Operations Research and Engineering Management

Professor Sila Çetinkaya, Chair
Associate Professor: Diana Easton, Associate Chair

Professors: Sila Çetinkaya, Halit Üster
Associate Professors: Richard S. Barr, Yanling Chang, Diana Easton, Harsha Gangammanavar, Eli V. Olinick, Ohad Perry, Aurelie Thiele
Assistant Professors: Miju Ahn, Digvijay Boob, Eojin Han
Senior Lecturer: John Evers
Adjunct Faculty: Pelin Altintas-Deleon, Batur Aluskan, Leslie-Ann Asmus, Justin Brown, Hakki Cankaya, Long Dong, Laura Lu, James McCloud, Emily McIntosh, Nandlal Singh, Gheorghe Spiride, Laura Vu, Liliana Hickman-Riggs, Rama Koganti, Brett Schulman

Graduate Programs

Leaders need more than technical knowledge in today’s complex working world. OREM programs develop leadership, engineering and management skills for success in technology-driven organizations. The same systems-oriented, mathematical model-based approach to design – which has been the cornerstone of engineering for decades – has powerful application within technology-driven organizations. 

The Department of Operations Research and Engineering Management (OREM) offers four Master of Science degrees and two Doctoral degrees. Graduate programs in OREM educate and train leaders in the fields of operations research, engineering management, information engineering management, entrepreneurship, and systems engineering. The courses and curriculum are designed, and continuously updated, to prepare the student for work in modern technology-driven organizations, or for research in the areas of operations research, engineering management, or related fields.

Graduate Degrees. The Department of Operations Research and Engineering Management offers the following graduate degrees:

• Operations Research and Analytics applies advanced quantitative methods to help organizations make better decisions and generate insight for practical implementation. By using data-driven, analytical and computational techniques such as mathematical modeling to analyze complex situations, operations research gives organizational leaders the power to make effective and insightful decisions and build productive systems in the age of Big Data.
• Systems Engineering develops expertise for the creation and management of complex systems (products and services) that satisfy customer requirements in considering engineering, technology, environmental, management, risk and economic factors by viewing the system as a whole during its life cycle, using systems-engineering principles, methods and practices.
• Engineering Management develops expertise in applying engineering principles to managing technology-based projects and people in technical roles. This well-rounded approach prepares individuals for success in the new world of the technology-driven enterprise with its challenges and opportunities.
• Information Engineering and Management provides the graduate with the tools to effectively engineer, manage, and utilize the data collection and information flow of an organization by developing technical and management skills required in the age of Big Data via a unique curriculum combining software, networking, hardware, technology, and management along with data-driven modeling and computational skills.
• Engineering Entrepreneurship develops engineers who look at the role of new technology in society with a business perspective. These graduates have the ability to apply that knowledge to bring new technology to the marketplace.

The unifying theme of these efforts is the application of engineering principles and techniques to enhance organizational performance. Faculty specializations include optimization, data mining, advanced analytics, telecommunications network design and management, supply-chain systems, systems engineering, logistics engineering, quality control, reliability engineering, information engineering, benchmarking, operations planning and management, network optimization and mathematical programming. Whether the graduate will be in a technology firm, the military or a not-for-profit organization, they will develop the essential technical and leadership skills from the Operations Research and Engineering Management Department.

Course Delivery Formats

Courses for these programs are offered both on-campus or off-campus via several delivery formats.

Graduate courses may be completed on-campus, face-to-face, through traditional course delivery.

Master’s courses are also offered through distance education (synchronously or asynchronously), as may most of the coursework for doctoral degrees. More information on distance education delivery systems is in the Off-campus Distance Education section of this catalog.

For selected master’s degrees, the Department of Operations Research and Engineering Management also offers courses delivered in the Cohort Weekend format at various locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Please see Weekend Format Cohorts section below.

Weekend Format Cohorts

The OREM department offers two of their graduate programs, the Master of Science in Systems Engineering and the Master of Science in Engineering Management, in a unique weekend delivery format to offer additional flexibility and to better accommodate the full-time working professional. This format utilizes a condensed, 10-week semester and classes delivered face-to-face on alternating Fridays. It is a cohort program that is restricted to a highly motivated group of local area professionals and designed to impart essential knowledge for today’s and tomorrow’s technology-driven organizations.

As a tool for recruitment and retention, each of these degrees can be an ideal reward or incentive device to help companies attract and keep top talent. Best of all, the program is extremely cost-efficient, priced below other comparable programs. For more information on all the OREM master’s programs, students should see the department website at www.smu.edu/Lyle/Departments/OREM.

The most up-to-date information on programs and activities is available on the departmental website at www.smu.edu/Lyle/Departments/OREM.

Multiple Master’s Degrees

SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering permits its graduate students to take advantage of degree-requirement overlaps to acquire a second master’s degree by taking as few as six courses (18 credit hours). This option is available for prospective and current graduate students, as well as alumni who have already received an M.S. from SMU. The following guidelines must be followed by students wishing to receive two M.S. degrees:

1. The student must apply to and be admitted to both programs.
2. All requirements of both degrees must be met.
3. For the new (or second) master’s degree, a minimum of 18 credit hours of graduate coursework must be taken, and it must be coursework that will not or has not been applied toward another SMU Lyle graduate degree.
4. For students who are currently enrolled in an SMU Lyle graduate program and who are seeking a new master’s degree, the degree will not be awarded until a minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate coursework has been completed at SMU.

