Dr. Ganesh Janakiraman

The University of Texas at Dallas supports the Ashbel Smith Professorship. Dr. Ashbel Smith was the first president of the UT System Board of Regents. He had a long and distinguished career in medicine, education and public service. During his term on the Board of Regents, Smith was dedicated to recruiting the best faculty members available and to developing a curriculum befitting a “university of the first class.” Smith became known as both the “father of Texas medicine” and the “father of The University of Texas.”


“UT Dallas and the Jindal School have provided me the perfect environment to develop my research and teaching abilities to their fullest potential. I am grateful to the leadership of the school, University and the UT System for awarding me this chaired professorship and the generosity of the many supporters of UTD for providing the resources for such chairs.”

Dr. Ganesh Janakiraman joined The University of Texas at Dallas in 2009 as a faculty member in the operations management group in the Naveen Jindal School of Management. Janakiraman previously held academic positions at New York University’s Stern School of Business and Cornell University’s School of Operations Research and Information Engineering.

While his research focuses on problems in the field of stochastic inventory theory, Janakiraman has recently started exploring other topics including procurement auctions. His research has been published in journals such as Operations Research and Management Science.

“My research and teaching mostly focus on developing ideas or methods for making supply chains more efficient,” Janakiraman said. “Products and supply chains are growing in complexity in terms of number of components, partners and production/distribution locations. Thus, there is a tremendous opportunity for research using operations research methods on supply chain models to be hugely impactful to businesses. Similarly, there is a significant opportunity to train the next generation of supply chain professionals through our undergraduate and graduate programs in supply chain management.”

He earned his PhD and master’s degree in operations research at Cornell University and his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. During graduate school, Janakiraman interned at Aspen Technology in New Jersey.

Janakiraman is a member of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science, the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society, and the Production and Operations Management Society. He has served as an associate editor for Management Science and Operations Research Letters, and as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous other journals. Janakiraman also has served as a member of the Faculty Senate at UT Dallas.