IOMS FACULTY RESEARCH

A vigorous research program in the Department of Information, Operations, and Managements Sciences (IOMS) is essential to its teaching mission, and to attracting first-rate faculty and students.  The Information Systems Group is itself made up of three groups with rather different disciplinary backgrounds ("reference disciplines").  The Operations Management and Statistics Groups each derive its faculty from a single recognized reference discipline.  The research interests of the current IS Group can be roughly divided into three subgroups:

1. The Representation and Analysis of Large Data Sets.  These interests include the topics of (1) database representation and manipulation, and (2) knowledge discovery and "data mining."  Typical subtopics include: (1) the organization and updating of large databases, especially those derived from a variety of sources and "platforms;" and (2) the development of methods and algorithms for classifying and/or identifying characteristics of individuals, groups, and events (e.g., fraudulent telephone calls) from data on a large number of instances with many different attributes.  Most recently, the analysis of "networked data" has received increased attention.
2. The Economic Analysis of Markets for Information Goods and Services. These topics include the pricing of information goods and services, and the evolution of market structures (monopoly, oligopoly, competition), taking account of the special characteristics of the technologies, costs, and demands for these goods and services.  Also, these studies often have significant public policy implications.
3. Behavioral Aspects of Information Systems. These include the study of how human individuals and groups interact with information systems and technologies.  Examples include (1) the formation and dynamics of "internet communities," (2) the factors that influence whether and how human decision-makers use automated decision-support systems; and (3) the dynamics of software development teams composed of individuals with different goals and areas of expertise.

The members of the Operations Management Group have backgrounds in the fields of operations research and, more generally, applied mathematics. The main research interests currently represented in the Group are:

1. Theory. Inventory, queueing and scheduling models.
2. Applied and Empirical Research. Supply chain management, services management, and operations strategy.
3. Cross-Disciplinary Research. Economic, financial, and informational aspects of the operations models (e.g., supply chain management models), such as contractual issues, auctions and options.

Statistics is a large and diverse field with a long history. The main research interests currently represented in the Statistics Group are:

1. Time series.  The modeling and forecasting of time series are relevant to many disciplines, but research in the department has (not surprisingly) focused on financial and economic applications.  The study of long memory is particularly prominent, including its relationship to conditional heteroscedasticity and its application to modeling stock volatility.
2. Stochastic processes.  The field of stochastic processes encompasses investigations into the properties of random processes that are observed over time.  Research in the department includes the general study of such processes (e.g., Markov processes), and in particular those related to finance applications.
3. Applications of statistics to business.  This research explores the application of statistical methodology to business-related problems.  Examples include research in data mining, econometrics, applications in the entertainment industry, actuarial science, and the study of the nonprofit sector.
4. General statistical methodology.  General statistical methodology research is also conducted in the department.  Topics include smoothing methods, robust estimation, and statistical maps.

Research Collaboration with other Departments.  Quite a few members of our department are currently engaged in, or are planning, research projects with faculty and students in other departments in the School.  Examples of such projects are:

• The value relevance of book value, dividends, and earnings (Accounting)
• Theoretical analysis of transition economies (Economics)
• Competitive nonlinear pricing in industries subject to network effects (Economics)
• On the asymptotic power of the variance ratio test (Finance)
• Interaction between financial and real options (Finance)
• Predictive regressions: a reduced-bias estimation method (Finance)
• Pricing of heterogeneous objects such as art and real estate and the role of experts in these markets (Finance)
• Motivation of managers (Management)
• Online socialization to a new organizational status (Management)
• Multiple team memberships (Management)

Also, IOMS faculty are involved in collaborative research with other departments in the University.  We invite you to browse the links on the above left to learn more about research conducted by faculty in the IOMS department.