DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Mission:
To educate and train scholars who will produce first-rate OM research and who will succeed as faculty members in first-rate universities.  Our areas of study include optimization, stochastic modelling, and operations management applications.

Admissions and performance:
We enroll an average of two or three students each year out of more than 100 highly qualified applicants. Students enrolling typically have GMATS over 700 or GREs over 1400. International students typically have TOEFLs higher than 600. Our students are highly competitive within Stern and nationally, and present talks and invited presentations at national and international conferences.

Advising and evaluation:
The OM doctoral program faculty director advises all first-year doctoral students. During the first year students have many opportunities to get to know the research interests of all departmental faculty. By the beginning of the second year, students have selected a concentration advisor who will guide them through the comprehensive exam process and up to the thesis stage. By the middle of the third year students will have selected a thesis advisor. Each year every student submits a statement of intellectual progress to his/her advisor. All faculty meet to review the progress of all students in a day-long meeting each year. At this time, the student's intellectual progress is reviewed and plans for the following year are considered. The results of this review include a formal letter to the student assessing the previous year's work and offering guidance for the following year's work. All students take a comprehensive written and oral exam at the end of the second year. Students defend their thesis proposal by March of their fourth year and defend their completed dissertation at the end of the fourth year or during the fifth year.

Research and interaction with faculty:
Stern's operations management (OM) group has historically included faculty from two disciplines: operations research, and management and organizational behavior.  These two disciplines, along with economics and information systems, continue to have a significant influence on the teaching and research directions of the operations management faculty.  In today's business environment, there is a strong interest in combining strategy and industry structure with operations to yield a competitive advantage to organizations.

Doctoral students in OM take courses in optimization theory, stochastic processes, probability models, inventory theory, planning and scheduling theory, as well as game theory and economics.  Based on the department's philosophy that developing a familiarity with an application industry is essential to long-term success, students are encouraged either to assist faculty members who are actively working with industrial organizations or develop first-hand expertise through individual contacts with firms.

The faculty members focus their research on current and emerging themes in managing operations in today's economy.  They use a combination of analytical, empirical and theory building methodologies to understand: how to design operating systems, contracts and quality systems for the management of decentralized supply chains; best practices in retailing; vehicle routing; call center management; task and workforce scheduling; Internet business models and strategies; and how to forecast new product sales.

Faculty members hold editorial positions on numerous journals and are active in the major societies such as the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science.  As a result of Stern's New York City location, the school and its OM faculty have strong ties with the world's financial organizations and chemical, computer, consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies in the tri-state area.

Details are provided in the  Stern School Bulletin.  For admissions and details about the Stern School's Doctoral Program, click here:  Stern Doctoral Office.

Rene Caldentey
Coordinator, Operations Management Doctoral Program
IOMS Department

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PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Doctoral students in OM will be expected to achieve expertise primarily in the area of Operations Research and Management.  In addition, students will take courses focusing on statistics, economics and mathematics.  These courses already exist.  Based on the OM department’s philosophy that developing a familiarity with an application industry is essential to long-term success, Ph.D. students will be encouraged either to assist faculty members who are actively working with industrial organizations or develop first-hand experience through individual contact with firms.

Students may take up to a total of 60 credits as follows:

Note: Substitutions are allowed, when appropriate, with the permission of PhD coordinator.

• 7 basic courses in OM and related areas (21 credits)
  Linear and Integer Programming
  Combinatorial Optimization and Applications
  Dynamic Programming
  Queuing Theory
  Stochastic Processes
  Microeconomic Theory
  Statistical Inference and Regression Analysis
  
• 5 advanced courses in OM (15 credits)
  Supply Chain Management I
  Supply Chain Management II
  Stochastic Modeling
  Scheduling Theory
  Stochastic Control to Revenue Management
  
• at least 4 elective courses from the following (12+ credits):
  Real Variables I
  Real Variables II
  Probability Limit Theorems I
  Probability Limit Theorems II
  Numerical Methods I
  Numerical Methods II
  Regression and Multivariate Analysis
  Times Series Analysis
  Forecasting Time Series Data
  Econometrics I
  Econometrics II
  Industrial Organization
  Quantitative Applications in Marketing I
  Special Research Topics in Marketing
  Microeconomic Theory II
  Game Theory I
  Game Theory II
  Nonlinear Optimization
  
• 5 research practica (5 credits) and 1 teaching practicum (1 credit)

In addition to required course work, doctoral students will also participate in research projects led by faculty members, attend research seminars, present seminars concerning their own research, and write and attempt to publish research studies.

By fall of the third year, doctoral students are required to take and pass the department’s comprehensive examination.  Doctoral students who complete their coursework and pass the comprehensive exam may apply for the M.Phil degree.

The doctoral program will conclude with the proposal, writing and defense of a dissertation.

Students will be required to complete the doctoral program within six years (most students will graduate in 4-5 years).

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM OF STUDY

I.           Minimum Sequence of Courses:

II.     Courses:

III.     Suggested Elective courses from other departments:

NOTES:

Students are encouraged to take electives to support their research perspective. Samples of electives of three perspectives are shown below; others are possible:

Basic courses or advanced OM courses may be waived only with the permission of the Ph.D. coordinator.

Comprehensive Examinations will be given once per year and include a written and an oral exam. The examinations are constructed by a common group of faculty and are based on the basic and advanced coursework.

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DOCTORAL COURSES

B60.3321  Introduction to Stochastic Processes
B60.4303  Stochastic Service Systems
B60.4304  Special Topics: Supply Chain Management
B60.4305  Advanced Topics in Optimization
B60.4306  Dynamic Programming and Stochastic Controls
B60.4308  Applications of Stochastic Control to Revenue Management
B60.4309  Advanced Stochastic Modelling I
B60.4311  Advanced Stochastic Modelling II
B60.4314  Revenue Management and Pricing
B60.4315  Combinatorial Optimization and Applications
B60.4316  Queuing Networks: Theory Applications
B60.4317  Stochastic Inventory Theory
B60.4318  Advanced Topics in Optimization II
B60.4319  Stochastic Simulation
B60.4326  Computational Mathematics and Large Scale Dynamic Programming

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IMPORTANT WEBSITES FOR DOCTORAL PROGRAM

Important web sites for information on the Operations Management doctoral degree program at the Stern School of Business:

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DOWNLOAD OR REQUEST A PH.D. PROGRAM APPLICATION

To request and/or download an admissions packet, go to http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/phd/admissions.cfm?doc_id=2878.

To send e-mail to the Doctoral Program Office at the Stern School of Business, send to phd@stern.nyu.edu.

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