News

Dr. James Bookbinder was the recipient of the 2024 Award of Merit from the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS).

CORS brings together operational research professionals with annual conferences held across Canada, special interest groups, traveling speaker programs and student support. The Award of Merit is presented annually to a current or past member of CORS in recognition of significant contributions to the profession of operational research.

Bookbinder is a professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and the director of the Waterloo Management of Integrated Manufacturing Systems research group at the University of Waterloo. He is a prominent figure in the field of transportation and logistics and has authored the "Handbook of Global Logistics: Transportation in International Supply Chains". He has been approached by the New York Times and BNN for his views on global logistics and supply chain issues. Bookbinder has served as the president of CORS and chaired the Transportation and Logistics Section of INFORMS. He has mentored numerous successful students, many of whom now hold prominent roles in CORS and INFORMS. He is a frequent collaborator with industry, providing insights to companies including the Canadian Tire Corporation, CN North America, Ford Motor Company of Canada, General Motors of Canada, Revlon of Canada and the Toronto Transit Commission.

A team of Management Engineering students won first place in Canadian Operational Research Society’s (CORS) Undergraduate Student Paper Competition. Claudia De Fazio, Anika Gapczynski, Chloe Pilon, Kayley Brash, Michaela Trevisan received the award for their paper titled, “Inventory Slotting Optimization for Stable Palletization in Distribution Centres”. The team’s winning entry was drawn from their final-year Capstone project and focuses on increasing the efficiency of the palletization process. 

Claudia De Fazio (BASc 24’, management engineering) was awarded second place in the Undergraduate Technical Paper competition at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) annual conference.

The competition highlights outstanding technical papers written by undergraduate students.

The Department of Management Science and Engineering was one of three finalists for the 2024 INFORMS UPS George D. Smith Prize. Dr. Sibel Alumur Alev, Claudia De Fazio (BASc management engineering), Dr. Mark Hancock and Dr. Ada Hurst showcased their department and programs at the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Four of the eight recently awarded Graham Seed Funds for health-focused projects are led by Management Science and Engineering researchers. The projects foster interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers and healthcare providers, emphasizing real-world impact through collaboration with local hospitals.

Management Engineering students successfully participated in the 2024 National Conference of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). They won first place in two of the four major competitions: Technical paper and case study. 

The University of Waterloo has named Jagdeep Sing Bachher as its 12^th chancellor. Dr. Bachher is chief investment officer and vice president of investments at the 10-campus University of California, where he oversees an investment portfolio of $164 billion. He is a double-alumnus of Management Science and Engineering, having earned both a Master of Applied Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in Management Sciences.

The Faculty Engineering introduces a new name for the Department of Management Science and Engineering after five-plus decades. 

Expanding upon its long legacy of excellence, the Department of Management Sciences at Waterloo Engineering has undergone an official name change to better encapsulate the unit’s distinctive, interdisciplinary approach to education within the engineering field.

Danielle Ripsman, a PhD student in Management Science and Engineering was recently featured in an interview by Waterloo News. Danielle explains her love of puzzles and how that led to doctoral studies in operations research, where she is using mathematical models to improve radiation therapy in cancer treatment. 

On July 19th, seven finalist teams pitched their business ideas for a chance at one of four Velocity $5,000 grants. One of the four finalist teams taking home a prize was Pragmatica, co-founded by 2023 Management Engineering graduates Karthik Prasad and Thomas Mastantuono.  Pragmatica is developing a VR speech therapy solution for people with communicative disorders to supplement or provide as an alternative for those who cannot access or afford a dedicated speech therapist.