The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is America's leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, UTEP is a public research university, with a Carnegie R1 classification that transforms lives. Ninety-four percent of UTEP's nearly 25,000 students are minorities, and many are the first in their families to go to college. At UTEP, students have access to 168 bachelors, master's and doctoral degree programs in nine colleges and schools. Located in the second-most educated city in Texas, UTEP is recognized as one of the best research universities in the country for connecting students with the community around them. It is one of only 28 institutions in the U.S. and 3 in Texas to hold both top-tier research and community engagement distinctions from the Carnegie Foundation.
UTEP advances discovery of public value and positively impacts the health, culture, education and economy of the community it serves. With more than $108 million in total annual research expenditures, the University is ranked among the top 5% of colleges and universities in research and fifth in Texas for federal research expenditures at public universities. The University employs approximately 4,000 faculty, staff and students. It has one of the lowest out-of-pocket costs of any research university in the U.S., underscoring its commitment to offer an exceptional education at a great value. Almost 25% of graduates from the poorest backgrounds reach the top income quantile, placing UTEP in the top 10 universities in American for social mobility.
El Paso is a highly livable, bicultural community of more than 800,000 people that offers affordable homes and attractive neighborhoods. It has been repeatedly named among the safest large U.S. cities. El Paso experiences almost 300 days of sunshine annually, and residents enjoy outdoor activities year-round. The City of El Paso is adjacent to the state of New Mexico and the country of Mexico, making it an ideal venue for academic programs and research studies on topics of national interest, such as bilingual education/language acquisition, border environment and immigration, environmental sustainability and infrastructure, health disparities, and international trade and commerce.

About the IMSE Department: The Department of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering at UTEP (http://imse.utep.edu) offers an ABET-accredited Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering and Master of Science degrees in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Systems Engineering. Our faculty supervise Ph.D. students in the following programs: Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as in the following interdisciplinary Ph.D. programs: Computational Science, and Environmental Science and Engineering. The Department is currently developing a proposal for a Ph.D. program in Industrial and Systems Engineering. The department has an enrollment close to 400 students (undergraduate and graduate) and has expertise in smart manufacturing, quality and reliability, operations research, systems engineering, healthcare, and sustainability. Over the past years, the Department has experienced a significant growth in research expenditures through major grants and contracts from USDA, DHS, NSF, NIST, DoED and aerospace and defense industries like Lockheed Martin Corporation, among others. The Department maintains a strong collaboration with regional manufacturing industries that provide the opportunity for faculty to work with U.S. and international manufacturing companies. The Department houses the Research Institute for Manufacturing and Engineering Systems (RIMES), which has strong research linkages with industry and government partners. For further information, please visit the RIMES web site http://rimes.utep.edu/.