Wysk named Dopaco, Inc. Distinguished Professor

Dr. Richard A. Wysk has been named the Dopaco, Inc. Distinguished Professor in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University. Wysk comes to NC State from Pennsylvania State University, where he holds the Leonhard Chair in Engineering and is widely recognized as the leading expert in computer integrated manufacturing.

Wysk has produced seminal work in advanced manufacturing and now focuses on the development of new rapid manufacture processes for biomedical devices and the development of a new generation of technologies designed to make medical implants antibacterial. He will join the NC State faculty for the spring 2010 semester.

Wysk has produced more than 170 refereed papers in areas of computer-aided process planning and manufacturing control systems as well as 15 books and book chapters. His research has been supported by government agencies and industries both domestic and abroad. His innovative teaching methods have influenced dozens of graduate students who have gone on to prestigious academic and administrative positions.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He also works with a variety of professional societies in leadership roles including serving as editor-in-chief for the journals of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Purdue University in 1977.

The Dopaco Distinguished Professorship is a new professorship established at NC State by Edward P. Fitts, who was chairman and CEO of Dopaco for 27 years and is a 1961 NC State industrial engineering graduate. Fitts grew Dopaco from a company of 115 employees to a company of 1,500 employees spread across nine plants with sales of more than $400 million annually. His $10 million gift in 2005 to endow the industrial and systems engineering department remains the largest gift ever received by the College of Engineering from an individual donor and the largest endowed gift to academics in NC State University’s history. The department was renamed in his honor for his dedication to the College.