The Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica and the Brazilian Air Force held their 25th Annual Symposium on Operational Applications in Defense Areas at their São José dos Campos on Sept. 27-29.

An annual event promoted by the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, the symposium's objective is to create an environment of exchange of experiences between the academic, industrial and operational sectors of the armed forces, on topics of teaching, research and development in areas of defense.

Greg Parnell, director of the Master of Operations Management and the Master of Engineering Management programs in the Department of Industrial Engineering, was the international keynote speaker at the conference. His topic, "Cognitive Biases and Decision Traps," illustrated the misuse of heuristics in decision making. The presentation was well received by over 500 attendees.

In addition, he gave a two-hour minicourse on "Value-Focused Thinking for Capability-Based Planning" that was attended by approximately 80 attendees. The topic was requested of Parnell because the Brazilian military uses capability-based planning for defense budget decisions.

The Brazilian conference is an annual event focused on defense matters such as electronic warfare, command and control, cyber war, operational analysis and bio war. It provides a unique opportunity for academia, industry and defense sectors to connect and foster a synergistic research and development environment. In addition to technical presentations, minicourses and posters, the conference also includes presentations and displays by about 25 Brazilian and international defense corporations.

The first conference took place in 1998; since then, over 12,000 civilians and military personnel have participated in the event.

About the Department of Industrial Engineering: The Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas was founded in 1950, led by department head John L. Imhoff who believed deeply in the global impact of industrial engineering. Today, the department averages over 200 undergraduate students and over 40 doctoral and master's students. In addition, the department has three online master's degrees: the Master of Science in Operations Management, Master of Science in Engineering Management and Master of Science in Operations Analytics. These three programs alone enroll over 600 students each academic year. To learn more about the Department of Industrial Engineering please visit our website.