Hi everyone!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Industrial & Systems Engineering year end banquet. They have one every year, but I haven’t ever been before. One of my friends, Nick, is a senior who is graduating this year, and he hadn’t been either. We decided that we both wanted to go, so we made a fun time out of dressing up together and going… and we had an awesome time! Here’s a picture of us before getting there.

ISE Banquet

The banquet was a lot of fun. I was able to touch bases with a few of the professors that I haven’t seen since taking their classes. It was really nice to see how they were doing and update them on some of what I’ve been up to. I especially enjoyed seeing Dr. Rakhshani, who taught my ISE 105 class and who I will have again next year for ISE 495, my senior design project. I was also lucky enough to be introduced to Mr. Dan Epstein himself! (The department is called the Daniel J. Epstein department of Industrial & Systems Engineering).

Besides eating and socializing, a few other things happened at the banquet. The keynote speaker was , who has been very involved with the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). She is currently an employee of The Boeing Company, and she gave a wonderful speech about the importance of networking and using your professional resources. Other highlights of the night included naming the student, teaching assistant, and professor of the year. Professor Bottlik, who I had for Engineering Economics (ISE 460) in Madrid last summer and Production Logistics (ISE 310) in the fall, won as professor of the year. Here’s a picture of me standing next to him after he won his award.

ISE Banquet 2

All in all, Nick and I had a fantastic time at the event. It was really nice to talk to my professors, peers, and alumni in a non-academic setting. I can’t wait for next year!