Engineering professor named Fulbright specialist

Professor Alice Smith of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has been named a Fulbright specialist and will travel to Colombia in March 2020 to consult at the University of La Sabana.

The Fulbright specialist program sends U.S. faculty and professionals to serve as expert consultants on curriculum, faculty development, institutional planning and related subjects at academic institutions abroad for up to six weeks, according to the U.S. Department of State.

During her two-week stay in Colombia, Smith will assist the University of La Sabana in the development of its new master’s program in analytics and big data, which incorporates fields such as machine learning, statistical analyses and decision making. Smith will provide input on curricula and new courses, teaching and learning methodologies and enhancing long-term teaching and research collaborations.

“This is an exciting opportunity to lend my expertise to create a truly unique analytics and big data program that will directly benefit Colombia’s emerging economy,” Smith said. “I’m thankful to the Fulbright Program for supporting this endeavor with the University of La Sabana.”

This is Smith’s second Fulbright specialist award following a 2016 stint at EAFIT University in Colombia. Smith is also a two-time Fulbright senior fellow, having participated in exchange programs at universities in Turkey and Chile.

At Auburn, Smith is the Joe W. Forehand/Accenture Distinguished Professor of industrial and systems engineering with a joint appointment in computer science and software engineering. She has been principal investigator on more than $8 million worth of sponsored research and has authored more than 200 refereed publications, garnering 10,000 citations.

Smith is the editor-in-chief of the INFORMS Journal on Computing, an area editor of the Computers and Operations Research journal and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.