Noteworthy: Stanford celebrates Department of MS&E anniversary
L-r: Jim Plummer (dean of engineering), Professor Stephen Barley (chair of the Organizing Committee), Elisabeth Pate-Cornell (MS&E department chair) and Teresa Schaffer Medearis (former executive, Hewlett-Packard) celebrate MS&E anniversary.
Stanford University’s Department of Management Science & Engineering (MS&E) celebrated its 10th anniversary and its magnificent new home – the Huang Engineering Center – in grand fashion on Oct. 15. MS&E was formed in 2000 with the merger of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IE-EM) and the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research (EES-OR). Faculty, staff, graduates, students and guests attended the festivities, which ran from morning to night.
The day began with breakfast, an opening fanfare performed by members of the “Stanford Brass Ensemble” and a series of welcoming remarks by Stanford President John L. Hennessy, School of Engineering Dean Jim Plummer and Department Chair Elisabeth Pate-Cornell. Punctuated by coffee breaks, the remainder of the morning was devoted to three groups of talks. William J. Perry, professor emeritus and former Secretary of Defense, delivered the Faculty Keynote address. The second group consisted of eight “briefings” on research initiatives given by representative faculty members. A sampling of doctoral students then spoke on their research to round out the morning’s program.
Attendees assembled for lunch in the Huang building’s Mackenzie Room. There, Professor Stephen Barley, chair of the organizing committee, expressed thanks to members of the committee and others who had helped produce the celebration.
The afternoon portion had three segments as well. Karen Richardson, a principal at Silver Lake Sumeru, kicked off the first session by delivering the Alumni Keynote address. Afterward, six successful alumnae spoke to the audience about how their education had played an important role in their careers. The speakers included Shona L. Brown, senior vice president for Business Operations at Google, Inc.; Lawrence Wein, the Paul E. Holden Professor of Management Science, Stanford, GSB; Donna Novitsky, CEO of BigTent; Anne G. Robinson, Information and Data Strategy, Global Business Operations, Cisco; Ted Dintersmith, partner, Charles River Ventures; and Teresa Schaffer Medearis, former executive at Hewlett Packard and a member of Board of Directors of the San Francisco Opera. Professor Emeritus Richard Cottle brought the afternoon’s sessions to a close by recounting the academic history of the department since the end of the 19th century in his talk, “The Building of MS&E at Stanford.”
Later that evening, dinner was served outdoors in the Huang Center’s spacious courtyard.
