Operations, Technology & Information Management

Operations, technology, and information management (OTIM) emphasizes data-driven, behavioral, and mathematical methods of analysis to address high-impact managerial decision problems. Johnson OTIM faculty have deep expertise in a wide range of application areas, such as global supply chains, retail networks, online marketplaces, healthcare providers, e-commerce operations, sustainability, hospitality operations, and information systems, as well as in conducting practice-based and inter-disciplinary research that is published in top-tier journals.

Our PhD students receive their methodological training through a wide range of courses taught by the OTIM faculty. Additionally, students take advantage of the research excellence of Cornell University by taking graduate and doctoral courses in Operations Research and Information Engineering (ORIE), School of Computing and Information Sciences (CIS), Economics, and other areas, depending on their research interests. Students can also take courses in other business disciplines, such as asset pricing, empirical finance, and consumer behavior. These cross-disciplinary interactions enable our students to develop methodological rigor, expand their ideas, and become a part of a large network of Cornell researchers.

The OTIM PhD program also offers a unique opportunity for students to relocate to the Cornell Tech campus in New York City after completing their first year at the Ithaca campus, depending on whether a student is working with an advisor at Cornell Tech for their PhD study.

The methodologies that PhD students learn to apply in our program include economic modeling, econometric analysis, operations research, data analytics, machine learning, and behavioral studies. Our coursework includes a comprehensive set of topics such as inventory theory, supply chain management, service/healthcare operations, empirical operations management, revenue management, data analytics and optimization, digital business models and marketplaces, and behavioral operations. Students also take courses such as natural language processing, machine learning, stochastic processes, and simulations offered by ORIE and CIS.

In addition to coursework, students are required to submit a summer paper at the end of their first year and pass a qualifier exam in their second year. These requirements are designed to prepare our students to conduct independent dissertation research in the subsequent years of their Ph.D. studies. Students are always assigned to a faculty advisor and receive mentorship from the advisor and other area faculty.

Our faculty have advised students who accepted faculty positions at the University of Michigan (Ross), University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), University of Chicago (Booth), Vanderbilt (Owen), and the London Business School, among others.