1. The LSU Mathematics Consultation Clinic Louisiana State University Department of Mathematics

2. BASIC GOALS 1. Broaden undergraduate education: Students are exposed to real-world applications of mathematics the development of teamwork skills; cooperation with people of diverse technical abilities open-ended problems with no ideal solution.

3. 2. Develop linkages between LSU and the regional industry: Companies are provided opportunities to access LSU expertise and infrastructure at relatively low cost strengthen understanding of a problem that may exceed the available resources of permanent staff recruit talented personnel on a trial basis

4. Projects should meet the following criteria: The solution is of real interest to the client The client is willing to provide liaison time The size and complexity of the problem is appropriate for one semester

5. Ongoing Projects Fall 1999: 1. Scheduling Problem for a New Orleans- based chemical company 2. Emergency Planning Project Spring 2000: 1. Loan Analysis for a local bank 2. Statistical Analysis for Louisiana Lottery

6. A Scheduling Problem A model for a small business is too specialized for effective use of commercial software – off-the-shelf software is generally not available or is too difficult to use.

7. Considerations Our product must be user-friendly; input and output data should be handled in EXCEL. Even “small” problems can be “large”, and thereby challenge EXCEL’s mathematical capabilities.

9. What we did Effectively modeled the problem including all relevant constraints and costs Formatted EXCEL spreadsheets to contain all input and output data Wrote computer code that finds the optimal solutions

10. The company response Presently using our product to plan this quarter’s allocation schedule Has offered to support a clinic’s team member with a summer job Has hired us as a part-time consultant to make further improvements

11. The Future Our product is flexible, and we are looking for further applications in other industries The Math Clinic as a whole is also continuing with several projects scheduled for this Fall Other projects are presently being evaluated