Robert Dell, professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been named department chair. He will assume the role on July 1.

Dell succeeds Victor Paquet, who has served as department chair since 2018. Paquet will return to his role on the faculty.

“The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering will continue to excel and achieve new milestones under Professor Dell’s leadership,” says Kemper Lewis, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “He brings extensive experience to the role, and an unwavering dedication and enthusiasm for supporting the growth of faculty, staff and students.”

Dell, who earned doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering from UB, says he’s honored and excited to serve as department chair. “I take on this new role with a desire to help each of my colleagues achieve their future goals as we continue to advance the department,” he says.

Dell joined the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2022 after more than 30 years as a faculty member at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).

During his tenure there, he served as dean of the NPS Graduate School of Operational and Information Sciences from 2019-22, acting provost and academic dean of NPS from 2020-21, executive director of the NPS Data Science and Analytics Group from 2018-22, and as chair of the NPS Operations Research Department from 2009-15.

At UB, he was named managing director of the Collaborative Institute for Multisource Information Fusion in March.

His research interests span optimization, production scheduling, supply chain design and professional sports analytics. He has published extensively on these subjects and has received more than $6.5 million in funding from various agencies, including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research and more. He is also a former editor of the Military Operations Research Journal.

Dell has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the 2021 Order of Naval Merit and the 2014 Tamandaré Merit Medal from the Brazilian Navy; the 2020 Vance R. Wanner Memorial Award, 2008 David Rist Prize and 2007 Richard H. Barchi Prize from the Military Operations Research Society; and the Koopman Prize from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

He twice was awarded the Department of the Navy’s Superior Civilian Service Award and the Department of the Army’s Dr. Wilbur B. Payne Memorial Award for Excellence in Analysis.

Among his teaching awards are the NPS Richard W. Hamming Excellence in Teaching Award and the NPS Wayne E. Meyer Award for Teaching Excellence in Systems Engineering.