Continuous Growth and Expansion of Research Activities

By the winter of 1967-68, Professor Amrine decided that he had served long enough as head of the School of Industrial Engineering and requested a return to full-time teaching and research. Dean Richard C. Gosh moved rapidly to choose a successor to Amr ine and, by June 1, 1968, announced that Ferdinand F. Leimkuhler was to be the new head. Since Leimkuhler had arranged for sabbatical leave at the University of California (Berkeley) for 1968-69 and would be away until September 1, 1969, Amrine continued as head until Leimkuhler return. Things worked out well around, for Amrine had accepted a visiting professor at Arizona State University for the following year, 1969-70.

When Amrine asked to be relieved of his administrative responsibilities, he had not foreseen that he would continue to be caught up in other administrative positions in the University. On his return from Arizona State, however, he was invited to become an associate director of the Division of Sponsored Programs in the Purdue Research Foundation on a part-time basis. Then in 1973 he was asked to head the Department of Freshman Engineering. He remained in this latter position while continuing to teach in Industrial Engineering until his retirement in 1981.

In discussing the needs of the School of Industrial Engineering with Grosh in early 1968, Amrine had suggested that his successor be someone who had a strong research orientation and would be able to provide leadership in securing outside research supp ort. Leimkuhler had acquired an excellent reputation in the field of library systems and had type of credentials that the school appeared to need.

In an early letter to Dean Grosh (dated July 15, 1968), Leimkuhler recommended the following:

Leimkuhler's suggestion that one of the areas of development should be a flexible 5-year curriculum leading to a professional M.S.I.E./B.S.I.E. degree program was an outgrowth of much dialogue in engineering education circles throughout 1968 and 1969 t hat the first professional degree should be at the master's level. Incidentally, this attention grew out of an ASEE "Goals Study" headed by Purdue's Dean Hawkins. Much debate took place about the desirability of such a program, but the increasing demand f or engineering graduates and the strong proponents of four-year B.S.I.E. programs prevailed. Purdue continued to grant the first degree at the bachelor's level.

One of Leimkuhler's earliest administrative decisions was to appoint James W. Barany as associate head. Barany, who had joined the staff as a graduate instructor in 1958 and been reappointed to the faculty following completion of his Ph.D. in 1961, was of the greatest assistance in helping administer the School in the period of rapid growth ahead.

Leimkuhler was able to attract several new staff members in 1970, including James G. Anderson (jointly with Sociology) from the University of New Mexico and Don T. Phillips, as a visiting professor, from the University of Texas at Austin. Phillips was appointed to a permanent position in 1971, but left Purdue in 1975 to accept a position at Texas A&M University. While at Purdue, however, he co-authored an award winning text in operations research with "Ravi" Ravindran and James J. Solberg.

A key appointment in 1970 was the hiring of A. Alan B. Pritsker from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Pritsker had already attained national prominence in operations research and simulation and had received the American Institute of Industrial Engineers' Distinguished Research Award in 1966. His appointment at Purdue, made jointly with the School of Aeronautics, Astronauts and Engineering Science, was to become director of and to establish a Center for Large Scale Systems. The new C enter was to prove to be beneficial in helping to attract several outstanding staff members in 1971: Clifford C. Petersen from the Motorola Corporation; James J. Solberg, who is currently director of the Engineering Research Center, from the University of Toledo; and David G. Olson from Northwestern University. Joseph J. Talavage, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, joined the group in 1972. These new staff members, along with Arnold L. Sweet from the Engineering Science Staff, very quickly become i nvolved in a major research study of the John Hancock Building in Chicago. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation for the purpose of performing a complete investigation of all of the interactive elements of a metropolitan "sky scraper. " Unfortunately, this project was to prove to be a major undertaking of the short-lived Center. In 1973, the Center was discontinued.

Ninteen seventy-one was also a banner year in attracting outstanding staff to Industrial Engineering. In addition to those mentioned above, Leimkuhler hired Gavriel Salvendy from the University of New York in Buffalo. Salvendy, who joined James Buck an d James Barany in the human factors area, was another member of the IE staff who acquired an international reputation. He also worked closely with Ernest J. McCormick and others in the Psychology Department in strengthening group efforts, including the jo int offering of a graduate course.

Changes were also taking place in the undergraduate curriculum. In January 1971 the credit hours requirement for graduation was reduced from 132 to 128. The curriculum changes provided a stronger core program in industrial engineering analysis and desi gn and greater flexibility in elective courses. As a part of the school's continuing efforts to maintain strength in manufacturing, two new courses were introduced and the students were able to take additional elective courses at the senior and graduate l evels. A second course in operations research was added at the junior level and three new accelerated courses were introduced for use by honors students as prerequisites for entering graduate students. Lastly, a new industrial practice seminar was made av ailable to the students enrolled in the Cooperative Engineering Education Program.

