Operations Research in a Public Corporation

I am sure you have all heard quite a good deal about operations research in the military, in business, and in industry, and perhaps some about operations research in government. Tonight I would like to take a look at operations research in a somewhat different area---generally that of public corporations and specifically that of The Port of New York Authority. The types of problems in that area are somewhat different from those in business and industry, just as those in business and industry are somewhat different from the problems in the military, from which operations research sprang. The motivations are also different in these different areas. But, the essential unity of operations research is such that the methods, the approach, the principles, the philosophy, personnel, and other attributes of operations research are the same in all of its areas of application. The results too, I think, are somewhat the same, and sometimes they border, as you know, on the spectacular.