Teaching data envelopment analysis in production operations management through an undergraduate research project based on real-world data

This teaching note reflects the recent experience in teaching an undergraduate production operations management course through the implementation of a real‐world‐problem‐based research project. In this project, students investigated a multi‐million dollar effort Access database compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and applied a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to benchmark production efficiency among the coal‐fired power plants within the states that they selected in the USA. This research project did much to developing students' quantitative problem‐solving skills by weaving the research project throughout the whole semester, engaging students in illustrating DEA models with a real industrial production problem, and enhancing students' awareness of sustainability in production operations management.