Ronald McGarvey joined the University of Missouri in 2013 with a joint appointment in the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department and at the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs. His primary research interest is in applied optimization and its applications to public policy and resource management. McGarvey has more than 10 years of experience working as a researcher in Project AIR FORCE, a federally funded research and development center operated by the RAND Corporation that is tasked with performing policy analysis on behalf of Air Force leadership. His research objectives are to examine a broad set of public policy problems via the application of prescriptive mathematical modeling tools, as opposed to the focus on descriptive statistical models that currently receives greater attention in the public policy arena. This research aims to advance the methods for modeling public sector problems and provide policymakers with objective analyses to inform and improve their decision-making.