October 20, 2005

Hodgson Receives R.J. Reynolds Award

Dean Nino A. Masnari presented Dr. Thom J. Hodgson with the the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award on October 20. (Photo: Jennifer Weston)

Dr. Thom J. Hodgson, Distinguished University Professor of Industrial Engineering and the James T. Ryan Professor of Industrial Engineering and Furniture Manufacturing, is the twenty-first recipient of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Extension. Dr. Nino A. Masnari, dean of the College of Engineering, presented Hodgson with the award in a ceremony held at 3 p.m. Thursday, October 20, in 117 Witherspoon Student Center at North Carolina State University. The presentation was followed by Hodgson’s lecture, “Monkey with a Typewriter.”

The award was established in 1981 within the College of Engineering to honor a member of the engineering faculty who has demonstrated superiority in several areas of activity that relate to the University’s three-fold mission of teaching, research and extension. The annual award is supported by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company through the NC State Engineering Foundation Inc. to bring recognition to scientific and educational achievements in fields of engineering. The recipient is given a $25,000 prize distributed over five years.

An internationally renowned scholar in industrial engineering and operations research, Dr. Thom J. Hodgson is a dedicated engineering researcher and educator. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he is one of the pioneers in the study of the design and analysis of supply chains.

Dr. Hodgson, who joined the College of Engineering faculty in 1983, is the founding director of the Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering Institute (IMSEI), which provides multidisciplinary graduate-level education and practical training opportunities in the theory and practice of integrated manufacturing systems engineering.

A Distinguished University Professor of Industrial Engineering and the James T. Ryan Professor of Industrial Engineering and Furniture Manufacturing, he has received much recognition for his professional achievements. He was one of the 125 inaugural Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), serving twice as vice president of IIE.

In 2004 he received the Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Industrial Engineering Award. Given by the IIE, the award recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves “through contributions to the welfare of mankind in the field of industrial engineering.” In 2003 he received the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award from IIE for his significant contributions to the profession through research, publication, extension, administration, and teaching innovation in the academic environment. Recognized for teaching excellence, he has also received twice the C.A. Anderson Outstanding Faculty Award, which is a student-initiated award, and an Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professorship. He has supervised 31 PhD candidates and more than 40 master’s degree students.

Dr. Hodgson is the author or co-author of more than 70 journal articles and book chapters. His areas of research interest are scheduling, logistics, production and inventory control, manufacturing systems, and applied military operations research. He has served as associate editor, departmental editor and editor-in-chief of IIE Transactions.

Dr. Hodgson received his bachelor’s degree in science engineering in 1961, his MBA in quantitative methods in 1965, and his PhD in industrial engineering in 1970, all from the University of Michigan.

He served as head of the Department of Industrial Engineering at NC State from 1983 to 1990, and he was director of the Division of Design and Manufacturing Systems at the National Science Foundation from 1991 to 1993. Prior to joining the faculty at NC State, he was a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Florida from 1970 to 1983 and an operations research analyst at Ford Motor Company from 1966 to 1970. He served as an officer in the US Army from 1961 to 1963, and was a member of the US Army Science Board from 1994 to 2000, earning the Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service.

An advisor and mentor to his many students, he treats his graduate students as colleagues in research and publications, and he demonstrates his trademark wit through a unique method of motivation for his undergraduates by promising an “A” to any student who can beat him at handball, a feat that has yet to happen.

— weston —

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