SEAS Student James Harris Wins Air Force Award

James Harris had a very good year last year. In addition to receiving his doctor of science degree in operations research from GW in December, he received the U.S. Air Force Senior Civilian Analyst of the Year Award for 2003 during the annual Air Force Operations Research Symposium at Hanscom Air Force Base.

The award that Harris received was based partly on his dissertation work, entitled Sortie Generation Rate Model (SGR), and partly on another model he developed for the Air Force, called the Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF) Process Model. Harris’ SGR model has helped the Air Force dramatically reduce the time necessary to model such rates.

Before he developed his model, the Air Force used three computer models, each of which required its own input data, to compute sortie capability. Because the three models required extensive data processing and because they were located in different offices of the Air Force—and at times even in different geographical locations—completing sortie rates generation required two to three months. Once the sortie rates were computed, changing the rate generation based on slightly different “what-if” analyses was difficult.

In contrast to this, Harris’ SGR model is a stand-alone model that uses a single data set, composed of 49 data entries, and provides a sortie rate capability within minutes. Within two-to-three hours, the user can run as many as 100 different scenarios (data sets) and can easily do “what-if” analyses by varying the parameters. Harris’ SGR model is so flexible that it is useful for computing sortie rates for the futuristic aircraft of the Air Force, the F/A-22, and the F35 aircraft, as well as for the aircraft the Air Force currently has.

Harris also received recognition for his AEF Process Model. The AEF Process Model examines the number of personnel required by the Air Force over an eight-year period, considering personnel training, deployments, leave time, personnel attrition, recruiting, and an assortment of other personnel skill capabilities required to do the Air Force work. It is able to determine which skill areas are stressed because of a shortage of personnel and how many new personnel would be required to supplement the personnel shortage. Harris notes, “Since I am a government employee, it was a tremendous savings to the government for me to develop the models rather than hire contractors to develop the models.”

With regard to receiving this prestigious award, Harris simply says, “It’s been gratifying to have the opportunity to use the education I received at GW and the other academic institutions I’ve attended to make a contribution to my country. That gives me a great sense of satisfaction.”