The Operations Research Center of Excellence (ORCEN) provides full-time analytical capability to the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, and the Department of Defense.
Under the Direction of LTC Paul Kucik, The ORCEN provides projects to Academy faculty and cadets giving them the opportunity to investigate a wide range of interdisciplinary, systemic issues and to apply many of the operations research, systems engineering and engineering management concepts studied in the classroom. These projects demonstrate, for both cadets and faculty, the relevance and importance of operations research and systems engineering in today's high-technology Army.
Organized under the Office of the Dean as an Academy Center of Excellence, the ORCEN was originally sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management & Comptroller) through a Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Systems Engineering (DSE) and the Department of Mathematics (DMath). Its establishment was born of the need for developing research opportunities to enrich DSE and DMath education. Fully staffed since Academic Year 1990-1991, the Operations Research Center has made significant contributions to cadet education, faculty development, and the Army at large.