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Operations and Management Science PhD Program
Research and coursework occurs throughout the program, which typically lasts 4-5 years. Most of the first two years are dedicated to coursework. Following the second qualifying exam at the end of the second year, students focus predominantly on research. Faculty mentoring starts in the first year, soon after students are admitted in the program with students taking their first steps in understanding research methodology and topics in OMS. Doctoral students are usually mentored by multiple faculty, often working on multiple projects towards the end of their stay in the program. The range of topics on which doctoral students work is broad. Some topics are:
- Analyzing the role of uncertainty in capacity, either for an individual firm or a network of firms.
- Timing of new product introductions, when improvements are continuously "discovered" in the research department.
- Coordinating pricing and inventory decisions for firms competing in an open market.
- Operating multi-stage systems with severe capacity constraints at every stage.
- Designing products and policies optimally in an environment of sustainable manufacturing.
- Guaranteeing quality by pre-qualification checks in procurement auctions.
- Analyzing the role of social networks among individuals in a firm in new product development.
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The role of management is to activate and coordinate diverse resources, human
and capital, toward the focused objectives of the firm. This is as true for
operations as it is for any other function within the firm. Consider the following
hierarchy of activities:
- Mechanically design a single work station;
- Schedule production on a single work station;
- Coordinate several work stations making several products;
- Coordinate installed and acquired manufacturing capabilities with other
functions in the firm in pursuit of strategic objectives.
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These tasks gain degrees of freedom, and increase in managerial complexity, as we move from (a) to (d). The OMS group at the University of Michigan is dedicated to problem-solving at the highest level of complexity, (c) and (d); decisions typically dealt with by senior managers. Some topics which our current faculty and doctoral students work on include:
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Most of our research is based on mathematical modeling, typically involving problem formulation, analysis, and evaluation of policy implications for other domains. Often, numerical simulations are used to augment the analytical results.
Candidates interested in joining our doctoral program are encouraged to find out more by exploring the departmental website. Admission information is available through the RSB PhD Program admissions process. |
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