Organization and Management Theory OMT

Dear colleagues,

As many of you may already know, NSF has funded our proposal for the REU SITE: Educating the culturally-sensitive industrial engineer: A complex interdisciplinary systems perspective to global IE issues". 

This three year REU site program at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) provides research experiences for undergraduate students focused in the area of industrial and systems engineering. Students from US universities are expected to participate in a six-week summer program over summer. Students from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez participate in a fifteen week program during the academic year.

This REU site takes advantage of the unique location of Puerto Rico with a distinct Hispanic Caribbean culture without technically leaving the US territory. Puerto Rico's highly industrialized manufacturing environment will expose the participants to some of the challenges of working in a global economy. The set of planned research, cultural and professional activities is aimed at providing students with an opportunity for developing culturally sensitive management skills most needed to excel in today's business world. Students will work 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.

Please pass this information to your students.  Application deadline is February 15^th, 2010. The following URL takes you to the REU web site  http://ininweb.uprm.edu/iSSER/reuweb/index.htm.  The web site has all the application requirements and information about the summer program and the research projects offered. We have 8 different research programs in which they will be able to enroll.

 Viviana Cesaní, Ph.D.                                                Alexandra Medina-Borja, Ph.D.

Professor, Industrial Engineering                                Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering

Vivianai.cesani@upr.edu                                      Alexandra.medinaborja@upr.edu