Course Learning Objectives

The focus of the class will be to teach students how to:

• Identify and understand underlying characteristics and behavior of a service or civil infrastructure system
• Apply analytical methods to model the identified behavior and develop a quantitative and qualitative definition of the system dynamics.
• Apply quantitative knowledge of the service system behavior to improve process design and strategic decision-making.
• Introduce students to impacts of human decision-making on efficient operation of service systems.

The theoretical underpinning of this class will lie in:

• Queueing theory
• System dynamics
• Fundamentals of simulations

At the end of the class students will have a working knowledge of the following methods:

• Use statistical distributions and basics of probability theory to characterize and analyze processes.
• Use differential equations to characterize and analyze dynamic system behavior.
• Develop elementary models and simulations to support system design and/or strategic decision-making.