Sheldon
Howard Jacobson, Ph.D.
University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Our research group is always
looking for talented and energetic graduate students to participate in the
numerous research activities within the Simulation and Optimization
Laboratory. We are currently looking for students interested in earning
their Ph.D. degree in Operations Research. We are particularly interested
in students who either have an undergraduate degree or masters
degree in mathematics, have taken courses in real analysis, probability theory,
and discrete mathematics, or are interested in using mathematics to
address fundamental issues in the areas of algorithm design and AI, with
applications in aviation security, biological systems, and health care.
Students who fit any of these profiles are encouraged to apply to our graduate
programs in either Computer Science or Industrial Engineering.
One final (and important)
note. Although we welcome new students into our group, we rarely provide
funding immediately. Most of the students in our lab have come to campus,
interacted with our lab, and then received funding. Students who send out
mass e-mailings requesting funding are not acting in their best interest, since
such e-mails are typically deleted unread. Moreover, it does not work to
obtain funding and enhance your application. In fact, it is assumed that
prospective students who do send such e-mails asking for funding are not
capable of following simple directions, and hence, are not as talented as the
ones who take the following approach: If you want to secure
funding, apply to our program. If you are as talented as your would-be
mass mailings indicate, our admissions committee will recognize this and you
will be awarded funding. If you do not fit this picture, you may be
admitted without funding. However, once you prove your capability, a
large number of research funding opportunities are available. In fact,
there are numerous research assistant positions available throughout the
university for students interested in computer programming and related
activities. Such opportunities are typically only available to students
once they are on campus.
Research opportunities exist
for unfunded M.S. students in Operations Research. These
opportunities include applied research in the areas of aviation security,
health care, and computational optimization and probability. Note that
funding for M.S. students in Operations Research is not available at this
time. Our experience has shown that the research experiences that are
offered by our faculty provide excellent credentials that typically lead to
numerous employment opportunities upon your graduation. Note that
requests for funding by M.S. students will not be answered. Moreover,
mass mailings are neither effective nor a good mechanism for obtaining
admission or funding (see comments above).