Working on Things that Matter

This presentation focuses on an industrial engineer’s journey through the changing technological landscape, beginning with the dawn of the internet revolution, navigating through wireless connectivity and now AI, next-generation mobility, sustainable solutions—and the list goes on. By its very nature, industrial engineering plays a critical role in this rapidly evolving world we live in. At the nexus where humans, machines, systems, technology, and processes meet, we as educators and practitioners in this field need to embrace change, continually retooling ourselves to provide impactful solutions to society’s most pressing issues. In short, to ensure we remain relevant, we need to evolve more rapidly than other disciplines, but most importantly, work on things that matter which, in turn, can have a meaningful impact.

Anand Gramopadhye is the dean of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences at Clemson University and a 1992 UB IE PhD Alumnus. He joined Clemson in 1992 as an assistant professor. He was named chairman of the Industrial Engineering department in 2003 and assistant to the dean of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences in 2010. In 2011, he was appointed associate vice president for workforce development. Dr. Gramopadhye became dean of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences in 2013 where he now oversees 12 departments. Dr. Gramopadhye’s research areas include human factors in manufacturing and aviation systems, modeling humans in technologically complex systems, and using technology to solve challenging human-machine system design problems. He has served as principal investigator on more than 75 research grants and awards, generating more than $45 million in funding, and has co-authored over 300 publications. He is editor in chief of the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics. Dr. Gramopadhye is a named fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers and has been recognized twice by the National Academy of Engineering through the Frontiers in Engineering Program as one of the top 60 engineers in the country