Canadian Operational Research Society

Calgary Section

http://www.corscalgary.org/

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR

When: Noon to 1:30 PM Friday, March 18, 2005

Room 217

TransCanada Tower

450 - 1 Street SW

(See attached map)

SPEAKER

Diane Bischak, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Operations Management Area

Haskayne School of Business

University of Calgary

TOPIC

Learning by (not) Dying on the 8000-Meter Peaks in the Himalaya and Karakoram

Abstract:

“Learning by doing” and the resulting reduction in production costs or improvement in productivity is a fundamental operations concept: the more units produced, the better people become at producing them. However, most studies of learning by doing have examined industries over very brief periods and have generally used aggregate data to infer learning that may be occurring at a lower level. This study, co-authored with John R. Boyce of the Department of Economics at the University of Calgary, examines the history of an “industry”— mountaineering on the fourteen peaks over 8,000m in height — over an entire century. As we are able to identify the people taking part in climbing expeditions, we can test whether learning by doing in the “production” of mountain ascents takes place at the individual, “firm” (national climbing club), or industry level. Using regression, we find evidence of learning-by-doing spillovers at the industry level, as an increase in the cumulative number of prior expeditions to a mountain reduces the chances that a later expedition will suffer an adverse outcome and increases the chance of an ascent. We also separate out the beneficial effects of the human capital of the climbers, in the form of the climbers’ prior experience on 8,000m peaks, and of general technological improvement, taking into account a selection bias in the use of bottled oxygen.

About the Speaker

DIANE BIScHAK obtained her Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.  Prior to joining the faculty of the Haskayne School of Business in 1999, she held faculty positions with North Carolina State University, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand.  Diane teaches the core course in business analytics (statistics and management science) in the MBA program at Haskayne as well as an advanced spreadsheet modeling course using Solver and Crystal Ball in Excel and, occasionally, a discrete-event simulation course using Arena.

Diane’s research interests include the modeling, simulation, and analysis of manufacturing and service systems; statistical quality control; and applications of management science in health care. She has published articles in journals such as Management Science, IIE Transactions, International Journal of Production Research, and Health Services Research.  Her research is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). She has consulted for a number of health care organizations, including Calgary Laboratory Services.  Diane is also President of CORS Calgary for 2004-2005.