Dear IE Family and Friends,

I am truly honored to serve as the James J. Solberg Head and Professor of the School of Industrial Engineering (IE) at Purdue. Purdue has always been very special to me. Four of my five PhD committee members, including my advisor at Penn State, were Purdue graduates. Many trailblazing scholars and leaders in my major research areas of intelligent manufacturing systems and modeling and simulation are of course Purdue graduates or faculty.

On behalf of the School, I want to thank Dr. Abhi Deshmukh for his leadership and contributions during his tenure as School Head, advancing the IE School tremendously over the last 10 years. In addition, I want to thank Dr. Barrett Caldwell for his leadership and contributions as interim School Head. Dr. Caldwell embraced his role, advanced the School, and made the transition smooth.

Over the next few weeks, I am planning to meet many Boilermakers to learn about all the great work going on in our School, College, and University. At the 2022 IISE Annual Conference and Expo in Seattle last week, I already had an opportunity to talk with several Purdue undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, alumni (both the industry and academia), and many Purdue supporters in the IE profession. I was enthused by everyone’s passion, expectation, and desire to make Purdue IE the top IE program in the country.

I look forward to working with all IE faculty, staff, students, alumni, IE Advisory Council, Dean Chiang, and the CoE leadership closely to further advance the School’s impact, visibility, and national and international standings via excelling in innovative discovery, learning, and engagement.

I know that we have one of the strongest IE alumni. We hope to see you back on campus at Homecoming on Sept. 23 and 24 when our Boilermakers take on the Florida Atlantic Owls. Come see old friends, meet new ones and share your insights on teaching, learning, discovery and partnership. And be sure to stop by Grissom to introduce yourself and say, "Hello". Boiler Up!

Warm regards,

Young-Jun Son

James J. Solberg Head and Professor, School of Industrial Engineering