Systems Engineering and Operations
Research
Spring 2004
Course Description: OR 680 / SYST 798 is the capstone course of the Master’s degree program both in Operations Research and in Systems Engineering. Students should take this course at the end of their degree program. The primary activity is completion of a major applied project, utilizing material learned from a large number of previous courses. In addition, the course will taught in a seminar style with readings from the OR and Systems literature. Discussions related to all aspects of professional life (advancing in your career, ethics, importance of oral and written communication skills, changing industries, networking, etc) will take place.
In
the first or second week of class, each student will give a 10-15 minute
presentation on a project idea. Students will then select the most promising
ideas as projects and will organize themselves into groups. Each group will
have 3-4 students. Different groups will work on different projects. Students
from different degree programs may work jointly on a project, but
students’ contribution to their project must reflect their individual
areas of studies. Students are encouraged to use ideas from work as a basis for
a project. However, the project must be separate from work. In other words,
students cannot be paid for working on their project. The project must be in
addition to employment. As part of their work, each group will establish
and maintain a web page describing their project. Each group will submit a
final report at the end of the semester. In addition, each group will give
final presentations to the department faculty. Part of each student’s
grade will be based on the evaluation by the faculty. Finally, there will be
interim reports
and presentations
due throughout the semester.
Class Hours: Tuesday 7:20 – 10:00 pm, Krug
Hall 253
Pre-requisites: OR 541, 542 and the completion of 24
credits toward graduation
Instructor:
khoffman@gmu.edu
703-993-1679, 703-993-1670 (dept office),
703-003-1521 (fax)
Science & Tech II, room 119
Office hours: Tuesdays 4:30-6:10p.m.
Textbook:
|
1. |
VBA
for Modelers: Developing Decision Support Systems Using Management Science
by S. Christian Albright ISBN: 0534380123 |
2.
Leadership Rudolph W. Giuliani, Ken Kurson (do not need to buy – can be taken out of local
library)
|
ISBN: 0786868414 |
|
Publisher: |
Student Evaluation Criteria:
Itermediate and
Final report 35%
Final
presentation 25% (including review by the faculty)
Web
page 10%
Class
participation 20%
Project
associated with using VBA 10%
|
Tues. Jan 20 |
Course
introduction |
|
Tues. Jan 27 |
Student
proposals |
|
Tues. Feb. 3 |
Discussion on
Professionalism/Ethics |
|
Tues. Feb. 10 |
Presentation on
using VBA |
|
Tues. Feb. 17 |
Preliminary
presentations |
|
Tues. Feb. 24 |
Individual
meetings with groups |
|
Tues. Mar. 2 |
Discussion on
Leadership |
|
Tues. Mar. 9 |
Spring
Break |
|
Tues. Mar. 16 |
Interim
presentations |
|
Tues. Mar. 23 |
Interim
presentations |
|
Tues. Apr 6 |
Individual
meetings with groups |
|
Tues. Apr. 13 |
Dr. Hoffman
traveling – groups meet |
|
Tues. Apr. 20 |
Near-final
presentations |
|
Week of April
27th |
Set up
individual reviews with groups |
|
Tues. May 4 |
Final reports
due Final Presentations to Class |
Fri. May 7th |
Final
Presentations |
|
Tues. May. 11 |
Revised
final reports due |