Karwan Named Dean of UB Engineering School

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Mark H. Karwan, Ph.D., has been appointed dean of the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Karwan, who had served as the head of the school on an interim basis for one year, was appointed dean by UB President William R. Greiner, on the recommendation of Provost Thomas E. Headrick.

"Mark's appointment as dean is a great choice," said Greiner. "He has done great things in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences during his year as interim dean. His two decades at UB have served him well in working with colleagues here, and he has also pulled together some outstanding external relations programs for the school.

"Mark has a lot of energy, a lot of fresh ideas and a lot of savvy in working with the community at large. He's an excellent leader, ambassador and advocate for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences."

Karwan began teaching at UB as an assistant professor in 1976. He was chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering from 1987-92 and associate dean for research and graduate education from 1993-94.

A recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1989, he was named the Tau Beta Pi "Professor of the Year" at UB in 1984 and again in 1986.

Karwan conducts research in mathematical programming, multiple-criteria decision making and various applications of operations research, including vehicle routing and scheduling and production planning.

He also is applying operations research principles to other scheduling processes, including the routing of hazardous wastes.

As interim dean, Karwan had been instrumental in strengthening the school's base of financial support, particularly among local and national businesses.

In 1995, he formed the school's first Dean's Advisory Council, which provides support and advice to the engineering school on industrial relations, education, student groups, new programs and job placement for graduates. Chief executives at major corporations and agencies throughout the U.S., some of whom had no prior connection with UB, are among its members.

Karwan is director of the local arm of the statewide Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR), designed to help local companies improve their competitiveness and productivity. Based in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the program provides grants to local companies to help them develop new ideas and capabilities, and provides an additional research-and-development arm and technical expertise.

Karwan has served as a consultant with Praxair, Inc. (formerly Union Carbide Industrial Gases) since 1987. He has been funded by Praxair to conduct research on logistics, production planning, model-based process control and other projects.

He has instituted a cooperative agreement with the company whereby research and development personnel and UB engineering professors work together to solve engineering problems. Similar programs are in the works with other companies.

Karwan and Rajan Batta, Ph.D., UB professor and chair of industrial engineering, recently completed a National Science Foundation project to develop a mathematical system to allow automated guided vehicles to operate more quickly and efficiently throughout factories and warehouses. The sophisticated vehicles are being used in flexible manufacturing systems to replace forklift trucks.

The Office of Naval Research and the City of Buffalo also have supported Karwan's research. He has been a consultant to Health Care Plan, Inc. and Union Carbide Corp.

Co-author of more than 70 publications, he is associate editor of Naval Research Logistics and serves on the editorial advisory board of Computers & Operations Research.

Karwan earned a doctorate in operations research from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He also earned a bachelor's degree in engineering science and a master's degree in operations research from The Johns Hopkins University.

He lives in Buffalo.