Richard "Dick" Charles Larson (born 1943) is an American operations researcher and educator. Since 1969, he has been a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with various appointments in the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Urban Studies and Planning, and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). Larson is currently Post-Tenure Mitsui Professor of Data, Systems, and Society.[1]
Richard C. Larson | |
---|---|
Born | Richard Charles Larson 1943 (age 77–78) |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Awards | Frederick W. Lanchester Prize (1972) |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Thesis | Models for the Allocation of Urban Police Patrol Forces (1969) |
Doctoral students | Kent W. Colton Maia Majumder |
Career
Born in Bayside, Queens in New York City, Larson moved to Sunbury in Pennsylvania at the age of five. Six years later, he moved to North Plainfield in New Jersey. After graduating from Needham High School, Larson received his Bachelor of Science (1965), Master of Science (1967), and doctorate (1969), all in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Larson's primary area of research is in urban systems, 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.[2] The book Urban Police Patrol Analysis, published in 1972, was awarded the Frederick W. Lanchester Prize by the Operations Research Society of America[3] He was president of society from 1993 to 1994, and then again in 2005. He was named a fellow in 2002.
Later, Larson has shifted his research focus to technology-enabled learning. In 1995, became the Director of MIT's Center for Advanced Educational Services, which sought to use technology to provide educational content to a much wider audience.[4]
Larson 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.[5] In addition, he is the Founder and Director of Learning International Networks Coalition, a professional society for utilizing technology to deliver quality education at scale.[6]
As "Doctor Queue", Larson is frequently cited as an expert on queuing theory and the psychology of waiting in lines. He has appeared on National Public Radio and the Washington Post, among others.[7]
References
- ^ https://idss.mit.edu/staff/richard-larson/
- ^ https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/l/larson_richard_c.html
- ^ https://www.informs.org/Recognizing-Excellence/Award-Recipients/Richard-C.-Larson
- ^ https://stuff.mit.edu/afs/athena/activity/s/sctv/old_site/caes.mit.edu/
- ^ https://blossoms.mit.edu/
- ^ http://linc.mit.edu/about.html
- ^ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120769732
External links
- MIT profile