معرفی
Alice E. Smith is the Joe W. Forehand, Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. She holds a joint appointment with the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering and previously served as Department Chair from 1999 to 2011, during which the department experienced exponential growth in enrollment, research funding, and national ranking. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (elected 2025) and holds fellowships in IEEE, INFORMS, and IISE.
Her educational background includes a BSCE from Rice University, an MBA from Saint Louis University, a PhD from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and a BA in Spanish from Auburn University (2022). She is a Registered Professional Engineer and has received numerous honors, including the INFORMS WORMS Award, IIE Holzman Educator Award, and multiple best paper awards.
Dr. Smith’s research centers on computational intelligence, focusing on optimization, modeling of complex systems, and bio-inspired algorithms. Her work integrates artificial intelligence with traditional operations research and has applications in defense, logistics, and industrial systems. She has published extensively, with over 18,000 citations and two influential books on women in engineering. Her recent publications reflect a trend toward interdisciplinary, globally collaborative research with strong societal impact, particularly in sustainable systems and intelligent optimization.
Her scientific awards include:
- Election to the National Academy of Engineering (2025)
- Joe W. Forehand, Jr. Distinguished Professor (2023)
- INFORMS WORMS Award (2009)
- Four-time Fulbright Scholar (2013, 2016, 2017, 2020)
- IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and INFORMS Official Speaker
- Multiple best paper awards from INFORMS and IIE
She has been principal investigator on over $12 million in sponsored research from NSF, NASA, DoD, DHS, and industry partners like Lockheed Martin and Toyota. She mentors doctoral students and has led international research exchanges, particularly with Norway, Turkey, and Colombia. She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the INFORMS Journal on Computing and Area Editor for Computers & Operations Research.
Dr. Smith leads research groups and collaborates with visiting scholars, focusing on intelligent optimization and sustainable logistics. Her lab has produced highly cited work in journals like Reliability Engineering & System Safety and IEEE Transactions on Reliability. She continues to expand Auburn’s global research footprint through partnerships with institutions like NTNU in Norway.
