Richard Larson (academic)

Dr. Richard C Larson is an American professor of Operations Research. Since 1969, he has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with appointments in the Department of Electrical Engineering; the Department of Urban Studies & Planning; the Engineering Systems Division; and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. He is currently Mitsui Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.[1][2]

Richard C. Larson
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD, 1969
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, BS, 1965
AwardsFrederick W. Lanchester Prize, 1972
Scientific career
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral studentsMaia Majumder

Education

Dr. Larson received his bachelor's degree from MIT in 1965, and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1969.

Work on operations research and urban systems

For much of his career, Dr. Larson's primary area of research was in the area of urban systems, and especially on the effectiveness and efficiency of urban emergency services. Beginning in the late 1960s under the auspices of the RAND Corporation, he studied police and other emergency services dispatch systems in New York City, resulting in a number of papers.[3] The book Urban Police Patrol Analysis, published in 1972, was awarded the Frederick W. Lanchester Prize by the Operations Research Society of America (now part of INFORMS, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences).[4]

Dr. Larson was president of the Operations Research Society of America from 1993-1994, and president of INFORMS (2005). He was elected to the 2002 class of Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.[5]

Work on technology-enabled learning

Since 1995, Dr. Larson has shifted much of his focus to technology-enabled learning.

Beginning in 1995, Dr. Larson became the Director of MIT's Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES), which sought to use technology to provide MIT's educational content to a much wider audience. CAES both produced and distributed content intended for world-wide distribution.[6]

He currently serves as the Principal Investigator of the MIT BLOSSOMS initiative, which creates and distributes video lessons covering topics in math and science to students around the world.[7] In addition, he is the Founder and Director of Learning International Networks Coalition (LINC), a professional society and conference for those who are trying to utilize technology to deliver quality education at scale.[8]

As "Dr. Queue", Dr. Larson is frequently cited as an expert on queuing theory and the psychology of waiting in lines. Among others, he has appeared on National Public Radio,[9] and on the Sporkful podcast,[10] as well as in The New York Times,[11] the Washington Post[12] and in Slate[13]

References
  1. "RICHARD C. LARSON: brief bio" (PDF). Idss.mit.edu. March 9, 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  2. "Richard Larson". Idss.mit.edu.
  3. "Richard C. Larson". Rand.org.
  4. "Richard C. Larson". Informs.org.
  5. Fellows: Alphabetical List, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, retrieved 2019-10-09
  6. "MIT > Center for Advanced Educational Services". Stuff.mit.edu.
  7. "MIT BLOSSOMS Initiative: Math & Science Video Lessons for High School Students | MIT BLOSSOMS". blossoms.mit.edu.
  8. "MIT LINC–About LINC". Linc.mit.edu.
  9. "'Dr. Queue' Helps You Avoid Rage In Line". Npr.org.
  10. "Is This Pizza Worth Waiting For?". Sporkful.com.
  11. Stone, Alex (August 18, 2012). "Opinion | Why Waiting in Line Is Torture". NYTimes.com.
  12. "What really drives you crazy about waiting in line (it actually isn't the wait at all)". Washington Post.
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