Operations Research: Simulation I

Professor: Bennett
Units: 0.5
Elective Course (Research Analysis and Design: Modeling Human Systems)

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This Operations Research sequence teaches prescriptive and descriptive modeling techniques that can be used to structure policy problems and evaluate options. The second and third classes will focus on simulation, particularly time-stepped simulation, with applications in supply chain management, defense analysis, social science, and queueing. Additional concepts in linear algebra useful for these applications will be discussed. Various advanced will be discussed at the end of the course including discrete-event simulation, optimizing simulation, exploratory analysis, multi-objective analysis, simulation-assisted machine learning, experimental design, data farming, and VV&A.

More broadly, the Operations Research sequence is also an introduction to problem formulation. By the end of the course, students should be able to structure policy problems, formulate mathematical models that address them, use the tools to solve simple problems, interpret the results, and understand the limitations of these methods.