A new degree program in industrial engineering- one of the fastest growing engineering fields and the only program of its kind in Nevada- launched this fall at the University of Nevada, Reno and is already attracting student interest.

Industrial engineering optimizes processes, systems and resources for maximum efficiency and effectiveness, and is utilized across all types of industries, from manufacturing to health care to transportation and entertainment. The retail, energy, automotive, aerospace, finance and construction sectors also employ industrial engineers.

What do Industrial Engineers Do?

In Nevada, where the manufacturing industry grew 68% from 2014 to 2024, according to the Governor's Office of Economic Development Q2 2024 report, many of the opportunities will be in manufacturing, particularly in the mining and aerospace industries.

"Those would be mid-level jobs requiring four-or-six year degrees that involve plant layout and design," said our director Tom Simpkins. Those types of jobs could involve designing facilities and improving processes as well as analyzing how workers interact with machines and materials. It could involve automation and robotics, Simpkins added — “where is robotics really deployed? In manufacturing” — as well as managing supply chains, the networks that move a product or service from the initial stage to the consumer.

"As manufacturing continues to grow in our state," Simpkins said, "we need to create a talent pipeline to fulfill that potential."

Hugh Broadhurst, general manager of Lithium Americas, a North American lithium company developing the Thacker Pass project in Nevada’s Humboldt County, echoed that sentiment.

"We're thrilled this program is being launched at UNR," he said.

Broadhurst contributed to the development of the new program at the College of Engineering by providing insights during the Industrial Engineering Forum in March. He is also a member of the steering committee guiding the program's progress.

Lithium Americas plans to commence lithium mining and processing operations at Thacker Pass in Humboldt County by the second half of 2027, according to Broadhurst. The project, primarily a chemical plant, will require industrial engineers for tasks such as discrete event modeling, which simulates system operations as a sequence of events, and stochastic modeling, a method for handling processes involving randomness or uncertainty.

In addition to manufacturing, industrial engineers also can be found in the entertainment and the transportation industries, Michael Riley, emeritus professor of the Industrial & Management Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said. He cited Disney, which moves large numbers of people around its theme parks and resorts, as “one of the greatest employers of IEs.” Airlines are another type of business that utilize industrial engineers to calculate factors such as load planning as well as scheduling and routing to ensure maximum efficiency.

Riley, who also attended the Industrial Engineering Forum in March alongside Broadhurst, added that industrial engineering is different from other engineering disciplines in that it focuses on humans as well as technical aspects of systems.

"Humans are not as predictable as machines," he said. But they are apart of the overall processes and systems that keep society running.

National Need for Industrial Engineers

At the University of Nevada, Reno, Industrial Engineering organizes under the College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering.

This is the only bachelor’s degree program for industrial engineering in Nevada, according to the University’s Academic Program Proposal Form submitted to the Nevada System of Higher Education in August 2023. The proposal also cited U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data: employment of industrial engineers is projected to grow 10% from 2021 to 2031; and about 22,400 openings for industrial engineers are projected each year, on average, over the decade.

How Manufacture Nevada Can Help

This groundbreaking degree program gives way to future engineers who aspire to work in the field in the future. At Manufacture Nevada, we work alongside the University of Nevada, Reno to provide resources to small and medium-sized manufacturers. These future students can be the perfect addition to your small or medium-sized manufacturing business. Reach out to our business advisors for answers to your questions, and how the new degree program can affect you and your business.

For more information about the Industrial Engineering degree program, click here.

Content from this blog was sourced from NEVADAToday.