Wayne State University (WSU) seeks to join the Center for Excellence In Logistics and Distribution (CELDi) that is currently comprised of the University of Arkansas (lead), the University of Missouri at Columbia, Virginia Tech, the University of California at Berkeley, Clemson University, Oklahoma State and Arizona State University.
The intellectual merit of this effort is the innovative applied logistics research solutions for addressing emerging challenges in the automotive, healthcare and defense industries. These projects will provide scientific answers to fundamental problems in the sustainability of logistics operations and their interface with product design decisions impacting automotive and defense industries. Further, the Center projects will lead to the development of novel real-time prediction and optimization models and methodologies for logistics systems in manufacturing and healthcare systems. The Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) department and other affiliated WSU faculty are experts in logistics, product development, and healthcare systems engineering with a track record of quality scholarship and numerous past and current NSF, DoT, DoD, and VA projects. Further, faculty has a long history of collaboration and success in conducting interdisciplinary applied research with industry.
The broader impact of the proposed Center on the industry is immediate due to the nature of I/UCRC. In addition, the project results will be disseminated to industry through publications and presentations at practitioner oriented conferences for broader distribution and impact. The proposed site will transform its ISE curriculum by enhancing applications taught in classes as well as industry guest lectures. Given rich ethnic, racial, and gender diversity of the WSU undergraduate and graduate student body, the Center will help attract and retain women and underrepresented minorities by providing applied research experience and opportunities to participate in integrated science, technology and engineering solutions at member companies. The proposed Center site will engage and enable these students to improve their skills by participating in interdisciplinary applied research projects with industry during academic year and summer internships. The proposed site's projects will be included within WSUs outreach efforts to community colleges and K-12.
