运筹学专业的博士生集中在以下三个领域之一：应用概率论和统计学着重介绍了概率论和统计学的技术以及相关的基础理论，尤其是应用于科学，金融和工程领域的问题。强调的技术是与应用的随机过程（例如，数学金融，排队论，流量理论和库存理论）和统计（包括统计决策理论，可靠性理论，生命数据分析以及设计的统计方面）相关的技术，实验和排名与选择理论的分析和解释）。制造系统工程涉及复杂制造和分销系统的分析和设计。研究的问题包括在多阶段生产和分销系统中建立库存控制策略，设计具有最佳设备数量和最佳物料处理系统的制造工厂，在大型，多项目
Doctoral students majoring in operations research concentrate in one of three areas: Applied probability and statistics stresses the techniques and associated underlying theory of probability and statistics, particularly as applied to problems in science, finance, and engineering. The techniques emphasized are those associated with applied stochastic processes (for example, mathematical finance, queuing theory, traffic theory, and inventory theory) and statistics (including statistical decision theory, reliability theory, analysis of life data, and the statistical aspects of the design, analysis, and interpretation of experiments and of ranking and selection theory). Manufacturing systems engineering is concerned with the analysis and design of complex manufacturing and distribution systems. Problems studied include the establishment of inventory-control policies in multistage production and distribution systems, design of manufacturing plants with optimal amounts of equipment and optimal materials-handling systems, planning and scheduling of production in large-scale, multi-item, multilocation systems, and economic analysis of engineering processes. Students use modern analytic and computer techniques in the design and analysis of such systems. Students are expected to understand the manufacturing processes associated with some type of industry. Research, which may involve development of new mathematical methodology, is often conducted directly with a cooperating company, for example, in automotive or semiconductor manufacturing. Mathematical programming concentrates on optimization, including linear, nonlinear, integer, and combinatorial programming, network flows, problems of scheduling and sequencing, and discrete and computational geometry. Research ranges from the development and applications of computational algorithms (exact and approximate) to the associated studies of duality theory, convex and variational analysis, polyhedra, combinatorics, and graph theory.