Professor Ruddell Reed, Jr., was honored in 1971 by being made a fellow of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers. Keith Casteel, a junior in industrial engineering, brought recognition both to himself and his school by being selected as the st udent representative on the Board of Trustees. He was also the second recipient of the H.T. Amrine Award which was established in 1970 to recognize an exceptional student in Industrial Engineering. The first recipient of this award was James R. Evans (See Table 8 in the Appendix for other recipients). James Evans also won first place in a national competition for the American Institute of Industrial Engineers' Outstanding Student Award.

The graduate program continued to gain strength, and several new courses were approved by the Graduate Council in 1970-71. Research was being supervised by the faculty in several general areas: health care systems, human factors, materials processing, information systems, operations research, and simulation. The growing interdisciplinary evidenced by the fact that two of its members, Barash and Moodie, were serving as research directors for the Purdue Laboratory for Applied Industrial Control headed by Professor Theodore J. Williams.

In the academic review for the president in November 1971, Leimkuhler pointed out a number of recurring problems: the need for larger lecture rooms to handle increasingly larger classes, the need for additional office space, the need to renovate the ma nufacturing engineering laboratories, and the need for increased research support.

The undergraduate enrollment continued to grow and reached an all-time high of 333 in fall 1971. (See Table 4 in the Appendix) The placement of the 1970-71 graduates was good, as in previous years, and most of them secured jobs in large manufacturing f irms.

Indicative of the gradual change in the graduate program, several new graduate courses were offered for the first time in 1971-72, including research design and analysis, dynamic programming, general systems theory, sheet metal deformation processes, s ystems evaluation and design, planning and evaluation of large scale systems, and graph theory and combinatorics. Four additional new courses were approved by the faculty to be offered over the next two years, namely, psychomotor skills in occupational ta sks, research seminar in human factors (to be offered jointly with Psychology), system simulation using GASP II, and advanced simulation design and analysis. It is evident from these courses that the school was increasing its emphasis on human factors, sy stems, and simulation.

In 1972, the Schools of Engineering appointed John C. Hancock the new dean of Engineering. Hancock, who had been head of Electrical Engineering, proved not only to be an outstanding dean but also a staunch supporter of the School of Industrial Engineer ing. He exercised leadership in getting CIDMAC and other research activities started in which IE staff members would become involved.

Professor Stephen D. Roberts joined the faculty in 1972 with a unique joint appointment in the School of Industrial Engineering and in the Regenstrief Institute of Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. He previously had been director of th e Health Systems Research Center at the University Florida. Also in 1972, Ruddell Reed, Jr. was appointed the first Ball Brothers Professor of Engineering at Purdue. Among other honors bestowed on the faculty were the Man of the Year Award to Lascoe by th e Society of Plastics Industry; an honorary Doctor of Aeronautical Engineering Degree to Amrine by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; and selection of Leimkuhler as a distinguished lecturer for the American Society for Information Science. One sad even t that year was the death of Phillip A. Reed, who had been with the School since 1968. Reed in his quiet friendly manner made significant contribution to the school, and it was difficult to replacehim with a person with the same level of versatility.

The termination of the Center for Large Scale Systems during 1972-73, the discontinuance of the curriculum in Engineering Science in the fall of 1972m and the subsequent relocation of many faculty members associated with the Large Scale Systems program made it desirable to find new approaches to the organization of such a broad-based academic program. The large scale systems option and related courses in Industrial Engineering, however, continued to be offered to those interested students and those com pleting studies under the program. As a result of the closing Center, Pritsker, Petersen, Sweet, and Talavage joined the Industrial Engineering faculty on a full-time basis in 1973-74.

Typical of the pattern that was being established over the years, a number of conferences and short courses were held during 1972-73m namely, a special Training Program for the Shell Company, the 9th Annual Work Methods and Measurement Conference, a sh ort course on mathematical programming, a symposium on systems engineering and analysis, a manufacturing management conference, and conferences in metal fabricating.

Funded research continued to increase in 1972-73, and the following are examples of the types of projects being undertaken: Olson, "A Study of Oil Spill Strategy for the Coast Guard"; Salvendy, "Acquisition of Psychomotor Skills in Dentistry" for NIH; Philips and Buck, "A Study of Automation Aspects of Naval Surface Ships"; Moodie, Philips and Talavage, "A Study of Computer Control Systems in Industrial Operations"; Pritsker, Solberg, Petersen and Sweet, "Self Contained Building Concepts and Analysis" for NSF; Lascoe and El Gomayel, "An Investigation of Flo-Peeling and Other Alternatives to Conventional Turning" for the U.S. Army Weapons Command.

