2013 ORIE Bachelor of Science degree recipients receive diplomas and prizes in Sage Chapel

Outgoing ORIE Director Adrian Lewis welcomed graduates and family members to the 2013 Graduation Ceremony.  He joked to family members that although he typically likes to explain what the “rather daunting” name - Operations Research and Information Engineering - actually means, “if, by now you still haven’t figured  out what subject your graduate is graduating in, today is not the day.”   Nonetheless Lewis did provide a succinct synopsis: “we focus on the science, the engineering, the mathematics, the computing behind management decisions, using complex information, in risky, uncertain environments.”  

One by one, he also asked that graduates stand who were inducted into Omega Rho, the international honor society in Operations Research; were student athletes; were members of the Cornell Big Red Bands; participated in research at Cornell; participated in one of the engineering team projects; made Dean’s List or received other academic honors; tutored students; served as a club or organization officer; or finally “are graduating from a prestigious school, like, for example, Cornell’s School of Operations Research and information Engineering.” 

Academic leaders Li and Malik each received the Byron W. Saunders Award for the best academic record in ORIE.   The award is named for the Director of ORIE’s predecessor School, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, who later served as Dean of the University Faculty.

Li, who minored in applied mathematics and graduated summa cum laude, is a business technology analyst at Deloitte Consulting in New York City, where she interned for two earlier summers.  She is from Beijing, China. 

Malik from Chesterfield MO, graduated magna cum laude in January 2013, following which he worked as a teaching assistant and carried out research for Professor Henderson.  He will soon begin working as a software engineer at Facebook in Menlo Park CA. 

Jung, Su, Hoppner and Putzak have been awarded fellowships to pursue ORIE’s Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) degree. 

Jung and Su each received the Allan H. Mogensen Award, established in honor of a pioneering industrial engineer and graduate of Cornell.  Mogensen was a noted consultant in the analysis and simplification of work processes. 

Jung, who is from Seoul Korea, began his M.Eng.this spring, concurrent with his final undergraduate semester.  

Su, who graduated magna cum laude in January, is from Shanghai, China.  She began her M.Eng. studies in ORIE's  Strategic Operations concentration, which incorporates a semester at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, in the spring.   

Hoppner and Putzak each received two fellowship awards, the Lynn E. Bussey Award and the Geraldine & Sam Dell Master of Engineering Fellowship. They are profiled in this article celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Dell Fellowship. The Bussey award is named for an ORIE graduate who is the author of the widely used text The Economic Analysis of Industrial Projects, first published in 1978. 

Jung and Mehringer were recognized as members of prize-winning Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) teams that were announced at the graduate degree ceremony the previous day.  

Like Jung, Mehringer began her M.Eng. studies concurrently with her final undergraduate semester.  Jung (shown above as Bussey winner) was a member of the team that won third place in the annual Silent Crane and Hoist Materials Handling competition for their work for Walmart.com.  Ithaca native Mehringer was a member of the team that won first place for their project “Ornge emergency aircraft allocation and scheduling.”   Both will complete their M.Eng. work in the fall.  

Following the announcement of awards, Professor Henderson called up each individual graduating student for the diploma ceremony, the traditional photo with Professor Emeritus Jack Muckstadt, and congratulations from faculty members, who urged them to "keep in touch."  The roll having been called, the graduates passed down the aisle and through the ranks of the faculty to stirring music performed on the Sage Hall organ by William Cowdery.  "It's always fun if this is a bit rowdy," said Henderson, "so do make some noise."  Cheered by family, fellow students, and faculty, the procession emerged into the bright sunshine and a celebratory buffet spread, in a tent on the lawn.