Dr. Heather Nachtmann Announced As John L. Imhoff Chair

Photo of Heather NachtmannDr. Heather Nachtmann was appointed as the John L. Imhoff Chair in Industrial Engineering for a two-year period beginning in January 2010. She will be the third recipient to hold this title, which has previously been held by Dr. Ed Pohl and Dr. Richard Cassady. Heather has outlined plans to utilize this chair to make significant contributions in three key areas: service to students, teaching excellence, and faculty development.

The Imhoff Chair in Industrial Engineering was established in 1989 through the generous donations of Dr. Imhoff's family, former students, friends and colleagues. Dr. Imhoff was a role model to many and his influence is still alive today. He had a vision for global cooperation and understanding, excellence in teaching and research, and a commitment to the success of students.

Dr. Nachtmann joined the industrial engineering faculty at the University of Arkansas in August 2000 as an Assistant Professor. She was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in August 2005. Dr. Nachtmann was appointed as the Director of the Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center in July 2007. She previously served as the Associate Director of the Center from May 2006 to July 2007. The Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center is a Department of Transportation University Transportation Center and a member of the Department of Homeland Security's National Transportation Security Center of Excellence. The center annually supports approximately $2 million in transportation research, teaching and technology transfer activities.

Her current research interests include economic analysis and security of transportation systems focusing on rural transportation networks and inland waterways; cost and quality issues in the healthcare supply chain; and advanced methods for engineering economic analysis. Her research has been supported by more than $2.2 million in grants and resulted in fifteen journal articles, two book chapters, and more than thirty-five conference papers. She has advised one Ph.D. dissertation, eight M.S. theses, and four B.S. honors theses. In 2004 she received best paper awards for her work published in The Engineering Economist journal and the Engineering Management Journal.

Dr. Nachtmann teaches undergraduate courses in the areas of engineering economy and cost analysis and graduate courses in decision analysis and cost estimation. She enjoys teaching and received the 2004 Best Teacher Award by the IE student body. One of her research areas is improving education in engineering economics.

She serves as faculty advisor to the department's student chapter of the Alpha Pi Mu honor society and faculty counselor to the college's Society of Women Engineers student chapter. She has received her department's annual Outstanding Service to Students Award three times and is the 2008-2009 recipient of the College of Engineering's Outstanding Adviser Award. Dr. Nachtmann serves as the Program Chair for the Engineering Economy Division of the American Society for Engineering Education, Technical Program Co-Chair of the 2010 American Society for Engineering Management Annual Conference and as an Area Editor for The Engineering Economist journal. She is a member of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department's Advisory Council for Transportation Research.

Dr. Nachtmann grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. Her BSIE and MSIE degrees are also from the University of Pittsburgh. She is married to Dr. Justin Chimka an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Nachtmann has four children. Tyler (15); Julia (4); Liam (2) and a newborn, Kate.

Release date: 4/2/2010