Overview
The Education and Professional Development Colloquium (EPD) is an annual event designed to bring together students, junior analysts, and senior professionals to provide mentoring and professional development opportunities.
The purpose of the EPD is to challenge undergraduate students by presenting them with an opportunity to perform national security operations research work during the Richard E. Rosenthal Student Competition. The competition is a "quick reaction analysis" which allows students from all participating institutions to work on an OR problem together, demonstrate their skills and learn different ways to approach a problem toward a team solution.
Students and young analysts who participate will learn about different formal education expectations of military, government civilians, private industry employees, and academics. Students will also have a chance to share their research in a capstone presentation, and gain invaluable feedback on their work from a diverse group of students and senior professionals in the field.
Professionals and faculty who participate will discover new connections within a diverse community of practitioners, educators, and analysts. As a mentor, you will have the opportunity to observe and guide the next generation of analysts. Attend sessions that offer fresh perspectives on current academic issues and how different academic programs are adjusting to our ever-changing OR environment.
This year's EPD will bring together speakers, practitioners, and students of operations research for an overdue look at military operations research beyond the military operation.
Speakers
Dr. David L. Alderson - Featured Speaker
Dr. David L. Alderson is Professor and Chair of the Operations Research Department at the Naval Postgraduate School. He also serves as Founder and Executive Director for the NPS Center for Infrastructure Defense (www.nps.edu/cid) and Executive Director of the NPS Data Science and Analytics Group (www.nps.edu/data-sciences).
Over the last 25 years, Dr. Alderson's research has focused on the function and operation of critical infrastructures, with particular emphasis on how to invest limited resources to ensure efficient and resilient performance in the face of accidents, failures, natural disasters, or deliberate attacks. His research explores tradeoffs between efficiency, complexity, and fragility in a wide variety of public and private cyber-physical systems.
Dr. Alderson has been the Principal Investigator (PI) of sponsored research projects for the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
Dr. Alderson’s teaching has focused primarily on computational methods for military operations research, with responsibility for courses associated with certificate programs for data science at NPS.
Dr. Alderson received his doctorate from Stanford University and his undergraduate degree from Princeton University. He has held research positions at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of California Los Angeles, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and the Santa Fe Institute. He has extensive industry experience and has worked for several venture-back startup companies. His early career was spent developing technology at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York City.
A complete list of publications and awards is available from his faculty webpage (https://faculty.nps.edu/dlalders/).
Rosenthal Prize
Richard E. Rosenthal 1950-2008
MORS Richard E. Rosenthal Student Competition
First held in 2003, The Richard E. Rosenthal Student Competition allows students to collaborate on an operations research problem, demonstrate their skills, and learn different ways to approach a problem in order to find a team solution. Visit the Rosenthal Prize webpage for more information.
Students
Poster Competition
Students are encouraged to share their research by entering this year’s poster competition. This is a fantastic opportunity to present your work to a diverse group of peers, teachers, and senior professionals in the national security community.
The poster competition will be held on the evening of 15 April during the social. Food will be provided.
*Please note there will be no print facilities on-site, so please bring your printed poster with you to the EPD. Display easels will be provided.
If you plan to enter the poster competition or have any questions, please email Tina Yan at tina.yan@mors.org.
Judging Rubric
Student Capstone Presentations
Take advantage of this opportunity to practice presenting your capstone project! On the afternoon of 16 April, we will open up the stage to students who wish to participate and present their research to the audience.
If you plan to present a capstone project or have any questions, please email Tina Yan at tina.yan@mors.org.
Registration
Register
The EPD is a free event to attend! To register, click on the above button and follow the instructions.
For registration assistance, please contact Ms. Karla Lee-Riviere, karla.lee-riviere@mors.org. If you have any questions about the event, please contact Ms. Tina Yan, tina.yan@mors.org.