PhD in Operations Management

A doctoral degree in Operations Management from the Scheller College at Georgia Tech uniquely positions a PhD graduate with the experience and expertise needed to achieve an outstanding academic career. We are a top-ranked Operations Management program with an exceptional record of research publications and an excellent history of PhD student placement.

Our sizable faculty are prominent scholars dedicated to educating the next generation of researchers and educators on a very broad set of topics. Particular areas in which we conduct pioneering research include: (i) empirical analysis of supply chain performance, (ii) innovation and technology management, and (iii) sustainable operations research areas of excellence. Beyond holding key editorial positions in the leading Operations Management journals, our faculty excels at applying their research to impact industry and practice.

Doctoral Program Highlights

Our PhD curriculum distinguishes us from other doctoral programs in Operations Management in several ways. First, we exploit the substantial size of our faculty by offering unparalleled breadth and depth in Operations Management PhD seminars (at least four topics are covered each year). Second, we strongly endorse diverse research methods including modeling, empirical, and behavioral laboratory experiments to address different managerial challenges in Operations Management. Rigorous training on a variety of operations research methods is obtained from ISyE (rated #1 industrial engineering program in the world). Additionally, we leverage the expertise of other Ga Tech faculty offering courses on a wide spectrum of empirical and behavioral methods.

Facilitating PhD Student Potential

PhD students are immersed in research starting in the first year of the doctoral program enabling them to quickly reach their full potential as academic scholars. We leverage each PhD student’s background and skills based on their prior work experience and academic training. Our culture embodies freedom and flexibility for students to select their research topics and advisors. To ensure focus and forward momentum, faculty engage with PhD students on goal setting and provide clear direction for students to attain those goals. In addition to one-to-one mentoring, we offer teaching effectiveness seminars. PhD students are funded to attend conferences and workshops; funding is guaranteed for 5 years (subject to a student remaining in good standing).

Our Vibrant Community

The Operations Management PhD program at Georgia Tech is a close-knit group that invests in community building and professional development. With respect to quality of life, PhD students thrive in the vibrant social and cultural communities at Georgia Tech and the Atlanta metropolitan area. Additionally, Georgia Tech has a large and diverse graduate student community. Atlanta has a very favorable cost of living compared to many other large metropolitan areas.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Tech Square and Atlanta

Operations Management PhD Graduates and Placements

We welcome PhD students from diverse backgrounds and career stages. Recent PhD students have benefited from a breadth of work experience in consulting, manufacturing, engineering, product development, and the military. Additionally, PhD students who enter the program without prior work experience have leveraged the industry experience and connections provided by our faculty. Our PhD graduates, their current academic positions and interests include the following.

Vishal Agrawal, PhD 2010
Associate Professor at Georgetown University where his areas of expertise include managerial challenges at the interface of business and the environment, as well as the effect of consumer behavior on operations and new product development.
Jennifer Bailey, PhD 2013
Assistant Professor at Babson College where her areas of expertise include how innovative and entrepreneurial firms manage risk and uncertainty.
Marcus Bellamy, PhD 2015
Assistant Professor at Boston University where his areas of expertise include empirical examination of supply chain management and innovation, as well as supply network risk, network analytics, and visualization.
Ioannis Bellos, PhD 2012
Assistant Professor at George Mason University where his areas of expertise are sustainable operations, service design, and innovation in business models.
Janice Carrillo, PhD 1997
PricewaterhouseCoopers Professor at the Warrington College of Business, University of Florida where her areas of expertise include new product and process development, innovation, sustainability, and technology management.
Raul Chao, PhD 2007
Associate Professor at the Darden School, University of Virginia where his areas of expertise include organization design and incentives in innovation, NPD and R&D.
Sanjeev Erat, PhD 2006
Associate Professor at University of California San Diego where his areas of expertise are co-development and licensing in new product development and technology management.
Wayne Fu, PhD 2017
Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Dearborn where his areas of expertise include supply chain management and sustainable operations.
Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat, PhD 2011
Assistant Professor at the Darden School, University of Virginia where his areas of expertise include the effective implementation of a firm's innovation strategy.
Ximin (Natalie) Huang, PhD 2016
Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota where her areas of expertise include supply chain management and sustainable operations.
Brian Jacobs, PhD 2009
Associate Professor at Michigan State University where his areas of expertise include sustainability and environmental operations, financial/market value of operations strategies and process improvement strategies.
JJ Kovach, PhD 2014
Assistant Professor at Texas Christian University where his areas of expertise include innovation, environmental operations and operations strategy.
Jaeseok Lee, (PhD under completion)
Assistant Professor at University of Auckland, New Zealand, where his area of expertise is knowledge outsourcing and knowledge competition.
Nektarios Oraiopoulos, PhD 2009
University Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at Judge Business School, Cambridge University where his areas of expertise including group decision-making and collaboration in technology and R&D management.
Gulru Ozkan-Seely, PhD 2008
Assistant Professor at University of Washington-Bothell where her area of expertise includes knowledge management, competition, and new product development.
Carrie Queenan, PhD 2007
Assistant Professor at University of South Carolina where her area of expertise is health care operations and the use of technical systems to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
Narendra Singh, PhD 2015
Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Indian School of Business where his areas of expertise include new product development and sustainability.
Wenli Xiao, PhD 2012
Assistant Professor at University of San Diego where her areas of expertise include knowledge management, new product development, sustainability, and manufacturing outsourcing.

