Department Welcome

Welcome to Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) at Penn State. Founded in 1908 as the first industrial engineering program in the world, our department has a history of excellence in educating the next generation of industrial engineers while providing new solutions for industry through innovative research, interdisciplinary projects, and hands-on experience in our state-of-the-art facilities.

With nearly 30 faculty members, 10 support staff, 400 undergraduate students, and 200 graduate students, we are a diverse department with research interests in many areas including: additive manufacturing processes, human factors in transportation and healthcare, supply chain management, and healthcare systems engineering—just to name a few.

We offer the B.S. degree and graduate degrees (M.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D.) in industrial engineering as well as dual-graduate degrees in industrial engineering and operations research. Both our undergraduate and graduate programs consistently rank highly in the U.S. News & World Report surveys, thanks in large part to our world-class faculty, the students they mentor, and our excellent support staff.

Our curriculum provides a broad-based education in human factors and ergonomics; manufacturing; operations research; and production, supply chain, and service engineering. We accomplish this through a base of mathematics, physical, and engineering sciences along with hands-on laboratory and industrial experiences that prepare students for their careers. The programs build a strong foundation for the development of a professionally competent and versatile industrial engineer.

Please explore our programs, faculty, facilities, and research areas to get a sense of who we are. On behalf of the faculty and staff of the department, thank you for visiting us online. We welcome you to visit us in person.

Sincerely,

Ling Rothrock
Professor and Interim Department Head
The Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering