The University of Houston's IISE student group has earned the Gold Chapter Award for its performance during the 2021-22 academic year.
The president of the student chapter for that time period was Emilia Diaz, a Spring 2022 Cullen College of Engineering graduate with a B.S. in Industrial engineering. Yaping Wang, now an Instructional Associate Professor, served as the faculty advisor for the group.
According to the IISE, Gold chapter status is achieved by holding at least four meetings per year, being in contact with members once per month, setup an officer succession plan for the group for the next year, and graduating two college-level members to IISE Young Professional status.
UH was only one of three universities in Texas to achieve this status, and among about 90 chapters globally with Gold chapter status. The chapter also achieved Gold status in 2019-20.
Diaz wrote about her achievements for the group in a March 2022 essay for the College's website, which can be read here.
“Walking into my senior year and having had the opportunity to be a leader taught me a lot about teamwork, professionalism and mentorship,” she said. “It opened many opportunities for me to explore different industries and network with many remarkable mentors I can still count on today. I decided to give all of that back to the IISE-UH chapter for my senior year.”
She continued, “I ran for President of IISE-UH to maximize the opportunities for Industrial Engineer students. I struggled to find my place in the prominent engineering organizations, since most of their members were Mechanical Engineering or Computer Science majors. In IISE, I found a community of people that have gone through similar successes and struggles. I have been able to apply everything I have learned from my other leadership experiences to grow the IISE chapter.”
Wang joined the University of Houston in 2016, after completing her doctorate at Texas A&M. This year, she was promoted from Instructional Assistant Professor to Instructional Associate Professor.
The IISE maintains active Instagram and Facebook accounts, as well as a Discord server. This year's president is Diane Nguyen. For a full list of ways to contact the group, visit its Linktree.
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