Research Areas of Excellence

Empirical analysis of supply chain performance

Specific topics include contracts and global outsourcing; managing risk and failure; alliances; revenue management. Faculty who most contribute to this area include Soumen Ghosh, Manpreet Hora, Vinod Singhal, and Necati Tereyagoglu.

Innovation and technology management

Specific topics include new product development; collaboration and teamwork; entrepreneurship. Faculty who most contribute to this area include Cheryl Gaimon, Karthik Ramachandran, and Morvarid Rahmani.

Sustainable operations

Specific topics include closed loop supply chain management, corporate sustainability, and environmental legislation. Faculty who most contribute to this area of research include Atalay Atasu, Ravi Subramanian, Basak Kalkanci and Beril Toktay.

Review in-depth descriptions of the Operations Management faculty including lists of publications

Learn more about the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business

Faculty Editorial Positions

Current department editorships

Operations Research

Beril Toktay (Environment, Energy and Sustainability Department)

Production and Operations Management

Cheryl Gaimon (Management of Technology Department)
Vinod Singhal (Supply Chain Management Department)
Ravi Subramanian (Sustainable Operations Department)

Current associate (senior) editorships:

Journal of Operations Management

Manpreet Hora

Management Science

Cheryl Gaimon (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Department)
Vinod Singhal (Operations Management Department)

Manufacturing and Service Operations Management

Atalay Atasu
Vinod Singhal
Beril Toktay

Production and Operations Management

Atalay Atasu (Sustainable Operations Department)
Soumen Ghosh (Empirical Research Department)
Manpreet Hora (Management of Technology Department; Supply Chain Management Department)
Karthik Ramachandran (Management of Technology Department)

Faculty and PhD Student Honors, Awards and Recent Professional Society Positions

Atalay Atasu (Faculty)

Byars Award for Faculty Research Excellence
Kleindorfer Award in Sustainability, Production and Operations Management Society
Wickham Skinner Early Career Research Award, Production and Operations Management Society
Wickham Skinner Best Paper Award, Production and Operations Management Society

Priyank Arora (current PhD Student)

Scheller College of Business’ Ashford Watson Stalnaker Memorial Award for PhD Student Excellence

Jennifer Bailey (Former PhD Student)

Best Paper Award, Product Development and Management Association Annual Conference
Best Dissertation Award Finalist: “Synchronizing Exploration and Exploitation: Knowledge Creation Challenges in Innovation,” Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Section, Institute of Operations Research and Management Science

Marcus Bellamy (Former PhD Student)

Best Student Paper Award, Academy of Management Conference, Orlando, FL
Best Student Paper Award at International Decision Sciences Institute Annual Conference, Bali, Indonesia

Ioannis Bellos (Former PhD Student)

Young Researcher Prize, Runner Up (Second Place) for the "The Potential of Servicizing as a Green Business Model,'' Energy, Natural Resources and the Environment Section, Institute of Operations Research and Management Science

Janice Carrillo (Former PhD Student)

Intel PhD Student Fellowship
Best Student Paper Award, Portland International Conference on Management and Engineering Technology

Cheryl Gaimon (Faculty)

