Ann Arbor, MI - The Tauber Institute of Global Operations is pleased to recognize the contributions of four faculty advisors at this year's SPOTLIGHT! Team Project Showcase and Scholarship Competition.

The Tauber Institute presented Oleg Gusikhin, Debra Levantrosser, Mohammed Mostagir, and W. Monroe Keyserling with the 2023 Faculty Longevity Award for their invaluable service.

Oleg Gusikin is celebrating ten years of advising team projects. Oleg is a lecturer in the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the College of Engineering. Since 2011, Oleg has advised 10 Tauber team projects for sponsoring companies, including American Industrial Partners, BrandSafway, Brunswick, DTE Energy, Federal-Mogul, FedEx, Masco, Sunset Produce, and Target.

Debra Levantrosser is also celebrating ten years of advising team projects. She is a lecturer in the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering. Debra has advised team projects for 3M, Amazon, Beyond Meat, BrandSafway, Curation Foods, Dell, Fresenius Medical Care, Microsoft, Modine Manufacturing, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Stanley Black & Decker.  

The final 10-year award went to Mohamed Mostagir. Mohammed is an Associate Professor of Technology and Operations at the Ross School of Business. Mohammed has advised team projects for sponsoring companies such as Amazon, The Boeing Company, Microsoft, National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, and Verizon Wireless. 

Finally, the Tauber Institute celebrates W. Monroe Keyserling for 15 years of advising Tauber projects. Professor Keyserling is responsible for courses in ergonomics and safety engineering. He also teaches a course on oral and written technical communication for IOE Ph.D. students.

A signature initiative of the Tauber Institute, team projects pair exceptional students with top companies for a 14-week multidisciplinary, collaborative project with the potential for significant impact. Each 2-3 person project team is comprised of graduate students in Business and Engineering. Every Tauber team project receives support from a Michigan Engineering and a Ross School of Business faculty advisor, executive direction from the sponsoring firm, and project oversight by a Tauber Institute co-director. The Tauber Alumni Network provides additional mentorship and networking opportunities for students at their team project locations.

The Tauber Institute for Global Operations is a joint venture between the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering, working with industry partners to facilitate cross-disciplinary education in global operations management. The Tauber Institute is an inaugural recipient of the UPS George D. Smith Prize for effective and innovative preparation of students to be good practitioners of operations research, management science, or analytics. For more information visit tauber.umich.edu.