Foreword by Guest Editors COL Paul F. Evangelista & LTC James H. Schreiner

This special issue of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Review once again showcases the top papers from the annual General Donald R. Keith memorial capstone conference at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. Despite continued COVID restrictions, the truly innovative conference included a mix of in-person presentations with over 50 live and remote judges from across academia and industry to create a high-quality event highlighting the undergraduate student team research. After consideration of over 50 academic papers, the eight listed in this issue were selected for publication in this special issue of the journal. The topics discussed are broad and diverse, however decision support within an uncertain and complex environment emerges as a theme. Much of the work completed by industrial and systems engineers focuses on getting decisions right by means of the tools of our trade. The suite of tools surveyed within these papers represents several state-of-the-art methods as well as time-proven techniques within a unique application domain. Military applications dominated several of the papers. Downey et al. studied massive datasets that represent military operational behaviors in training, seeking to better understand military operational capabilities. Ungrady and Dabkowski tackled the complexities of US Army recruiting through the application of fuzzy cognitive maps, searching for causation. Middlebrooks et al. studied military acquisition system decisions, applying system dynamics modeling. Process improvement represented another sub-theme, with continued focus on decision support. Enos et al. applied lean six sigma techniques to manufacturing processes. Katz et al. explored biomedical machine maintenance scheduling, seeking optimal solutions to a complex scheduling task. Kaloudelis et al. developed a pandemic decision support process for universities. Analytics and machine learning techniques applied to the information domain dominated the third sub-theme. Krueger and Enos developed analytics to support ice hockey strategies. Manzonelli et al. applied natural language processing against information operations, seeking to automate the examination of incredible amounts of narrative data that seek to shape beliefs and attitudes. Please join me in congratulating our authors, especially the young undergraduate scholars that provided the primary intellectual efforts that created the contents of this issue. COL Paul F. Evangelista Chief Data Officer United States Military Academy Taylor Hall, 5th Floor West Point, NY 10996 Email: [email protected] James H. Schreiner, PhD, PMP, CPEM, F.ASEM LTC(P), U.S. Army Associate Professor USMA Academy Professor Director, Engineering Management (EM) Program Department of Systems Engineering Head Officer Representative, Army Softball United States Military Academy Room 420 Mahan Hall West Point, NY 10996 Email: [email protected]

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Foreword by Guest Editor LTC James H. Schreiner, PhD, PMP, CPEM

Industrial and Systems Engineering Review ◽

10.37266/iser.2019v7i1.pp1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

James Schreiner

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

United States ◽

Text Mining ◽

Decision Analysis ◽

Modeling And Simulation ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

West Point ◽

United States Military Academy ◽

United States Military ◽

Military Academy

This special issue of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Review highlights top papers from the 2019 annual General Donald R. Keith memorial capstone conference held at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. Following careful review of 48 academic paper submissions, eight were selected for publication in this journal. Each paper incorporated features of systems or industrial engineering and presented detailed and reflective analysis in the topic. Three general bodies of knowledge in the papers include: systems engineering and decision analysis, modeling and simulation, and artificial intelligence Systems Engineering and Decision Analysis topics included three unique contributions. The work of Flanick et al. examined adaptability in Hyper-Enabled Operator systems and recommended how each technology might address capability gaps for special operations forces. Wilby et al. employed a scalable predictive statistical model for decision support to significant work package prioritization for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers nationally significant inland waterway infrastructure. Contributions by Shi et al. employed value focused thinking and a robust cost model to enable decision quality for PM Cargo CH-47 technologies. Modeling and Simulation works also included three unique contributions. Recognized as ‘best paper’ at the 2019 conference, work by Cooley et al. developed a senior leader engagement model using sparse K-means clustering techniques to greatly improve the planning and execution for AFRICOM leadership. Lovell et al. employed robust military simulation models to evaluate and propose solutions Soldier Search and Target Acquisition protocols. Work by Drake et al. employed vehicle Routing Problem simulation software to enhance United Health Services material handling challenges across NY State thus enabling quality optimization choices. Finally, two unique contributions in artificial intelligence examined key text mining technologies. Shi et al. employed text mining and Latent Dirichlet Allocation modeling to derive insights through trends and clustering narratives on U.S. Army Officer Evaluation Reports and describe success. Similarly, text mining techniques by Senft et al. helped to examine and show similarities in success narratives across genders thus providing valuable insights for promotion boards. Congratulation to the 2019 undergraduate scholars and all authors who provided valuable contributions through thoughtful and steadfast intellectual efforts to their fields of study! LTC James H. Schreiner, PhD, PMP, CPEM Director, Operations Research Center Department of Systems Engineering United States Military Academy Mahan Hall, Bldg 752, Room 305 West Point, NY 10996, USA [email protected]

