Of_Note_Header

The OR Department's Rich Heritage

Our Department is a leader in its contribution to the practice of operations research as recognized by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).  NPS OR was the recipient of the 2013 UPS George D. Smith Prize “for effective and innovative preparation of students to be good practitioners of operations research, management science, or analytics,” and the department has consistently led the practice literature as reported in the “Rothkopf Rankings”—named in honor of the late Mike Rothkopf who originated them in 1996.  In the tenth such ranking (2013), NPS OR placed first for yield and second for visibility.

OR Receives George D. Smith Prize

Presentation of the 2013 UPS George D. Smith Prize to the OR Department “for effective and innovative preparation of students to be good practitioners of operations research, management science, or analytics.”
OfNote_Gaver_interview

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Donald P. Gaver interviewed at INFORMS

See the interview with Distinguished Professor Emeritus Donald P. Gaver on the INFORMS site, or read the transcript here.

Of_Note_Brown

ASP, Art and Science of Practice: Educating Military Operations Research Practitioners

The 2013 UPS George D. Smith Prize was awarded to the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Operations Research (OR) department for “effective and innovative preparation of students to be good practitioners of operations research, management science, or analytics.” In the spirit of the prize, this paper shares details about our degree program. The program is closely linked to its military sponsor, the United States Department of Defense, in a unique relationship that ensures NPS students and faculty are focused on critical and important problems facing the military. Our students bring firsthand knowledge of the challenges our organization faces, and leave our academic program as OR practitioners prepared to immediately meet those challenges. 

Brown, G., DeGrange, W., Dell, R., and Fricker, R., 2015, INTERFACES 45(2), pp. 175-186.

Of_Note_Kline

Innovative Education: Shaping tomorrow’s problem solvers

It is the first day of the Joint Campaign Analysis class at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).  I look from the teaching podium to the faces of my graduate students – a mixture of U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Allied officers midway through their graduate degree programs in operations research, operational logistics, modeling and simulation, systems engineering analysis and acquisition. Most have completed a year of statistics, probability, programming, simulation, optimization, physics and engineering courses and are now ready for the “so what?” And with this crowd, that is important. 

Kline, J.  OR/MS TODAY, Vol 39, No. 4, August 2012.

 

Of_Note_Mullen

ARMED WITH O.R., Q&A: Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

During the course of his illustrious career as a naval officer and now as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen has been bombarded with military intelligence and information — some of it good, some of it not so good — but perhaps the worst advice he ever received came more than 25 years ago when he was anxious to pursue a master's degree in operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

Mullen, M. (2010). OR/MS TODAY, Vol 37, No. 4, August 2010, pp 24-29

Operations Research Video
 
Of_Note_Fricker

Looking for a Few Good…Statisticians

To me, the term “government statistician” immediately brings to mind someone working at the U.S. Census Bureau. Or perhaps someone affiliated with a federal health agency, such as the National Center for Health Statistics. What it does not bring to mind is someone working in the Department of Defense (DoD), even though, as an associate professor in the Operations Research Department of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), I am such a statistician.

Fricker, R. (2008). AMSTAT News, August 2008.

Of_Note_Rosenthal

It’s More Than a Job or an Adventure – An inside look at the Naval Postgraduate School, where teaching, learning and applying operations research is serious business for all concerned

Some people think of the Naval Postgraduate School as one of the nation's best-kept secrets. In the operations research world, NPS has a fairly large footprint, but still there are members of INFORMS who might not know much about NPS-OR.

Rosenthal, R. (2007). Innovative Educators, OR/MS TODAY, Vol 34, No. 4, August 2007, pp 22-28

Of_Note_Schrady

Golden Anniversary – Fifty years of graduate education in operations research at NPS produces 3,300 alumni worldwide

The year 2001 marks the 50th anniversary of the graduate education program in operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. It was no accident that the School should have begun its program so early. The U.S. Navy established the first formal operations research organization in this country in the spring of 1942 and relied on operations research throughout World War II. In 1950, the Chief of Naval Operations directed that a program of study in operations research be created. The program began in August of 1951 with a class of nine students, and the first degrees were awarded in January 1953. The curriculum has been offered continuously since its initiation. There are more than 3,300 alumni representing all of the U.S. military services and those of 31 other nations.

 

Schrady, D. (2001). OR History, OR/MS TODAY, Vol , No. 4, February, 2001