SMU Lyle School of Engineering Welcomes Dr. Yanling Chang as Associate Professor of Operations Research and Engineering Management

SMU Lyle School of Engineering is excited to announce that Dr. Yanling Chang has joined our faculty as an Associate Professor of Operations Research and Engineering Management, effective August 1, 2024. Dr. Chang’s expertise in dynamic decision-making models, learning algorithms, and data analytics will significantly enhance our programs and research capabilities in supply chain operations and risk management.

Dr. Chang earned her Ph.D. in Operations Research from the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, following her M.S. in Mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Electronic and Information Science from Peking University in China. Before joining SMU, she served as an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, where she established herself as a leading researcher in her field.

Dr. Chang’s research is focused on developing innovative models and algorithms to address complex challenges in supply chain management and risk mitigation. Her work has been widely recognized, including the prestigious NSF CAREER Award in 2023. Her research has been published in top-tier journals such as Operations Research, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Psychological Review, and IISE Transactions. Notably, she received the Best Paper Award in the 2022 IISE Transactions for her contributions to supply chain management. She was also honored for having one of the top-cited papers on blockchain in supply chain management.

Dr. Chang's research is supported by several NSF awards, reflecting her success in securing funding for impactful projects. She also collaborates closely with the distribution industry, focusing on supply chain network design and data analytics, which bridges the gap between academic research and practical applications.

Her contributions to the academic community have been further recognized by awards such as the TEES Young Faculty Fellow Award at Texas A&M University in 2024 and the Faculty Excellence Award in Research in 2018. She was also the recipient of the Scialog MZT Travel Fellowship from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the USDA in 2021, highlighting her commitment to advancing research in her field.

As Dr. Chang joins SMU Lyle, we look forward to the fresh insights and leadership she will bring to our Operations Research and Engineering Management programs. Her expertise in supply chain risk management, Markov decision processes, and structural estimation and learning will be invaluable as we continue to develop innovative solutions to global challenges in these areas.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Chang. We are excited about the new opportunities her research and teaching will bring to our students, faculty, and the broader engineering community.

About the Bobby Lyle School of Engineering
SMU's Lyle School of Engineering thrives on innovation that transcends traditional boundaries. We strongly believe in the power of externally funded, industry-supported research to drive progress and provide exceptional students with valuable industry insights. Our mission is to lead the way in digital transformation within engineering education, all while ensuring that every student graduates as a confident leader. Founded in 1925, SMU Lyle is one of the oldest engineering schools in the Southwest, offering undergraduate and graduate programs, including master’s and doctoral degrees.

About SMU
SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty and nearly 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, community and the world.