REU SITE: Educating the culturally-sensitive industrial engineer: A complex interdisciplinary systems perspective to global IE issues

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Proposal: 0851879PI Name: Viviana I. Cesani"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."This proposed three year REU site program at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM) will provide research experiences for undergraduate students focused in the area of industrial and systems engineering. Students will be recruited from US universities such as the University of Missouri-Columbia, Texas State University, University of Central Florida, and Virginia Tech to participate in a six week summer program and students from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez to participate in a fifteen week program during the academic year. This REU site will take advantage of the unique location of Puerto Rico with a distinct Hispanic Caribbean culture and a highly industrialized manufacturing environment to expose the participants to some of the challenges of working in a global economy. The proposed activities are aimed at providing students an opportunity for developing culturally sensitive management skills most needed to excel in today's business world by working on inter-cultural work teams on research problems that require a more profound understanding of society and the environment as a complex system. Students will learn to use IE analytical techniques in non-traditional and non-structured very complex societal problems, service-delivery systems, manufacturing facilities and complex mathematical modeling.In addition to the hands-on research experience, the students will participate in the following educational activities: 1) workshops on research skills, graduate school preparation, scholarly writing and presentation skills; 2) plant tours to a pharmaceutical company and a large biomedical devices manufacturer; and 3) a scientific site visit to the Department of Marine Sciences (DMS) of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Finally, a variety of social-cultural events will be available to enhance the cohort experience.The broader impacts of this REU site arise from the participation of undergraduate students who are women and underrepresented minorities. For UPRM students, access to present their work in international research conferences will greatly enhance their oral and written presentation skills and will expose them to the wider array of scientific opportunities in other universities.