Operations research was a natural career choice for me since it combines an interest in business with a strong inclination for the challenge of problem-solving. As an undergraduate mathematical sciences major at Loyola, I was very fortunate in knowing exactly which career path I wanted to follow, and I had supportive faculty members to guide me in the right direction.

At the suggestion of my academic advisors, upon choosing operations research as a career direction, I immediately pursued graduate education as a next step. This turned out to be the best advice I could have received since the MS degree really is the professional degree requirement to do analyst work in the field. Plus, the MS in operations research builds on the problem-solving foundation of an undergraduate degree in mathematics by providing a more in-depth examination of the mathematical tools of operations research, systems analysis and modeling.

Upon completing my Master's degree, I joined the operations research group at American Airlines. The airline industry provides a wealth of complex operational problems. During my first two years at AA I worked in the area of strategic airport planning, analysis and consulting. This work involved employing a sophisticated discrete-event airport/airspace simulation model to evaluate the operational impact of airport capital improvements such as new runways, taxiways, and terminals. Simulation modeling is a technique commonly used to evaluate the impact of a number of different alternatives in a complex system before committing capital resources to the selection of the “best” alternative.