The recent business graduate’s honors research project took first place in the Business category at the symposium, using mathematical models of queueing theory in retail customer service.
PC Class of 2024
Throughout her years as a student at Presbyterian College, Emily Whitaker ‘24 worked as a part-time sales associate at a local pet store in Winston-Salem, N.C.
It was a summer break job that appealed to her expanding business mind—she just received her bachelor’s in business administration and management this past May, after all—but it also sparked curiosity in Whitaker and inspired her senior honors research project.
That project, “Queues in Customer Service,” was selected as the first-place winner in the Business category at the South Carolina Upstate Undergraduate Research Symposium this past spring.
“It felt incredibly rewarding and humbling to receive first place for Business at the Symposium,” says Whitaker. “Knowing that my hard work and efforts were recognized by others is a truly gratifying feeling.”
“Only a small fraction of undergraduate students take the initiative to conduct research and prepare a poster, presentation or paper for a symposium or conference,” said Dr. Suzie Smith, Robert M. Vance Professor of Business Administration at Presbyterian College and mentor to Whitaker on the project. “To win first place among this small group suggests that her work stands out among the finest undergraduate competitors in the region. I am incredibly proud of her.”
Whitaker’s research applied queuing theory that she had learned in her Operations Management class at PC. She tracked customer arrival and service rates on a busy Saturday with video footage, measuring average wait times. She then applied queuing formulas to calculate operating characteristics and stress tested the system by increasing customer arrival rates by 10 percent, 20 percent and 30 percent. She wanted to see at what point average wait times would exceed five minutes, which is when a majority of customers would drop out of line and leave the store.
Whitaker simulated the queuing system in Excel for 1,000 customers with random interarrival and service times drawn from the same underlying Poisson distribution for the retail store. In the simulation, she saw several bottlenecks where customers bunched up with fairly long wait times. She also examined the impact of different queuing configurations in multiple server models. Through the practical application of these mathematical formulas, Whitaker was able to develop a deeper understanding of and proficiency with queuing formulas and simulations.
Whitaker says that having Smith as a mentor “made all the difference” in the research that she was able to complete. “The collaboration involved regular meetings to discuss my research progress, guidance on methodologies and literature review, and preparing for the symposium. Her mentorship provided valuable insights and support, ultimately contributing to my achievement of winning first place at the symposium.”
“This semester, one of our guest speakers, Gonzalo Asis, challenged students to ‘do hard things’ because it helps our brains grow a little bit every time we tackle a problem,” said Smith. Gonzalo Asis, VP Equity Derivatives Research at Bank of America, is a Presbyterian College graduate (2014). “Emily took this advice to heart and told me mid-semester, ‘This project is my hard thing.’ I was proud of Emily’s persistence throughout this project.”
Smith commented on the importance of students branching out of the classroom and getting involved in conferences and symposiums, saying that PC faculty are there to support and mentor students through such challenges. “As academics, we have seen dozens of conference presentations from students and faculty over the years,” she said. “Through our experience, we can guide our students through the process so that they can be proud of their own research projects and be inspired by learning from others at the symposium.”
“Presenting at the conference was a great opportunity to share the research that I worked to complete, engage with the audience and receive valuable feedback,” said Whitaker. “Although I was nervous to present my research for the first time, it was a very rewarding experience.”
To learn more about the Business Administration Department at Presbyterian College, visit the department website.
