Full Time Faculty

Mary McShane Vaughn, PhD, CSSBB, CQE, CRE
Quality Assurance Program Coordinator, Assistant Professor
E-mail: mvaughn@spsu.edu
Phone: 678-915-7242 Office: M 119

Renee Butler, PhD, P.E.
Systems Engineering Program Coordinator, Assistant Professor
E-mail: rbutler@spsu.edu

Ruston Hunt, PhD
E-mail: rhunt@spsu.edu
Phone: 678-915-7338

Kenneth W. Jackson, PhD, P.E.
Assistant Professor, Quality Assurance and Systems Engineering
E-mail: kjackso3@spsu.edu
Phone 678-915-3518 Office-M112

Christina R. Scherrer, PhD
Assistant Professor, Quality Assurance and Systems Engineering
E-mail: cscherre@spsu.edu

Senay Solak, PhD
Assistant Professor, Quality Assurance and Systems Engineering
E-mail: ssolak@spsu.edu
Office: M 112

Emeritus Faculty

Patricia DeJarnett Carden, PhD, CQE
Professor Emeritus
E-mail: pcarden@spsu.edu
Phone: 678-915-7339 Office: M 113

Adjunct Faculty

William Bailey
E-mail: wbailey2@spsu.edu


Helen Bush, PhD, CSSBB
E-mail: hmbush@comcast.net


Carrie Craycraft
E-mail: bcraycra@spsu.edu


Sandy Furterer, PhD, CSSBB, MBB, CQE
Email:sfurtere@spsu.edu


Heather Lawder
E-mail: hlawder@spsu.edu


Staff
Rosemary Brannen
Administrative Secretary
E-mail: rbrannen@spsu.edu
Phone: 678-915-7243 Office: M 108

Dr. Mary McShane Vaughn has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Statistics from Georgia Tech. She earned her undergraduate Industrial Engineering degree from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University). She has been graduate coordinator of the MSQA program since 2004 and teaches Statistical Process Control, Design of Experiments and Linear Regression in the program. Her main research interests are robust experimental design and pricing optimization models.

Prior to teaching at Southern Polytechnic, Dr. McShane Vaughn was employed for 15 years as a quality engineer and statistician in the automotive, airline, medical device and revenue management fields. In her last industry position, she was instrumental in developing a new Market Response Model Methodology used in price optimization (patent pending). Dr. McShane Vaughn has consulted internationally, developing bid and promotion pricing optimization models for companies in Japan, Australia and the UK.

She is a Senior member of the American Society for Quality and the Institute of Industrial Engineers, and a member of the American Statistical Association and the American Society for Engineering Education. Dr. McShane Vaughn is a Member of the 2007 Georgia Oglethorpe Board of Examiners, and is an ASQ-certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Quality Engineer and Reliability Engineer. Back to top



Robert Wayne Atkins holds a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Virginia Tech, and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Georgia State. He is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) and a certified MTM instructor.

He spent 12 years working in the business sector, beginning as an Industrial Engineer and finishing as an Engineering Manager. He worked approximately 3 years in Oklahoma for Blue Bell, Inc. (Wrangler brand clothing), 1 year in Puerto Rico with Itek, Inc. (glass and plastic optical lenses), 5 years in Florida with Becton Dickinson (medical devices and pharmaceuticals), and 3 years in Georgia with Stratton Industries, Inc. (commercial quality carpets).

Since 1984 he has been teaching in the undergraduate IET and graduate MSQA programs at SPSU. He also teaches seminars, workshops, and continuing education courses on a regular basis in the United States and Canada. Since 1984, he has conducted over 300 seminars for Fortune 500 companies, government organizations, and foreign corporations.

His publishing efforts have included a variety of articles, several computer software games, a number of training manuals (CQE, CQT, SPC, etc.), and a contribution to the 2001 edition of Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook.Back to top



Dr. Renee Butler, P.E. received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering in 1996, her M.S. in Operations Research in 1999, and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering in 2003 from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her graduate work focused on strategic and robust supply chain design. Dr. Butler is currently focused on the modeling and analysis of problems and algorithms in supply chain management, logistics, and transportation, with particular focus on addressing uncertainty. Currently, Dr. Butler is working on modeling and optimizing an agile supply chain for a semi-conductor manufacturer and modeling vehicle routing for delivering interlibrary loan materials.

In addition to her university experience, Dr. Butler has worked for M&M, Mars, Inc. and The Torrington Company. While at Torrington, she developed a strategy for implementing manufacturing cells including the factory layout, implemented lean manufacturing tools, and facilitated a cross-functional team to implement process improvements. Previously at Mars, she conducted statistical analyses of product quality, machine downtime and staffing levels. Back to top



Dr. Ruston Hunt received his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1981. He also holds an MSIE and BSIE from the University of Illinois. His graduate work focused on the development of general problem solving skills via computer-based training. At SPSU Dr. Hunt is the Director of the Applied Research Center (SPARC), and teaches graduate courses in Quality Assurance and Systems Engineering.

Dr. Hunt was an Assistant Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech in 1981 and 1982. He left Georgia Tech to devote full time to Search Technology, Inc., a contract research firm that he co-founded while in graduate school. While at Search Technology for over 20 years, Dr. Hunt participated in applied research and development in the areas of Human Factors and Man-Machine Systems. Customers included NASA, Naval Air Warfare Center, Army Research Institute, Air Force Behavioral Technology Laboratory, Electrical Power Research Institute and many commercial firms both large and small.

