Faculty
Director - Eric Bickel, Ph.D.| Engineering Project Management, Strategic Decision & Risk Analysis
As the Director of the M.S.E. in Engineering Management, J. Eric Bickel is an Associate Professor and Area Coordinator for the Graduate Program in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering (Department of Mechanical Engineering) at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition, Professor Bickel directs the Center for Petroleum Asset Risk Management (CPARM).
John Daly, Ph.D.| Managing People & Organizations
Dr. John Daly is the Liddell Centennial Professor of Communication, the TCB Professor of Management, and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes on Interpersonal Communication and Advocacy. He has served as the President of the National Communication Association, the largest association of scholars and teachers of communication in the world. Dr. Daly has published numerous scholarly articles and produced more than a dozen books, most recently Advocacy: Influencing Others and Championing Ideas (Yale, 2012). For his scholarly work he has been recognized as a Fellow of both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association.
Britt Freund, Ph.D. | Engineering Operations Management
Robert Freund received his B.S. from The University of Texas at Austin and his M.S. and Ph.D. at Cornell University. His research and teaching interests include the design of manufacturing and service operations, scheduling, and the effective use of automation.
John Hasenbein, Ph.D. | Analytics for Engineering Managers
John Hasenbein is a professor with the Cockrell School Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering. He holds the June and Gene Gillis Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Manufacturing Systems Engineering. Professor Hasenbein earned a B.S. in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology in Operations Research. Professor Hasenbein has taught classes in the areas of stochastic models, queueing theory, operations research modeling and applied probability and statistics. His research interests include stochastic modeling, especially of complex manufacturing, computer and telecommunication network systems.
Rob Oshana, Ph.D. | Legal Issues and Technology Management
Rob Oshana is Vice President of Software Engineering R&D for the Microcontroller and Microprocessor business line at NXP Semiconductors, responsible for software enablement, IoT connectivity, software middleware and security, operating systems, machine learning, software services and advanced technologies. He serves on multiple industry advisory boards and is a recognized international speaker. He has published numerous books and papers on software engineering and embedded systems. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University and is a Senior Member of IEEE
Gaylen Paulson, Ph.D. | Marketing and Negotiations
Dr. Paulson's research and teaching focus on the strategic aspects of interacting with people, including negotiations, conflict management, and persuasion. He has offered programs and consulting services with organizations including 3M, Bayer, Dell, HEB, the Texas Nurses Association, and many others.
Raghunath Rao, Ph.D. | Marketing and Negotiations
Raghunath Rao is the chair of the UT McCombs School of Business Marketing Department and is the Arthur James Douglass Centennial Professorship in Entrepreneurship and Small Business.
Professor Rao’s research interests include durable goods markets, pricing, sales management, and innovation. His research uses game theory, secondary data, and lab experiments to study these topics. He has published research in top-tier journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, and the Journal of Marketing. Professor Rao holds a master's in applied economics and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Minnesota.
Heidi Toprac, MBA | Finance and Accounting for Engineering Managers
Heidi Toprac is a Professor of Instruction for the Department of Finance in McCombs School of Business. She has more than 20 years of experience teaching finance classes. Prior to joining McCombs, she held a variety of corporate finance and accounting roles, where she developed and managed several global programs. She has worked in a variety of industries--including retail and high-tech--and on three different continents.
