Student consulting projects benefit faculty and industry

Student consulting projects require students to apply OR/MS tools to obtain insight into the activities of firms in the community. These projects benefit faculty by providing clear feedback on the real capabilities of students, a broad connection to local industry, and material for case studies and research. They benefit companies by stimulating new thinking regarding their activities and delivering results they can use. Projects provide insights into the end-user modeling mode of OR/MS practice. Projects support continuous improvement as the lessons gained from a crop of projects enable better teaching during the next course offering, which in turn leads to better projects and further insights into teaching.