Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Operations Research and Engineering Management


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Professor Sila Çetinkaya, Chair

Professors: Sila Çetinkaya, Halit Üster
Associate Professors: Richard S. Barr, Eli V. Olinick, Ohad Perry, Aurelie Thiele
Assistant Professors: Miju Ahn, Digvijay Boob, Eojin Han, Harsha Gangammanavar
Clinical Associate Professors: Diana Easton, Michael Hahsler
Adjunct Faculty: Justin Brown, Pelin Altintas-Deleon, Karl J. Arunski, Leslie-Ann Asmus, Robert L. Bell, William D. Bell, Yvone Bijan, Andrew F. Bouma, Hakki Cankaya, Gretchen H. Coleman, Long Dong, Matthew L. Durchholz, John R. Graham, III, Liliana Hickman-Riggs, Robert H. Jones, Rama Koganti, John I. Lipp, James K. McCloud, Emily McIntosh, William P. Nanry, Rabih Neouchi, David Olszewski, Brett Schulman, Nandlal M. Singh, Gheorghe M. Spiride, Xinyu (Edward) Wang

General Information

The OREM Department (formerly known as EMIS - Engineering Management, Information and Systems) brings together the school’s technical management and operations areas to offer a Bachelor of Science with a major in management science. This program focuses on computer models for decision-making and the application of engineering principles and techniques to enhance organizational performance. Faculty specializations include optimization, advanced analytics, telecommunications network design and management, supply-chain systems, systems engineering, logistics, quality control, reliability engineering, data science, information engineering, benchmarking, operations planning and management, network optimization, and mathematical programming. 

The same systems-oriented, mathematical-model-based approach that is the cornerstone of engineering also has powerful application within organizations and their operations. This is the field of management science – also termed “the science of better” – the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions.

Additional Majors and the Accelerated Pathways Program

Because of the flexibility of the curriculum, the majority of management science majors choose to receive a second major or one or more minors from a wide range of other disciplines. Examples include a Bachelor of Science, a major in management science or a second bachelor’s degree in economics, mathematics, business, computer science, data science, history, psychology, statistics, Spanish or French.

Other management science majors continue their studies to obtain a Master of Science in Engineering Management, systems engineering, information engineering or operations research. The Accelerated Pathways program allows students to accelerate progress toward completion of a graduate degree.

More information on these and other options available to management science majors is available at www.smu.edu/Lyle/Departments/OREM. OREM faculty and advisers are also available to answer questions about the program.

Computing Facilities

Students in the OREM Department have access to a wide range of computing facilities and networking equipment. The department manages three PC-based computing labs, including the Enterprise Systems Design Laboratory created for students in the senior design course. General-use UNIX and Linux machines (including eight-processor 64-bit Xeon workstations) provide advanced computing, analytical software and Web hosting to all engineering students. Windows- and Linux-based PCs and workstations are the primary desktop equipment. All computing facilities are networked via high-speed Ethernet, with Gigabit Ethernet connections to Internet 1, Internet 2 and the National Lambda Rail research network. Open computing labs and wireless services provide additional facilities access points for students.

Curriculum in Management Science

Management science deals with the development of mathematically based models for planning, managing, operating and decision-making. In the OREM curriculum, these methods are also applied to the design and management of efficient systems for producing goods and delivering services.

A management scientist at a major airline would be concerned with building mathematical models to decide the best flight schedules, plane routes, and assignments of pilots and crews to specific flights and of flights to specific gates, as well as the best number of planes to own and operate, cities to fly to, cities to use as major hubs, layout for an airport terminal, overbooking policy and location to refuel aircraft. Optimal and good usable solutions for such issues can be uncovered through analysis with computer-based mathematical models. The management scientist develops an understanding of a practical decision problem, then designs and constructs a model that incorporates data from the MIS department and produces a high-quality solution.

Because of its generality, management science has broad applications in all engineering disciplines and in the fields of computer science, economics, finance, marketing, medicine, logistics, production, information engineering and statistics. Management science methods are used extensively in industry and government, and SMU’s OREM program prepares the technically oriented student to excel in today’s competitive business environment. ABET, https://www.abet.org, does not provide accreditation for the discipline of management science.

Programs

    Major(s)Minor(s)

    Courses

      Operations Research and Engineering Management

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