Doctoral Program

The doctoral program in Industrial and Systems Engineering focuses on operations research (linear, nonlinear, combinatorial and global optimization and stochastic processes) with applications in supply chain management and eCommerce, financial engineering, security and manufacturing management.

Faculty Research

As with its origins, the research strengths of the department lie in operations research, its applications and implementation, with a strong emphasis in optimization, algorithmic development and data analysis. Applications can be found in a variety of areas, including the optimization of transportation, logistics, manufacturing, military, healthcare, biological, biomedical, financial, energy, telecommunications and infrastructure systems.

Much of the applied work is centered around the six centers and labs housed in the department. The Center for Applied Optimization, directed by Panos Pardalos, works on a wide variety of problems using various optimization and data mining techniques. The Computational and Stochastic Optimization (CSO) lab focuses on solving large-scale stochastic optimization problems generally in supply chain management or energy systems. The SCaLE (Supply Chain and Logistics Engineering) Center, RMFE (Risk Management and Financial Engineering) Lab and DOOR (Defense Oriented Operations Research) Lab are much more focused in their application areas. Ravi Ahuja and Joe Geunes direct SCaLE, Stan Uryasev directs the RMFE and Vlad Boginski directs DOOR. The Industrial Assessment Center, directed by Tim Middelkoop (and S. A. Sherif of MAE), helps companies deal with problems of energy management.

Funding comes from a variety of sources, including federal sources such as the National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Office of Naval Research, Department of Defense (Defense Threat Reduction Agency), National Institute of Health, Veterans Administration Hospital, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Energy. State funding sources include the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Department of Health.

Financial Aid

Teaching and research assistantships are available from the department, and the Graduate School provides additional funding for fellowships. The assistantships and fellowships provide funding for tuition and a stipend.

Correspondence and Information

Dr. J. Cole Smith
Graduate Coordinator
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
P.O. Box 116595
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida 32611-6595
Telephone: 352-392-6729
Email: cole@ise.ufl.edu