Student wins regional competition while helping company operate safely
April 9, 2008
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A Mississippi State industrial and systems engineering student won top honors in a national organization’s regional competition.
J. Stan Morelock won the student technical paper competition during the Institute of Industrial Engineers’(IIE) Region 3 conference. The region is comprised of 16 universities from the southeastern United States, including fellow engineering powerhouses, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Florida, Louisiana State University, and the University of Puerto Rico.
Having bested the competition in the regional event, Morelock’s paper will be entered in the national contest. Held in conjunction with IIE’s annual conference, the competition will allow Morelock to compete against other regional winners from across North America. The conference is being held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
“I am proud to have won and represented MSU well, but simply completing the project outlined in my paper and gaining that experience was a beneficial in itself,” Morelock said. “I am looking forward to the competition in Canada and representing MSU at the next level.”
This is the second consecutive year that a Bulldog has earned this regional honor. Brian Porter, an MSU alumnus, won the competition last year. Both students’ papers focused on applying Six Sigma principles to companies during their cooperative education (co-op) work semesters.
Six Sigma is a discipline that helps companies operate in a more efficient and productive manner while eliminating problems in the manufacturing process. Morelock employed this methodology to complete a project during his last co-op semester with Caterpillar, Inc.’s Global Core Receiving Facility in Corinth, Miss. He worked with the company to improve many areas including safety, which had been an ongoing concern. By collecting data and using a team approach to problem solving, the company was able to alleviate many issues facing the employees.
“It makes me proud to see our students applying these principles to real-world situations. Their ability to apply their training, measure the results and turn that experience into award winning technical papers is something of which the Bagley College of Engineering can be proud,” said Larry Dalton, director if Six Sigma at MSU. “These students have set the bar over the last two years. Now, someone has to follow in their footsteps to keep the tradition alive.”
Morelock, a native of Kossuth, Miss., is set to graduate in May. His experience and work as a co-op student has secured him a post-graduation job with Caterpillar. He hopes to further his training in Six Sigma and eventually work into a Six Sigma Black Belt position.