Graduate Students

Dear Prospective PhD Applicants (Management Science):

Here’s the link to the information on our Operations Management Area members supervising PhD students in Management Science: https://research.degroote.mcmaster.ca/academic-areas/operations-management/

If you decide to apply to our PhD program, please visit https://phd.degroote.mcmaster.ca/program-details/admissions/

Additional information on the PhD program in Busines: LinkedIn post for the PhD program

On March 20, 2025 I held an information session at Lingnan's Faculty of Businee on the PhD program offered at McMaster's DeGroote School of Business. The PowerPoint file for the presentation is here: McMaster DeGroote PhD Program

Ph.D.

Current.

Mr. Omar Syed Alam

Co-supervised with Dr. E. Hassini effective September 2025.

Ms. Fatima Ulubayova:

Co-supervised with Dr. Yun Zhou effective September 2021.
Proposal defended on 2024-02-14.
Thesis title: "Optimal Spatial and Temporal Decisions under Uncertainty"

Graduated

Dr. Amin Shahmardan: Senior Data Scientist - Royal Bank of Canada (Toronto).

Co-supervised with Dr. Yun Zhou effective September 2019
Thesis title: "REVENUE AND RETURN MANAGEMENT IN E-COMMERCE"
Thesis defence date: 2025-01-22

Dr. Armagan Ozbilge: Tenure-track assistant professor at the Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University (Effective July 1, 2023)

Co-supervised with Dr. Elkafi Hassini effective January 2019.
Thesis title: "Pricing, Returns, and Donations in Single- and Dual-Channel Retailing."
Thesis defence date: 2021-10-13

Dr. Liufang (Sophia) Yao, Tenured assistant professor at the University of Prince Edward Island (Faculty of Business).

Thesis title: ``Three Essays on Product Recall Decision Optimization''
Thesis defense: August 10, 2017.

Dr. Laura Wagner, Tenure-track assistant professor at Catolica-Lisbon University starting in September 2017.

Co-supervised with Dr. Mustafa Cagri Gurbuz, MIT Zaragoza PhD Program in Logistics and Supply Chain Management, (March 2014-June 2016)
Thesis title: "Product Fraud in Supply Chains: The Case of Deceptive Counterfeit"
Thesis defense: June 22, 2016.

Dr. Hangfei Guo, Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor) of Supply Chain Management at Queen's Business School (Belfast, UK) and the Director of Certificate and Diploma Programmes at the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute at QUB.

Thesis title: ``Optimal Ordering Decision and Incentives for Yield Improvement under Random Demand''
Thesis defense: September 4, 2015.

Dr. Behrouz Bakhtiari, Assistant Professor, Operations Management, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University

Thesis title: ``GAME THEORETICAL MODELS OF COMPETITION IN TIME-SENSITIVE MARKETS''
Thesis defense: December 2, 2013
Behrouz published a book on OM in 2021. His dedication. Thanks, Behrouz!

Dr. Sandy Wu, Senior Analyst, Model Development, TD Securities, Toronto

Thesis title: ``Contributions to Reverse Logistics with Game-Theoretic Applications.''
Thesis defense: March 27, 2012

Dr. Jingpu Song, Associate Professor, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai, P.R.C.

Thesis title: "Game Theoretic Revenue Management Models for Hotel Room Inventory Control", DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University
Thesis defense: June 1, 2007

Dr. Mingming LENG, Chair Professor and Dean, Faculty of Business, and Professor of Operations Management, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

Professor Leng Mingming Recognized with Beta Gamma Sigma’s 2026 Dean of the Year Award

Mingming was selected as the 2026 winner out of more than 640 universities in 39 countries.
https://www.betagammasigma.org/mainsitedev/events/bgs-awards/dean-of-year
Lingnan University Prof Leng Mingming earns sole Beta Gamma Sigma’s 2026 Dean of the Year Award

Here's some information about Mingming's current administrative position:

Dean's Message: https://ln.edu.hk/fb/message/dean.php (updated)
Central Administration: https://ln.edu.hk/fb/message/central.php (updated)
Faculty Staff List: https://ln.edu.hk/fb/message/stafflist.php

Thesis title: "Competition and Cooperation in Supply Chains: Game-Theoretic Models." DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University
Thesis defense: August 15, 2005.

Dr. Sila Cetinkaya, Cecil H. Green Professor of Engineering Management, Information, and Systems (EMIS), & Courtesy appointment in Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

Thesis Title: ''Myopic Policies for Inventory Control,'' Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University.
Thesis defense: August 16, 1996.
Dr. Sila Cetinkaya won the 2024 WORMS Award for the Advancement of Women in OR/MS during the INFORMS annual meeting. This award is to celebrate and recognize individual(s) who have contributed significantly to the advancement and recognition of women in the field of Operations Research and the Management Sciences (OR/MS).

Dr. Danny Cho, Ph.D., CPIM, CSCP, CLTD, Professor of Supply Chain & Logistics Management, Department of Finance, Operations and Information Systems, Goodman School of Business | Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada.

Thesis Title: ''Analyses of Optimal Policies for Dynamic Inventory and Maintenance Systems''. Faculty of Business, McMaster University.
Thesis defense: May 25, 1992.

Dr. Qinan Wang, Associate Professor, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Thesis Title: ``Game Theory Models and Their Applications in Some Inventory Control and New Product Management Problems ''. Faculty of Business, McMaster University.
Thesis defense: February 20, 1992

Others

Plus a few other students who decided that pursuing a PhD degree is not for them.

M.B.A.

E. N. M. Wah

Thesis Title: `` Computer Simulation in Inventory Management for Small Business'', Concordia University, (1982).

C. H. Lee

Thesis Title: ``An Optimal Control Approach to the Forest Fire Fighting Problem with Limited Size Suppression Force'', Concordia University, (1981).

Post-doctoral fellows (co-supervised):

1. Dr. M. Moshtagh (To September 2025)

2. Dr. A. Shahmardan (To December 2025)