Our faculty will tell you that producing high quality research is critical to your success as a scholar. At Wharton, you have all the building blocks for relevant and rigorous research. These include dedicated computing support, office space near your doctoral colleagues and faculty in your department, and a lifelong Wharton e-mail address, so you can easily stay in touch with colleagues throughout your career.
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Libraries
Wharton's Lippincott Library, located in the west wing of the university's Van Pelt Library, contains approximately 200,000 volumes, including more than 3,800 periodicals. Publications of business and financial services, federal and state documents, and materials relating to international organizations have been assembled for special reference. The Corporation File contains annual reports and other official filings from companies in the United States and abroad. Students also have self-service access to the major online business databases through time-sharing and optical disks.
Wharton Computing
The Wharton Computing is recognized in the industry for their innovative use of technology and has committed support for faculty. With this dedicated resource, facilities on campus are at the cutting-edge. Facilities include microcomputers in student labs, group computing workstations, and classroom teaching stations throughout the Wharton complex. A network of Unix workstations are used for PhD and faculty research applications. Wharton's school-wide network provides data communications services, connections to Wharton's host systems, and access to Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS). Find out more about technology at Wharton, and how it helps create and support both research and teaching and the student experience.
Wharton Research Data Services
World-class researchers need the best tools to do their work. In order to allow Wharton faculty and students quick and easy access to the broadest spectrum of data, the school, with extensive faculty input, has developed an innovative application called Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS). Now licensed to more than 250 top business schools and institutions worldwide, WRDS offers state-of-the-art web-based data management, with seamless delivery of data from multiple sources onto Unix workstations and desktop PCs. Data resources available to Wharton faculty and students include CRSP, Compustat, and CITIBASE financial data series; online financial market information systems; and a large selection of economic, bibliographic, and news datasets.
Learning Lab
Wharton's Alfred West, Jr. Learning Lab is another example of the innovative spirit at Wharton. The Learning Lab develops technology-enhanced learning materials — simulations, web-based exercises, and interactive programs — to explore new paradigms for learning and instruction. Products developed engage students in real-world exercises that challenge them to apply principles they've learned across disciplines and business environments.
Recent projects developed by the West Learning Lab and currently being used at Wharton include:
- The Online Trading and Investment Simulator (OTIS), a simulation that allows student "fund managers" to buy and sell equities using real data from today's markets.
- Futureview, a marketing simulation that tackles the challenges of marketing a product that's unlike anything currently on the market.
- Fare Game, a simulation of air fare competition that emerged from Midway Airline's aggressive entry into the Milwaukee market in 1989. In Fare Game, students participate in a mock fare war to demonstrate how airlines compete and/or cooperate using fare cuts and hikes.
- CyberExchange, a distance learning program that provides students with the opportunity to participate in a real interactive case discussion in two separate classrooms on two continents.