OIDD9000 - Foundations of Dec Proc (Course Syllabus)
The course is an introduction to research on normative, descriptive and prescriptive models of judgement and choice under uncertainty. We will be studying the underlying theory of decision processes as well as applications in individual group and organizational choice. Guest speakers will relate the concepts of decision processes and behavioral economics to applied problems in their area of expertise. As part of the course there will be a theoretical or empirical term paper on the application of decision processes to each student's particular area of interest.
OIDD9010 - Oid Faculty and Research (Course Syllabus)
This course introduces first-year Operations, Information and Decisions (OID) PhD students to OID Department faculty members and their research. The course is designed to meet once a week, both in the fall and the spring, allowing most (if not all) OID faculty to present to first-year PhD students either classic or current research in their fields of expertise. The course's goals are twofold. First, it seeks to introduce first-year PhD students to OID faculty in a substantive (as opposed to social) manner and to expose students to the breadth of research conducted in the department. Second, through early exposure, the course aims to pique students' interest in the department's foundational courses in decision making, information systems, and operations management.
OIDD9040 - Experimental Economics (Course Syllabus)
This course will help prepare you to run your own economics laboratory and field experiments. Experimental methods have been widely adopted by economists to develop new insights, and some economic theories and hypotheses are uniquely well-suited for testing with experimental tools and data. Achieving high internal and external validity requires careful experimental design. Substantive areas of application in the course will include market equilibrium, asset bubbles, learning in games, public good provision, and labor market relationships. Additional topics may include biases in individual decision-making; field experiments in development economics; and happiness, neuroeconomics, and behavioral/experimental welfare economics. Economists' typical interests in strategic and market-based interactions raise particular methodological challenges and opportunities.
OIDD9060 - Proseminar in Opim Resch (Course Syllabus)
Advanced seminar focusing on topics in Operations,Information and Decisions research
OIDD9100 - Linear Optimization (Course Syllabus)
This course covers the basics of linear optimization. You will learn what linear programs (LPs) are, what they are used for, and how they are solved. During the course, you will also find connections between LPs and some of the basics of microeconomic theory. The mathematical prerequisites for the course are few. You should understand the basics of linear algebra, and we will review matrix operations, linear independence, and matrix inversion. While not strictly necessary, an understanding of partial derivatives will also help you to appreciate certain topics.
OIDD9120 - Intro To Optimization (Course Syllabus)
This course constitutes the second part of a two-part sequence and serves as a continuation of the summer math camp. Mathematical optimization provides a unifying framework for studying issues of rational decision-making, optimal design, effective resource allocation and economic efficiency. It is a central methodology of many business-related disciplines, including operations research, marketing, accounting, economics, game theory and finance. In many of the disciplines, a solid background in optimization theory is essential for doing research. This course provides a rigorous introduction to the fundamental theory of optimization. It examines optimization theory in two primary settings: static optimization and optimization over time (dynamic programming). Applications from problem areas in which optimization plays a key role are also introduced. The goal of the course is to provide students with a foundation sufficient to use basic optimization in their own research work and/or to pursue more specialized studies involving optimization theory. The course is designed for entering doctoral students. The prerequisites are calculus, linear algebra and some familiarity with real analysis, as covered in summer math camp. Other concepts are developed as needed throughout the course.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9100
OIDD9130 - Lin Prog & Int Pnt Meth (Course Syllabus)
In-depth study of the theory and algorithms related to the solution of linear programming problems. Optimality conditions, duality and sensitivity analysis. Primal and dual simplex methods. Interior point methods. Large-scale optimization. Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9100 OR ESE 5040
OIDD9140 - Advanced Non-Lin Progr (Course Syllabus)
Convex sets and functions. Tangent cones. Polar cones. Optimality conditions and duality theory. Methods for unconstrained and constrained optimization. Interior and exterior penalty methods. Lagrangean and augmented Lagrangean methods.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9100
OIDD9150 - Graph Theory & Networks (Course Syllabus)
Deals mainly with algorithmic and computational aspects of graph theory. Topics and problems include reachability and connectivity, setcovering, graph coloring, location of centers, location of medians, trees, shortest path, circuits, traveling salesman problem, network flows, matching, transportation, and assignment problems.
