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The American Society for Quality (ASQ) announced that Jianjun “Jan” Shi has been awarded the 2021 Walter Shewhart Medal. ASQ cited Shi for "his creative development and implementation of engineering-driven data fusion methodologies to achieve in-process quality improvements (IPQI) in manufacturing systems." Professor Shi is the Carolyn J. Stewart Chair in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). The Shewhart Medal is given to individuals who have made outstanding technical contributions and leadership in the field of modern quality control and improvement.

Shi’s work focuses primarily on the development and application of data-enabled manufacturing. His methodologies integrate system informatics, advanced statistics, and control theory for the design and operational improvements of manufacturing and service systems by fusing engineering systems models with data science methods. The technologies developed in Shi’s research group have been widely implemented in various production systems with significant economic impacts. Additionally, he is the founding chair of the Quality, Statistics and Reliability Division at the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS). 

“Congratulations to Jan on winning this prestigious award,” said ISyE School Chair Edwin Romeijn. “His unmatched work in the development and application of data-enabled manufacturing and quality control have made him a true leader in this field. We are proud to have him as a longstanding member of our faculty.”

The Shewhart Medal is the latest in a long line of honors Shi has received for his research. These include the ASQ Brumbaugh Award (2019); the Horace Pops Medal from Wire Association International (2018); and the IISE David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award (2016). In 2018, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for "development of data fusion-based quality methods and their implementation in multistage manufacturing systems.”

“I feel extremely honored and humbled to receive the 2021 Walter Shewhart Medal,” said Shi. “The development and implementation of IPQI requires a team effort. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to my current and former students, collaborators, and sponsors, as well as many people’s efforts to implement the IPQI methodologies in industrial systems.”

Shi has been a faculty member of ISyE since 2008. Prior to his arrival at Georgia Tech, he was the G. Lawton and Louise G. Johnson Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan.