By Li Han
Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center
Tsinghua University’s Department of Industrial Engineering was recently evaluated by a visiting international review board composed of members of the National Academy of Engineering in the United States. Its undergraduate program currently ranks among the top 20 and its graduate program currently ranks among the top 25 among 110-150 industrial engineering programs in the U.S., according to the international review board. The members of the review board during the review described Tsinghua undergraduate students as “superb.”
This is the first time for the IE Department to participate in such an international review. Tsinghua President Gu Binglin had a talk with the review board members, including six members from America’s National Academy of Engineering: Professor Don B. Chaffin from the University of Michigan; Professor Thom J. Hodgson from North Carolina State University; Professor Ellis Johnson from Georgia Institute of Technology; Professor Way Kuo from the University of Tennessee; Professor Thomas B Sheridan from MIT; and Professor Jeff Wu from Georgia Institute of Technology. The review board also made some suggestions for the future development of the IE Department.
“The international review helps the university know better the current development of its disciplines,” said President Gu.
“I think this type of evaluation at an international level is going to be very popular,” said Professor Chaffin. “We need to understand how in higher education different systems are developing and to share what works and what doesn’t work.”
Professor Gavriel Salvendy, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering,, expressed his satisfaction with the result. “It’s very helpful when we have the collective intelligence from the best professors around the world,” said Professor Salvendy.
The members of the review board also gave lectures to the students.
The Department of Industrial Engineering was established in 2001 with Dr. Gavriel Salvendy as the founding chair professor and department head. He is a Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He is expert in Human Factors and Ergonomics elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
(Photo by Guo Haijun)