OIDD9160 - Advanced Integer Progrmg (Course Syllabus)
In-depth review of solution methods: Lagrangean relaxation and column generation, Benders partitioning, cross-decomposition, surrogate relaxation, cutting planes and valid inequalities, logical processing, probing, branch-and-bound, branch-and-price. Study of special problems and applications: matching, location, generalized assignment, traveling salesman, forest planning, production scheduling. Prerequisite: OIDD 910/ESE 504 or equivalent. Please email the instructor for any questions regarding the prerequisite.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9100 OR ESE 5040
OIDD9200 - Empirical Research in Om (Course Syllabus)
Empirical research in Operations Management has been repeatedly called for over the last 10-15 years, including calls made from the academic thought leaders in the field as well as by many of the editors of the top academic journals. Remarkably though, most researchers in the field would be pressed to name even three empirical papers published in such journals like Management Science or Operations Research. But, has there really been so little published related to empirical Operations Management (you might be surprised to learn that all five bullets listed above has been addressed by Management Science papers)? What types of problems in operations are interesting and worthwhile studying from an empirical viewpoint? How can one get started with an empirical research project in Operations Management? These are the questions that are at the heart of this course. Specifically, the objective of this course is to (a) expose doctoral students to the existing empirical literature and (b) to provide them with the training required to engage in an empirical study themselves.
OIDD9300 - Stochastic Models I (Course Syllabus)
This course introduces mathematical models describing and analyzing the behavior of processes that exhibit random components. The theory of stochastic processes will be developed based on elementary probability theory and calculus. Topics include random walks, Poisson processes, Markov chains in discrete and continuous time, renewal theory, and martingales. Applications from the areas of inventory, production, finance, queueing and communication systems will be presented throughout the course.
Prerequisites: STAT 5100 OR STAT 5500
OIDD9310 - Stochastic Models II (Course Syllabus)
Extension of the material presented in OIDD930 to include renewal theory, martingales, and Brownian motion.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9300
OIDD9320 - Queuing Theory (Course Syllabus)
This course presents the mathematical foundations for the analysis of queueing systems. We will study general results like Little's law and the PASTA property. We will analyze standard queueing systems (Markovian systems and variations thereof) and simple queueing networks, investigate infinite server models and many server approximations, study GI/G/1 queues through random walk approximations, and read papers on applied queueing models.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9300
OIDD9340 - Dynamic Programming (Course Syllabus)
The course goal is to provide a brief but fairly rigorous introduction to the formulation and solution of dynamic programs. Its focus is primarily methodological. We will cover discrete state space problems, over finite or infinite time horizon, with and without discounting. Structured policies and their theoretical foundation will be of particular interest. Computational methods and approximation methods will be addressed. Applications are presented throughout the course, such as inventory policies, production control, financial decisions, and scheduling.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9300
OIDD9370 - Methods Stumblers (Course Syllabus)
This PhD-level course is for students who have already completed at least a year of basic stats/methods training. It assumes students already received a solid theoretical foundation and seeks to pragmatically bridge the gap between standard textbook coverage of methodological and statistical issues and the complexities of everyday behavioral science research. This course focuses on issues that (i) behavioral researchers are likely to encounter as they conduct research, but (ii) may struggle to figure out independently by consulting a textbook or published article.
OIDD9400 - Operations Mgmt (Course Syllabus)
Concepts, models, and theories relevant to the management of the processes required to provide goods or services to consumers in both the public and private sectors. Includes production, inventory and distribution functions, scheduling of service or manufacturing activities, facility capacity planning and design, location analysis, product design and choice of technology. The methodological basis for the course includes management science, economic theory,organization theory, and management information system theory.
OIDD9410 - Dist System Sem (Course Syllabus)
Seminar on distribution systems models and theory. Reviews current research in the development and solution of models of distribution systems. Emphasizes multi-echelon inventory control, logistics management, network design, and competitive models.
