数学中国www, madio,net 174 The UMAP Journal 29.2(2008) About the authors Sarah Root is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engi- neering at the University of Arkansas, where she teaches courses in operations research and service systems engi neering. Her research interests are primarily in modeling and solving large-scale optimization problems, particu larly those arising in logistics and healthcare systems Rod Sturdivant is an associate professor at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. He earned a Ph. D in biostatistics at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst and is currently program director for the probabil- ity and statistics course at West Point. He is also founder and director of the Center for Data Analysis and Statistics within the Department of Mathematical Sciences. His research in- terests are largely in applied statistics with an emphasis on hierarchical logistic regression models Frank Wattenberg is a professor in the Departmentof MathematicalSciences at the United States Military Academy(USMA), West Point. He is particularly interested in modeling and simulation and in the use of technology for simu- lation and for education across the undergraduate curriculum. He is currently leading a team at the USMA that is developing Modeling in a Real and Complex World to be published as part of the MAA Online Book Project. He is also working with colleagues at USMA and elsewhere to develop rich immersive environments for modeling and simulation. This project will produce environ- ments with both virtual and hands-on components that students will revisit from middle school through college and from many different subject areas and levels. The architecture will support collaborative modeling and simulation based in part on the ideas ot multiplayer games.数学中国 www.madio.net