Nicholas G. Hall

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 over 100 articles in the leading academic journals, including Operations Research, Management Science, Mathematics of Operations Research, Games and Economic Behavior, Mathematical Programming, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics and Transportation Science. In 2022, he published the book Supply Chain Scheduling (Springer, 706 pages) with Zhi-Long Chen.

Professor Hall has served for a total of over 45 years on the editorial boards of the leading academic journals Operations Research and Management Science. He has given over 450 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 worldwide in the research field of scheduling. He won the College-wide Fisher Pacesetters’ Faculty Research Award in 1998 and 2005. 

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, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, National University of Singapore, Shanghai Jiaotong University in China, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Professor Hall teaches project management, one of the most popular MBA electives at Fisher, a recently developed MBA 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

Professor Hall's published research focuses on advanced mathematical and statistical approaches that improve outcomes in several important applications. These applications include scheduling and manufacturing systems, health care, project management, sports analytics, and transportation systems.

1. In the manufacturing and scheduling area, he developed ways for multiple decision makers in a supply chain to coordinate their scheduling activities to improve overall supply chain efficiency.
2. In the health care area, a project with the National Cancer Institute in Washington is credited with the saving of 43,500 lives through more efficient allocation of funding for smoking control programs.
3. In project management, he has shown that the traditional explanation of Parkinson's Law for project delay is incomplete and that behavioral issues also play a role, thus enabling the design of improved incentives.
4. In sports analytics, he conducted the first in-depth study of opponent choice, which demonstrated significant improvements in competitive fairness and incentives when top ranked players are allowed to choose their opponents. 

Please see Professor Hall’s personal website for examples of his publications:

Professor Nicholas G. Hall (osu.edu)