EES&OR 341 Mini Project
This mini project is designed to provide you with an additional opportunity
to relate your academic experiences with real life. The mini project is
required of all students taking EES&OR 341
Form Team
First, form a team of 3 or 4 people. Anyone enrolled in the class can be
on your team. Teams are encouraged to communicate with each other but each
team must submit a different project.
Select Problem
Second, select a real-world problem that you have either observed or read
about that is related to any of the topics covered in class (if you are
not sure if your topic qualifies, feel free to ask me or Oliver). The best
sources of ideas may come from newspaper or journal articles, issues you
observe within your company, or personal experience.
Analyze Problem
Third, analyze the problem using tools developed in this class. At a minimum,
this includes formulating the problem, asking questions associated with
the problem, and then providing a solution to the questions that you pose.
Grading
The oral report plus short written report will count for 15% of your course
grade.
Due Date
The project will be submitted in the form of an oral presentation to the
class on Monday June 2 and a written report handed in on Wednesday June
4. The presentation should last about 5 minutes. You are encouraged
to use overhead slides in the presentation. The written report should not
exceed fifteen pages for the entire group.
Feel free to interact with Oliver or me on this mini project.
Some Advice
Be realistic about your goals. This is not a dissertation; it is unreasonable
to expect that your group should produce a dissertation level project.
It is a practical example of the types of issues we have discussed in class.
It should take no more work than one problem set.
You may not be able to get all the data you need. In fact, you almost undoubtably
will NOT be able to get all the data you feel you need. Do the best you
can, make estimates for the rest, and let us know what data you simply
estimated and what data are real. Keep in mind what data could be available
IF you were doing a dissertation or a major research project that was reasonably
well funded.