Dr. Hunt's areas of interest include human-centered system design and evaluation. Since 1985 he has also served as an expert witness on product liability cases, primarily involving issues of product warnings.Back to top



Dr. Ken Jackson, P.E. received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also holds an M.S.M.E and a M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering/O.R. from Georgia Tech. and he received his B.S.M.E from Auburn University. Prior to joining Southern Polytechnic State University he worked for 15 years at the Bell Laboratories as a Consulting and a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff. At Bell Labs Dr. Jackson worked on the design, development and commercialization of a wide variety of optical fiber products and manufacturing processes.

Before going to the labs, he worked for the Western Electric Company in manufacturing, product engineering and defense activities. Dr. Jackson's technical interests include applying innovative methods to improve industrial systems' performance, productivity, and quality and the development and use of system-structured design methods to reduce the cost and increase the quality of new products. Dr. Jackson holds 17 patents and has published/presented 21 technical papers. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Georgia, a member of the American Statistical Association and the ASME. Back to top



Dr. Christina R. Scherrer received her Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2005. She also holds Bachelors and Masters degrees of Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech. Her main research interests are dynamic pricing and applying industrial engineering tools to the public health sector.

Dr. Scherrer teaches Masters-level courses in QA and undergraduate courses in IET. While a student at Georgia Tech, she worked for Delta Air Lines in the pricing and operations reliability groups in addition to spending one year teaching high school mathematics in Fulton County. Back to top



Dr. Patricia Carden has a Ph.D. in Research & Measurement and Curriculum & Instruction from The University of Toledo; a Bachelor and Master of Science in Mathematics Education; and a Master of Science in Engineering Technology - Quality Assurance.

Patricia has been on the faculty of SPSU since 1985, has been teaching in the Industrial Engineering Technology Department since 1989 and served as Department Chair from 2001 to 2004. Patricia is a member of the American Society for Quality, the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education. She is a Certified Quality Engineer in ASQ.Back to top



Dr. Senay Solak received his PhD in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. He also holds an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. In addition to his university experience, Dr. Solak has served as a naval officer for seven years, and worked as an analyst in the Planning Department of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Dr. Solak teaches courses in Operations Research, Simulation and Statistics to students in the Industrial Engineering Technology and Business Administration departments, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His primary research interest is in the development of deterministic/stochastic models and solution methods for logistics system design and control. Of particular interest are problems related to network design and air transportation planning. His secondary interests include portfolio optimization for capital investment projects.Back to top



Bill Bailey is currently pursuing a PhD in Technology Management (Quality Systems Specialization) at Indiana State University. He earned his Master of Science in Industrial Technology at North Carolina A&T State University, and undergratuate degrees in Psychology and English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

His research interests include the improvement of organizational performance through quality initiatives such as the Baldrige Criteria, Six Sigma and Lean, and the application of these intitiatives in Manufacturing, Education, Service and Healthcare.

Mr. Bailey has extensive manufacturing experience including lean implementation and training and development. He has served as an examiner for several Malcolm Baldrige based awards, including those state awards in North Carolina and Georgia (Georgia Oglethorpe process). He is a member of the American Society for Quality, The National Association of Industrial Technologists, and a Senior Member of The Society of Manufacturing Engineers.



Dr. Helen Bush has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Statistics from Georgia Tech. She received her undergraduate Industrial Engineering degree from Mississippi State University and graduated summa cum laude. Her main research interests are Revenue Management, Quality Control and Telematics data applications.

Dr. Bush is a manager at UPS and works as an internal consultant to their Marketing, Customer revenue Management, Problem Resolution, Industrial Engineering, Automotive, New Product Development, and Finance and Accounting Departments. Prior to working at UPS she was a Staff Manager and a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Lucent Technologies (later became Optical Fiber Solutions) where she managed an engineering department, designed and implemented the quality control system for the cable manufacturing department, and was responsible for several global optimization projects.

Dr. Bush is an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt. Back to top



Dr. Sandy Furterer, CSSBB, MBB, CQE, received her PhD in Industrial Engineering with a specialization in Quality Engineering from the University of Central Florida in 2004. She received an MBA from Xavier University, and a Bachelor and Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Dr. Furterer has over 18 years experience in business process and quality improvements. She is an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Certified Quality Engineer, and a certified Harrington Institute Master Black Belt. Dr. Furterer is an experienced consultant who has facilitated and implemented quality, statistics, and process improvement projects, using Six Sigma and Lean principles and tools. She has helped Fortune 100 companies, local governments, and non-profit organizations streamline their processes and implement information systems.

Dr. Furterer was an Assistant Professor in the Industrial Distribution and Logistics program at East Carolina University from 2006 to 2007. She was a Visiting Assistant Professor and Assistant Department Chair in the Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Department at the University of Central Florida from 2004 to 2006. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, including Quality Engineering, Quality Assurance, Statistical Process Control, Quality Management, Total Quality Improvement, and Lean Six Sigma.

Currently, Dr. Furterer is a Master Black Belt for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., teaching and mentoring associates in Lean Six Sigma methodologies and tools.Back to top



Heather D. M. Lawder holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Masters of Business Administration from Kennesaw State University. Ms. Lawder teaches undergraduate and graduate-transition courses in QA and Business Adminstration.

She has worked as a Computer Engineer with the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and provided consulting and programming services for U.S Army Forces Command in a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based decision support development project. For the past six years, Ms. Lawder has been employed with Home Depot in a corporate capacity as a Systems Engineer, a Merchandise Planner, and currently, as a Hardware Merchant. While at Home Depot, she created educational materials and conducted training courses for over 400 merchants and analysts in merchandise financial performance analysis.

Rosemary Brannen Back to top

Master of Science in Quality Assurance
Contact us: MSQA Program Administrator
Last updated: March 16, 2007


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