An Inspiring Professor and an Expert Individual in the Operational Research Field

An operations research expert is involved with managing operational aspects of all sorts of activities, including in transportation (both ground and air), inventory control, agriculture, heating/cooling, and manufacturing, ensuring that activities run smoothly and efficiently on a scale. This is essential to many daily tasks, as the consistent approach helps structure our decision-making processes. Operational researchers should have strong math skills, proficiency in physics, and the ability to solve problems and communicate well.

Richard Larson is an illustration of an operations research specialist. The man who always likes to remain dedicated towards his goal and to improve data accuracy and integrity, restructuring activities, and assuring that project timelines are met. He also assists in improving collaboration within the research team, developing proficiency in new research tools, efficiently managing research budgets, ensuring obedience to ethical and regulatory standards, and actively contributing to the advancement of research methodologies.

In high school (Needham, MA.), Richard was a focused and ambitious student. He took the science/math stream in his post-secondary education. After exploring himself, he figured out that his affection for physics was extremely elevated. He cracked the Scholastic Assessment Test, which is an examination of physics subjects. Afterwards, with the help of this test, Richard acquired his place as a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Richard made it simpler to understand operations research. It means “research on operations,” which we use in our regular lives. To better understand the term “Operations,” he gave us these instances. Stuck at a red light at an intersection; running out of dog food at home; having your flight to Seattle cancelled due to weather or maintenance issues, etc. Now, managing and modelling these operations is essentially what Operations Research (OR) is.

Additionally, by diving deep into the sea of operations research, he provided a foremost example. He mentioned the queueing theory, invented by Danish telephone engineer A. K. Erlang in 1919. He enjoys those queues that demand probabilistic thinking to examine them.

Facing Real-World Encounters

Richard is well aware of the integration of academic knowledge and practical challenges. In his career, he believed that for operations research, somebody has to take the initiative to acquire a deep understanding of the real world. He refers to it as having “Boots on the Ground.” This idea benefits from building a valuable and realistic model and having subsequent implementation impact.

To apply these skills, he started a corporation with the help of his colleagues. He operated that firm for 40 long years. The major motive behind that firm is to provide consulting services in operations research. It started as a not-for-profit “Public Systems Evaluation, Inc.”, which was then transformed into a for-profit firm. According to Richard, several names were used. The most frequent name used by them was ENFORTH Corporation. He stated that in his prime, ENFORTH employed over 30 full-time professional employees. Because of ENFORTH, his MIT-based academic research integrated better into real life.

Getting New Experience in Leading Initiatives

Open-source learning impacts everyone by providing accessible, affordable educational tools and adopting a collaborative environment where anyone can contribute to the development of learning platforms. MIT BLOSSOMS, a program created and designed by Richard, is the foremost program to become an open-source learning platform that includes a combination of math and science study.

Fully 86 interactive lessons were created and publicly posted, to be used in high school STEM classes. (Reminder: STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).  All of these lessons are now available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR_HiQVSl8_KZ9ItuleTnpQ/featured   These lessons are now used by numerous students, and he can’t deny the fact that it is the world’s first initiative that is a freely available teaching and learning resource placed in the WWW. This brought a rewarding and wonderful experience for him and his team.

As a co-director of the MIT Operations Research Center (ORC), he has represented the MIT Engineering School along with other co-directors at the MIT Sloan School of Management and has achieved many awards. Some of these awards were national as well as international. In no time, the faculty and students of MIT ORC have been identified as intelligent and expert leaders in Operations Research. This experience was like fulfilling a dream for him because of the uniqueness of ORC, which led it to go far.

Strategies and Implementation

Richard always followed the “boots on the ground” strategy of people who are physically present in a place doing the work to achieve something. The thought was simple: until people get hooked on the ground reality, they will not be able to understand it. It is difficult to model some complex processes by simply thinking about the problem at one’s desk. He usually guides his students by saying, “On Day 1, wear boots and expect to be on-site for 8 to 12 hours. Observe everything and talk to as many people working there as possible.” And “Yes, your boots will get messy and—likely—smelly!”

