This award recognizes the chapter’s excellence in diverse areas such as organization, student support, and community service activities during the 2016-17 academic year. It is the highest honor in IISE’s University Chapter Recognition Program. The Purdue chapter has received this award for 18 of the last 19 years.

"I'm so proud of our Purdue chapter for having the biggest Industrial Engineering career fairs this past fall and spring that IISE has ever hosted, right in Grissom. And we currently [hold more] corporate partnerships than any other IISE Chapter in the Great Lakes region," said Pamela Yuan, Purdue IISE President. 

Student support activities included organizing and attending talks by industry leaders, plant tours, social gatherings, and educational sessions, as well as participating in the IISE regional conference. Service activities involved tutoring and mentoring other undergraduate students, visiting local high and elementary schools to explain what engineers do, supporting organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, and participating in community projects such as Adopt-a-Spot/Lafayette.

Yuan is particularly proud of the strong and improved relationships Purdue IISE has created with industry partners, and of having the highest placement rate of full-time jobs and internships of all the IISE Great Lakes Conference region chapters. She said the Purdue chapter is "the most engaged with our professors and student body".

The 2017-18 IISE officers who spearheaded the chapter’s efforts were: President – Pamela Yuan, Vice President - Caroline Waas, Secretary - Patrick Prabowo, Treasurer - Claire Saracena, Ambassador Director - Sarah Pushis, Professional Development Director - Gather Borirackujarean, Programs Director - Megan Shevelson, and Public Relations and Marketing - Arpitha Gadag.

Founded in 1948, IISE is the world's largest professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial and systems engineering profession. It is an international, nonprofit association that provides leadership for the application, education, training, research and development of industrial and systems engineering.