Operations Management
The Operations Management doctoral program trains you to apply theoretical, data-driven or empirical analysis to advance your understanding of how work and processes are, or should be, organized and managed.
Thoughtful design and execution of operations are critical to the success of any enterprise. The Operations Management doctoral program equips you to evaluate both strategic issues of designing operations as well as tactical issues of executing processes. The faculty embraces a wide variety of research methods so you are capable of applying the tools that are most appropriate for the problem at hand.
The program aims to produce scholars who can be successful in both business and engineering schools. This is accomplished through both coursework and working closely with faculty on research projects. The program is intentionally small so that you can work using an apprenticeship model with at least one, and often several, of our faculty, who are all active in research.
Active Research Areas
Service management, healthcare management, retail operations, logistics, supply-chain management, sustainability, stochastic control of processing networks, revenue management, not-for-profit operations, and contracting and economic mechanism design.
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All our faculty are research-active and work with Ph.D. students. Our joint expertise spans modeling, optimization, data analysis, prediction and prescription, and empirical research methods. We have published scholarly articles in, and serve on the editorial boards of, leading journals, such as Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Mathematics of Operations Research, and Operations Research. Our work has also appeared in practitioner-oriented articles, such as Harvard Business Review and Supply Chain Management. Individual faculty have also taken on leadership roles in professional organizations, such as the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society and the Applied Probability Society. Our faculty has also written three textbooks on operations management, supply chain management, and operations strategy that are used in universities around the world.
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Our current Ph.D. students come from the fields of engineering, computer science, mathematics, operations research, and statistics. A master’s degree is not required, but about half of our matriculating students do have a graduate degree. Strong quantitative skills are needed for the type of research our students do. Recommended coursework includes calculus, linear algebra, optimization, probability, and statistics. Our training and coursework are grounded in operations research and economics; therefore, an interest in economics is expected. Prior research experience is not required.
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Coursework
In years one and two, you take three to four courses each quarter (fall, winter, spring). The first-year curriculum allows you to build a solid base in operations research as well as microeconomics, econometrics, stochastic modeling and optimization.
In your second year, course registration is more flexible as you transition from coursework to independent research. These courses include operations management doctoral courses offered that year and courses in other fields, such as economics, engineering, and quantitative marketing, or even an MBA course if relevant.
Preliminary exam
You will take a comprehensive preliminary exam at the end of your first year. This oral exam tests your ability to understand material from your first year of study and measures your knowledge of the field as a whole.
Qualifying exam and candidacy
At the end of year two, you are required to write a research paper that demonstrates competency in operations research. Upon successfully passing this qualifying exam and maintaining a 3.0 (B) grade point average in coursework, you are admitted to candidacy.
Research, proposal and dissertation
The main activity in your third year and afterward is research toward a thesis, under the direction of one or more faculty advisors. A thesis proposal must be presented to the department by the end of year three, prior to the beginning of fall classes. In your final year in the program, you must complete a dissertation demonstrating original and significant research and pass a final oral examination on the dissertation.
Teaching requirement
To promote engagement with faculty and integration with the intellectual life of the department, students serve as research and teaching assistants during years two, three, and four, including summers. Research assistantships (RAs) are an excellent lead-in to research; teaching assistantships (TAs) prepare you for teaching after obtaining your Ph.D.