Biographical Sketch of Alice E. Smith
Alice E. Smith is Professor and Chair of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Auburn University. Previous to this position, she was on the faculty of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, which she joined in 1991 after industrial experience with Southwestern Bell Corporation. Dr. Smith has degrees in engineering and business from Rice University, Saint Louis University and Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Dr. Smith holds one U.S. patent and several international patents and has authored more than 150 publications which have garnered over 950 citations (ISI Web of Science). She won the E. L. Grant Best Paper Award in 1999 and in 2006, and the William A. J. Golomski Best Paper Award in 2002. Several of her papers are among the most highly cited in their respective journals. Dr. Smith holds editorial positions on INFORMS Journal on Computing, Computers & Operations Research, International Journal of General Systems and IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation.
Dr. Smith has served as a principal investigator on over $4 million of sponsored research. Her research in analysis, modeling and optimization of manufacturing processes and engineering design has been funded by NASA, the National Institute of Standards (NIST), Department of Transportation / Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Lockheed Martin, Adtranz (now Bombardier Transportation), the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Western Pennsylvania and the National Science Foundation (NSF), from which she was awarded a CAREER grant in 1995 and an ADVANCE Leadership grant in 2001. Her industrial partners on sponsored research projects have included DaimlerChrysler Electronics, Eljer Plumbingware, Extrude Hone, Ford Motor, PPG Industries and Crucible Compaction Metals. International research collaborations have been sponsored by the federal governments of Japan, Turkey, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Egypt, South Korea, Iraq and the U.S. She was named an Auburn University Philpott-WestPoint Stevens Distinguished Professor in 2001, received the Senior Research Award of the College of Engineering at Auburn University in 2001 and the University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering Board of Visitors Faculty Award in 1996.
Five of her doctoral students are in tenured positions at U.S. universities and two of these are NSF CAREER awardees. Dr. Smith is a Fellow of Institute of Industrial Engineers, a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers, a member of Tau Beta Pi, the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science and the American Society for Engineering Education. She is a Registered Professional Engineer in Industrial Engineering in Alabama and Pennsylvania.