Dr. James M Tien is an internationally renowned scholar and educator; he brings a wealth of experience to his role as UM Faculty Ombudsperson, having served in various academic and industrial leadership positions. He was recently elected the Foreign Secretary of the U. S. National Academy of Engineering. He received the 2010 IEEE Richard M. Emberson Award, “for vision and leadership in advancing IEEE’s global visibility and recognition as an innovator in technical, publication and educational services.” He was elected to the 2002 class of Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. He served as Dean of the University of Miami College of Engineering (CoE) from 2007 to 2015, and continues as a distinguished professor in CoE’s department of electrical and computer engineering. Tien joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1977; later, he became the founding chair of a unique, inter-school department of decision sciences and engineering systems, and twice served as RPI’s acting dean of engineering. He received his Ph.D. in systems engineering and operations research from MIT and is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards.