Basic background information on yourself, perhaps where you came from, former education, etc.

I grew up in a Coast Guard family, eventually settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My father had his PhD in Operations Research and was instrumental in helping me decide upon my college major. I attended Northwestern University, studying Industrial Engineering, working on my thesis with Professor Sanjay Mehrotra, and graduating in 1989. As an ROTC student, I was commissioned into the Air Force upon graduation and served as an Operations Research analyst at Hanscom AFB, near Lexington, Massachusetts. I was selected for faculty duty as an instructor at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with a preceding sponsorship for graduate school at MIT and the OR Center.

What degree you received from MIT and when?

I received an S.M. in Operations Research in 1995. I joined the faculty at the Academy for two years, then returned to the OR Center in 1997, completing a PhD in Operations Research in 2000.

Who your advisor was at MIT?

Professor (now Chancellor) Cindy Barnhart for both my Masters and PhD. My Masters thesis was co-advised by Dr. Steve Kolitz from Draper Lab.

What was the research you performed while at MIT?

At the Masters level, I worked in the area of rail transportation, examining ways to optimize the scheduling and sequencing of activities in railroad yards and across a rail transportation network.  In my PhD, I studied the air networks for overnight package shipping. This work was sponsored by UPS, and my research was looking at alternative formulations and algorithmic approaches to determine aircraft routing and fleet assignments. This was an extremely large network design problem. 

Where are you currently working?

I have served in a variety of positions at the Air Force Academy, including as a professor, department head, and now as the Dean of the Faculty (Chief Academic Officer). The Air Force Academy is an undergraduate academic program with 4,000 students and 535 faculty members.

What have you been doing since your OR degree?

In addition to serving in an educational role at the Academy, I have consulted with components of the Air Force on a range of projects involving personnel planning, aircraft routing, and strategic budgeting. I also served as the chief analyst at Air Force Space Command, which operates all the Air Force’s satellite systems and cyber systems.

Advice/guidance to students coming to the ORC – why the ORC from your perspective?

What struck me was the closeness of the community in the ORC. I had heard of many cutthroat PhD programs, and the ORC was such an incredible collection of professors and students who supported each other. In fact, when I run into old ORC friends and professors at conferences, I’m always amazed at how, after years of not seeing each other, we just fall back into our old relationships. 

How did the ORC contribute to your development as a scientist and as a person?

This was an all-star academic team. I have to be frank: I was completely intimidated at first given the amazing accomplishments of my fellow students and the reputation of the professors. But you quickly realize that everyone is there to learn and to grow. The professors modeled what it means to be scholars, and the students worked so well together, playing off each other’s strengths. We all grew into better thinkers and problem solvers as a result. I found that this translated to how I thought about life and contributing to society. The ORC, bringing so many backgrounds across the world, taught me about other cultures and viewpoints that shaped me for the rest of my life.

What is one memory about the ORC you carried with you? 

All the wonderful people – from students to staff to faculty!