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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Dear Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I am enclosing the PhD defense announcement below for you or your students to attend if the topic is of interest to you and it fits your schedule.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><br>Best,<br><br>Suresh Khator<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>_______________________________________________________</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>Suresh K. Khator, Ph.D., P.E. Phone: 713-743-4205 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>Associate Dean, College of Engineering Fax: 713-743-4214<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>University of Houston Email: skhator@uh.edu <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>E421 Engineering Bldg 2 www.egr.uh.edu/ie<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>Houston, TX 77204-4008<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Ph.D. Defense<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'>Integrated Quality and Reliability Methodology for Complex Systems Subject to Multiple Failure Processes</span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'>By Hao Peng<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'>Department of Industrial Engineering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'>Date: Nov, 23<sup>rd</sup>, (Tuesday)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'>Time: 10am-12pm<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'>Location: IE Conference room<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"CG Times (W1)","serif"'>Abstract<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%'>Quality and reliability of complex products and systems are becoming increasingly important because of the intense global competition and higher customer expectations. Traditional approaches are inadequate or inappropriate to obtain globally optimized policies because quality and reliability related policies over the product life cycle, such as burn-in policy, quality inspection policy and preventive maintenance policy, are often optimized separately. This research develops new integrated quality and reliability models and analysis tools that can be applied to improve the overall performances for various complex systems, especially some novel technologies, such as micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>