In February two RPI undergraduate students, Nyati Misra '27 (BMED) and John Weller '27 (AERO), placed in the Top 4 out of 72 schools nationwide! They represented RPI with exceptional analytical rigor, professionalism, and ethical depth. Throughout the competition, they demonstrated remarkable composure, clarity of thought, and principled decision-making, serving as outstanding ambassadors for RPI. Dr. Azita Hirsa served as their faculty advisor for this competition. To learn more about the event, please reach out to Dr.

Please join ISE on Tuesday, March 17 at 4:00 PM in CII3206 for a colloquium featuring Dr. Emily Tucker's research on A Non-Variational Quantum Approach to Solving Combinatorial Optimization Problems: Iterative-QAOA!

Yue Zhao, one of our PhD students in Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems, presented his research conducted with Dr. Yinan Wang and others at the Poster Session during the Prospective Engineering Graduate Students Spring Day on February 20.

Dr. Azita Hirsa recently authored an Insights article entitled Let’s Talk About It in the Winter issue of ASEE’s PRISM. ASEE is the American Society for Engineering Education. The piece highlights the work of the Online Ethics Center’s webinars hosted by Dr. Hirsa and reflects her broader engagement in engineering ethics education, dialogue, and national professional outreach through ASEE.

Recently faculty, staff and students gathered to present a brief overview of some of their current research. Shown here presenting are some of our PhD students:  Carlos Morel Figueroa, John Nichols, Wang Ngai Wong, Batuhan Celik, Hongyue Tian, Miaomiao Feng, Jiayu Liu, Junfeng Wu, and Yue Zhao.

Recently faculty, staff and students gathered to present a brief overview of some of their current research. Shown here are faculty members Emily Liu, Jen Pazour, Diego Moran Ramirez, Bahar Cavdar, James Bailey, Yinan Wang and Nima Ahmadi.

At the end of this month RPI's student chapter of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers will host Lean Green Belt certification, taught by MANE Professor and Master Black Belt Dr. Ashish Ghosh! Lean Green Belt is a 3-day intensive course about Lean manufacturing, waste management, and engineering management. Any student is welcome to sign up! For a discounted price, register by this Friday 1/16/26. Registration is open until the week of the course.

Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff of the ISE Department recently celebrated the holidays with a potluck dinner at RPI. Santa made a surprise visit, and everyone enjoyed the gathering as Fall courses wind down.

Recently two ISE Department faculty members were honored at the 2025 Trustee Celebration of Faculty Achievement for their outstanding achievements and contributions to RPI this year. Dr. John E. Kelly, III, Chair of the Board of Trustees, and President Dr. Martin Schmidt presented the awards. Dr. Emily Liu was honored for being named the Chair Elect of CIEADH (Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Department Heads) . Also, Dr. Jen Pazour was honored for being named the James M. Tien ’66 Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems. Congratulations to both!

This semester several of our Industry Advisory Council members and guest Julia J. Lane lent their expertise to and taught sections of our course entitled Engineering Career Paths in Industry. Pictured here at the final class where student presentations were given are from left to right: 

(front row) Julia J. Lane (judge), Prof. Emily Liu, Olivia vonNieda

(back row) Jim Daviero, John Pfaff III (judge), Colleen Cunningham, Meredith Rousseau, Prof. Rostyslav Korolov, and Ryan Loggins 

Missing from the photo is Sara Laprade.