US-Turkey Workshop: Empowering Women in Industrial Engineering Academia - International Collaborations for Research and Education, Ankara, Turkey, March 2012

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

1042980 Smith Description: This award is to support a US- Turkey workshop on Empowering Women in Industrial Engineering Academia, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey in March 2012. The organizers are Dr. Alice E. Smith, Department of Industrial Engineering (IE) at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama and Dr. Dr. Zeki Ayag of Kadir Has University (KHU) in Istanbul, Turkey. The workshop builds upon a highly successful prior workshop held in Turkey in 2008. It allows broader participation by women from the Middle East, and provides emphasis on both research and teaching. There will be pre-workshop activities to help participants interact leading to a more productive and more effective meeting. A website will be developed to sustain the collaboration efforts. Significant support is provided by KHU for the logistics of the meeting. A planned tour at Mercedes-Benz facility in Turkey will provide a good perspective to the workshop participants as the majority of students that they mentor enter the field of industry as opposed to academia. Assessment of the workshop will occur at the conclusion of the workshop and 12-18 months afterward which will provide valuable insight. Intellectual merit: Articulation of and answers to the issues surrounding international collaborations and advancement in industrial engineering academia from a female perspective is needed. From the U.S. perspective, insights and approaches can be learned from Middle Eastern counterparts, who for the most part are more progressive in recruiting and advancing women in engineering academia despite their more traditional cultural heritages. From the Middle Eastern perspective, participating successfully in the international scholarly research arena and enabling international collaborations are areas where benefits can be gained from the U.S. participants. IE research, practice and education would benefit greatly from having successful female role models in the field and internationally, and the linkage between research and teaching is essential for success in academia. Many of the richer and more interesting industrial engineering research topics such as sustainable engineering lend themselves to a broader, more international examination, and this workshop will help to facilitate this need. Broader impacts: The workshop targets a very wide segment of industrial engineering women in academia from the U.S. and several Middle Eastern nations. Increasing the rate of female PhD production and recruitment into engineering would impact both engineering education and practice. The Turkish experience in terms of the fraction of female faculty is an interesting phenomenon and the creation of a strong education a research bond between US academics and their Turkish counterparts can encourage this development. The workshop will be an unusual opportunity for in depth interaction among the U.S. participants and Turkish and Middle Eastern academics, and will enhance future collaboration and sharing among the countries and will promote advancement of the important topic of women in engineering academia. This project is being funded by the Diversity and Outreach Prrogram in ENG and by the Office of International Science and Engineering.