Student Research Collaborations

Weiliang was the first student I advised. He began working with me as an undergraduate and has since built an outstanding academic career. After completing his PhD at the National University of Singapore, he pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He recently joined the SEEM Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as a tenure-track Assistant Professor.

We have coauthored two papers together:

1. Liu, W., & Sun, X. (2022). Energy-aware and delay-sensitive management of a drone delivery system. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 24(3), 1294-1310.

2. Sun, X., & Liu, W. (2025). Expanding service capabilities through an on-demand workforce. Operations Research, 73(1), 363-384.

Xiaohan was my first Ph.D. student. Before joining my group, he received his M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Florida in 2018 and his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2017. During his Ph.D. studies, he was a two-time recipient of the Donald & Joyce Hearn Graduate Research Award. Upon graduation, he joined the School of Management and Engineering at Nanjing University as a faculty member.

We have coauthored three papers:

1. Zhu, X., & Sun, X. (2022). On dynamic pricing under model uncertainty. Naval Research Logistics (NRL), 69(6), 856-868.

2. Sun, X., & Zhu, X. (2025). Dynamic control of a make-to-order system under model uncertainty. Management Science.

3. Sun, X., & Zhu, X. (2025). Dynamic incentives in service contracting. Available at SSRN 5259068.

I advised Shiwei from 2021 to 2023 in the Industrial and Systems Engineering program at the University of Florida. After I moved institutions in 2023, he continued his doctoral studies at UF’s Warrington College of Business. He is currently on the academic job market.

We have coauthored two papers:

1. Chai, S., Sun, X., & Abouee-Mehrizi, H. (2025). Customer Scheduling in Large Service Systems Under Model Uncertainty. Operations Research, 73(2), 949–968.

2.  Sun, X., Chai, S., Paul, A., & Zhu, L. (2024). Enhancing Make-to-Order Manufacturing Agility. Production and Operations Management, 33(6), 1354–1372.

Na received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, where she was advised by Professor Anand Paul. I was significantly involved in her dissertation research, co-advising her on a project that led to the following paper:

1. Zhang, N., Paul, A., & Sun, X. (2025). Managing Service Systems with Overconfident Customers. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Na has joined the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University as a tenure-track faculty member.

Zerui is a fifth-year Ph.D. student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, co-advised by Professors Ershun Pan and Ran Liu. He has been visiting me since January 2024. His research interests are broad, and he brings great enthusiasm to every project. 

We have coauthored three papers:

1. Wu, Z., Liu, R., & Sun, X. (2025). Near-optimal pricing and resource allocation in a large-scale service system. Operations Research.

2. Wu, Z., Liu, R., & Sun, X. (2025). Blind and Near-Optimal Dynamic Assortment Optimization with Reusable Resources. Available at SSRN 5340627.

3. Liu, R., Wu, Z., & Sun, X. (2025). Index Policies for Dynamic Job Assignment. Available at SSRN 5436394.

Yishen is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Management at the Miami Herbert Business School. His principal advisor is Professor Nan Yang. I am significantly involved in his doctoral research, co-advising him on a project that has led to the following working paper:

1. Yishen, C., Sun, X., & Yang, N. (2025). Pricing Reusable Products: A Social Enterprise's Perspective. Available at SSRN 5093853.

Shubo is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Management Science at the Miami Herbert Business School, co-advised by Professor Ganggang Xu and me. He has a strong background in both statistics and operations research. 

We have coauthored one paper:

1. Shubo, S., Xu, G., & Xu, S. (2025). Near Optimal Dynamic Pricing and Resource Relocation in a Large Closed Network. Available at SSRN 5344382.

Xu is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Management Science at the Miami Herbert Business School. He has a strong background in mathematics and economics. He is also an avid chess player.

We have coauthored one paper:

1. Zheng, X., Sun, X., & Shi, C. (2025). Joint Learning and Pricing in Many-Server Queues: Near-Optimal Policies via Fluid Duality. Available at SSRN 5239963.

Jiuhong is a graduate student in the School of Economics and Management at Dalian University of Technology, advised by Professor Mu Du. We have been working on online resource allocation problems motivated by applications such as ride-pooling and on-demand home services, and are currently wrapping up a paper on this topic.

Xiaodao is a Ph.D. student at the School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, advised by Professor Ping Cao. He is currently visiting me and working on dynamic incentive design problems that arise in operations research and operations management applications.