Dr. José L. Zayas-Castro is Chair and Professor of Industrial & Management Systems Engineering at the University of South Florida. Prior to this appointment he was Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia. For sixteen years he taught in the Department of Industrial Engineering at University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (UPRM), where he served as department head between 1987 and 1990 and as Associate Dean for Academic and Research Affairs of the College of Engineering between 1995 and 1998. He has led initiatives to stimulate interdisciplinary research, education and industrial collaboration within UPRM, MU, USF, and with other institutions in the U.S. and Latin America. Dr. Zayas-Castro has led various initiatives to increase the diversity among the student body and faculty hires in engineering and other disciplines. He has done extensive work with private and governmental organizations, including small businesses, service organizations and major corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Cutler-Hammer/Westinghouse, Hewlett Packard, Hanes, and Citibank.

Dr. Zayas-Castro has a B.S. in IE from UPRM and M.S. in Management & Industrial Engineering, MBA, and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research and academic interests relate to statistical process control, productivity improvement, transportation and logistics, applied modeling, systems integration, information flow, business and R & D strategy, entrepreneurship, cost analysis, concurrent engineering, technology transfer, business process reengineering, organizational change, system dynamics, assessment, healthcare systems and healthcare delivery, the integration of knowledge and research into engineering education, and the advancement of diversity among students, faculty and staff. He participates in various advisory and review committees in the National Science Foundation, including the Office of Industrial Innovation (SBIR/STTR). During his career he has been associated to more than $7 million in external funding. Dr. Zayas-Castro has more than 40 publications and over 40 presentations. In May 2005 he received the UPS/IIE Minority Advancement Award. In February 2006 he was the co-recipient of the National Academy of Engineering’s “Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education” for his work as one of the co-founders of The Learning Factory®.

Dr. Zayas-Castro is a Fellow of IIE and Sr. VP for International (2005-07), member of INFORMS, Alpha Pi Mu, ASEE, ACM, SME, SHPE, NSBE and associate member of IEEE.