Why DRO?
Key Differentiators
- Full funding for five years
- Freedom to choose an advisor
- Small student-faculty ratio
- Close mentorship of each student by the entire division
- Rigorous coursework
- Cutting-edge interdisciplinary research
- Unrivaled placements in top academic and industry positions
Overview
The Decision, Risk, and Operations (DRO) division at Columbia Business School is a world leader in research in quantitative, data-driven decision-making through the use of modeling, optimization and the management of uncertainty, and all the other aspects of the operations and analytics functions in firms. Application areas in which the division has strong expertise include revenue management; logistics, distribution and supply-chain management; resource networks and service systems; healthcare operations; marketplace design; quantitative finance, modern market microstructure, and risk management; econometrics; and business analytics. See our Research page for more information about our expertise and faculty's recent research talks.
Academics
The doctoral program in the DRO division at Columbia Business School is designed to lead a small group of outstanding students to successful research careers in academia and industry. Our students have the opportunity to work with faculty who are leaders in the field holding top editorial positions, and regularly honored with society awards and recognitions. Moreover, our weekly internal Brown Bag seminar gives students the opportunity to regularly present their research to the entire division and receive feedback.
Admissions
Admission to the DRO division at Columbia Business school is highly competitive. Superior academic performance is expected, and a strong background in and facility with mathematics are essential for successful completion of the program. Please refer to our Admissions page for more information.
Placement
The DRO division at Columbia Business School has a track record of training scholars who go on to become academics or research scientists at many of the world’s most prestigious institutions and companies. Our placement success is due in part to the close working relationship that students develop with the faculty in the division. The School intentionally keeps the PhD program small making it easier for students to find faculty collaborators and thrive.
Student Life
The Columbia Business School doctoral community consists of 125 students across six programs. The program attracts exceptional students from all over the world who are looking to develop research skills under the tutelage of faculty experts. Students come to the School for the exceptional training but also because they value the diversity, creativity, entrepreneurship and social tolerance that NYC offers.
current students
Current PhD Students in D.R.O.
PhD in Decision, Risk, and Operations Placement
Recent Placements
Our recent graduates are faculty members at institutions such as Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Kellogg, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Duke, and NYU, and also succeed in leading research and development positions in the industry.
Here is a list of placements, by year of graduation, over the recent years:
| Year | Name | Placement |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Tianyi (Tony) Zhang | Cubist, Point72 |
| 2024 | Yuri Resende Fonseca | University College London |
| 2024 | Utkarsh Patange | Verition Fund Management |
| 2024 | Mike Li | Optiver |
| 2024 | Shawn Xia | Two Sigma Investments |
| 2024 | Omar Mouchtaki | NYU Stern |
| 2024 | Jimmy Qin | The University of Texas at Dallas |
| 2024 | Chao Qin | Stanford GSB (postdoc) |
| 2023 | Carlos Bonet | Resera Capital |
| 2023 | Yuanling (Judy) Gan | Two Sigma Investments |
| 2023 | Yunbei Xu | National University of Singapore |
| 2023 | Anand Kalvit | Stanford Immigration Policy Lab (postdoc) |
| 2022 | Yue Hu | Stanford GSB |
| 2021 | Muye Wang | Two Sigma Investments |
| 2021 | Pengyu Qian | Krannert School of Management |
| 2021 | Seungki Min | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology |
| 2021 | Yiwen Shen | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
| 2021 | Jiaqi Lu | Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| 2019 | Amine Allouah | Meta |
| 2019 | Francisco Castro | Anderson, UCLA |
| 2019 | Pu He | Two Sigma Investments |
| 2019 | Fei Long | Kenan-Flagler, UNC Chapel Hill |
| 2019 | Zhe Liu | Imperial College Business School |
| 2017 | Wenqi Hu | Uber |
| 2017 | Dongwook Shin | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
| 2017 | Kai Yuan | Two Sigma Investments |
| 2016 | Davide Crapis | Lyft |
| 2016 | Daniel Guetta | Palantir Technologies |
| 2016 | Cinar Kilcioglu | Uber |
| 2016 | Lijian Lu | Goldman Sachs Asset Management |
| 2016 | Chen Xie | VTS, Inc |
| 2016 | John Yao | University of Miami |
| 2015 | Juan Chaneton | Celect |
| 2015 | Daniela Saban | Stanford GSB |
| 2015 | Hua Zheng | JP Morgan |
| 2015 | Yonatan Gur | Stanford GSB |
| 2013 | Caner Gocmen | Nomis Solutions |
| 2013 | Ahmet Serdar Simsek | Cornell University (Visiting faculty) |
| 2013 | Yina Lu | The Wharton School (postdoc) |
| 2013 | Sang Won Kim | Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School |
| 2013 | Santiago Balseiro | Fuqua School, Duke |
| 2012 | Damla Gunes | Morgan Stanley |
| 2012 | Bar Ifrach | Stanford GSB (postdoc) |
| 2012 | Roger Lederman | IBM Watson Research |
| 2012 | Margaret Pierson | Harvard Business School (postdoc) |
| 2012 | Mehmet Saglam | Bendheim Center for Finance & Economics, Princeton |
| 2011 | Denis Saure | University of Pittsburgh |
| 2009 | Mehmet Altug | George Washington University |
| 2009 | Wei Ke | Novantas |
| 2009 | Natalia Yankovic | IESE Business School |
Alumni Spotlight, Academic Placement
Daniela Saban is an Associate Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Her research interests lie in the interface of operations, economics and computer science. She received her Ph.D. from the Decision, Risk, and Operations division in 2015.
Daniela Saban
Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Associate Professor
Santiago Balseiro is an Associate Professor in the Decision, Risk, and Operations division at Columbia Business School. His primary research interests are in the area of dynamic optimization, stochastic systems and game theory with applications in revenue management and internet advertising. Professor Balseiro received his Ph.D. from the Decision, Risk, and Operations division in 2013. Before joining Columbia, he was on the faculty at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.
Santiago Balseiro
Columbia Business School, Associate Professor
Alumni Spotlight, Industry Placements
Dr. Wei Ke is a Partner based in Simon-Kucher’s New York and Toronto offices. He currently heads the Financial Services Practice in North America and is Managing Partner of Simon-Kucher Canada. He received his Ph.D. from the Decision, Risk, and Operations division in 2009.
Wei Ke
Managing Partner, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Dr. Bar Ifrach is Director of Data Science, Head of Marketplace, at Uber Freight. He received his Ph.D. from the Decision, Risk, and Operations division in 2012. Before joining Uber Freight, he was Director of Data Science at Airbnb. Bar was previously a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University.
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