Two changes took place in the faculty at the end of the 1972-73 school year. Thomas Hill resigned to join the Garrett Corporation in Phoenix, Arizona, and James Anderson changed his status to full-time in the Department of Sociology. Salvendy received two distinguished honors: the Gold Medal Award of the Japanese Industrial Management Society for his outstanding research contributions and the Phil Carroll Award for Outstanding Achievement by the Work Methods and Measurement Division of the American Ins titute of Industrial Engineers. Ruddell Reed was selected for the Alumnus of the Year Award (1973) by Glenville State College. Charles L. Brooks, who had been a valuable member of the service staff, retired after 22 years of service.

By 1973-74, almost 1500 B.S.I.E. degrees, almost 400 master's degrees, and over 75 Ph.D.'s had been granted. (See Table 4 in the Appendix) Thus, the School of Industrial Engineering clearly demonstrated the tremendous contribution that it had made was making to the profession of industrial engineering.

Several staff changes occurred in 1973-74, including the appointment of Michael P. Deisenroth from Georgia Institute of Technology; Olson's resignation to accept a position in the U.S. Navy Research Laboratories and Amrine's appointment as head of the Freshman Engineering Department. Although there had been considerable emphasis in recent years on the use of computers in industrial engineering, the appointment of Deisenroth marked an increase in emphasis that was to accelerate over time. There was no d oubt that the "computer" had become an integral part of industrial engineering design.

Professor Moodie introduced "self-paced instruction" in two of his courses in 1973, and, in 1974, was selected by the students as the outstanding teacher in Industrial Engineering (See Table 9 in the Appendix for more recent recipients). Several one-cr edit mini courses were taught in 1973 with success, and the G.A. Ross Award was presented to Robert S. Dittus as the most outstanding senior.

In 1973-74 Dr. Leimkuhler decided to relinquished his position as head and to return to full-time teaching and research. An appraisal of his tenure as head would include a number of beneficial changes: enlarging and strengthening the faculty, increasin g research funding (see Table 4 in the Appendix), and establishing industrial engineering as a strong component of the Schools of Engineering.

Leimkuhler's successor in 1974 was Wilbur L. Meier, who had been chairman of Industrial Engineering at Iowa State University. Meier was a personable, dedicated, energetic, and aggressive head whose aim was to make the Industrial Engineering Program at Purdue the most outstanding in the nation. He placed great stress on the need for outside funding to support a strong research and graduate program, but he was at the same time, a firm believer in a balanced program containing excellent students, a highly competent faculty, well equipped laboratories, and strong ties with industry.

An early problem for Meier was the continuing decline in the undergraduate enrollment. Caught in the national dilemma of a decline in engineering enrollment, Purdue's industrial engineering enrollment, which had grown to apeak of 333 in 1971-72, had de clined to 235 in 1974-75 and to a low point of 194 in 1975-76. (See Table 4 in the Appendix) Among the first steps taken by Meier were attempts to strengthen the school's ties with the Freshman Engineering Department, to introduce greater flexibility into the undergraduate curriculum, and to strengthen the student chapters of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers and Alpha Pi Mu. By fall 1975, enrollment had began to turn around and rose to 235 students - the beginning of a positive growth that c ontinued a number of years and that gradually posed the observe problem - one of overwhelming numbers. Part of the growth in enrollment at this time could be attributed to the increasing interest of women and minorities in engineering and the fact that in dustrial engineering was becoming one of the most popular choices of the women in the Freshman Engineering Department. By 1975 there were 16 women undergraduates enrolled in industrial engineering (8% total). This was, incidentally, only the beginning of a trend that would reach 164 (33%) by 1983.

Several items in the 1975-76 Annual Report Illustrate the developments that were beginning to take place under Meier's leadership: the number of sophomore students entering the school had increased over 1974; the students received three national awards ; Charles M. Macal won the American Institute of Industrial Engineers Outstanding Graduate Research Award for his thesis, "Health Manpower Planning and Policy Assessment" (supervised by A.A.B. Pritsker); Janice Kinder was named the most outstanding junior class woman engineering student; the teaching and research laboratories were strengthened through the addition of new laboratories; the restricted research funds increased by 40% to $420,00; and the school was rated among the top five nationally in two p olls. The operations research faculty was strengthened by the addition of Dr. Thomas L. Morin from Northwestern University but suffered a loss in the resignation of Don T. Phillips, who left to join the faculty of Texas A&M University.