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Foreword by Guest Editor LTC James H. Schreiner, PhD, PMP, CPEM

Industrial and Systems Engineering Review ◽

10.37266/iser.2020v8i1.pp1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

James Schreiner

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Air Force ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

Systems Design ◽

West Point ◽

United States Military Academy ◽

United States Military ◽

Military Academy ◽

Virtual Conference ◽

The U.S

FOREWORD This special issue of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Review highlights top papers from the 2020 annual General Donald R. Keith memorial capstone conference held at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. The conference was certainly a first of its kind virtual conference including asynchronous delivery of paper presentations followed by synchronous question and answer sessions with evaluation panels. Following a careful review of 63 total submissions, eleven were selected for publication in this journal. Unique to this year’s special edition is the mixed selection of seven project team capstone papers, and four honors research papers. Each paper incorporated features of systems or industrial engineering and presented detailed and reflective analysis on the topic. Although there are many elements which cut across the works, three general bodies of knowledge emerged in the papers including: systems engineering and decision analysis, systems design, modeling and simulation, and system dynamics. Systems Engineering and Decision Analysis topics included three unique contributions. Recognized as ‘best paper’ at the 2020 virtual conference, the work of Robinson et al. designed a multi-year predictive cost engineering model enabled through an MS O365 Power BI decision support interface to support U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) inland waterway national investment strategies. Schloo and Mittal’s work presents research in testing and evaluation of the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) 2000 towards improving real-world soldier performance. Gerlica et al. employs a robust and scalable K-means clustering methodology to improve decision making in defensive shift schemes for Air Force Baseball outfield personnel. Systems Design works included three unique contributions. Binney et al. worked to design evaluation criteria for military occupational specialties associated with open-source intelligence (OSINT) analysts for the Army’s OSINT Office. Hales et al. interdisciplinary work aided in the design of search and identification systems to be incorporated on autonomous robotics to enable survivability improvements for the Army’s chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) units. Burke and Connell evaluated and designed a performance measurement-based assessment methodology for U.S. Pacific Command’s Key Leader Engagement process. System modeling and simulation included three unique contributions: Arderi et al. simulated and assessed how the Hyper-Enabled Operator (HEO) project improves situational awareness for U.S. Special Forces using the Infantry Warrior Simulation (IWARS). Blanks et al. employed a VBA module and Xpress software for a scheduling optimization model for enhancement of final exam scheduling at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Kelley and Mittal utilized a Batch Run Analysis and Simulation Studio (BRASS) program to batch multiple iterations of IWARS scenarios to study the integration of autonomous systems alongside military units. Finally, two unique contributions utilizing system dynamics (SD) modeling is presented: Dixon and Krueger developed a Vensim SD model to examine how policy recommendations across Central America could restrict gang activities while positively promoting women’s involvement in society. Cromer et al. utilized systems design approaches and a K-means clustering machine learning techniques to develop SD models in support of the U.S. Africa Command and Defense Threat Reduction Agency to examine the interdependence of threats across the Horn of Africa. Thank you and congratulations to the 2020 undergraduate scholars and all authors who provided meaningful contributions through steadfast intellectual efforts in their fields of study! Well done! LTC James H. Schreiner, PhD, PMP, CPEM Program Director, Systems and Decision Sciences (SDS) Department of Systems Engineering United States Military Academy Mahan Hall, Bldg 752, Room 423 West Point, NY 10996, USA [email protected]

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