Harriet B. Nembhard wins 2022 Alumni Merit Award - Industrial & Operations Engineering

Harriet B. Nembhard, Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa and U-M Industrial and Operations Engineering alum, has won the 2022 Alumni Merit Award. An award ceremony will be held for Nembhard on Sept. 23, 2022 in the U-M IOE building.

Nembhard received her Ph.D. and M.S. from U-M IOE. She received a B.S. in industrial engineering from Arizona State University and a B.A. in management from Claremont McKenna College.

Prior to her time at the University of Iowa, Nembhard held leadership positions at Oregon State University and Penn State University. She specializes in applied statistics and operations research. Her work has led to many advances in manufacturing and healthcare, including forecast-based monitoring and real options models for production systems, simulation tools for assessing emergency department patient flow, a patented imprint lithography manufacturing process for medical devices and a sensor-based system to conduct early screening of Parkinson’s disease.

Nembhard is widely published in leading professional journals, and has co-authored a textbook, Healthcare Systems Engineering. She also works to develop an inclusive community in STEM fields focused on diversity, equity and opportunity. She has worked with numerous professional societies to further these efforts including NSF ADVANCE, NSF LATTICE, NSF TECAID, National Academy of Engineering and Society of Women Engineers.

Nembhard’s work has been recognized with election as a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE), as a Fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.