The field of management sciences has traditionally encompassed a number of quantitative techniques and a logical methodology for applying these techniques to decision making problems in organizations. Pervasive use of computer-based information systems has added a new dimension to organizational decision making with its own set of problems and issues. Many of the problems explored by management scientists are among the most significant facing business today. This area is concerned with the design, implementation and management of computer based information systems for the computational needs of organizations.
Core areas are database systems, software engineering, computer networks, and intelligent systems.
The faculty research is particularly active in the areas of distributed systems for information search and retrieval, security, machine learning, adaptive systems, intelligent agents, data mining, internet technologies, electronic commerce, component-based software engineering, network design, and bioinformatics. These programs have strong technical and quantitative curricula, with a mix of theoretical foundation and hands-on experience. This area is concerned with the planning, organizing, and control of manufacturing and service activities. Students in operations management develop solid analytical skills in optimization, statistics, and computer science, and apply these skills to the problems of operations management. The program in operations management has a quantitative focus, and dissertations in the area usually involve analytical modeling.