Patricia Buchanan, Assistant Teaching Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering

Join us as we applaud Patricia Buchanan and her College of Engineering Teaching Award. https://www.engr.washington.edu/mycoe/awards/coe-awards

Patricia Buchanan is esteemed by her students and colleagues in ISE for the joy and passion she brings to her role. She demonstrates an unwavering commitment to her students, answering technical questions, offering industry experience and supporting them as they grow into their academic and professional engineering careers. She teaches various ISE courses and is the faculty advisor for the Senior Design ISE Capstone Program.  Patricia has served as a co-chair on the Innovative Engineering Education Subcommittee for the College of Engineering Steering Committee and was a co-chair on the Education Track for the Institute of Industrial Engineering Conference. Each year she serves as a faculty advisor to student teams participating in the Simio Competition for simulation modeling.  In previous years she has had two teams place 4^th and recently served again as faculty adviser to a student team participating in a competition in Spring 2021. She offered guidance, review, and support through project timelines and encouragement in the months leading to the simulation competition, helping the team place as semifinalists out of over 300 teams from around the world. 

Her dedication to the department goes beyond the classroom. She cultivates community by creating fun collaborative spaces and is working to reinstate the Industrial Engineering honor society, Alpha Pi Mu. One student writes, “Without a doubt, Patricia Buchanan has helped me become the person I am today and is a wonderful example of what engineering faculty should look like.”