By fall 1976, Meier had set a number of goals for the school, including an increase in externally funded research to $525,000; a strengthening of the graduate and research programs with a total of 90 to 100 graduate students and 40 outstanding doctoral students; an increase in the undergraduate enrollment to 350 students; the recruiting of three new faculty members with research and industrial experience in manufacturing systems engineering, public policy analysis, or human factors engineering; and the expanding and developing of laboratories, the addition of computer hardware and peripheral in the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, and the renovation of the Human Factors Laboratories as required.

The staff in the production systems area was increased in 1976 by Randall P. Sadowski, a Purdue Ph.D., who had been on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, and in 1977 by Shimon Y. Nof, from the University of Michigan.

In a faculty retreat in January 1977, Meier discussed his philosophy of the graduate program in Industrial Engineering:

From 1977 to 1981 the overall objectives of the school continued on much the same philosophy that Meier had expounded in previous years. In the graduate and research are, there was pressure to increase outside funding to in excess of $1,000,000 per yea r, to begin research in new areas such as transportation and mining, and to improve the dissemination of research findings. Efforts were made to increase the undergraduate enrollment to in excess of 450 students. Stress was placed on improving the quality of Purdue's Cafeteria System of Instructor Evaluation. A major redesign and remodeling of the laboratories and offices in Michael Golden was also begun.

The dedication of the Andrey A. Potter Engineering Center took place in 1977. Developed under the leadership of Dean Hancock, the Potter Center provided new homes for research oriented interdisciplinary centers that had been or were to established. Var ious Industrial Engineering staff members and students would become involved in these Centers over the years, notably, Professor Barsh, Fraser, Leimkuhler, Moodie, Morin, Nof, Sadowski, Solberg, Sparrow, Stewart, Talavage, and Tanchoco.

Professor Lascoe retired in 1978 after 36 years at Purdue. He had done an outstanding job securing materials, machines, and equipment and maintaining Purdue's position as a leader in the manufacturing engineering area. It was quite fitting in his final year that he was chosen for the Outstanding Teaching Award in Industrial Engineering. Lascoe's successor as the director of the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory was one of his former students, Joseph I. El Gomayel, who had joined the staff in 1967.

Frederick T. (Tom) Sparrow, who had been head of Industrial Engineering at the University of Houston, was given a joint appointment in 1978 in the School of Industrial Engineering and in economics in the Krannert School. He subsequently became director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies in Potter Center in 1980. Another 1978 appointee was C. Richard Liu, an expert in manufacturing processes, who came from Stanford University (and prior to that from the Whirlpool Corporation). In 1979, Bruce W. Schemeiser, from Southern Methodist University, joined the faculty in the areas of stochastics, simulations and operations research.

Two members of the service and clerical staffs, Kenneth Hall and Phyllis Roberts, retired in 1978 and 1979, respectively; and a valuable new appointee, Daniel L. Brickler, became a technical assistant and building deputy in Grissom Hall in 1978.

Alan Pritsker was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers in 1978 and was also the recipient of the Maynard Innovation Award. One of the graduate students, James R. Wilson, also was honored by AIIE by being awarded the Gradua te Research Award. Professor Shimon Nof received an NSF Course Improvement Grant in 1978, which led to the development of a Manufacturing Facility Simulator Laboratory. Ruddell Reed, a strong and unwavering voice on professionalism and the adherence to so und engineering standards, was forced to take disability retirement in 1978 and died soon after. He had acquired an outstanding reputation in the facilities design, worked tirelessly to develop programs for the continuing education of engineers in Indiana , and had helped established the graduate program in Industrial Operations in Indianapolis. He was an excellent teacher and left his imprint on many students.

James Greene, a long-time staff member, reached retirement age in 1980, but chose to continue teaching for a few more years on a part-time basis (until May 1985). Greene had become well known for his scholarly contributions and teaching in the producti on control and production management areas. He also one of the major contributors to the master of science program in Industrial Operations offered in Indianapolis and Kokomo.

By fall 1980, Industrial Engineering was "bursting its seams" with 502 undergraduate and 99 graduate students. The situation was further complicated by a shortage of staff members. Industrial Engineering, like engineering nationally, was having difficu lty attracting well-qualified persons into the academic world and holding on to them. Competition among the universities was a real problem. In January 1981, James Buck resigned to become chairman of the Department of Industrial and Management Engineering at the University of Iowa.

Meier had made continuous efforts to improve teaching and to update and improve the offices and laboratories. His goal to increase outside funding was also bearing fruit: during 1980-81 the funds reached a new high of $1,223,000. (See Table 4 in the Ap pendix)