Anahita Khojandi, associate professor in industrial and systems engineering, is the new Heath Faculty Fellow for the Heath Integrated Business and Engineering Program, joining Russell Zaretzki, counterpart Heath Fellow from the Haslam College of Business.
The Heath Fellows take a lead role in cultivating connections across the business and engineering colleges. The fellows, like the program itself, are supported by Ralph Heath, a UT graduate of electrical engineering in 1970 and with an MBA in 1975 who saw the possibilities that came with learning from both the business and engineering disciplines during his long career with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
“We are honored to have Professor Khojandi in this vital role,” said IBEP Director Bob Buckner. “She brings valuable insight as we welcome our seventh cohort of business and engineering students.”
“I’m honored to be chosen to serve in this important role,” said Khojandi. “It’s a pleasure to be a part of this program which intentionally and purposefully introduces students to various aspects of engineering and business to better prepare them to contribute to the grand challenges that our society will need to deal with in the future. I would like to work with Bob, Russ, and others to continue the great success of the program and serve the needs of our students and our community.”
Khojandi joined the Tickle College of Engineering in 2014 and has distinguished herself through her teaching, numerous impactful research projects, and as director of the college’s Reliability and Maintainability Engineering Program. She received her PhD in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include AI and decision-making under uncertainty and partial information, with applications to a wide range of high-impact societal problems in healthcare, manufacturing, nuclear engineering, environmental engineering, and transportation systems, among others.
Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and Tennessee Department of Transportation, among others.
Khojandi is just the second engineering faculty member to hold the fellowship, following longtime industrial and systems engineering Professor Rupy Sawhney, who died in December 2022.