Arnoff Lecture Shows How Disparate Interests Have Common Science Date: June 2, 2000 Story and photo by: Carey Hoffman Phone: (513) 556-1825 Archive: Campus News When a lecturer comes to campus and presents on subjects as dissimilar as AIDS prevention and NCAA tournament basketball pools, a natural question arises about what common bond could tie those areas together. In the example of this lecturer – Yale University's Edward H. Kaplan – the answer is management sciences and the diversity of his two topics tells you important information about his field. Kaplan's visit was part of the College of Business Administration's CBA Week celebration and was sponsored by the Department of Quantitative Analysis and Operations Management. Kaplan delivered the ninth annual E. Leonard Arnoff Lecture on the Practice of Management Science on May 25, then followed that up the next morning with a seminar on "March Madness and the Office Pool." Kaplan's presentations provided high profile examples of the practical contributions that can come through management sciences. His Arnoff Lecture focused on policy modeling for HIV prevention, an area where he has applied his expertise in operations research and statistics and become one of the most recognized figures nationally on AIDS health policy. Besides his appointment in the Yale School of Management, Kaplan is also a professor of public health at the Yale School of Medicine and the director of the Law, Policy and Ethics Core of the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. He did breakthrough analysis demonstrating the effectiveness of a needle exchange program in Connecticut that continues to be a guiding force in the national debate on that subject. Michael J. Magazine, Ohio Eminent Scholar and UC professor of quantitative analysis and operations management, believes that Kaplan's campus visit provides an able example of the capabilities of management science. "I really believe that our field provides a wonderful opportunity to work on a variety of problems, affecting health care, manufacturing, the environment, the sports field and on and on," Magazine says. "People in management sciences deal with problems of such a range that it's just incredible." Magazine himself specializes in supply-chain issues, but has used his expertise in areas as far ranging as helping the National Basketball Association design its college draft lottery. Kaplan tied management sciences to basketball himself when he tried an experiment last year in predicting the outcome of the NCAA tournament bracket. He and a colleague developed a mathematical model for predicting the tournament – much like they might develop for tackling any sort of conventional business problem. They then used it to create a completed bracket sheet that they entered in several national contests on the Internet. In one sponsored by CBS Sportsline.com, they finished 25th out of 95,000 entries, or better than 99.97 percent of the competition.