Maria Burns, director of the Center for Logistics and Transportation Policy, was appointed as Education and Workforce Development Lead for the newly formed Center of Excellence on Borders, Trade and Immigration Research, funded by a $3.4 million, renewable grant and involving researchers from a dozen universities. Burns' research involves innovative technology assessment for security and cargo detection protocols, aiming for the sweet spot between speed and security. She represents the transportation sector on the Private Sector Advisory Council, created to advise the Texas governor on homeland security. She also is chair of the subcommittee on supply chain security at the National Academies, the umbrella group for the National Academy of Science, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine and National Research Council.
Dr. Jamison V. Kovach, associate professor in the Organizational Leadership and Supervision Program and the Project Management Program, has been promoted to rank of full Academician by the International Academy for Quality (IAQ). The award was presented at the IAQ 2015 World Quality Forum in Budapest, Hungary, October 26-27. She also won the best paper award for her paper "Making Quality Personal". The IAQ was founded in 1966 jointly by the three leading quality organizations of that time: the American Society for Quality (ASQ), European Organization for Quality (EOQ) and the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). The purpose of the IAQ is to promote the world-wide propagation of quality philosophy, methods, and practice as a means to address and resolve issues facing industry, governments and organizations.