Operations and Information Systems University of Alberta

Overview

OM and MIS intersect in various ways. The fields share a focus on understanding and improving business processes. OM and MIS researchers often reside in the same university departments and belong to the same professional societies. The goal of the PhD in Operations and Information Systems from University of Alberta is to train the student to perform and publish first-class research, in preparation for a career at a research-intensive university.

What you'll learn

OM is concerned with how to organize the production of goods and services by private firms and public sector entities. OM research addresses questions about how best to design, plan, and execute the tasks needed to produce a product or service. OM research has traditionally emphasized mathematical modeling, and in particular optimization, stochastic, and simulation models, but OM research also employs experiments, surveys, and analysis of secondary data.

MIS is concerned with the collection, storage, and use of information within organizations. MIS research addresses questions about how technology and information shape and facilitate the work that is done in organizations. MIS research uses methodologies from a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to the social sciences, mathematics, and computer science.

OM and MIS are closely related to the emerging areas of business analytics and big data.