Interested in mathematics and the sciences from an early age, Dr. Susan O. Schall was encouraged to enter engineering by her father, who was a vocal advocate for women in science. Studying mathematics and industrial engineering during her undergraduate, graduate and doctoral years, she commenced her career as a quality engineer at Kodak from 1982 to 1989, then consulting engineer in the DuPont Quality Management & Technology Center and technical superintendent of control systems engineering at DuPont Engineering Polymers from 1990 to 1998. Branching off to create her own business, she was president of Susan O. Schall Process Improvement Consulting in Front Royal, Virginia, between 1999 and 2002. From there, she joined RR Donnelley & Sons Company as a methodology director in 2002 before founding SOS Consulting LLC as founder and lead consultant in 2004. She remains in this role through the present day.
Dr. Schall has also been an authorized partner of John Wiley & Sons’ Everything DiSC since 2017. She has been an ABET consultant since 2014. She is a Fellow of ABET, serving ABET as adjunct training director, member of the board of directors and commissioner on the engineering accreditation commission (EAC). Civically involved as well, she was affiliated with Project Lead the Way engineering program for Warren County Public Schools and was a lay leader for the Front Royal United Methodist Church.
Dr. Schall is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, ASQ Certified Quality Engineer and ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence. A contributor of articles to professional journals, she authored “Is Your Organization Healthy Enough for Six Sigma?” in the ASQ Six Sigma Forum Magazine in 2015 and “Variability Reduction: A Statistical Engineering Approach to Engage Operations Teams in Process Improvement” in Quality Engineering in 2012.
Attributing her success to her persistence in the face of obstacles, Dr. Schall enjoys being a mentor to young women who are also pursuing the sciences. She has always been thrilled to make a difference in various organizations and make positive impacts upon individuals who work for those organizations. A noted integrator, she is renowned for integrating different tools and concepts in an effort to help with the issue at hand. Working with clients of all backgrounds, she utilizes her compassion and empathy to set her clients up for success.
As a testament to her success, Dr. Schall has accrued myriad accolades. DuPont Engineering bestowed upon her the 1990 Engineering Excellence Bronze Award and 1992 Engineering Excellence Silver Award. She also earned the 1999 Distinguished Service Award and 2009 Outstanding Engineering Alumna Award, both from the Pennsylvania State University. The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) honored her with the Medallion Award in 2018.
Recently in 2020, Dr. Schall was the recipient of the Fellow Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). Notably, this award recognizes outstanding leaders in the profession who have made significant, nationally-recognized contributions to industrial and systems engineering. She will attend the IISE Annual Conference in New Orleans in November 2020 to accept this award.
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