Two U-M Industrial and Operations Engineering faculty members receive promotions
The University of Michigan Board of Regents recently approved recommendations for the promotion of U-M IOE faculty members Dr. Joi-Lynn Mondisa and Dr. Siqian Shen.
On May 18, the University of Michigan (U-M) Board of Regents approved recommendations for the promotion of two U-M Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) faculty members.
The first is Dr. Joi-Lynn Mondisa, now an associate professor of industrial and operations engineering with tenure. Dr. Mondisa’s work was briefly highlighted by Provost McCauley at the Board of Regents meeting.
“I very strongly recommend Dr. Joi-Lynn Mondisa’s tenure and promotion to associate professor,” said an anonymous reviewer. “Dr. Mondisa’s research focuses on absolutely critical issues and challenges facing engineering education and her work has already contributed to and influenced the national discourse around broadening participation via mentoring.”
The second U-M IOE faculty member who received a promotion is Dr. Siqian Shen, now a professor of industrial and operations engineering.
“The decision to promote Dr. Shen to Professor should be an easy one,” said an anonymous reviewer. “Dr. Shen is a productive, creative, and accomplished member of the operations research community in industrial engineering who boasts an international research reputation. Very few of her peers have similar accomplishments in both research and service.”
Dr. Mondisa joined the U-M IOE faculty in the Fall of 2016. She earned a BS in General Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from Governors State University, and an MS in Industrial Engineering, and a PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University.
Dr. Shen joined the U-M IOE faculty in the Fall of 2011 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2017. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and was an Associate Director for the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering from 2016-2023. She earned her BS from Tsinghua University in China and her PhD from the University of Florida.
Dr. Mondisa and Dr. Shen have made a meaningful impact at the U-M IOE and are well-deserving of such promotion. Read more about their accomplishments below.
About Dr. Mondisa
Dr. Mondisa has successfully advised and graduated a PhD student and has five more PhD students, two of whom are expected to graduate in 2023-24. She has supervised undergraduate student research projects and serves as the faculty advisor for the Black Industrial Engineers (BIndx) program. Dr. Mondisa has also developed and taught three new courses including ENGIN 100 — Continuous Improvement and Operations Management), IOE 525 — Lean Principles and Scientific Thinking in Organizations, and EER 601 — Foundations of Engineering Education Research (EER)).
In addition to her teaching Dr. Mondisa has also dedicated herself to the development of impactful research in engineering education and mentorship. She has secured research funding of more than $8M (with her share totaling more than $2M), including a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and five other NSF grants. She has 15 peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and over 35 peer-reviewed presentations at prestigious conferences. Her research addresses critical issues facing engineering education with the potential to have a tremendous practical impact on improving mentoring practices. She has been recognized for her work through multiple awards and has established a reputation as one of the field’s rising stars.
About Dr. Shen
Dr. Shen has taught at all levels within the U-M IOE Department. Some of her most taught courses include IOE 310 – linear optimization, IOE 510 – linear optimization, and IOE 612 – network optimization. She has incorporated meaningful project work into her course
offerings and helped students bridge the gap between theory and practice. As a mentor, Professor Shen has graduated nine Ph.D. students to date and has another three in progress. Her students have won impressive awards and are placed into exemplary academic institutions and industry organizations.
In addition to her teaching, Shen focuses on research regarding optimization under uncertainty by using and developing algorithmic techniques for stochastic integer programming, robust optimization, and network optimization. This research applies to various areas, including healthcare operations and critical infrastructures such as transportation and energy. Professor Shen has over 70 archival-journal and refereed-conference publications, the majority appearing in top journals in her field. This is prodigious output in the context of all subfields of operations research and industrial engineering. Dr. Shen has a strong record of extramural support, federally and from industry, with a total candidate share of over $2.6M. Shen also has an impressive service and leadership record. Her role as the chair of the U-M IOE Graduate Recruitment and Admission (GRA) Committee is a highlight of her leadership within the
Department. She is on seven editorial boards and has served on many external committees, often in leadership positions for professional societies.
Overall, Dr. Shen’s contributions to teaching, course development, and student mentoring are excellent.