Brady Family Award for Faculty Research Excellence
University Faculty Research Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor, Georgia Tech
Distinguished Fellow, Production and Operations Management Society
President, Production and Operations Management Society

Soumen Ghosh (Faculty)

Distinguished Fellow, Decision Sciences Institute

Manpreet Hora (Faculty)

Brady Family Award for Faculty Teaching Effectiveness
Class of 1940 W. Roane Beard Outstanding Teaching Award
Undergraduate Elective Professor of the Year Award and Class of 1934 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Award
Division Chair Elect, Academy of Management Operations and Supply Chain Management Division

Xixin (Natalie) Huang (Former PhD Student)

Ashford Watson Stalkner Memorial Prize, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Runner-up, Sustainable Operations Student Paper Competition, Production and Operations Management Society

Basak Kalkanci (Faculty)

Georgia Power Professor of Excellence
Treasurer, Behavioral Operations Section, Institute of Operations Research and Management Science

JJ Kovach (Former PhD Student)

Chan Hahn Best Paper Award, Operations Management Division, Academy of Management Conference, Orlando FL
Finalist Best Student Paper Competition, “Sales Force Compensation for Remanufactured Products,” Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment Section, Institute of Operations Research and Management Science

Carrie Queenan (Former PhD Student)

POMS College of Service Operations Most Influential Paper Award

Morvarid Rahmani (Faculty)

Brady Family Award for Faculty Teaching Effectiveness

Vinod Singhal (Faculty)

Distinguished Fellow, Production and Operations Management Society

Ravi Subramanian (Faculty)

Paul Kleindorfer Award in Sustainability
Brady Family Award for Faculty Teaching Excellence
James F. Frazier, Jr. Award for Teaching Excellence
Outstanding MBA Core Professor of the Year Award

Ravi Subramanian (Faculty) and Priyank Arora (PhD Student)

Best Paper Competition Winner, Public Sector Operations Research Section, Institute of Operations Research and Management Science

Necati Tereyagoglu (Faculty)

MBA Elective Professor of the Year Award (twice received)

Beril Toktay (Faculty)

Brady Family Award for Faculty Research Excellence
Ernest Scheller Jr. Award for Service Excellence
Women of Distinction Award, Georgia Tech
Management Science Best Paper in Operations Management
Distinguished Fellow, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Institute of Operations Research and Management Science
President, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society
Treasurer, Production and Operations Management Society

Murat Unal (PhD Student)

One of the two finalists, POMS College of Product Innovation and Technology Management 2017 Student Paper Competition, "Help or hindrance? The role of familiarity in collaborative product development."

Faculty Academic, Industry and Media Recognition

Atalay Atasu

Keynote Plenary, US Chamber of Commerce Workshop on the Circular Economy, Washington DC
Keynote Plenary, Agency for Science and Technology and Research, Singapore
Keynote Plenary, Israeli Operations Research Society
“Making the Case for OM Research on Sustainability and Social Responsibility”, MSOM Blog (9/6/2016)
“4 Obstacles on the Way to a Circular Economy”, ARCS Blog (7/12/2016), Huffington Post Article (7/15/2016) and MSOM Blog (7/19/2016).
“3 Ways to fix E-Waste Regulations,” ARCS Blog (4/12/2016) and Huffington Post Article (4/13/2016)

Cheryl Gaimon

Keynote Plenary, 4th International Conference of Operations and Supply Chain Management, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China

Manpreet Hora

Basak Kalkanci

"The Greening of the Supply Chain"
"Supply Chain News: CSCMP 2012 Full Review and Comment" Dan Gilmore (10-5-12)

Vinod Singhal

Keynote Plenary, 30th National Congress on Operational Research and Industrial Engineering, Sabanci University, Turkey
Keynote Plenary, Electronic News, Seoul, Korea
Keynote Plenary, 3rd International Conference in Operations and Supply Chain Management, Wuhan, China

Beril Toktay

Keynote Plenary, Symposium on Innovations and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

Rankings of the Operations Management program

Based on the Supply Chain Management Journal List ranking in journals that are primarily analytically-focused, Georgia Institute of Technology is ranked #6 worldwide.
Based on the US News Business School Best Grad School Rankings, Scheller College of Business has been ranked #8 (and #3 in public schools) in the Production/Operations discipline.

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