Profiles in OR/MS: Mary Crissey
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Civilian Workforce Analyst
B.S. Applied Math |
M.S. Operations Research
Contact Information: |
Question & Answers
(The views expressed in the following interview are solely those of the interviewee, and may not necessarily reflect the official view of the U.S. government, the Department of Defense, or the Department of the Air Force.)
Q. Tell me about your educational and professional background. Why did you decide to join the United States Air Force?
A. In 1977, I was honored as the first female at the University of Washington to a 4-year ROTC scholarship.
After graduation, I was sent to Phillips Research Lab in Albuquerque to work in the Nuclear Technologies division. While there I generated probability, or survival measurements, for aircraft shelters. I worked side by side with civil engineers who collected data for our computer simulations by conducting large blast and shock experiments in testbeds and had access to the CRAY supercomputer to run my Fortran Monte Carlo code.
When my original commitment to the Air Force expired, the Air Force offered me an opportunity that was simply too good to pass up – full pay and a 100% scholarship if I agreed to go to school full time to get a masters degree in operations research. At the time I had no clue what "operations research" was – all I was told was that O.R. is the advanced degree subject available to undergraduates in mathematics. I am forever grateful to the Air Force for leading me to the field of operations research.
Q. I see that your current title is Civilian Workforce Analyst assigned to working in the Plans & Analysis & Information Delivery Division. What are the main function and goals of this division?
A. As part of the AF Personnel Center Headquarters we retrieve data to provide personnel statistics and counts of such things as the number of pilots or women in the Air Force. Today we are forging innovative ways to deliver data into valuable information from which Air Force managers around the world can benefit.
Q. What is your role within this organization?
A. My role is to perform scientific analysis addressing Air Force Personnel issues worldwide. These issues include the entire personnel life cycle of military and civilian Air Force members—including, accessions, compensation, benefits, separations, and retirements. I design, develop, and apply statistical, econometric, and mathematical techniques to improve personnel operations in the Total Force (including active duty military, National Guard, Reserve, and civil service.
For a sample of the type of demographics I deal with on my current assignment you are welcome to take a peak at our open web site. To see for yourself our interactive tool for pulling data from the Air Force personnel system, just...
- Select Civilian
- Select Personnel Statistics
- Select IDEAS under Applications
- Select Civilian
- Click on Table 1 in the left margin and AWAY you GO! Immediate data access at your fingertips!
Of course, getting the data into a report is only the first step – the tricky part is to conduct the data mining and exploration necessary to discover trends over the past 10 years as they relate to new policies that impact personnel issues!
Q. What are some of the past OR/MS projects that you found especially memorable and rewarding?
A. While at the Pentagon, I made several presentations to local SAS user group meetings as well as at INFORMS on a Multi Criteria Decision Support System I built to support the Military force management office. Basically it was an interactive goal program which allowed conflicting objectives to be specified.
With the interactive sequential goal programming algorithm, decision makers can incorporate their preferences in reaching compromise between competing goals by explicitly displaying trade-offs. We had to manually build a matrix generator in SAS to set up 500 constraints and input the 800 variables necessary to model our typical enlisted military force problem.
Q. What specific problem was this decision support system designed to address?
A. The Air Staff was ordered to reduce the number of troops so the goal was to encourage as many voluntary separations as we could to avoid firing and forcing out enlisted members. Minimization of current year costs had to be balanced with future year costs and experience levels. This DSS produced output summaries to include promised number of promotions the AF should make each year, expected losses and reenlistment. I added subroutines – which tested proposed policies and impacts of adding severance pay, early retirement and a costing methodology.
Q. What were the main tools and OR/MS techniques that were used on these projects?
A. Linear programs, OR procedures in the SAS suite of software, LINDO, and spreadsheets were my primary tools.
Q. What are the most valuable technical skills that you believe are needed to be successful in the OR/MS industry?
A. Applied Mathematics, Strong Logic skills, computer programming, combined with traditional OR coursework from a rigorous academic program.
Q. What are some of the most valuable non-technical skills that you believe are needed to be successful in the OR/MS industry?
A. People skills and Inquisitiveness. It's essential to find out where to go to get information. In order to move up the management chain, it is vital to keep networking and maintaining a broad view of the big picture. That is a big benefit of our field—I've enjoyed working side by side with a wide variety of Specialists—econometricians, statisticians, psychologists, functional experts, database systems administrators, AI & expert systems—and together we collectively work to improve processes.
Stay curious—keep your enthusiasm high. I've seen people stuck in one little office with a narrow view of how the world runs—with their creativity stifled, who frown upon change, simply because it ain't broken don't fix it. I never want that tired mode of thought disease to attach itself to me!
Q. In what ways do you continue to expand your knowledge of new technologies and techniques in OR/MS?
A. My organization sends me to one training class each year to update my SAS programming skills. The SAS system of software for enterprise-wide information delivery is constantly expanding and always offers more and more tools to apply to improve the way business is performed.
Also, I enjoy learning new decision support programs, and simulation software. Every day on the job I make it a point to learn something new; from little tricks in an excel spreadsheet to an innovative Javascript routine on a web application.
Q. What do you find most rewarding about your career in OR/MS?
A. The opportunity to make a difference in a measurable quantifiable way – dollars saved, quicker service, more data with more insight. It's also FUN! I like the fact that I can earn my living in a field I have an excitement and passion for.
Q. What advice do you have for those just starting out in a career in OR/MS?
A. Stay humble—you posses a powerful tool that your organization needs—but before you attempt to "change the world" stop and take time to learn the functional end about the current way business is getting done.
Learn the buzzwords and "lingo" of the company who hired you. Find out what makes your boss tick. Educate yourself on the products or services your company provides.
Keep your vision wide even if assigned to a focused issue – you may be able to apply the same "FIX" to another larger problem.
Only by careful polite friendly communication with your coworkers and upper management will they give you the open mind to listen to your ideas and recognize the value in your contributions.
Salesmanship is critical!
Q. What do you predict the future has in store for the field of OR/MS and for OR/MS practitioners?
A. Tremendous potential—computers now bring data everywhere fast—we are needed to turn that data into valuable information! The field of Information Technology and computer applications is expanding at phenomenal rates and must be matched by O.R. supported decision making. The rapid growth of Internet technologies opens up entirely new frontiers for data mining and information delivery.
I work side by side with a team of computer specialists who are building "virtual offices" and inter/intra web applications. Our ops research team of analysts "crunch" through historical data searching for trends and building decision models for upper level CEOs of our organization. Even the scheduling of training for new recruits, advancement courses and matching people to their next job are now being optimized via linear programming.
Q. Do you wish to add something that was not asked?
A. Excellent articles in the June issue of ORMS Today – if you haven't taken time to read it do so now!
Thank you, Dr. Saul Gass, one of my graduate school professors for noting the Linear Programming work we do in the military. Round-the-World, Round-the-Clock, Personnel Data Access.