Prerequisites: OIDD 9400
OIDD9430 - Retail Operations (Course Syllabus)
OIDD9500 - Perspect On Info System (Course Syllabus)
Provides doctoral students in Operations and Information Management and other related fields with a perspective on modern information system methodologies, technologies, and practices. State-of-the-art research on frameworks for analysis, design, and inplementation of various types of information systems is presented. Students successfully completing the course should have the skills necessary to specify and implement an information system to support a decision process.
OIDD9510 - Seminar On Logic Mdlng (Course Syllabus)
Seminar on the elements of formal logic necessary to read and contribute to the Logic modeling literature, as well as the implementation principles for logic models. The primary topics include elements of sentence and predicate logic, elements of modal logics, elements of semantics, mechanical theorem proving, logic and database, nonmonotonic reasoning, planning and the frame problem, logic programming, and metainterpreters. Permission of the instructor and some prior knowledge of logic or Prolog.
OIDD9520 - Computational Game Thry (Course Syllabus)
Seminar on principles of knowledge-based systems including expert systems. Topics include basics of expert systems, knowledge representation, meta-level reasoning, causal reasoning, truth maintenance systems, model management, planning systems and other applications. Permission of instructor and knowledge of logic and Prolog or Lisp.
OIDD9530 - Explaining Explanation (Course Syllabus)
In the social sciences we often use the word "explanation" as if (a) we know what we mean by it, and (b) we mean the same thing that other people do. In this course we will critically examine these assumptions and their consequences for scientific progress. In part 1 of the course we will examine how, in practice, researchers invoke at least three logically and conceptually distinct meanings of "explanation:" identification of causal mechanisms; ability to predict (account for variance in) some outcome; and ability to make subjective sense of something. In part 2 we will examine how and when these different meanings are invoked across a variety of domains, focusing on social science, history, business, and machine learning, and will explore how conflation of these distinct concepts may have created confusion about the goals of science and how we evaluate its progress. Finally , in part 3 we will discuss some related topics such as null hypothesis testing and the replication crisis. We will also discuss specific practices that could help researchers clarify exactly what they mean when they claim to have "explained" something, and how adoption of such practices may help social science be more useful and relevant to society.
OIDD9550 - Research Sem in Info Sys (Course Syllabus)
This course provides an overview of some of the key Information Systems literature from the perspective of Insormation Strategy and Economics (ISE) and Information Decision Technologies (IDT). This course is intended to provide an introduction for first year OIDD doctoral students, as well as other Wharton doctoral students, to important core research topics and methods in ISE and IDT in order for students to do research in the field of Information Systems. While it is intended as a "first course" for OPIM doctoral students in ISE and IDT, it may also be useful for students who are engaged in research or plan to perform information technology related research in other disciplines.
OIDD9600 - Res Sem in Info Tech (Course Syllabus)
Explores economic issues related to information technology, with emphasis on research in organizational or strategic settings. The course will follow a seminar format, with dynamically assigned readings and strong student contribution during class sessions (both as participant and, for one class, as moderator.)
OIDD9610 - Research Seminar in Isse (Course Syllabus)
This is the advanced doctoral-level research research in information strategy and economics that builds on the foundations developed in OPIM960. Much of the content will be focused on current research areas in information strategy such as the information and organizational economics, information technology and firm performance, search cost and pricing, information and incentives, coordination costs and the boundary of the firm, and the economics of information goods (including pricing and intellectual property protection). In addition, promising empirical approaches such as the use of intelligent agents for data collection or clickstream data analysis will be discussed.
OIDD9890 - Topics in Oidd (Course Syllabus)
The specific content of this course varies form semester to semester, depending on student and faculty interests.
OIDD9920 - Conflict Mgmt Seminar (Course Syllabus)
This seminar exposes students to the central issues in conflict management research. This course covers both analytic and behavioral perspectives of conflict management, and describes how the field has developed. Through discussions of theory and empirical research, the course aims to develop a foundation for understanding the extant literature and how common methodological tools have shaped the types of questions conflict management scholars have investigated - and neglected.
OIDD9999 - OIDD 9999 (Course Syllabus)
Independent Study