About Us

Our History

Less than a decade after the University of South Florida, named due to being the southernmost location of a public university in Florida at that time, opened its doors in 1956, the College of Engineering offered its first classes in 1964.

The Industrial and Management Systems Engineering department was founded in the same year under the leadership of Dr. Robert J. Wimmert. Starting with the BSIE program, the department soon added graduate programs at the master's and doctoral levels.

In 1984 the degree program for the Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) was added, which was the first fully distance learning (pre-internet, through satellite links) master's program in engineering management in the southeastern U.S. In the fall of 2023, the department launched its latest master’s program, Master of Science in Data Intelligence (MSDI) with the Department of Computer Science as collaborator.

At present, the IMSE department's 15 faculty members educate 150 undergraduates, more than 250 masters', and 30 full time PhD students.