Stevens’ School of Systems and Enterprises announces Fabrycky-Blanchard Scholarship

HOBOKEN , N.J. -- The School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology is honoring the pioneering contributions and vision of two systems engineering scholars and educators, Dr. Wolter Fabrycky and Benjamin S. Blanchard, by establishing a scholarship in their names. The annual award will be given to an SSE doctoral student who exemplifies leadership and research excellence in systems engineering. The award will be based on academic performance and the recommendations of SSE research faculty.

Wolter J. Fabrycky is Chairman of Academic Applications International, Inc. and the Lawrence Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He served as the Founding Chairman of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, Associate Dean of Engineering, and then Dean of Research at Virginia Tech. Fabrycky is a Fellow in AAAS, ASEE, IIE and INCOSE. In 1990, he received the Holtzman Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Industrial Engineers and is the recipient, along with Blanchard, of the prestigious INCOSE Pioneer Award. Fabrycky is founder of the Omega Alpha Association, the Systems Engineering Honor Society. He is co-author of six Prentice Hall books and co-edits the Prentice Hall International Series in Industrial and Systems Engineering that now contains more than 40 titles.

“We’re proud to be honored by this scholarship – Dean Dinesh Verma was an exceptional doctoral candidate, and hopefully this award will develop future systems engineers like him,” said Fabrycky.

Benjamin S. Blanchard is Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and has been an active consultant in over 30 different countries in the fields of systems, reliability and maintainability, logistics and lifecycle cost. He came to Virginia Tech after 17 years in industry, including an introduction to the “practice” of systems engineering many years ago at Boeing. He is an author of several highly regarded Systems and Logistics Engineering textbooks, including being a co-author with Fabrycky on Systems Engineering and Analysis. He is a founder, fellow, past president and a current member of the Board of Advisors, of the International Society of Logistics (SOLE), and has been elected to the first Fellows class of INCOSE. His recognition as a leader in the profession is considerable, with over 45 years of dedication and commitment to the field. At Virginia Tech, he served as Chairman of the Graduate Program of Systems Engineering from 1979 to 1997, and has also served as Assistant Dean of Engineering for Public Service.

“There’s a vital need for this scholarship, and it certainly contributes to the recognition and increasing visibility of systems engineering as a profession,” said Blanchard.

Both Fabrycky and Blanchard are well known as skilled practitioners, gifted teachers, productive authors and enthusiastic promoters of systems engineering knowledge, practical activities and institutional development. Both are strong advocates of systems engineering both as an interdisciplinary process to bring systems, products and structures into being, and as a means for setting a sound strategy for the competitive enterprise of the present day.

In addition to the annual scholarship towards their study at SSE, the doctoral student will also receive recognition at the biannual SSE Research Day Event, special recognition at the annual Provost’s Graduation Banquet and identification on a commemorative master plaque bearing the names of past and current winners.

For more information about award criteria and selection, contact Beth Austin DeFares, (201) 216-5362, bdefares@stevens.edu.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,040 undergraduate and 3,085 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with a full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty of 140 and more than 200 full-time special faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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