of industrial engineering methods.

Kerri Bair (’02 IE)

Blair was the recipient of this year’s UPS Minority Advancement Award. The award recognizes organizations or individuals that, through innovative means, have developed programs or projects with the aim of advancing women, minorities, or individuals with disabilities in the field of industrial engineering. Bair has been an employee of Walt Disney World for more than 13 years and currently serves as the director of planning and industrial engineering.

Rodolfo Portillo (’08 M.S. IE, ’09 Ph.D. IE & OR)

Portillo was presented with the IISE Logistics and Supply (LSC) Chain Division Outstanding Industry Practitioner Award, which recognizes excellence in industry practice of logistics and supply chain courses. The objectives of this award are to show appreciation to the industry practitioners of IISE who are outstanding in implementing logistics and supply chain techniques, as well as encourage practitioners to raise standards in the practice and dissemination of logistics and supply chain concepts in engineering. Portillo currently works for Amazon, overseeing customer service for the Americas and leading the expansion effort for the company in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

Terri Green (’81 IE)

Green received the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Distinguished Service Award. This award recognizes and rewards an alumnus, friend, or former faculty member who has donated time, expertise, and energies in the form of outstanding and special service to a department, unit, or to the College. Green has been recognized for her dedication as former president of the Penn State Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Society.

Dennis Newhart (’68 IE)

Newhart retired July 2, 2018 after 50 years of service in the steel industry. He was also an adjunct lecturer for the MBA program at Lehigh University for 20 years.

Richard Tannenbaum (’92 IE)

Tannenbaum became chief supply chain officer and senior vice president of information technology at Fleet Farm, a Midwest retailer of outdoor products headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin in June 2018.

Robert Pascuzzi (’50 IE)

Pascuzzi passed away on August 11, 2018. He was inducted into the Army, April 1, 1951 during the Korean War and rose to the rank of Corporal. He was honorably discharged on April 1, 1953. In 1991, Pascuzzi retired from GTE Sylvania in Winchester, Kentucky after 35 years as an industrial engineer.

Jane Snowdon (’81 IE)

Snowden was among 50 members of the Society of Women Engineers that rang the NASDAQ Opening Bell on August 8, 2018. She is the associate chief health officer for IBM Watson Health.

Iris Rivero (’96 IE, ’98 M.S., ’02 Ph.D.)

Rivero, an associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University, was named department head of industrial and systems engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). She will begin her position within RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering on August 15, 2018.

Anthony Talbert (’99 IE)

Talbert and his wife Erin created the Talbert Family Open Doors Honors Scholarship to support Schreyer Scholars who meet financial need requirements through the Complete Penn State program.

John Jackman (’83 M.S., ’86 Ph.D.)

Jackman was presented with the John L. Imhoff Global Excellence Award for Industrial Engineering Education at the American Society for Engineering Education Awards Ceremony on June 27, 2018. He is an associate profesor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University.

Robert Creese (’63 IE)

Creese authored a book titled Strategic Cost Fundamentals: for Designers, Engineers, Technologists, Estimators, Project Managers, and Financial Analysts that was published in June 2018. He previously authored Geometric Programming for Design Equation Development and Cost/Profit Optimization in 2016. Creese earned a Ph.D. in Metallurgy from Penn State and a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He retired from teaching at Penn State in 2014.

Qais Hatim (’15 Ph.D. IE and OR)

Hatim, a computer scientist/statistician with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, earned a best paper award in the Analytics, Big Data and Statistics stream at the 2018 PhUSE U.S. Connect Conference.

Barrett (Barry) Caldwell (’66 IE)

Caldwell died on June 7, 2018, at Lancaster (PA) General Hospital. Caldwell started his career at the Hamilton Watch Company and retired from L-3 Communications in 2006.

William (Bill) Waltz (’86 IE)

Waltz was appointed president of Atkore International Group Inc. Prior to joining Atkore in 2013, Waltz was the chairman and CEO at Strategic Materials, Inc., North America’s largest glass recycling company.

Frank Peters (’91 IE, ’94 M.S., ’96 Ph.D.)

Peters was named to the C. G. “Turk” and Joyce A. Therkildsen Professorship in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University. Peters is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State.

Tucker J. Marion (’07 Ph.D.)

Marion, an associate professor in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, has a new innovation management book coming out in October 2018.

Seong Wook Hwang (’16 Ph.D.)

Hwang has been named an assistant professor in the College of Business Management at Hongik University in Korea.

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About

Home of the first established industrial engineering program in the world, the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) at Penn State has made a name for itself in the engineering industry through its storied tradition of unparalleled excellence and innovation in research, education, and outreach.

We are Innovators. We are Makers. We are Excellence in Engineering. We are Penn State IME.

The Harold and Inge Marcus Department of
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

310 Leonhard Building

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802-4400

Phone: 814-865-7601

FAX: 814-863-4745