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Ph.D. Program in Operations Research

General Information

The Doctor of Philosophy program prepares students to pursue careers in research and/or teaching in operations research. Students enrolled in the program augment the breadth of the course work required for the master's degree with courses designed to provide a deeper theoretical understanding of the subject matter of operations research. Each student develops an expertise and does original work in a selected area of operations research.

Requirements

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill imposes general requirements on all candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree. These requirements are set forth in the Record of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - the Graduate School. In addition, the Department of Operations Research requires successful completion of the following:

  • STOR 555 Mathematical Statistics
  • STOR 612 Models in Operations Research
  • STOR 614 Linear Programming
  • STOR 641 Stochastic Models in Operations Research I
  • STOR 642 Stochastic Models in Operations Research II
  • STOR 664 Applied Statistics
  • STOR 743 Stochastic Models in Operations Research III
  • STOR 762 Discrete Event Simulation
  • STOR 790 Operations Research Student Seminar (2 times)
  • STOR 994 Doctoral Dissertation
  • Electives: At least 3 additional OR courses
  • At least 1 course outside OR
  • 3 additional courses

Total hours required for degree: 50

Customarily students choose their electives to supplement their knowledge of the area selected for research. After completing most of the required courses the student is given a comprehensive written examination. The Department offers the examination in August of each year. The purpose of the examination is to measure the student's mastery of fundamental topics in the mathematical sciences relevant to operations research. You can find more information on the examination here. After passing the examination, the student chooses the remaining coursework and a research topic suitable for a Ph.D. dissertation in consultation with a faculty advisor. There is no language requirement for the Ph.D. degree.

The Oral Examination:

Near the end of all coursework the student takes an oral examination designed to reveal an in-depth understanding of the area selected for research. The examination committee is composed of the dissertation director and four other faculty members, at least three of whom are on the Operations Research Faculty. Successful completion of the examination signifies faculty approval for admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree and initiation of dissertation research.

Recent Ph.D.s : Topics, Advisors, and Employment

2009

  • Burcu Aydin
    Advisor: Gabor Pataki and Steve Marron.
    Placement: HP Research, Palo Alto.
  • Nan Liu
    Advisor: Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni and Serhan Ziya.
    Placement: Assistant Professor, Columbia University.

2007

2006

2005

  • Wei Huang, "Managing Warranty Services: Pricing, Inventory and Outsourcing."
    Advisors: Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni and Jay Swanithan.
    Placement: SAS Inst., Inc., Cary.
  • Tao Huang, "Dynamic Revenue Management and Pricing of Flexible Capacity."
    Advisor: Eylem Tekin.
    Placement: Captial One.
  • Bala Krishnamoorthy, "Pre-conditioning integer programs using column basis reduction, and, Geometry and topology of protein structure."
    Advisors: Gabor Pataki, Alex Tropshaw.
    Placement    : Washington State University, WA.

2004

2003

  • Anita Brogan, "Mutual fund and security selection through an operations research lens."
    Advisor: Shaler Stidham, Jr.
    Placement: Senior Director of Health Economics, Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in RTP.
  • Michelle Opp, "Outsourcing warranty repair services : static and dynamic allocation for a fixed population."
    Advisor: Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni.
    Placement: SAS Inc., Cary.
  • Robert Pratt, "Maximum capacity paths with recourse."
    Advisor: Scott Provan.
    Placement: SAS Inc., Cary.
  • Elena Tzenova, "An analytic approach to multi-class stochastic fluid models with static priorities."
    Advisor: Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni.
    Placement: Assistant Professor, Tulane University.

2002

  • Emily Larson Luebke, "k-connected Steiner network problems."
    Advisor: Scott Provan.
    Placement: Assistant Professor, University of Virginia.

2001

  • Eric Riehl, "Toward a unified sample-path theory for stability in queues, polling systems, and networks of queues."
    Plcement: ATN, UNC-CH.
  • Yasutake Hirasawa, "Approximating traffic parameters in multiclass fluid networks."
    Placement:IBM, Research Triangle Park, NC.
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