Two-time Michigan Engineering graduate and former faculty member at the Ross School of Business Julie Simmons Ivy will be returning to the University of Michigan (U-M) as a professor and the new chair of the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE), effective August 28, 2023.
“Michigan IOE has always held a special place in my heart and I am honored to have the privilege to serve as the next department chair,” Ivy said. “Industrial and operations engineers play a critical role as connectors, systems thinkers and modelers within engineering and are uniquely positioned to lead. I am looking forward to working with everyone to leverage our unique diaspora of expertise to be leaders and best.”
Ivy has been a professor of industrial and systems engineering and a Fitts Faculty Fellow in Health Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University since 2007. In 2023, she was designated as a Professor of Distinction with the title Edgar S. Woolard Distinguished Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering. She earned her BS and PhD in Industrial and Operations Engineering while at U-M and also received her MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a focus on Operations Research at Georgia Tech.
Ivy’s research interests are in the mathematical modeling of stochastic dynamic systems with an emphasis on statistics and decision analysis as applied to health care, public health and humanitarian logistics. This research is essential to researchers and practitioners who are addressing complex societal issues, such as health disparities, public health preparedness, hunger relief, student performance and personalized medical decision-making.
In addition to her research, Ivy is an active member of the Institute of Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS), where she served as the 2007 Chair (President) of the INFORMS Health Applications Society and the 2012–13 President of the INFORMS Minority Issues Forum. In 2022, she was named a Fellow of INFORMS, “for her service and significant contributions in healthcare and hunger relief, which have advanced the stature and recognition of the operations research and management science (OR/MS) profession, making it more inclusive for underrepresented members.” She is also a 2023 Fellow of IISE.
“Julie’s wide range of academic experiences and achievements will be invaluable as she steps forward to become the chair of IOE,” said Steven L. Ceccio, Dean of Michigan Engineering, the Vincent T. and Gloria M. Gorguze Professor of Engineering, a professor of naval architecture and marine engineering, and a professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics. “I look forward to her innovative and inclusive leadership.”
Ivy will be the thirteenth chair of the department, which was founded in 1955. She succeeds Brian Denton, the Stephen M. Pollock Collegiate Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, who has served as chair since September 2018.
“On behalf of IOE, I’m delighted to welcome professor Julie Ivy as my successor, as department chair and as a new faculty colleague,” Denton said.
