Protecting our National Security with O.R.

From effectiveness of deployed forces to manpower and training, operations research professionals in the military space are constantly addressing both new and old challenges. These have been increased in recent years by advances in non-traditional warfare, to include cyberspace.  The large investments in terms of manpower, time and money that nations spend in this sphere drives the need for thoughtful, professional operations research and analytics to wisely drive investments and security. In this episode, I am joined by Harrison Schramm, U.S. Navy veteran and Senior Fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments to discuss his journey from military service to O.R., his work with CSBA, and how O.R. and analytics are being applied to protect national security.

Interviewed this episode:

Harrison Schramm

Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA)

Harrison Schramm has been a leader in the Operations Research community for the past decade. Prior to joining CSBA, he had a successful career in the US Navy, where he served as a Helicopter Pilot, Military Assistant Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, and as a lead Operations Research Analyst in the Pentagon. His areas of emphasis were large-scale simulation models, statistics, optimization, and applied probability. His research interests are at the intersection of data, mathematical models, and policy, and is a Principal Research Scientist at Group W.

Mr. Schramm enjoys professional accreditation from the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (CAP, INFORMS), the American Statistical Association (PStat, ASA) and the Royal (UK) Statistical Society (CStat, RSS). His published work has appeared in INTERFACES, J. Applied Meteorology and Climatology, SIGNIFICANCE, J. Mathematical Biosciences, Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, OR/MS Today and Military Operations Research. He is President-Elect of the Analytics Society of INFORMS and a past Vice President of the Military Operations Research Society (MORS).

Harrison is a recipient of the Richard H. Barchi Prize, Steinmetz Prize, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, and the Naval Helicopter Association’s Aircrew of the Year. He is the 2018 recipient of the Clayton Thomas award for distinguished service to the profession of Operations Research.