Four OU professors awarded Pawley Lean fellowships

Four Oakland University professors have been awarded $15,000 fellowships through the OU Pawley Lean Institute.

The recipients are Mark Doman, visiting assistant professor in Human Resource Development; Bob Van Til, professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering; Shannon Flumerfelt, associate professor in Educational Leadership; and Gene Fliedner, associate professor of Operations Management within the Decision and Information Science department.

The fellowships were awarded in support of research that will advance knowledge and theories of lean learning and will facilitate the work of university faculty to educate students about lean principles.

The proposals were reviewed by Mohan Tanniru, dean of the School of Business Administration; Louay Chamra, dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science; Louis Gallien, dean of the School of Education and Human Service; Mary Otto, vice president of Outreach; and Edward Sosnowski, chair of the Pawley Institute Advisory Board.

The award, which was originally proposed as a single professorship, was expanded into a team of fellowships, with each dean donating funds so that multiple projects could receive backing.

According to the reviewers, each proposal will add considerably to the Pawley Institute initiative, and together these projects will serve to represent a fuller picture of the Institute’s vision than any one alone.
The team will include the following projects:

• Education (gaming, electronic book, etc.)
• Research (contrast the role of lean in support of both efficiency and innovation, by effectively synthesizing the role of process-people-technology)
• Outreach (especially smaller firms where both efficiency and agility/innovation are key for their success)

For more information about the Pawley Lean Institute, visit oakland.edu/lean.