Michelle M. (Baron) Cowing
Associate ProfessorContact information |
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Education
1996: Ph.D. at Stanford University, in Industrial Engineering
1992: M.S. at Stanford University, in Industrial Engineering
1990: B.S. at University of California at Santa Barbara, in Electrical Engineering
Areas of Research & Specialization
- Organizational and individual decision making and risk management;
- Risk analysis modeling techniques (quantitative/probabilistic risk assessment, representation and integration of uncertainties and other risk factors, including technical, human, policy, environmental and economic factors) to support decision making and long-term planning;
- Decision analysis (decision support framework incorporating problem structuring in terms of alternatives and uncertainties, and evaluation of alternatives using single or multi-attribute utility theory);
- Operations management and process analysis and improvement strategies.
Why Do I Study Business?
All organizations, whether non-profit, for-profit, or government agencies, all face challenge, risk, and difficult decisions. I am interested in developing frameworks of analysis that can help organizations better understand their situation in order to make good decisions and to best utilize their resources to effectively and efficiently serve their varied constituents.
Publications and Professional Work
Cowing, Michelle M. and Krishnan Ramaya. “Portland Cabinet Company: Complexities of Survival”, Western Casewriters Association Proceedings, Missoula, Montana, March 2007.
Ramaya, Krishnan, Joseph Szmerekovsky, and Michelle Cowing. "A Longitudinal Examination of Inter-Firm Cooperative Arrangements of U.S. Manufacturing Firms", WAM 2007 Conference Proceedings, Missoula, Montana, March 2007.
Cowing, Michelle M., M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, Peter W. Glynn. “Dynamic Modeling of the Tradeoff between Productivity and Safety in Critical Engineering Systems”, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 86/3 pp 269-284, 2004.
Baron, M.M. and Pate-Cornell, M.E.. "Safety and Productivity Trade-Offs: Managing Nuclear Reactor Outages." International Journal of Technology Management, Vol. 19, Nos. 3/4/5, 2000, pp. 420-438.
Also published in the International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2000, pp. 1-19. (Selected by the publisher to appear in this inaugural issue.)
Baron, M.M., and M.E. Paté-Cornell. “Designing Risk Management Strategies for Critical Engineering Systems”, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Vol. 46, No 1, 1998, pp. 87-100.
Baron, Michelle M. “Risk Management in Service Operations”, presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, November 1998.
Baron, Michelle M. “Multiple-Objective Risk Management Strategies”, presented at the 1997 Fall Meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, Dallas, Texas, October 1997.
Baron, Michelle M. “Risk Management Trade-offs for Critical Systems”, Proceedings of the Fourth International Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, Sydney, Australia, July 1997.
Professional Memberships
Journeys of the Heart Adoption Services, board member
Academy of Management Decision Sciences Institute
Organizational Behavior Teaching Society
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Awards & Honors
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Stanford IE/EM Department, 1995Jerome Kaseberg Doolan Fellowship, Stanford University, 1993
Stanford Centennial Teaching Assistant Award, 1992
UCSB Regents Scholar, 1986-1990
Courses that I teach....
At Pacific University, all faculty teach a variety of different courses. Typically, we do not use graduate teaching assistants, which means that your classes will be taught by professors and that you will have plenty of opportunites to get to know the faculty in your discipline.
Below, I have listed some of the courses that I teach. We are always developing and trying out new classes, so the list may change now and then. You can use the links to the left to read descriptions of the courses listed below.
| BA | 340 | Management Science |
| BA | 342 | Risk Management & Decision Making |
| BA | 350 | Operations Management |
| BA | 360 | Organizational Behavior & Management |