Expanding expertise: Daniel Karkle joins IMSE faculty

The Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering is excited to welcome Daniel Karkle as its newest assistant teaching professor.

Karkle brings a unique mix of academic knowledge and real-world consulting experience to the classroom. He’s passionate about helping students connect what they learn in class to the kinds of complex challenges they'll face in the real world.

Originally from Brazil, Karkle earned his bachelor’s degree in civil production engineering from the Federal University of Technology – Parana, in Curitiba, Brazil, in 2005. It was during this time that he discovered a strong interest in production planning and inventory control (PPIC) — an area that sparked his passion for improving manufacturing systems. That passion led him to K-State, where he worked with Malgorzata Rys, associate professor in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, and earned his doctorate in industrial engineering in 2011, while simultaneously earning a graduate certificate in applied statics.

Since 2022, he’s been back at K-State as a professor of practice within the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, where he’s been sharing his insights and experiences with students across the college teaching an interdisciplinary senior design class as well as teaching Advanced PPIC and Simulation for the IMSE department.

Before joining IMSE, Karkle spent more than 10 years consulting on large-scale projects across a variety of industries. Some of the most memorable projects were consulting projects for Petrobras, a Brazilian National Oil and Gas company, on greenfield pre-salt developments in Santos Basin, specifically the prospective and closeout evaluations of megaprojects in the Lula field that used standardized FPSOs and a fast-track approach to try to optimize the field development.

Karkle will teach a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses and actively support IMSE’s distance graduate programs. He’s also excited to teach courses in the future in the areas of engineering economics, project management, systems engineering, human factors and statistics.

What drives Karkle most is the pursuit of knowledge and growth. He sees teaching not just as a way to share what he knows, but also as a way to learn and grow alongside his students. He’s especially passionate about helping students understand the fundamentals while also thinking creatively — and staying hopeful about the future.

Outside of work, Karkle enjoys spending time in the great outdoors with his wife and two sons, whether it's whitewater rafting, hiking or gardening. He's also an avid sports enthusiast, with a particular passion for tennis — both playing and watching.