Alumnus now an endowed chair

Scott Mason (Photo by Patrick Wright)

Arizona State University engineering alumnus Scott J. Mason is now the inaugural holder of the Fluor Endowed Chair in Supply Chain Optimization and Logistics in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Clemson University in South Carolina.

In his doctoral dissertation research, he developed a novel approach to scheduling semiconductor manufacturing operations. His advisers on the work were John W. Fowler, now the Avnet Professor of Supply Networks in the industrial engineering program in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, and W. Matthew Carlyle, now an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Fowler and Mason became co-principal investigators on a research project that stemmed from Mason’s research and attracted joint funding of $850,000 from the Semiconductor Research Corporation and International SEMATECH.

Mason began his studies at ASU after a career in the semiconductor industry. After earning his Ph.D., he joined the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas, where he twice was named Faculty Member of the Year.

Prior to recently accepting the endowed chair position at Clemson, Scott was the Technical Vice President of Networking for the Institute of Industrial Engineers and general co-chair of the Industrial Engineering Research Conference.

Fluor Corporation, which has contributed $2 million to fund the Fluor Endowed Chair in Supply Chain Optimization and Logistics, is a Fortune 500 company that delivers engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance and project management services to governments and clients in diverse industries throughout the world.

Mason’s research primarily focuses on large-scale supply chain systems modeling, optimization, and algorithms, with emphasis in capital project supply chains, all aimed at finding the most efficient and economical ways for business and industry to move goods to market.

Jim Scotti, senior vice president and chief procurement officer for Fluor, said Mason is overseeing a program that will have long-term impact “on elevating the importance of the supply chain profession in the global engineering and construction industry.”