Two new professors join Warrington ISOM Department
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Assistant Professors Anuj Kumar and Tharanga Rajapakshe are the two newest additions to the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM) at the Warrington College of Business Administration.
“The ISOM Department is very pleased to add two new young and promising researchers in Professor Kumar and Professor Rajapakshe,” said Dr. Kenny Cheng, Frank L. Weyenberg Term Professor and Chair of the ISOM Department. “Professor Kumar is well-known for his research in helping firms take advantage of the new information technology-enabled channels. Professor Rajapakshe’s research focuses on analyzing the trade-offs of various sustainability measures in a green supply chain.”
Dr. Kumar’s research interest is in finding business relevant insights at the intersection of Information Systems, Operation Management and Marketing. Specifically, he studies multichannel customer behavior in IS enabled new technology channels, customer support at call centers and digital goods markets settings. He employs economic and behavioral theories to model customer behavior and then utilizes econometric and probabilistic methods to extract actionable insights from the field data. Dr. Kumar has published his research in top-tier journals like Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and Information Systems Research.
Dr. Kumar received a Ph.D. in Information Systems Management from Heinz School of Information Systems and Management at Carnegie Mellon University in 2010. He earned a Master of Science degree in Thermal Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in India in 1992 and a Master of Science degree in Management from the Indian Institute of Management in India in 2006. Dr. Kumar received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1990.
Dr. Rajapakshe’s research interests are in resolving novel operations issues that emerge from efforts to improve the efficiency of supply chains, and she has addressed some important problems in both manufacturing and service operations management. Dr. Rajapakshe is focused on the operational challenges associated with implementing green supply chains. Her effort has been to understand and analyze the rich tradeoffs between various sustainability measures, with the aim of providing recommendations to operations managers on an appropriate option based on the internal and external characteristics of a product. She has published papers in the top-tier journals in the area of Operations Management, including Operations Research and Production and Operations Management.
Dr. Rajapakshe received her three graduate degrees from the University of Texas at Dallas. She earned her Ph.D. in Management Science in 2011, her MBA in 2011 and her Master of Science degree in Supply Chain Management in 2010. Dr. Rajapakshe received a Bachelor of Science degree in Production Engineering from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka.
Professors Kumar and Rajapakshe are jointly organizing an ISOM Workshop themed “Challenges and Opportunities in Managing IT-enabled Multichannel Operations” to be held at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center in February 2012. Thus far, 12 world-renowned scholars have confirmed to present their leading research.