The Blend of Practical and Academic Knowledge

According to Richard, using the knowledge and understanding gained from academic research, which may be conceptual or theoretical, and applying it in reality creates a huge difference. But if someone creates the theory by “living in the field,” they have a better understanding of the complex problems and operating systems. Gaining practical understanding and insights by directly observing and interacting with real-world situations in a specific field is the actual key. This key helps to minimize problems in translating.

Furthermore, if you have to progress something, you have to keep on performing that practice again and again. He gave an instance of Newton. Since all models are approximations of reality, all are wrong at some level, but some are useful.

Newtons’ Laws of motion are super useful. Newton’s primary equation relating force F to mass m and acceleration a, “F = ma.” You want to “get a feel” for this law?   Get in your car, drive to a safe uncrowded place with a straight roadway, and then from a full stop, press the gas pedal down hard to obtain major acceleration.  You and your riders will be pushed to the back of your seats as the car accelerates.  Your body will experience F = ma.

Necessity of Emerging Trends for Operational Research

Richard leveraged his expertise and suggested that Operations Research is a large field because it provides a structured approach to analyzing complex problems across various industries. This is the reason that no one can stay on top of it all. His goal is to only research the operations that he is involved with. This is the greatest way for him to satisfy himself. This research includes the urban public sector, such as policing, emergency medical response, and urban sanitation. In this research, he and his colleagues apply stochastic models such as queueing theory models as well as optimization models such as Optimal Location Theory.

He believes that system designers must factor in the psychology of users. For instance, in queueing theory he found that the “psychology of waiting” is an essential consideration. Richard Larson explained it beautifully: “It’s not the duration of the wait that is important; it’s the complaints about the wait. Remove the complaints, even if the wait stays the same, and you have solved the problem.”

He provided an instance of placing mirrors next to elevator doors. The mirrors not only enhance the aesthetic appeal of the space but also provide a distraction for individuals waiting for the elevator. By allowing people to check their appearance or simply engage with their reflection, the mirrors help transfer their focus away from the potentially anxiety-inducing wait for the elevator doors to open. This small addition can make the experience of using elevators more pleasant and less stressful, encouraging a calmer atmosphere in busy areas. Ultimately, such thoughtful design selections contribute to a better overall user experience in public places.

Remarkable Accomplishment

In his career, he achieved a lot of things. However, according to him, his most significant accomplishment was supervising his students. As a professor, he oversees them during their graduate doctoral research. There were over 30 students. Most of them have become successful and are doing great in life. Some are professors at other universities, and others have gone successfully into business.

If we talk about his research accomplishments, he contributed to:

• The Hypercube Queueing Model (invented)
• The Queue Inference Engine (invented)
• Optimal Location Theory
• Home energy management
• Analysis of Disasters

Supervision of Ambitious Leaders

‘Follow your intellectual passions’ and don’t worry about the ‘crowd’ are dual guidances given by Richard. He suggested avoiding deskwork and getting into the field, basically just following the term living in the system. It allows you to develop specialized skills, gain in-depth knowledge about a particular industry, increase your job prospects, enhance career growth potential, and ultimately find work that aligns with your interests and passions, leading to greater job satisfaction and personal fulfilment.

A Pioneer in Model Thinking

After serving many years as an inspiring personality, Richard is now retired from MIT. It’s hard to see inspiring people getting retired. However, his wisdom is reaching us. As a retired “professor” and proficient in “Operational Research,” his main focus is to make Operations-Research ideas more widely known. So, he reflected on this quality in his recent book known as “MODEL THINKING For Everyday Life, how to make smarter decisions”. INFORMS published this book. To adapt to the change in the world, he made this book available on Amazon. He has also been on TV, radio, and billboards, adopting model thinking.

A Message to New Generation

Richard dedicated a lot of his time and energy to his profession.  He found that professional satisfaction aided valuable family time, as he could “turn off” the Operations Research switch and be a loving husband to his soulmate of 43 years, Mary Elizabeth Murray (now deceased) and his three children.   He tried to be an excellent specialist in Operations Research, integrating theory and practicing the way the founders of the field pictured.

So be dedicated towards your work and don’t forget that without the experience of “Boots on the Ground,” it is going to be tough.