Video Highlights
Welcome to the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia University. The IEOR Department is the home to four disciplines including Engineering Management Systems, Financial Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Operations Research.
What is
Engineering Management Systems?
Engineering Management Systems
is a field that emphasizes both
technology and management
perspectives in solving problems,
making decisions, and managing risks
in complex systems. It provides a
rigorous exposure to deterministic
optimization and stochastic
modeling, a basic coverage of
applications in the areas of
operations engineering and
management, and an in-depth coverage
of applications in the areas of the
selected concentration. Graduates
from this program are expected to
assume positions as business
analysts in logistics, supply chain,
revenue management, and consulting
firms, and as financial analysts in
risk management departments of
investment banks, hedge funds, and
credit-card and insurance firms.
What is Financial Engineering?
Financial Engineering is a
multidisciplinary field that requests
familiarity with financial theory,
the methods of engineering, the
tools of mathematics and the
practice of programming. Undergraduate and graduate studies in Financial Engineering provide students training in the
application of engineering
methodologies and quantitative
methods to finance. It is designed
for students who wish to obtain
positions in the securities,
banking, and financial management
and consulting industries, or as
quantitative analysts in corporate
treasury and finance departments of
general manufacturing and service
firms.
What is Industrial Engineering?
Industrial Engineering is the branch of the engineering profession that
is concerned with the design, analysis, and control of production and
service operations and systems. Originally, an industrial engineer
worked in a manufacturing plant and was involved with the operating
efficiency of workers and machines. Today, industrial engineers are
more broadly concerned with productivity and all of the technical
problems of production management and control. They may be found
working in every kind of organization: manufacturing, distribution,
transportation, mercantile, and service. Their responsibilities range
from the design of unit operations to that of controlling complete
production and service systems. Their jobs involve the integration of
the physical, financial, economic, and human components of such systems
to attain specified goals. Industrial engineering includes activities
such as production planning and control; quality control; inventory,
equipment, warehouse, and materials management; plant layout; and job
and work station design. Industrial engineering programs were started
at Columbia in 1919, with the first class graduating in 1922.
What is Operations Research?
Operations Research is an applied science, and is concerned with
quantitative decision problems, generally involving the allocation and
control of limited resources. Such problems arise, for example, in the
operations of industrial firms, financial institutions, health care
organizations, transportation systems, energy and resources, and
government. The operations research analyst develops and uses
mathematical and statistical models to help solve these decision
problems. Like engineers, they are problem formulators and solvers.
Their work requires the formation of a mathematical model of a system
and the analysis and prediction of the consequences of alternate modes
of operating the system. The analysis may involve mathematical
optimization techniques, probabilistic and statistical methods,
experiments, and computer simulations. Operations research courses have
been offered at Columbia since 1952.