Philbin

In advance of its 50th anniversary in fall 2016, the engineering management and systems engineering department at Missouri University of Science and Technology is launching the Bernie Sarchet Graduate Seminar Series.

The series is named after Dr. Bernie Sarchet, who joined Missouri S&T in the mid-1960s as the founding chair of the engineering management department.

“Dr. Sarchet is considered by many to be the founder of engineering management as a discipline worldwide,” says Dr. Suzie Long, associate professor and interim chair of engineering management and systems engineering at Missouri S&T.

The first speaker, Dr. Simon Philbin of Imperial College London, United Kingdom, will speak at 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5 in Room 213, Butler-Carlton Hall. Also available via WebEx, the presentation “Insights from managing complex research, technology and engineering projects in academia,” is open to all students and faculty.

“Dr. Philbin is a wonderful inaugural speaker for the Sarchet Seminar Series,” says Long. “He is an engaging speaker and truly embodies the ideals of the engineering management profession as envisioned by Dr. Sarchet. He will set an amazing tone for the seminar series and the anniversary celebration.”

Philbin’s seminar will highlight practical applications of project and engineering management by drawing on his experience, which has been gained in a university environment and through extensive engagement with industrial companies.

Philbin is director of programme management at Imperial College London, where he leads the programme management office (PMO). The PMO is focused on supporting research programs and projects across the university. This includes international research programs, European Union collaborative research projects and commercial projects.

He is published widely across areas including university-industry research collaboration, project management, technology management and chemistry. He is a recipient of the Merritt Williamson Best Paper Award from the American Society for Engineering Management and the Rod Rose Best Paper Award and Best Annual Symposium Paper Award from the Society of Research Administrators International.

Sarchet, who retired in 1981, secured approval for a Ph.D. program in engineering management at Missouri S&T. He also was a founding member and first national president of the American Society for Engineering Management. After retirement, he helped raise funds for the Engineering Management Building, helped develop the Order of the Golden Shillelagh and spearheaded the development of the Video Communications Center at Missouri S&T, which led to membership in the National Technological University, a consortium of universities that provide distance learning via satellite.