Bud Simrin is a manager in the Product Engineering department at LMTAS in Fort Worth, Texas. LMTAS builds fighter airplanes including the F-16 and F-22. Bud is responsible for military operations research as well as cost, risk, and system requirements analysis. He is responsible for development and control of the technical processes in each of these disciplines.

Approximately 70 people report to Bud. They have degrees (B.S., M.S., or Ph.D.) in mathematics, computer science, operations research, physics, and any of several engineering disciplines (ME, AE, EE, IE). They are assigned to integrated product teams (IPTs) in 5 different areas: F-16, F-22, Joint Strike Fighter (the next generation fighter--to be fielded about 10 years from now), Information Warfare, and System Development Center (the next generation fighter after the next generation fighter).

"Mathematics plays a major role in operations research and cost analysis," says Bud. "Operations research at LMTAS involves modeling and analysis to evaluate competing fighter aircraft designs. It incorporates simulation of the combat environment at many levels, from a detailed representation of a single event (like a missile flyout) to representation of an entire war. Cost analysis is used to predict the purchase cost of an aircraft as well as its upkeep and maintenance costs over its useful lifetime."

"The mathematics that is used in these disciplines falls into 'white magic' (traditional formulas and techniques) and 'black magic' (heuristics, problem solving, new algorithm development). All math skills are helpful. However, probability theory (excluding statistics) is the single most necessary math skill. Simulation, optimization, numerical methods, game theory, design of experiment (statistics), and calculus/analysis are also quite useful. Mathematical maturity, the ability to know when a mathematical analysis is correct, is a less tangible skill but every bit as important. In addition to mathematics, it is important to have good computer skills and a broad background in physics and/or engineering. Surprisingly perhaps, written and verbal communications skills are also extremely important -- there is no sense in performing brilliant analysis if no one else understands it."

"I use mys mathematics skills every day. Recently I wrote an in-house paper that presents a new mathematical approach for measuring the value of competing items (of any kind). The premise is that each item is described by a collection of numerical attributes, and the objective is to mathematically combine the attributes into an overall rating. For example, the items might be new airplane designs, and the attributes might be numerical scores for speed, range, weight, agility, combat survivability, and stealthiness. It is easy to develop a formula to combine the attributes into a single score; a simple linear weighting scheme will do this. The trick is to develop a formula that will not misguide the decision maker. In this paper, a counter-example is presented to illustrate that the widely used linear weighting scheme provides extrememly misleading information no matter what assignment is made for the weights. The paper goes on to develop a new mathematical scheme that can be used in any situation. So far, three widely different applications have been made of these new formulas at LMTAS."

Bud Simrin has been with LMTAS for 21 years, starting out imediately after obtaining an M.S. in mathematics from University of Florida. He began as an as an operations analyst and has progressed up the ranks until becoming a manager this year. He received his B.S. in mathematics from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California and his Ph.D. in mathematics from University of North Texas in 1980 while working full-time for LMTAS. He always wanted to be a college professor but teaching jobs were in sparse demand when he attended University of Florida; so after earning his M.S., he took courses in the Operations Research department in order to "sell" himself as an engineer. He recounts deciding that Operations Research is the engineering discipline that most "resembles" mathematics.

His advice for mathematics majors who wish to work in military aerospace is to supplement their core mathematics with at least a 2-semester senior-level course in probability and statistics from the Statistics Department (not from the mathematics department), to take a hefty dose of physics, and to become expert problem solvers. They should also write a concise one-page resume without overselling themselves, and participate in the on-campus interviews. "The aerospace industry has been in a decline for the past 7 years," he says, "but is just now on the rebound -- jobs are expected to be available again starting in late 1996."

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