UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Christine Toh, an industrial engineering graduate student who will receive her doctoral degree in August, has been named an assistant professor of IT innovation in the School of Interdisciplinary Informatics in the College of Information Science & Technology at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO).
Her appointment will begin Aug. 15.
Toh has been a research assistant for Scarlett Miller, assistant professor of engineering design and industrial engineering, since 2011 in the Bridging Research in Innovation, Technology, and Engineering Lab (britelab). Her research has been supported by Miller’s National Science Foundation CAREER Award, which is geared at transforming the concept selection process to maximize product success.
This research has spanned topics such as individual attributes and biases in team decision-making, perceptions and preferences for creativity during concept selection and the visual representation of design artifacts in virtual engineering learning paradigms.
“Christine’s research in concept selection has provided an important foundational understanding of the factors that promote or inhibit the flow of creative ideas throughout the design process,” said Miller. “I am truly proud of what Christine has accomplished in her graduate studies at Penn State and I look forward to what she has in store for the industrial engineering discipline in the future.
“I have no doubts that her graduate experiences at Penn State have provided her with the foundation necessary to be an extremely successful tenure-track professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha.”
Toh has coauthored 17 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers and has received numerous academic honors including: being nominated for the 2015 Design Studies Award; receiving the Best Presentation Award at the 2015 Penn State College of Engineering Research Symposium (CERS); winning Best Poster Award at the 2014 CERS; earning the Logoa, Ray and Monkowski Graduate Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Research at Penn State in 2013; and garnering the Best Paper Award at the 2013 CERS.
Toh has been an active member of several organizations at Penn State, including service as a member of the Penn State College of Engineering’s Academic Integrity Committee (2015-present), a mentor for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Ally Student Resource Center (2011-present) and an international student mentor for the Directorate of International Students and Scholars Advising (2009).
She also is active in professional organizations, serving as a reviewer for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Design Engineering Technical Conference from 2013-2015 and as a graduate student mentor for the ASME International Design Conference in 2014.
Toh is a member of the ASME, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
A native of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Toh earned all of her academic degrees at Penn State, including master’s degrees in industrial engineering and mechanical engineering in 2014 and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in psychology in 2011.
“I am looking forward to my new position at UNO and am very excited about the highly interdisciplinary and unique program that will allow me to pursue my passion for research in creativity, design thinking and collaboration science,” said Toh.
“This is also a bittersweet achievement because I will miss Penn State and the community I have built here through my undergraduate and graduate years. In particular, I am extremely grateful to my adviser, Dr. Scarlett Miller, for her firm but compassionate guidance throughout the years, as well as other faculty, mentors and colleagues who have contributed to my success thus far,” she added.