The department conducts research and offers graduate concentrations in the broad areas of human factors, operations research, and production systems. . Faculty collaborate with each other across these three sub disciplines, with researchers in other engineering disciplines, and with researchers in such fields as medicine, the social and natural sciences, and architecture, among many others.


National Ranking:

The most recent National Research Council (National Academies of Science) study of research-doctorate programs in engineering ranked UB’s industrial and systems engineering program 18th in the nation overall among industrial engineering programs and 15th in program effectiveness.

Three active research centers:

- Research institute for Safety and Security in Transportation (RISST)

RISST was established to bring together expertise in reducing error, particularly human error, in aircraft maintenance/inspection and transportation security. Over 15 years of active research in these areas is the basis for the Institute’s leadership in improving the reliability of the two domains, where rare challenges can lead to catastrophic failure. The same techniques have wide applicability to general manufacturing.

- Center for Multisource information Fusion (CMIF)

The Center for Multisource Information Fusion (CMIF) is a government/industry/university initiative created through an Air Force-sponsored contract to the Calspan-University at Buffalo Research Center (CUBRC)in 1996. The center’s research focus is on multiple-source information processing environments, such as in multiple-sensor or multiply-instrumented systems. Such environments occur frequently in defense applications for advanced surveillance and reconnaissance systems, intelligent transportation systems, and in environmental monitoring applications.

- Center for Excellence in Global Enterprise Management (GEM)

The Center for Excellence in Global Enterprise Management (GEM) was established in 1998 to deliver leading-edge research, driven by industrial need, with results that have immediate practical impact. Joint industrial and academic ventures include e-business, supply chain management, and traditional manufacturing system design. Past projects have included assistance in the design of manufacturing facilities at American Axle and Delphi Harrison automotive facilities, activities to identify appropriate e-business approaches in automobile manufacturing, as well as supply-chain management projects at Lockheed Martin and General Motors.

On-Site Laboratories

The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering has state-of-the-art facilities that support the research and graduate study activities of the department, including:

• Cognitive Engineering Laboratory
• Human Factors Data Collection Laboratories
• Work Analysis and Design Laboratory
• Anthropometrics Research Laboratory
• Aviation Maintenance and Inspection Reliability Laboratory
• Applied Operations Research Laboratory
• Manufacturing Design and Engineering Laboratory
• Center for Excellence in Global Enterprise Management Laboratory
• Center for Multisource Information Fusion Laboratory

Furthermore, the department maintains three active research centers:

• The Center for Aviation Maintenance and Inspection Reliability
• The Center for Excellence in Global Enterprise Management
• The Center for Multisource Information Fusion