Industry Professional Brings Experience to the Classroom

Zahra Saki is looking forward to preparing students for the real world in her role as assistant professor in the Department of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management (TATM). 

She is bringing her 12 years of industry experience to the Wilson College of Textiles. Most recently she was a product owner and manager at Trane Technologies, but she also has eight years of supply chain management experience. 

“Having this ‘real world’ or industry experience helps me a lot with teaching students what is more common these days in the industry. I want to try to bridge the gap between industry and academia,” Saki says.

The path to academia

Saki’s path has taken many turns before leading her home to the Wilson College. Prior to working in supply chain management, she studied textile engineering. Originally from Iran, she completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree there in textile engineering. 

Afterward, she jumped into the industry in supply chain management, an area that she had little experience in. She decided to complete an MBA to improve her understanding of her field and better prepare her for management roles. 

After several years in the supply chain industry, she wanted to combine management with textile engineering and earned her Ph.D. in Textile Technology Management in 2020 from NC State. Her research there was focused on economic competitiveness, statistical modeling and hyper-personalized recommendation systems for clothing which required image processing and analytical skills. She completed a master’s degree in statistics during her Ph.D. program to help with her research and enhance her analytical and machine learning skills.

From 2021 to 2024 she worked at Trane Technologies, an HVAC company, as a product owner and manager. She developed a mobile thermostat app, and worked as the bridge between stakeholders and the development team. 

“I have always had a passion for data and analytical methods. At Trane, I had the opportunity to lead my team and managing my product using the analytical methods,” Saki says.

After her second stint in the industry working at Trane, Saki is excited to “come home” to NC State and further explore her research.

“Being an academic researcher, you have more freedom to explore ideas because you don’t have to generate something for the company. You are able to take more risks in academia,” Saki says. 

Her research uses an analytical approach to problem-solving to find economic advantages of the U.S. textile industry. She envisions the development of a domain-specific AI for the textile industry calling it “Tai” – Textile and Apparel Intelligence.

“I am excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Zahra Saki as an Assistant Professor in the TATM Department. Her extensive background in textile engineering, textile management, and statistics will contribute to the innovation of our programs,” TATM Interim Department Head Professor Kristin Thoney-Barletta says. 

Saki taught FTM 220 Principles of Retailing and Supply Chain Management during the fall semester. This semester, she’s teaching TTM 533 Lean Six Sigma, which focuses on quality management in production and manufacturing. At Trane, she directed her team using the agile methodology, just another way she can bring her industry experience to her teaching. She is eager to harness the Wilson College’s core values of collaboration and sustainability in her classroom and is energetic to expand her research.