This episode of "Problem Solved" launches the "IISE Career Path" series of shows about continuous improvement in education, work and life. IISE's James Swisher talks with two instructors from the IISE Training Center - Beth Cudney, an IISE Fellow from Maryville University, and Larry Aft, the recently retired Director of Continuing Education for IISE - about career moves, family legacies in ISE and Aft's long career of contribution to the profession and the training of ISE professionals.
Jan 28, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 11
This episode is an extended conversation based on a Case Study in the December 2020 issue of ISE magazine. Read the full article at: link.iise.org/isedec20_casestudy
Jan 14, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In this episode of "Problem Solved," we talk to three previous guests of the podcast – Bobbie Watts, Gretchen Macht and Ali Hobbs – about the "good, bad and ugly" lessons of 2020. The three professionals discuss the struggles and successes discovered in their careers and industries over the past year as well as their optimism for the heightened role and need for industrial and systems engineers in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Dec 10, 2020•52 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Social media info for SHS where you can follow #HSPI2021: Twitter: @shsinfo Facebook: @societyforhealthsystems Instagram: @society_for_health_systems LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/867527/
Nov 24, 2020•26 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode of "Problem Solved," Angie Jackman, an industrial engineer with NASA and project manager for the Mars Ascent Vehicle mission at the Marshall Space Flight Center, discusses her career and the role of industrial and systems engineers at the space agency with IISE member and Purdue University professor Barrett Caldwell.
Nov 13, 2020•34 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode of "Problem Solved," we highlight research by IISE members and academic leaders Laura Albert* of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Gretchen Macht at the University of Rhode Island on efforts to streamline procedures for in-person voting on Election Day. *Albert will be named a new IISE Fellow on Nov. 2 during the virtual IISE Annual Conference & Expo. More details on registration for the event can be found at: www.iise.org/annual
Oct 22, 2020•52 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Industrial engineering professor Shaul Ladany reflects on his life of research and teaching, his athletic career as a world-record race walker who competed in two Olympics, and growing up amid the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. This episode is sponsored by the University of Louisville Online Learning.
Oct 09, 2020•40 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In this episode of "Problem Solved," IISE's David Brandt chats with Elizabeth Gentry, Ph.D. from the University of Louisville and James Swisher of Hawkeye Business Solutions about technical communications. They discuss the many ways in which engineers need to practice their communications skills in working with both fellow engineers and non-engineers. Our guests have both highs and (sort of funny) lows to share with our audience as well as best practices to apply throughout a career. This episod...
Sep 24, 2020•40 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Stefan Enjem explains how ISE and Toyota tools – along with discriminating taste buds that desire delicious, gluten-free and low-sugar refreshment, have built a house of cider in Long Beach, California, one that has been able to withstand a pandemic that struck a month and a half after opening. This episode is sponsored by University of Louisville Online Learning.
Sep 10, 2020•42 min•Season 2Ep. 3
ISE faculty members Kim LaScola Needy and Manuel D. Rossetti from the University of Arkansas and Eileen Van Aken from Virginia Tech discuss how instructors and students adjusted to remote learning challenges during the pandemic shutdown last spring, along with the innovative lessons they are applying to the start of the fall semester. This episode is sponsored by the University of Louisville Online Learning.
Aug 27, 2020•52 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Season 2 premiere of "Problem Solved: The IISE Podcast."
Aug 13, 2020•52 min•Season 2Ep. 1
News reports have shared images and stories of the hardships endured by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic, many working long hours to serve seriously ill patients amid shortages of equipment and protective gear. In this bonus episode of Problem Solved, we discuss these challenges with Lynda Enos, a certified ergonomics and human factors consultant with HumanFit who specializes in safe patient-handling programs for hospitals and outpatient facilities. She discusses some of the...
Jun 25, 2020•30 min
In this bonus episode of "Problem Solved," we play interviews with healthcare engineers from May 2020 who have insight about how health systems are managing and operating through the COVID-19 crisis. We first chat with Amanda Mewborn, vice president of facility planning and development at Navicent Health in Macon, Georgia, about her experience on the frontlines of patient care during the pandemic. We also speak with Ali Hobbs, a healthcare consultant with Catalyst, a Haskell Company and Aaron Ka...
Jun 11, 2020•50 min
Sponsored by the University of Louisville: Cybersecurity is an ongoing challenge across all industries and sectors, public and private. In an era of expanding technology, how can data be safeguarded? In an election year, in particular, secure voting is a key concern. Natalie Scala, an associate professor at Towson University, has conducted research in decision analysis in areas that include election offices in Maryland, the energy industry and the U.S. military. In this episode of "Problem Solve...
Apr 23, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Sponsored by the University of Louisville: A more diverse workforce can and should include people with cognitive disabilities who have the skills and desire to contribute in many fields. Georgia Tech graduates Conner Reinhardt and Jhillika Kumar approached this problem by founding a startup company called Mentra (https://www.mentra.me/). They are designing an app to help autistic individuals find it easier to connect with jobs and mentors. The effort was inspired by Kumar’s older brother and her...
Apr 09, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Sponsored by the University of Louisville: Remember when a call from jail sparked an ISE project assigning inmates to various facilities in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections? And how that led to a startup company? Probably not, but Professor Tamás Terlaky of Lehigh University does. He and two of his former students, Dr. Mohammad Shahabsafa and Anshul Sharma, talk about how considering all inmate needs upfront reduces violence in the system, speeds up inmate treatment and counseling, tri...
