Finding inspiration in inefficiency, IE grad ready for a design career
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For industrial engineering graduate Thomas Cademcian, curiosity during his daily commute led to an award-winning research project.
During his Operations Research course, Cademcian was tasked with identifying a problem and developing a solution. He thought of the CTA Blue Line, the train he took each day to UIC.
“When you’re waiting for the train, you can see how old the super rusty tracks are and how much noise they make. You can see firsthand that it needs to be fixed or rebuilt. I would be late to class relatively frequently due to delays,” he said.
His insight was to create a mathematical model to equitably distribute resources for a reconstruction and modernization project. He continued working on it after the class ended as a summer research project under the direction of Clinical Associate Professor Quintin Williams.
Over the summer, he designed a cost-optimization model to equitably distribute resources for a reconstruction and modernization project to improve service reliability. He projected a 43% ridership increase from strategic reconstruction over three years, with savings of approximately $16.7 million through efficient service shutdown planning.
The project earned him second place at the Illinois Summer Research Symposium at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where nearly 140 undergraduate and graduate scholars presented research developed through the mentorship and training of faculty members from across a variety of disciplines.
In addition to the research symposium opportunity, the project and his other coursework have prepared him for a career in industrial engineering.
“I learned a lot of techniques that I can apply to jobs I’m considering,” he said. “I think that the instructors are great. You get quality education here, and UIC has great resources that you can make use of.”
As for jobs, he is targeting a position in human factors and ergonomics, designing for people.
“It would be really cool to be able to make many people’s lives more comfortable, because I’m someone who really notices discomfort while working, like when a desk is too high, which can have long-term effects,” Cademcian said.