We are pleased to announce the 2026 QCRE Best Student Paper Competition at the 2026 IISE Annual Conference & Expo, taking place May 16–19, 2026, in Arlington, TX. Organized by the Quality Control & Reliability Engineering (QCRE) Division, this competition recognizes outstanding student research papers in the areas of quality control, reliability, and related fields. We warmly invite students to participate and showcase their work (Full Paper Submission Deadline: January 23, 2026). For additional information or submission guidelines, please check the CFP below or reach out to the competition coordinators Dr. Juan Du (juandu@ust.hk) or Dr. Haifeng Wang (wang@ise.msstate.edu).
Call for Papers: QCRE Best Student Paper Competition
IISE Annual Conference & Expo 2026
May 16 – 19, 2026 Arlington, TX
Quality Control and Reliability Engineering Division
The Quality Control and Reliability Engineering (QCRE) division of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) is sponsoring a student paper competition as part of the The Quality Control and Reliability Engineering (QCRE) division of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) is sponsoring a student paper competition as part of the IISE Annual Conference & Expo, May 16 – 19, 2026 Arlington, TX. The purpose of this competition is to honor outstanding papers in the field of quality and/or reliability engineering research and practice. Awards will be presented at the QCRE town hall meeting during IISE Annual Conference & Expo. The winners will be acknowledged in the QCRE newsletter and the website. The winner and finalist papers are eligible to be recommended to the INFORMS Journal of Data Science (IJDS) and Frontiers of Engineering Management (FEM).
Eligibility Criteria
- The paper topic must fit the QCRE themes.
- The applicant must be a full-time student at the time of submission.
- The student must be the first author and an IISE QCRE member.
- The paper must present original research results and cannot be accepted for publication elsewhere at the time of submission (it can, however, be submitted and/or under review for possible publication at the time of submission for this competition).
- The paper must not have won or been considered for an award in another competition.
- Previous finalists who wish to compete again should submit an entirely different paper. Past winners are not eligible for the competition.
- Finalists must be able to attend the 2026 IISE Annual Conference & Expo.
Formatting and Submission Guidelines
1. Entrants must submit (1) a blinded and unblinded version of the paper and (2) a formal signed statement from the student and the advisor (attached to the end of this document), affirming that the majority of the original results presented in the paper are due to the student's efforts rather than the advisor or other collaborators involved in the work.
2. All submissions should be in electronic format (.PDF files ONLY), with subject "2026 QCRE Best Student Paper Competition", to both coordinators (in a single email), Dr. Juan Du and Dr. Haifeng Wang by January 23, 2026 (11:59 PM Central Time). Late or incomplete submissions will be ineligible for the competition. All submitted papers will be reviewed and ranked by the reviewer committee, and the finalists will be announced on February 27, 2026.
3. All submitted papers must follow the paper formatting guidelines and requirements of IISE conference proceedings. Papers must be within 8 pages (the page limit does not include references but includes appendices; format with 1-inch margins, single column, single-spaced, 12-point font, in Times New Roman) and must begin with an abstract of 250 words maximum. The submitted paper must follow the format or will be returned without review.
Evaluation Process:
All submitted papers will be reviewed and ranked by external referees and finalists. Each eligible paper will be reviewed by two to three external referees, each of whom will assign a numerical score using the following five criteria. For each criterion, an integer score between 1 and 5, with 5 being the highest rating, will be assigned.
-Originality: Suitable quality and/or reliability related topic; Quality and/or reliability tools and techniques used adequately; Contributes to the quality and/or reliability field.
-Soundness: Well developed explanations, hypothesis, and competing theories; Arguments are well-grounded in previous literature; Synthesis of conclusions/recommendations are supported.
-Methodology: Application of research methods/techniques is appropriate; Analyzes of results are interpreted correctly.
-Organization & Quality of Writing: Arguments are logical and easy to follow; Thoughts are complete and clearly stated; Grammar/spelling error are minimal; Paper is well organized.
If you have any questions, please send an email (with subject "2026 QCRE Best Student Paper Competition") to the coordinators. The winner of the competition will be decided based on the review evaluations and oral presentations.
Recognition
· Winner and all finalists will receive a certificate and be recognized at the QCRE townhall meeting at the Annual Conference
· Winner will be recognized on the QCRE webpage
· Winner and all finalists will be recognized in the QCRE newsletter
· Winner and all finalists will be recognized in ISE magazine
Important Notes
- Papers submitted for this competition will NOT be published in the conference proceedings.
- IISE and the QCRE division do NOT own the copyrights of the papers submitted for this competition. However, the papers must be available to the QCRE division to be posted on their web page.
Deadlines
Full Paper Submission: January 23, 2026
Notification of Finalists: February 27, 2026
Speaker Registration: March 8, 2026
Submissions should be sent to the contest chairs:
Dr. Juan Du, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (juandu@ust.hk)
Dr. Haifeng Wang, Mississippi State University (wang@ise.msstate.edu)
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Haifeng Wang
Associate Professor
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State MS
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