Dr. Venkat Allada is a Professor in the Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Department at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), Rolla, USA. His teaching and research interests are in areas of lean thinking, new product development, design automation, sustainable systems, and STEM education. He served as Missouri S&T’s inaugural vice provost of graduate studies from 2007-2017. He served as the 2016-17 chair of the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS). Dr. Allada earned his doctoral degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1994. He is the recipient of the 1998 ASEE Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award, the 1998 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the 2005 Outstanding Contributions Award by MIT’s Lean Aerospace Initiative. He is the recipient of several Missouri S&T Faculty Excellence Awards, Outstanding Teaching Award of Excellence, and Innovative Teaching Award. He has over 100 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings.