Auburn hosts international educators for Material Handling Teachers Institute
Published: Aug 20, 2026 1:40 PM
By Carla Nelson
Faculty members from more than 30 universities and seven countries recently gathered at Auburn University for the Material Handling Teachers Institute (MHTI), a biennial professional development event designed to strengthen education in logistics, supply chain management and material handling.
Hosted July 28-30 by Auburn’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the institute brought together approximately 40 faculty participants and 10 speakers for educational sessions, laboratory demonstrations, industry and field visits and opportunities to exchange teaching practices and research ideas.
The institute is organized by the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE), an organization founded in 1952 and affiliated with Material Handling Industry (MHI), the trade association for the material handling, logistics and supply chain industries. CICMHE brings together academia and industry to advance education, research and workforce development.
Daniel Silva, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering, planned and hosted this year’s institute after volunteering to bring the event to Auburn. Silva joined CICMHE in 2024 after attending the 2022 institute, organized in part by Auburn industrial and systems engineering Professor Emerita Alice Smith.
“When I joined CICMHE, I quickly volunteered to host MHTI, because I do think it really brings academics from very many different institutions,” Silva said. “Like big R1 (Research 1) schools like Auburn, but also smaller liberal arts schools, people who are in engineering technology programs, supply chain programs at business schools, all sorts of people that work in logistics.”
Auburn has a long history with CICMHE. Smith and Professor Emeritus Jeff Smith, both former faculty members in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, previously served on the organization’s leadership board. The CICMHE Leadership Board includes approximately 15 faculty members from universities around the country and the world, as well as industry representatives.
CICMHE’s mission is to foster collaboration between the material handling industry and academia through research, workforce development and improved education. The organization’s Material Handling Teachers Institute and research conference alternate on a biennial basis.
As host, Silva worked closely with MHI and Auburn faculty to develop the institute’s educational program.
Silva also worked with Erin Garcia, senior lecturer in industrial and systems engineering, to introduce a new micro-teaching activity. The exercise gave every participant an opportunity to practice teaching in a small-group setting.
“We wanted all the participants to be speakers, but there’s obviously not a lot of time,” Silva said. “So, we brought them up into groups, and they each did a 10-minute teaching exercise for their group.”
The program also gave participants an opportunity to see Auburn’s industrial and systems engineering facilities firsthand.
Tom Devall, director of the Tiger Motors lean education lab, hosted a demonstration, which Silva said was one of the highlights of the event. Researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany also shipped robots to Auburn for a demonstration.
“It was really nice to show the Lean lab and our department to people from 30-some different schools in five countries and 20 U.S. states,” Silva said. “That was not the goal, but a bonus of hosting it here at Auburn is that we got to show off the cool things we’re doing in our department to all these folks from different backgrounds.”
Media Contact: , carla@auburn.edu, 334-844-1404