With careful planning, a student can develop an advanced education strategy leading to multiple degrees, including combinations with a Master of Science in Engineering Management; a Master of Science in Information, Engineering and Management; a Master of Science in Systems Engineering; or a Master of Science Operations Research. Students apply and file degree plans for both degrees, and then complete the coursework. Additional information and examples of programs of study for obtaining two master’s degrees from the OREM department are available at www.smu.edu/Lyle/Departments/OREM.

Administrative Process. Students pursuing dual degrees must be admitted into each degree program separately. A separate application form and statement of purpose must be submitted for each, as follows:

• To apply for both degrees simultaneously, the student must include a note indicating that they are “applying for a second master’s,” and a single application fee and set of transcripts will be required.
• If the student is already enrolled in one program, they must submit an application form and statement of purpose for the second degree, along with a note indicating that they are applying for (not a requesting a transfer to) a “second master’s program.”

Programs

• Engineering Management, D.E.
• Operations Research, Ph.D.

• Engineering Entrepreneurship, M.S.
• Engineering Management, M.S.E.M.
• Information Engineering and Management, M.S.I.E.M.
• Operations Research and Analytics, M.S.
• Systems Engineering, M.S.

• Operations Research/Business Administration, M.S./M.B.A.

Courses

• OREM 7049 - Master’s Full-Time Status
• OREM 7300 - Systems Analysis Methods
• OREM 7301 - Systems Engineering Process
• OREM 7303 - Integrated Risk Management
• OREM 7305 - Systems Reliability and Availability Analysis
• OREM 7307 - Systems Integration and Test
• OREM 7309 - Systems Reliability Engineering
• OREM 7311 - Systems Engineering Design
• OREM 7313 - Integrated Logistics Support
• OREM 7315 - Systems Quality Engineering
• OREM 7317 - Systems Engineering Leadership
• OREM 7319 - Systems Architecture Development
• OREM 7321 - Systems Engineering Planning and Management
• OREM 7323 - Systems Life Cycle Cost and Affordability Analysis
• OREM 7325 - Systems Engineering Software Tools
• OREM 7330 - File Organization and Database Management
• OREM 7331 - Data Mining
• OREM 7332 - Methods in Machine Learning
• OREM 7344 - Process and Product Analysis, Improvement and Management
• OREM 7350 - Algorithm Engineering
• OREM 7351 - Enterprise Fundamentals
• OREM 7352 - Information Systems Architecture
• OREM 7353 - Information System Design Strategies for Analytics
• OREM 7355 - Engineering Operations
• OREM 7356 - Decision Analysis for Engineers
• OREM 7357 - Analytics for Decision Support
• OREM 7359 - Information Engineering Seminar
• OREM 7360 - Management of Information Technologies
• OREM 7361 - Simulation for Systems Analytics
• OREM 7362 - Production Systems Engineering
• OREM 7363 - Applied Parallel Programming
• OREM 7365 - Program and Project Management
• OREM 7366 - Marketing Engineering
• OREM 7370 - Probability and Statistics for Data Analytics
• OREM 7371 - Stochastic Models with Applications
• OREM 7373 - Supply Chain Operation and Control
• OREM 7377 - Statistical Design and Analysis of Experiments
• OREM 7380 - Managing Information Technology Controls
• OREM 7382 - Information Technology Security and Risk Management
• OREM 7383 - Technology Commercialization and Product Management
• OREM 7384 - Technology Commercialization and Engineering Entrepreneurship
• OREM 7390 - Special Topics
• OREM 7396 - Master’s Thesis
• OREM 7501 - Technology Commercialization Studio I
• OREM 7503 - Technology Commercialization Studio II
• OREM 8049 - Full-Time Status
• OREM 8096 - Dissertation
• OREM 8190 - Special Topics
• OREM 8196 - Dissertation
• OREM 8296 - Dissertation
• OREM 8330 - Advanced Database Management Systems
• OREM 8331 - Advanced Data Mining
• OREM 8337 - Information Retrieval
• OREM 8350 - Algorithms II
• OREM 8355 - Graph Theory
• OREM 8356 - Global Perspectives for Information Engineering
• OREM 8358 - Technical Entrepreneurship
• OREM 8360 - Optimization for Analytics
• OREM 8361 - Engineering Economics and Decision Analysis
• OREM 8362 - Engineering Accounting
• OREM 8363 - Engineering Finance
• OREM 8364 - Engineering Management
• OREM 8368 - Enterprise Leadership
• OREM 8370 - Stochastic Models
• OREM 8371 - Linear Programming
• OREM 8372 - Queueing Theory
• OREM 8373 - Integer Programming
• OREM 8374 - Network Flows
• OREM 8378 - Optimization Models for Decision Support
• OREM 8380 - Mathematics for Optimization
• OREM 8381 - Nonlinear Programming
• OREM 8382 - Theory of Optimization
• OREM 8383 - Advanced Logistics Networks
• OREM 8384 - Stochastic Programming
• OREM 8390 - Graduate Seminar
• OREM 8393 - Graduate Seminar
• OREM 8394 - Selected Problems
• OREM 8395 - Selected Problems
• OREM 8396 - Dissertation
• OREM 8696 - Dissertation
• OREM 8996 - Dissertation