Richard "Dick" Charles Larson (born 1943) is an American

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

er and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. Since 1969, he has been a faculty member at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

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.

Early life

Richard Charles Larson was born in 1943 in

Bayside, Queens Bayside is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Whitestone to the northwest, the Long Island Sound and Little Neck Bay to the northeast, Douglaston to the east, Oakland Gardens to the south, and Fresh Meadows ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to Gilbert C. Larson. Larson moved to Sunbury,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

at the age of five. Six years later, he moved to North Plainfield,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. After graduating from

Needham High School Needham High School is a public high school in Needham, Massachusetts, educating grades 9 through 12. Aaron Sicotte is the principal of Needham High School. Its three assistant principals are Alison Coubrough-Argentieri, Mary Kay Alessi, and Pie ...

, Larson received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1965,

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in 1967, and PhD in 1969, all in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the

Career

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 The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

, he studied police and other emergency services dispatch systems in

, resulting in a number of papers. 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. He held this role until 2003. 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. 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. As "Doctor Queue", Larson is frequently cited as an expert on

queuing theory Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queueing theory is generally considered a branch of operations research because the ...

and the psychology of waiting in lines. He has appeared on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

and the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, among others. Larson served as president of the

Operations Research Society of America The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research (O.R.), management science, and analytics. It was established in 1995 with the merger o ...

from 1993 to 1994, and then again in 2005 after it merged with the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). He was named a founding fellow of INFORMS in 2002. Larson currently serves as chairman of Structured Decisions Corporation (formerly QED). Larson was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

in 1993 for "developing and applying operations research methodologies in public and private-sector service industries".

Personal life

Larson married Susan Jean Wheeler at the

MIT Chapel The MIT Chapel (dedicated 1955, completed in 1956) is a non-denominational chapel designed by noted architect Eero Saarinen. It is located on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, next to Kresge Aud ...

in 1969.

Publications

* Richard C. Larson, ''Urban Police Patrol Analysis'',

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

, August 1972, 289 pages (). * Richard C. Larson, Amedeo R. Odoni, ''Urban Operations Research'',

Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari B ...

, 1981, 573 pages, ().

Awards

* 1972 – Larson's book ''Urban Police Patrol Analysis'', published in 1972, was awarded the

Frederick W. Lanchester Prize The Frederick W. Lanchester Prize is an Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences prize (U.S. $5,000 cash prize and medallion) given for the best contribution to operations research and the management sciences published in Engli ...

by the Operations Research Society of America. * 2002 –

George E. Kimball Medal George Elbert Kimball (July 12, 1906 – December 6, 1967) was an American professor of quantum chemistry, and a pioneer of operations research algorithms during World War II. Early life George E. Kimball was born to Arthur G. Kimball in Chic ...

* 2003 – INFORMS President's Award * 2017 – Daniel Berg Lifetime Achievement Medal, International Academy of Information Technology and Quantitative Management, for "making contributions to technology innovation, service systems and strategic decision making"

References

External links

MIT profileMIT's Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES)MIT BLOSSOMS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Richard C. 1943 births Date of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Bayside, Queens People from Sunbury, Pennsylvania People from North Plainfield, New Jersey American operations researchers MIT School of Engineering alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty