June 4, 2026 Annual IISE Conference celebrates students and faculty Written By: Casandra Zimmerman Departments: Industrial & Systems Engineering Categories: Event|Research|Students Members of the UW-ISyE community traveled to Arlington, Texas last month for the annual conference of the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). The conference always proves to be a fantastic opportunity to share research, explore cutting-edge advancements, and connect with peers who bring a systems first approach to solving critical societal problems. The event was packed with insightful research talks, interactive poster sessions, and inspiring keynote speeches. It was also a time to celebrate major milestones in the community. Among those honored during the event was the UW-Madison IISE Student Chapter, which received a Gold Award presented to Undergraduate Elliott Frank and Professor Raj Veeramani. Other noted honors from this year were: Best Paper award from IISE transactions: PhD student Vipul Bansal Runner-up award in IISE QCRE Best Student Paper competition: PhD student Han Hu 2026 IISE QCRE Data Challenge Competition finalists: Professor Hantang Qin’s student research team George L. Smith Award from IISE: Professor Laura Albert IISE Annual Keynote Speaker: Professor Laura Albert