Mar 26, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Sponsored by the University of Louisville: There's a little engineer inside all of us, according to Tina Agustiady. But as it turns out, her son - a first-grader - is already an engineer himself. It must run in the genes. As part of a career day event for her son's elementary school class, Agustiady gave a presentation that left the entire class wanting to become engineers, too. Inspired to become one herself because of her father's career, Agustiady, a certified Lean Six Sigma master black belt...
Mar 12, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 17
"Problem Solved" is live at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, sponsored by the Society for Health Systems. We're talking to attendees, speakers and other participants about their conference experience using three simple questions: Who are you? Why are you attending this conference? And what will be the focus of healthcare in the future? Listen to this brief interview from Feb. 26 with Mary Ellen Skeens from Philips Heal...
Feb 28, 2020•3 min
"Problem Solved" is live at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, sponsored by the Society for Health Systems. We're talking to attendees, speakers and other participants about their conference experience using three simple questions: Who are you? Why are you attending this conference? And what will be the focus of healthcare in the future? Listen to this brief interview from Feb. 26 with Eddie Perez-Ruberte from BayCare He...
Feb 28, 2020•4 min
"Problem Solved" is live at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, sponsored by the Society for Health Systems. We're talking to attendees, speakers and other participants about their conference experience using three simple questions: Who are you? Why are you attending this conference? And what will be the focus of healthcare in the future? Listen to this brief interview from Feb. 26 with Bianca Garcia from Emory Healthcare...
Feb 28, 2020•2 min
"Problem Solved" is live at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, sponsored by the Society for Health Systems. We're talking to attendees, speakers and other participants about their conference experience using three simple questions: Who are you? Why are you attending this conference? And what will be the focus of healthcare in the future? Listen to this brief interview from Feb. 26 with Tom West from The Green Dot Consult...
Feb 27, 2020•2 min
"Problem Solved" is live at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, sponsored by the Society for Health Systems. We're talking to attendees, speakers and other participants about their conference experience using three simple questions: Who are you? Why are you attending this conference? And what will be the focus of healthcare in the future? Listen to this brief interview from Feb. 26 with AJ Hobbs from Goldratt Consulting N...
Feb 27, 2020•1 min
"Problem Solved" is live at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, sponsored by the Society for Health Systems. We're talking to attendees, speakers and other participants about their conference experience using three simple questions: Who are you? Why are you attending this conference? And what will be the focus of healthcare in the future? Listen to this brief interview from Feb. 26 with Todd Banks from Wake Forest Baptist...
Feb 27, 2020•2 min
She had her eyes on a career as an industrial engineer ... until a human factors class at Clemson University opened her eyes to the world of ergonomics. Bobbie Watts, Ph.D., CPE, the director of ergonomics for Michelin Americas, has more than 20 years of experience in industrial engineering, ergonomics and human factors. In this episode of "Problem Solved," Michael Hughes talks to Watts about her eclectic resume, what she advises as a mentor to students of all ages, and how networking has aided ...
Feb 13, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 16
"Take one breath." That's the advice from Ashley Benedict, Ph.D. for anyone who wants to take the first step toward change. In 2019, she got a chance to participate in an eight-week mind-body class through her work at the VISN 8: VA Sunshine Healthcare Network, and it changed her perspective on how taking time to focus inward can impact the outward work. In this episode of "Problem Solved," Benedict describes her self-discovery journey, strategies for incorporating mindfulness into your daily wo...
Jan 23, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 15
IISE is marking its first 5,000 downloads with an episode that digs behind the scenes both "Problem Solved: The IISE Podcast" and ISE magazine. In this episode, David Brandt sits down with fellow IISE staff members Keith Albertson and Michael Hughes to discuss their shared professional backgrounds in journalism, their transition from newspapers to writing and reporting for IISE's communications department, the role members play in finding and developing news stories for ISE magazine, and their f...
Jan 09, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Hailing from Brittany in France, Johanna Ficatier’s career has landed her in cultures as diverse as Japan and Rochester, Minnesota. In this episode of "Problem Solved," the Mayo Clinic Senior Health Systems Engineer describes how the joy she gets from engineering interventions that help patients and doctors has her aiming to stay in healthcare at Mayo – which has more than seven decades of using engineering to improve clinical outcomes. Ficatier, active every year in IISE’s Engineering Lean &...
Dec 26, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In this episode of "Problem Solved," Betsy Plattenburg, executive director of Curiosity Lab, discusses the smart city test environment created in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, near Atlanta. She describes the autonomous vehicle tests at Curiosity Lab plus other smart city technology and challenges in a conversation with Managing Editor Keith Albertson. Look for more on smart cities and Curiosity Lab in the January issue of ISE magazine, the first installment in our series, "2020 and Beyond: The Fut...
Dec 12, 2019•20 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In making a better world, Artificial Intelligence will be your cognitive partner, not your robot overlord, IBM’s Ben Amaba and Binghamton University’s Michael Testani tell us in this episode of “Problem Solved.” ISEs skilled in handling inventory and integrating systems can translate those talents and human factors knowledge to collecting, storing, analyzing and presenting data – all while skyrocketing your salary. Amaba and Testani encourage ISEs to take the lead in democratizing AI and Big Dat...
Nov 14, 2019•51 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The fabled 20-8-2 rule for office workers (sit 20 minutes, stand 8 minutes, walk 2 minutes) has real-world validity, according to Mark Benden, director of Texas A&M’s Ergonomics Center, in this latest episode of "Problem Solved." But keeping your workforce – whether office-bound, at home or in a factory – healthy, happy and productive involves a systematic combination of human, equipment and training that will vary by employee. Benden also discusses how artificial intelligence and machine le...
Oct 24, 2019•47 min•Season 1Ep. 10
