True Maroon Engineers place at international competition

April 15, 2015

True Maroon Engineers developed a simulation containing a new model of care and care delivery, including when, where and by who patients would be treated.

True Maroon Engineers developed a simulation containing a new model of care and care delivery, including when, where and by who patients would be treated.

 

STARKVILLE, Miss. – A Bagley College of Engineering student team achieved a top three finish in an international competition merging engineering and health care.

Mississippi State University’s team True Maroon Engineers secured third place during the inaugural SHS/Flexsim Model Building competition sponsored by the Society for Healthcare Systems and the Institute of Industrial Engineers. The team was recognized for its accomplishment at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference in Orlando, Florida.

The competition challenged four-member student teams solve a “real-world” health care situational case study using simulation software. Teams consulted health care providers to accurately model a current system and implement improvements based on research and recommendations.

To satisfy its assigned problem statement, True Maroon Engineers developed a simulation containing a new model of care and care delivery, including when, where and by who patients would be treated.

Faculty adviser Lesley Strawderman said she sees the benefit of how this competition expands straightforward, one-solution classroom problems into a real industry situation that is large, complex and open-ended.

“This competition gave the students the experience of being engineers in a problem setting like they will face while working in the industry,” Strawderman said.

Strawderman, who served the team by giving feedback as a preliminary judge, said she was very proud of the students’ dedication to solving a complex problem while still completing heavy coursework. She is already looking forward to competing next year.

“I feel like our team was the best technically,” Strawderman said. “We are going to focus more on selling our project to the judges, which I think will help us in future competitions.”

Members of True Maroon Engineers are (listed by hometown):

BANGLADESH – team lead Mahmud Rahman, doctoral student in industrial and systems engineering

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – John Roberson, graduated senior in industrial engineering

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Austin Campbell, senior in industrial engineering

SAVANNAH, Tenn. – Ethan Hosea, graduated senior in industrial engineering

Of the 35 student teams that submitted applications, the top three were selected based on their technical reports. The top three teams then presented their results during the final round of competition at the annual SHS conference. Teams placing first and second were from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and San Jose State University, respectively.

For more information about SHS, visit www.iienet2.org/SHS.

To learn more information about IIE, visit www.iienet2.org.

More information on the BCoE can be found at www.bagley.msstate.edu.

By Amanda Meeler