US-Turkey Workshop: Women in Industrial Engineering Academia - U.S. and Middle East

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

0728947 Smith Scope: This project is to support the "US-Turkey Workshop: Women in Industrial Engineering Academia-U.S. and the Middle East", to be held in Istanbul and in Ankara, Turkey during June, 2008. The organizers are Dr. Alice E. Smith, Department of Industrial Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama and Dr. Berna Dengiz, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey as well as Dr. Rym M'Hallah, Kuwait University, Kuwait. The workshop will focus on the current environment for women academics in this field in the regions involved and formulate workable solutions to problems of recruitment, retention and advancement. While women form a relatively large proportion of industrial engineering undergraduate students, female women academics in the same field are an overwhelming minority. However, Turkey has a relatively large proportion of women academics in this field, and therefore is in an ideal position to host this workshop. Related departments and majors to industrial engineering will also be included. The workshop is expected to last five full days and will take place in both Istanbul and Ankara. Within Ankara and Istanbul there are multiple industrial engineering departments (at different institutions of higher learning). Two industrial plant trips are planned, one in Izmit and the other near Ankara. Topics of discussion include obtaining a faculty position, advancement through academic ranks, enhancing research capability and productivity, publishing in scholarly journals, international collaborations, and combining family issues with an academic career. While the workshop will be in Turkey the workshop is regional. Dr. M'Hallah is a Tunisian woman industrial engineering professor who is currently on the faculty of Kuwait University. Besides Turkey and Kuwait, support has been secured by academic institutions in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Oman. The U.S. attendees to be supported, other than the PI and her senior assistant, comprise six senior academics, four junior academics and two doctoral students who plan an academic career. Expected attendance from Turkey and other Middle East countries will total about 30 and be divided similarly among those categories with possibly more attendance from the junior rank and doctoral students. Thus, total attendance will be about 45, all or nearly all female. The PI has a long relationship with Middle Eastern, especially Turkish, scientists including research on women in engineering INTELLECTUAL MERITS: The intellectual merit of the workshop is to provide a forum to bring together a diverse and highly qualified set of academics to focus on the important issues surrounding women in industrial engineering academia. The broader impacts of the workshop are to stimulate positive interactions between the U.S. and the Middle East, increase the number of qualified women who choose to pursue advanced industrial engineering degrees and enter academia, and to improve the retention and advancement of current women academics in the field. BROADER IMPACTS: This workshop should contribute to a better understanding of the issues affecting the recruitment, retention, and success of women faculty in industrial engineering, and also should directly impact the success of participants and the students and colleagues with whom they interact. It should help stimulate positive interactions between the U.S. and the Middle East increase the number of qualified women who choose to pursue advanced industrial engineering degrees and enter academia. A proceedings of the Workshop will be published on CD ROM and also be available from the Workshop website. The proceedings will include papers, presentations, films and pictures. Portions of the Workshop will be carried on live satellite television through the capabilities of Baskent University.