This online course covers three important modeling techniques. Students will learn how to (1) construct and implement simulations to model the uncertainty in decision input variables (e.g. price, demand, etc.) and supplement the overall estimate of interest by a risk interval of possible other outcomes using risk simulation; (2) model the variability in arrivals over time (customers, cars at a toll plaza, data packets, etc.) and ensuing queues, using queuing theory; (3) how to employ decision trees to incorporate information derived from models to actually make optimal decisions.
Dr. Cliff Ragsdale
Cliff T. Ragsdale is Bank of America Professor of Business Information Technology at Virginia Tech. His primary research interests involve applications of quantitative modeling techniques to managerial decision making problems using microcomputers. Dr. Ragsdale has served as a consultant for a variety of organizations including General Mills, The World Bank, Frontline Systems, and Dominion Energy. His research has been published in Decision Sciences, Naval Research Logistics, Operations Research Letters, Computers and Operations Research, OMEGA, Personal Financial Planning, Financial Services Review, Decision Support Systems, and a number of other scholarly journals. He is a Fellow of Dec...