Mark E. Lewis (engineer) facts for kids

Mark Edwin Lewis is an American industrial engineer and a professor at Cornell University. He was born in 1970. An industrial engineer helps organizations work better and more efficiently.

Professor Lewis made history by being the first African-American faculty member hired in Industrial Engineering at the University of Michigan. He was also the first African-American professor to earn a permanent position (called "tenure") at the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University. His work focuses on understanding and improving systems that involve chance and waiting lines.

Mark Lewis's Education

Mark Lewis went to Eckerd College. He earned two degrees there in 1992: one in mathematics and another in political science.

He then continued his studies at Florida State University. In 1995, he received a master's degree in theoretical statistics.

In 1998, he earned his highest degree, a PhD, from Georgia Tech. His PhD was in industrial and systems engineering. For his PhD, he wrote a special research paper called a thesis.

Mark Lewis's Career Journey

After finishing his PhD, Mark Lewis spent a year doing advanced research. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia.

In 1999, he became a professor at the University of Michigan. He taught Industrial and Operations Engineering there.

Professor Lewis moved to Cornell University in 2005. He became an associate professor in the Operations Research and Information Engineering department. By 2011, he was promoted to a Full Professor.

Leadership Roles

Mark Lewis helped start a group called the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Minority Issues Forum in 2001. He was the first president of this group.

In 2009, he helped organize a big conference at Cornell University. It was called the 15th INFORMS Applied Probability Conference.

From 2012 to 2014, Professor Lewis led the Applied Probability Society. In 2024, he was chosen to be the President-elect for INFORMS for 2025. This means he will become the President of INFORMS in 2026.

Helping Students and Faculty

From 2015 to 2020, Professor Lewis was an Associate Dean at Cornell University's College of Engineering. In this role, he worked to support diversity and help professors grow in their careers.

He also led a special project called the Cornell University Engineering Success Program. This program aimed to help more students from underrepresented groups and first-generation college students succeed in engineering.

Mark Lewis's Research Work

Professor Lewis studies how to make complex systems work as well as possible. He looks at systems that change over time, like busy call centers or airline booking systems.

He develops ways to manage things like how many customers can enter a system. He also studies how to set prices in systems with limited space and different types of customers. This research helps industries like manufacturing, communication, and airlines.

He also explores how to best use resources in service systems. This includes understanding how people wait in lines or try again if they don't get service right away.

Professor Lewis also creates methods to solve problems using mathematical tools. He uses these tools to improve things like managing inventory (how much product a store has) and making the most money from sales.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Mark Lewis has received many awards for his important work:

• 1998: NSF NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 1999: Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science (FACES) award
• 1999: Honorable Mention for George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award
• 2002: NSF CAREER Award
• 2003: Mentor of the Year from the Sloan Foundation
• 2004: Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award
• 2005: NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
• 2010: J. J. Ebers Award
• 2014: MAA-NAM Blackwell Lecture
• 2019: Mathematically Gifted & Black 2019 Black History Month Honoree
• 2021: INFORMS Fellow
• 2021: INFORMS Minority Issues Forum Fellow
• 2024: INFORMS Senior Member