I saw a recent press release about one of Sheldon Jacobson’s projects that investigates vaccination issues for H1N1. What is interesting about the press release is that it actually promotes the field of operations research. Maybe the grassroots efforts to promote OR are working! You can read the press release for yourself, but check out the plug for OR:
Jacobson’s field is Operations Research (OR for short). OR is a combination of a multitude of tools, including aspects of engineering, computer science, mathematical modeling and algorithms, and statistical analysis. It also utilizes tactics like probability theory, game theory, decision analysis, and simulation to find optimal solutions to complex problems. OR’s countless applications have led Jacobson to conduct research in areas as far-flung as aviation security, automobile fuel consumption, NCAA basketball tournaments, and predictions for presidential elections… “When one does research, it is an opportunistic situation. You are constantly bombarded with challenges in life and society, and there are wonderful problems that can be addressed by using engineering, computer science, and specifically, operations research.”
Hopefully, this is part of a trend that helps increase the awareness of our field.
Link: press release.
Punk Rock Operations Research 
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Cool!
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:20 am
On Sunday, 60 minutes had a story on the H1N1 vaccine. I found it slightly disappointing, since Scott Pelley was critical of how slow the vaccine has been deployed, yet he didn’t explain the challenges in the vaccine supply chain (To be fair, someone mentioned the “pipeline”). But of course, I would like every 60 minutes story to have an OR bias. (-: