Nicholas G. Hall

Berry Family Professor of Operations Management

Operations and Business Analytics

Background

Nicholas G. Hall is Berry Family Professor in the Department of Operations and Business Analytics at Fisher College, and holds a courtesy Professorship in the Department of Integrated Systems Engineering. He received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests are in project management, scheduling, behavioral issues in supply chain management, sports analytics, and in applications of operations research. He has published 98 articles in the leading academic journals, including Operations Research, Management ScienceMathematics of Operations ResearchGames and Economic Behavior, Mathematical Programming and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Professor Hall has served for a total of over 45 years on the editorial boards of the leading journals Operations Research and Management Science. He has given over 420 academic presentations, including over 200 invited presentations in 29 countries, and 20 conference keynote presentations. A 2021 bibliometric study ranked him first among all scholars in the research field of scheduling. He won the Fisher Pacesetters’ Faculty Research Award in 1998 and 2005. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In 2018, Professor Hall served as President of INFORMS, the leading academic and professional society for business analytics, with 12,500 members.  He served for five years on the State of Ohio Steel Industry Advisory Council. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Hall teaches project management, one of the most popular MBA electives at Fisher, a new elective course in sports analytics, and several advanced Ph.D.-level courses. He is the owner of a consulting business, CDOR, which provides business solutions to Ohio business and government communities, as well as advice on intellectual property issues for New York City law firms.


Awards

  • President, INFORMS, 2018; President-Elect 2017; Past President 2019.
  • Treasurer, INFORMS, 2011–2014.
  •  Vice President for Membership and Professional Recognition, INFORMS, 2001–2003.
  • President, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society, 1999-2000.
  • Fellow of INFORMS, 2021–; award limited to 2% of the membership.
  • Statewide University Delegate to the Ohio Steel Industry Advisory Council, 1997-2002.
  • Fellow, Center for Decision Making with Uncertainty, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 2002- .
  • Editor, INFORMS Analytics Collections, 2021-2023.
  • Associate Editor, Operations Research, 1991 - .
  • Associate Editor, Management Science, 1993 – 2008.
  • Winner 1998 and 2005, Pace Setters’ Research Award (alumni-sponsored annual award to one of 120 Fisher College of  Business faculty members).


Areas of Expertise

  • Project Management
  • Scheduling
  • Behavioral Issues in Operations
  • Sports Analytics

Education

  • PhD in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley
  • MA in Economics, University of Cambridge
  • BA in Economics, University of Cambridge

Publications

Published Articles

An earlier project with the National Cancer Institute in Washington is credited with the saving of 43,500 lives. One recent publication has shown that the traditional attribution of project delay to Parkinson’s Law is incomplete, and that present bias also plays a significant role; this motivates the design of an incentive scheme specifically targeted at present bias. Another recent publication represents the first in-depth analysis of opponent choice as an alternative design for sports tournaments. Please see Professor Hall’s personal website for an updated list of his publications:

Professor Nicholas G. Hall (osu.edu)

Courses

BUSOBA 7223 - Project Management
Introduces challenges senior managers face in companies that run multiple projects with a focus on overall project portfolio management, project selection, resource allocation between projects & organizational team design. Students identify their strengths & weaknesses in projects with a creative problem-solving exercise & experience real-life applications with visits from local project managers. Prereq: Enrollment in Fisher College of Business Grad program, or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 3 cr hrs.
BUSOBA 8241 - Operations Method II
Doctoral research seminar: critical analysis of analytical research methods and dynamic programming. Prereq: Enrollment in BusAdm PhD program.
BUSOBA 8238 - Supply Chain Management I
Doctoral research seminar: Critical analysis of research in supply chain essentials, design, and management. Prereq: Enrollment in BusAdm PhD program.