Operations Research/Advanced Analytics: Opportunities and Methods in Applied Math
Andrew M. Ross
Associate Professor
Mathematics
Eastern Michigan University
Operations Research is an area of applied math that deals with analyzing and optimizing many different systems: industrial, nonprofit, government, healthcare, etc. It operates at the intersection of math, engineering, statistics, computer science, and business. We will talk about common focus areas like minimizing waiting times for important public services, and scheduling staff in an optimal way. The methods are incredibly powerful--optimization decisions can often involve hundreds of thousands of variables, and sometimes millions or billions.