A Virtual Company-based Integrated Learning Methodology to Produce Industry-ready Graduates

Samuel H. Huang is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of Intelligent Systems Laboratory at the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the University of Cincinnati. He was previously Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Toledo (1998 – 2001) and Systems Engineer at EDS/Unigraphics (1996 – 1997, now Siemens PLM Software). He received the B.S. degree in Instrument Engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P. R. China, in 1991 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, in 1992 and 1995, respectively. Dr. Huang’s research focuses on big data analytics, supplier-based manufacturing, and complex system analysis and optimization, with applications in health care and manufacturing. He has published over 140 highly influential technical papers (including books and book chapters) that are frequently cited by other researchers. He serves on the advisory board of International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, the editorial board of International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Applied Computational Intelligence and Soft Computing, and Recent Patents on Computer Science. He also serves as honorary professor and visiting professor for a number of institutions including Xiamen University, Dalian University of Technology, and Zhejiang University of Technology. Dr. Huang received the Robert A. Dougherty Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) in 2005. In addition to many industrial projects (supported by federal agencies including US Army Benet Laboratories and NASA, state agencies including Ohio Department of Development and Ohio Aerospace Institute, and companies including Procter & Gamble, DaimlerChrysler, and Pilkington North America), he has been awarded five grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his research in health care and manufacturing research and education. Dr. Huang is also an excellent engineering educator. He was named Professor of the Quarter (Spring 2002) by the Engineering Tribunal at the University of Cincinnati. He consistently received very favorable teaching evaluation by both undergraduate and graduate students (professor rating of 4.4 out of 5). He has graduated 10 Ph.D. and 35 M.S. students. He is currently leading an engineering education reform program, Seamless Transition from Academy to Real-world (STAR), which is a concrete implementation of the problem-based learning pedagogy in a well-designed learning environment that aims to unify engineering education with industrial reality.