Our mission: to catalyze innovation in education operations research by identifying the field's most critical questions — and generating the data to solve them.
Why “EOQ”?
EOQ is also the Economic Order Quantity — the classic inventory model at the heart of operations management. We borrow the name to bring that same operational lens to education.
Through qualitative research and conversations with districts, teachers, and education leaders, we surface the operational problems that matter most.
We gather the data needed to tackle those problems — which often means creative approaches and looking in places no one else thinks to look.
Core operations-management problems, studied in the context of education:
How schools and districts source, purchase, and fund the materials students need.
Designing agreements — with vendors, partners, and staff — that align incentives and deliver results.
How new tools, including AI, are adopted and put to work in everyday school operations.
Coordinating services across schools, nonprofits, and community organizations.
How districts design facilities, classrooms, and boundaries to support learning.
Supporting teachers and staff — and helping them work effectively and productively.
Directed by Samantha Keppler, NBD Bancorp Assistant Professor of Technology & Operations, University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Building a repository of education operations data on districts, schools, teachers, and students.
Cutting-edge research on educational procurement and supply chains, and generative-AI implementation.
The EOQ Lab brings together students and faculty who want to collect data, analyze it, and grow the scholarship of education operations together.
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