Logendran to retire after 30 years

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Logendran to retire after 30 years

After an illustrious 30-year career at Oregon State University, R. Logen Logendran, professor of industrial engineering, is set to retire in September.

Logendran joined in the fall of 1989 what was then the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State. In the time since, he has made significant research contributions in two specific areas of manufacturing systems: design of cellular manufacturing, and group scheduling. His research has been funded by several organizations, including the National Science Foundation, Oregon Metals Initiative, and industry. With more than 140 publications, his work has served as a catalyst for academics and practitioners alike to pursue further research on related problems.

It has also earned him numerous, prestigious recognitions. He was elected Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers in 2009; received the Best Paper Award twice (in 2009 and 2012) for papers presented at international conferences and published in the conference proceedings; received the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award in Academic and Research Excellence by the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand; was inducted into the inaugural 2016 Cowboy Academy of Industrial Engineering and Management at Oklahoma State University; and, most recently, he won the 2017 Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. Logendran’s research has been further recognized with summer faculty research fellowships sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research at McClellan Air Force Base, the Boeing Welliver Faculty Fellowship, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He also received the Fulbright Scholarship in 2000 to teach and conduct research at the University of Science Malaysia.

Logendran has actively engaged students in his research. He has advised 30 graduate students and has worked with eight undergraduate students on several NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates projects. His former doctoral students are employed in academia and industry in several countries. He has taught a total of 24 courses at Oregon State and has made immense contributions to the analysis component of the undergraduate and graduate IME curriculum. For 13 years (2004 to 2016), Logendran served as the IME Graduate Program Chair.

“With all humility,” Logendran said, “I have carried out my duties with one purpose: to instill education and research in undergraduate and graduate students without compromising quality and rigor.”

Logendran and his wife, Jayanthi, have two daughters, Verni and Vathani. Verni was a year old when they moved to Corvallis in 1989, and Vathani was born a month after. Oregon is home for the family, and they have no plans to leave Corvallis any time soon. He and Jayanthi plan to spend more time visiting countries they haven’t before to learn about their cultures and places of importance; by last count they have visited 47 countries. Logendran wants to learn other languages – Spanish is on the top of his list. Also on his list is to spend time volunteering for personally meaningful causes.

Aug. 20, 2019

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R. Logen Logendran
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