Celebrating Al Wallace’s Career as an Industrial Engineer

Al Wallace, in his own words

My time at Rensselaer started in June 1960 when I arrived with my family from completing my military service in Kodiak, Alaska. I enrolled in a 12 month M.S. in Management Engineering program, taking electives during the summer and finishing June 1961. The Department Chair at the time, Del Karger, was in the process of establishing the School of Management, and had gotten NYS approval for a doctoral program in Management. I enrolled and finished my degree in 1965. The department of Statistical, Management and Information Sciences (SMIS) became part of the School of Management. After completing my degree I founded and directed the Urban-Environmental Studies program for three years, returning to the School of Management as Chair SMIS. In 1987 Faculty from Management, Science and Engineering founded the Decision Sciences and Engineering Sciences Department whose Chair reported to the Deans of Management, Engineering, and Science; I was Acting Chair for the first year.

I was Director, and Director of Research, Center for Infrastructure and Transportation Studies from 1998 to 2009 and had a joint appointment as Professor of Civil Engineering. I was appointed Yamada Corporation Professor in 2009, a position I held until my retirement. I was Interim Department Head, Industrial and Systems Engineering from 2019 to 2021. I was the first reciprocate of the School of Engineering Outstanding Research Professor Award. I am now a Senior Research Scientist which enables me to work on sponsored research.

I was very fortunate to be able to take leave and be resident at the following institutions:

Consultant, Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment, National Research Council, Spring 2000.
Expert, Civil and Mechanical Systems Division, National Science Foundation, Spring 2000.
Visiting Professor, Systems Engineering and Policy Analysis, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, Fall 1999.
Visiting Professor, Polyproject: Risk and Safety of Technical Systems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, 1991-92.
Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss Air Force Base, New York, Summer Research Fellow, 1989.
Rockefeller Institute of Government, State University of New York, Faculty Fellow, Spring 1989.
National Center for Industrial Science and Technology Management Development, Dalian Institute of Technology, Dalian, People's Republic of China, Fall 1982 and Summer 1983. U.S. Faculty Member, Management Information Systems/Decision Support Systems.
International Institute of Environment and Society, Science Center, West Berlin, Germany, 1979. Research Fellow.
Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, School of Urban and Public Affairs, 1974-75. Visiting
Professor of Engineering and Public Affairs.
State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York, Graduate School of Public Affairs, 1973-74. Visiting Professor.

These activities were important learning experiences for me and in some cases, my family. Although I wasn’t able to learn any languages, either too difficult, i.e. Chinese, or my colleagues spoke English, i.e. Netherland and Germany, I was able to understand and appreciate the culture and always learned something that helped in both the classroom and my research.

I participated in the formation and growth of two professional societies that finally merged, Operations Research Society and Institute of Management Sciences. I felt that there was a need to establish a profession of management science in addition to industrial engineering. I was very fortunate to receive the President’s Award in 2004 from the merged society, INFORMS for "Work That Advances the Welfare of Society."

My research on information systems for traffic management won one annual National and four annual New York State awards for research on Advanced Traffic Information Systems.

I have over 200 publications, each of which has either a student, former student or RPI colleague as a co-author. In addition, I am editor or author of 10 books.

I was project director or co-director of over 150 grants for research and program development, and consultant or faculty associate on others. Organizations and agencies supporting the research include National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Transportation, (Federal Highway Administration, Maritime Administration, U.S. Coast Guard), Office of Naval Research, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Office of Education.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, awarded me the Third Millennium Medal in 2000, followed by electing me a Fellow the following year.

My elected and appointed positions on University and School governance committees, include Faculty Senate (President), Institute Committee on Tenure and Promotion (Chair), and Presidential Search. I also was a founding member of the Institute Committee on Diversity; School of Engineering Faculty Coach; and a member of the Rensselaer Retirement Committee.

I chaired the Committee on Case Materials, National Association of Schools of Public Administration and Affairs, 1977-78; and was Co-Director of case preparation project resulting in thirty cases in the Collegiate Case Clearing House, Soldiers Field Post Office, Boston, Massachusetts 02163, and cited in Intercollegiate Bibliography: Cases in Public Policy and Management, 1978; recipient of an award from the Rand Graduate Institute/Duke University Public Policy Curricular Materials Development Program.

I was Vice-Chair of the Committee on Implementing Advanced Information Systems for Safe and Efficient Maritime Commerce, National Research Council, Washington, DC. 1995-98; report entitled: Applying Advanced Information Systems to Ports and Waterways Management, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1999.

In addition, I was a member of Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment, National Research Council, 2001-2009 and the Committee on Disaster Research in the Social Sciences, National Research Council, 2003-2006; report entitled: Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions, National Research Council, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2006.

I also have consulted for Consultant in Management Science and Information Systems for the United Nations, state and local governments, Federal agencies, training and professional development organizations, and the maritime, mining, and nuclear power industries.

Of particular note is my recent work in Ethics and Information Technology. Funding was provided by National Science Foundation which supported a doctoral student and me to do field work, interviews with research administrators on the role of ethics in their organizations. In addition, I taught a course and developed material for the course with another PhD student. At present, a faculty member is teaching 2 courses on the topic of Ethics including inviting senior executives to give campus-wide talks on the subject of "Ethics in Industry." In addition, there have been seven papers on the subject published by students and myself.