An Operations Research Win Over Army and Air Force

  POSTED ON: Tuesday, May 10, 2022 9:52 AM by CDR Gary Lazzaro

On May 2, 2022, twelve 1st Class (senior) midshipmen operations research majors won the 10th annual “Sustainment Innovation Competition,” a tri-service-academy research competition sponsored by the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation in Suffolk, VA. During the annual competition, nine research teams of 36 midshipmen and cadets from the U.S. Naval Academy, United States Military Academy, and U.S. Air Force Academy presented Operations Research focused capstone projects to a panel of active duty officers from all three services and Lockheed Martin senior executives.  

Group photo with all USAFA, USMA and USNA teams and panel of judges

The midshipmen worked in teams of four on two semester capstone projects designed to solve current problems facing the Navy and Marine Corps using Operations Research techniques. Permanent Military Professors CAPT Jay Foraker and CDR Gary Lazzaro, both in the mathematics department, are the capstone course instructors who serve as project advisers.  

The first-place research project is partnered with VT-22, Naval Air Training Command, titled “Analyzing Daily Sorties at NAS Kingsville Utilizing Alternative Refueling Methods” with Midshipmen 1/C Eubin Kim, Sunou Kim, Sean Scanlon, and Ryan Teuschl. 

Navy team with winning team plaque and panel of judges

The second-place research project collaborated with Joint Chiefs of Staff, J-4 Directorate, titled “Utilization of Offshore Support Vessel Deployment for Contested Logistics Fulfillment” with Midshipmen 1/C Jared Dykman, Ana Rios-Rodriguez, Edward Howell, and Isaac Thompson. 

Navy team with winning team, 1st place project, 2nd place project and honorable mention project plaques

The honorable-mention research project was affiliated with the U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Command titled “Optimized Seeding for Marine Ready Reserve Recruiting” with Midshipmen 1/C Nile Hollie, Saige Haney, Jamey Macris, and Stephanie Read (not pictured).

Category: Midshipman, Academics