Ali Ahmady, an industrial and manufacturing engineering student at Wichita State University, has been awarded the 2010 Akao Scholarship, courtesy of the Quality Function Deployment Institute.

Ahmady is the first person from a university in the United States to receive the international award.

“It is an honor,” said Ahmady. “I am thankful for WSU, where there is a good environment for research and the faculty who are outstanding in their field and supportive of the students.”

Ahmady, originally from Iran, is working toward his doctoral degree in industrial and manufacturing engineering. He started at Wichita State in 2006 and continues to develop his research on quality function deployment.

“In the future, I would like to expand my knowledge and continue my research about my specialty, which is customer-oriented product development,” said Ahmady.

Ahmady was awarded the annual scholarship based on his project titled “An Efficient Customer Group Selection for Quality Function Deployment,” which adds to the QFD body of knowledge as a new approach to identifying customer segments using Kansei Engineering related factors.

“For Ali, this is an international recognition of his work in QFD and product development,” said Don Malzahn, a professor and undergraduate coordinator, department of industrial and manufacturing engineering, and also Ahmady’s adviser.

“I am proud to have worked with Ali and am happy for his recognition,” he said.

The Quality Function Deployment Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to researching, developing, advancing and teaching quality function deployment through the use of ongoing research, education programs and training methods.

The scholarship includes a cash award, complimentary admission to the 16th International Symposium on QFD, and admission to the QFD Institute’s international green belt certificate course, approximately a $2,300 value.

The Akao Scholarship ceremony will be held Sept. 24 in Portland, Ore., at the 16th International Symposium on QFD.