Your gift will make a tremendous impact on our department. Donations help fund chaired professorships, laboratory improvements, educational enhancement such as lecture series, as well as student scholarships and fellowships.
Here are a few examples of how Industrial and Systems Engineering alumni and friends have helped support our students and faculty:
“UB Industrial Systems and Engineering is consistently ranked among the top 25 ISE programs out of over 100 programs in the U.S. Our culture fosters mutual support and respect for all members of the UB ISE community - our undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, organizational and community partners, faculty, and staff. Alumni donations are used to support this culture. Donated funds provide scholarships and awards for undergraduate and graduate student excellence, fund students to attend regional and national conferences, host alumni events, hold distinguished alumni and researcher seminars, and celebrate the achievements of our students, faculty, staff and alumni.”
The Industrial and Systems Engineering Resource Fund is a current use fund and allows donors to make an immediate impact on priorities within the department as they arise, such as scholarships, conference travel, bringing distinguished speakers to campus and purchasing lab equipment. Gifts to this fund provide the flexibility to respond to our greatest areas of need.
The Thomas and Stephanie Wilde Chair's Excellence Fund provides undergraduate and graduate scholarships, awards, lab equipment and other departmental priorities. This fund was created by Thomas (BS, 1980) and Stephanie Wilde. As an endowed fund, gifts from the Thomas and Stephanie Wilde Chair's Excellence Fund provide steady, long-term support to the department.
Established by alum Pawan Vora, this fund provides fellowships to exceptional PhD students, helping to attract and retain outstanding talent and advancing the groundbreaking research being undertaken within the department.
In 2001, alum Bob Hanley (BS, 1990) established the Karwan Thomas Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship Fund to recognize two professors most instrumental in helping him complete his degree, Mark Karwan and Warren Thomas.
Mark Karwan, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Teaching Emeritus and Praxair Professor of Operations Research (Emeritus) is a former chair of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and served as School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean from 1994 to 2006. He has broad expertise in mathematical programming – modeling and algorithmic development. Some of his recent research includes providing alternate season schedules for the National Football League. Karwan has served as proposal reviewer for the National Science Foundation, associate editor or co-editor for various journals, and in leadership positions with different research-oriented organizations.
Warren Thomas, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus served as department chair for 18 years, and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean for undergraduate affairs for eight years. His research and teaching interests included discrete systems simulation, production and inventory control, and manufacturing systems engineering. He received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1973 and was promoted to Distinguished Teaching Professor in 1977.