The
Department of Engineering Management, Information, and Systems (EMIS) research
thrusts include: decision systems engineering, telecommunications software, and
information engineering. The unifying
theme of these efforts is the application of engineering principles and
techniques to enhance organizational performance.
The
same systems-oriented, mathematical-model-based approach to design¾that has been the cornerstone
of engineering for decades¾has powerful applications
within organizations and their operations. EMIS research builds on its
faculty’s international prominence in operations research, combining new
mathematical models with advanced computing and information technologies to
create value and competitive advantages for organizations.
Decision
systems use software models to increase operational profitability, efficiency,
reliability, and quality for industry and government. They require fast
solutions to complex, large-scale problems that exceed the capability of
traditional approaches. Engineering such systems requires inter-disciplinary
expertise in mathematical modeling, applied optimization, economics, and
business methods. Active research areas include:
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Logistics, supply-chain, and supply-web: systems design and
management
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Benchmarking systems: methods for measuring and improving the performance and efficiency of
an enterprise, including advanced Balanced-Scorecard models
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Operations planning and management: resource allocation, personnel assignment,
location, routing and scheduling, military targeting and target systems
Optimization
software for telecommunications network design and management is a major EMIS
research focus area. The underlying problems are computationally daunting and
of strategic importance for the industry. This research addresses the
challenges of telecommunications-based organizations by engineering advanced
systems for increasing profitability, efficiency, reliability, and quality.
Example projects include:
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Optical telecommunications network design: minimum-cost high-bandwidth
network design (mesh, SONET-ring, hierarchical, and hybrid), all-optical and
WDM network design and optimization, capacity planning, multi-period
implementation, quality-of-service considerations
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Network management: circuit and wavelength optimization, automated provisioning, and
dynamic re-configuration of telecommunications networks
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Telecommunication network grooming and reliability models
Information
engineering—the use of advanced information technologies as a competitive
weapon in business management—is a growing EMIS research area. The existing
effort will be significantly expanded, based on the department’s anticipated
hiring plan. Current research topics include:
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Data mining: Machine-learning and parallel processing approaches to knowledge
discovery in large datasets
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Microdata and micro-simulation modeling: dataset construction for
policy models, data quality control
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Scoring systems: discriminant models (e.g., credit-scoring models), clustering
(large-dataset cluster identification), organizational failure-prediction