This award recognizes the chapter’s excellence in diverse areas such as organization, student support, and community service activities during the 2017-18 academic year. It is the highest honor in IISE’s University Chapter Recognition Program. The Purdue chapter has received this award for 19 of the last 20 years.

"The members of IISE continue to amaze me with their innovative spirit and passion for success," said M. Alex Kortepeter, Purdue IISE President. "Last year we saw a tripling of career fair size, a funding increase of $40,000 yearly, and a strengthening of alumni and corporate relationships. This year has even more in the works, with a weekend camping trip and professional leadership training quickly approaching - but any Purdue IISE member will tell you that the best part of the organization is the lifelong friends made throughout their journey in IE."

Student support activities included piloting Six Sigma training (which had over 90 sign-ups and brought in additional funds for the club), an increase in IE Career Fair size every semester since its creation, a first-ever CASE competition, signing up and funding students for Dale Carnegie training courses, creating the first-ever IISE alumni network with over 300 members, raising over $6,000 through the Purdue Day of Giving, and hosting over 80 events in the past year.  

The 2017-18 IISE officers this semester are: President – M. Alex Kortepeter, Vice President - Annika Mabe, Secretary - Andrew Jeng, Treasurer - Devin McDonough, Ambassador Director - Shane Addington, Professional Development Director - Aruzhan Bazylzhanova, Programs Director - Rachel Harmon, and Public Relations and Marketing - Caroline Fallon.

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.