Joseph McCarthy - Machine Learning PhD Student - School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Date: April 19th

Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET

Location: Groseclose 403

Meeting Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NTlmOTAzODktNWY3MS00MmVkLWFlMmItMDUwY2FjNzEzM2Y1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22f318f03a-7172-4e98-8700-4452904f1d67%22%7d

Committee

Dr. Mathieu Dahan (Advisor), Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Chelsea White III (Advisor), Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. David Goldsman, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Vidya Muthukumar,  Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Lauren Steimle, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Brian Wade, The Research and Analysis Center, U.S. Army Futures Command

Abstract

Military strategic investment and operational warfighting are necessarily intertwined, yet it is quite challenging to integrate these two levels analytically. In this thesis, we provide a framework to unify these levels through stochastic games and a force design model. We start with the operational level, where we exploit the structure of military games to construct a tractable representation of the large-scale problem. We develop the campaign stochastic game (CSG), a two-player, discounted, zero-sum stochastic game model for dynamic operational planning in military campaigns. Then, at the strategic level, we use this representation to evaluate force designs directly in the operational contexts where they may be employed in a future global landscape. Together, the thesis represents an original methodology to integrate military strategic and operational decision making.