North Aurora man takes helm of NIU College of Engineering department

On July 1, one of North Aurora’s newest residents, Chang Soo (CS) Nam, became chair of a Northern Illinois University engineering department.

Dr. Nam is at the helm of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE), within NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET)

For the past year, Nam was the Department Head of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan.

Previously, he had been at North Carolina State University (NCSU) for 12 years. There, he was a Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and associated faculty in both the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Psychology. While at NCSU, he received departmental awards for teaching, research and service.

Prior to NCSU, he taught at the University of Arkansas’s Department of Industrial Engineering, as an assistant professor from 2004 to 2010 and then as an associate professor his final year there.

Also on July 1, CEET saw the arrival of another new department head: Mohammad Saadeh, who is chair of the Department of Engineering Technology.

CEET Dean David Grewell said the high level of Nam’s professionalism and work ethic set him apart from other candidates.

“CS has a long and strong history of research and the skills he’s developed in that area will serve him well as he transitions into a leadership role here,” Grewell said. “We look forward to him building on the success that the ISYE department has achieved over the years.”

“We share the same vision,” Nam said of Grewell. “I agree with his mission and vision in terms of research, education and outreach. I’m especially excited to help students and faculty achieve more and help raise the department’s profile nationally.”

“I’m impressed with the ISYE faculty members here at NIU and look forward to supporting them as they conduct more research and teach undergraduates,” he added. “I’m very excited to share from my experience.”

Earlier this year, the department’s Master’s in Industrial Engineering program was rated ninth nationally by TechGuide.org—the only program from an Illinois university to make the top 10 list.

Graduates of NIU’s Industrial and Systems Engineering program work in a wide variety of industries at companies like Motorola Solutions, Hanes, Ferrara Candy, Molex, Target and UPS.

Originally from South Korea, Nam set his sights on becoming a teacher from an early age. “In our culture, teachers are highly respected and early in my life I decided that’s what I wanted to be,” Nam said. “I love to teach and work with students, and I enjoy working closely with my colleagues.”

NSF’s CAREER Award Among Accolades

Nam earned his BS in Industrial Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, his MBA from the School of Business in Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea, his Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from State University of New York at Buffalo and his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech.

His teaching and research interests center around brain-computer interfaces, social cognitive neuroscience, and human-explainable AI-robot teaming (HEART). Nam’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Among his numerous accolades, Nam received NSF’s CAREER Award in 2010 and in 2018 he was a U.S. Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (AFSFFP) Awardee. His associations include being a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES); he also received the 2019 Leland S. Kollmorgen Spirit of Innovation Award from the HFES Augmented Cognition Technical Group.

Since 2014, he has also served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Brain-Computer Interfaces”; its name will be changed to “Research in Biomedical Engineering and Technology” in 2025.

He has published over 180 publications and five edited books: “Trust in Human-Robot Interaction: Research and Applications,” “Neuroergonomics: Principles and Practices,” “Mobile Brain-Body Imaging and the Neuroscience of Art, Innovation and Creativity,” “Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: Research and Applications” and “Brain-Computer Interfaces Handbook: Technological and Theoretical Advances.”

The last of those books was selected by Taylor & Francis as the 2018 Outstanding Book in STEM.

Nam and his wife, Jin, are the parents of two children, Andrew and Libby.

He succeeds Shi-Jie (Gary) Chen, who had been serving as ISYE's interim chair. Chen has been a faculty member of the ISYE Department since 2007, including the past decade as a Professor.

To learn more, visit the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology online.