Snapshot: Name That Professor!

ONE FORMULA FOR TEACHING PROCESS ANALYTICS

If you're a fan of the Netflix docudrama "Drive to Survive," you might have caught a brief glimpse of this Mendoza professor in a Formula One paddock at the U.S. Grand Prix.

After becoming a fan of the show during the pandemic, she couldn't help but notice how the sport applies the operations management topics she teaches to Notre Dame MBA candidates. Thanks to a grueling 24-race season that spans 20 countries on five continents in nine months, F1 racing involves some of the most complex logistical challenges of any global sport. In other words, it's a perfect opportunity for students to learn how to optimize logistics and inventory management.

Even the pit stops offer lessons in operations. "I mean, changing four tires in 2.2 seconds is a perfect example of a Lean process," she says. In 2023, she invited Christoph Jamann, chief of staff for the new F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, to her MBA class to discuss the logistical and operational challenges involved in planning the race in a new location.

At home, you might find her having fun with her two young daughters (whose artwork is on display in her office), as they play with the F1 racing simulator her husband, a Mendoza management professor, built in their basement. Or you might find her taking a turn behind the wheel for a different kind of course prep: driving on the historic Nordschleife race course in Germany in a few years.

 

Photography by Matt Cashore (ND '94)

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Did you guess the F1 racing fan is Katie Wowak, the Robert & Sara Lumpkins Associate Professor of Business Analytics? If so, step up to the podium.

 

 

You might say Wowak has been on the fast track most of her life. By age 19, she earned a finance degree from the University of Florida. Two years later, she had a master's degree in information technology from Johns Hopkins University and headed off to Penn State University for a doctoral program in logistics, materials and supply chain management.

In 2012, she joined the Mendoza faculty, where she teaches process analytics to undergraduate and graduate students. As a researcher, she studies strategic supply chain management, with a focus on product recalls. In one award-winning study, she and her colleagues found that greater product competition among generic drug manufacturers leads to a higher number of manufacturing-related recalls, suggesting that manufacturers may be cutting corners to lower drug prices. Another study found that firms issue recalls for severe product problems faster when there are women on their boards. Her recent research examines how the design of operational processes lessens or increases gender bias.

 

She and her husband, Adam Wowak, the Viola D. Hank Associate Professor of Management & Organization, have two daughters and coach softball together.

Wowak was recognized in the University of Notre Dame's 2022 Women Lead project. You can read more about her here.

 

(Katie and one of her children playing on the racing game her husband Adam built in their basement)

 

Photo of Katie Wowak in her office by Matt Cashore (ND '94). Other photos provided.