Lawrence Stone is chief operating officer of Metron, Inc., a consulting firm with offices in Reston, Virginia, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Located in the Reston office, he is responsible for developing new business and monitoring the financial operations of the corporation. He is also a member of the technical staff, acting as project manager and even as a technical staff member in projects managed by other people.
"Metron specializes in providing scientific solutions to problems in defense, government, and industry," he says. "We look for problems and areas where the application of advanced mathematics, physical modeling, and computer science can provide important benefits to our clients. We have about 90 employees with 60 technical staff members. They have degrees in mathematics, statistics, operations research, applied mathematics, computer science, engineering, and physical sciences. There are 21 people with doctorates, 26 with master of science degrees and 13 with bachelor degrees."
"Most of Metron's projects involve formulating a mathematical model of a problem, developing a solution, and implementing the solution in software on a scientific workstation. The user interface for the software is designed with a graphical interface that allows a non-technical person to run the program and view the results in a graphical form. Our mathematics lives in our software."
"For instance, Metron developed a multiple target tracker called Nodestar for the Navy's Integrated Underwater Surveillance System. Nodestar is a Bayesian tracker that implements the theory of nonlinear, non-Gaussian data fusion to provide estimates of target state in terms of probability distributions. These distributions are displayed to the user as color-coded maps that allow rapid visual comprehension of the tactical picture. Because target state estimates are represented by discrete distributions with unlimited flexibility, Nodestar can reflect all the information about the target's location or state. It can also provide motion models that ensure that targets such as submarines and surface ships avoid land. As an adjunct to this system, Metron developed a Resource Optimization System that uses the target location distribution computed by Nodestar to recommend an allocation of processing assets to maximize probability of detecting multiple targets of interest for the Navy's Underwater Surveillance System."
Larry has a B.S. in mathematics from Antioch College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mathematics from Purdue University. When he graduated in 1967, he was not interested in teaching, and with an interest in applied mathematics, he accepted a position with Daniel H. Wagner, Associates. While there, he was involved in planning search operations for the Navy. "For several years, I received contracts from the Office of Naval Research to develop the theory of search," he notes. "I wrote a book, Theory of Optimal Search, which was awarded the Operations Research Society's Lanchester Prize. As my career continued, I began to direct teams of people on technical projects and started to sell business for my company. Eventually, I took on more managerial responsibilities, becoming Vice President, Senior Vice President, and, finally, Chief Operating Officer for Metron."
Work in his area requires an understanding of probability, statistics, linear algebra, optimization, differential equations, and computer science. "Supplement your mathematics courses with a good, strong computer science background," he recommends. "Almost all industrial employers will be looking for computer scientists. Your mathematics background will be considered a bonus. In order to enjoy working in industry, you must get your kicks from seeing mathematics applied to real problems. If you are primarily interested in doing research, you should stay in academia."
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