Dr. Paul Thompson is a Senior Director at Cox Associates, a Denver-based applied research and consulting company. Dr. Thompson specializes in mathematical modeling; linear and nonlinear programming, combinatorial optimization, stochastic processes, queuing, simulation, probability, statistics, experimental design, quality. Dr. Thompson oversees and works with Cox Associates' scientists and mathematicians to develop and apply computer simulation models, artificial intelligence (AI) data-mining algorithms and predictive modeling methods, and telecommunications network optimization software products to improve business and engineering decision-making.

Prior to joining Cox Associates in 1999, Dr. Thompson served as a Distinguished Member Technical Staff (DMTS) at the Qwest, US WEST Advanced Technologies (Bell Systems Lab), where he led and directed several research and development projects. Dr. Thompson holds a Ph.D in Operations Research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a MS in Operations Research from Northeastern University and a BS in Physics from Santa Clara University.

Dr. Thompson has published and participated in several working papers, conference papers and research papers in the last ten years. Dr. Thompson's vast works have spanned areas in telecommunications as permanent dedicated facility, network inventory management, strategic planning analysis, resource scheduling, data analysis and forecasting. Some of Dr. Thompson's most recent publications are listed below:

"Cyclic Transfer Algorithms for Multivehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems." P.M. Thompson and H.N. Psaraftis. Operations Research 41(5), September-October, 1993.

"Getting Them Out to the Plant: Student-Managed Facility Tours for Introductory Operations Management Courses." K.A. Brown and P.M. Thompson. Ops Mgmt Rev 9(3), 71-84, 1993.

"Plant Tours: An Effective Instructional Component for Courses in Operations Management." K.A. Brown and P.M. Thompson. Proceedings of the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, San Francisco, November, 1992.

"Local Search Algorithms for Vehicle Routing and Other Combinatorial Problems." P.M. Thompson. Extended Dissertation Abstract. Transportation Science 24(4), 304-305, Nov. 1990.

"The Theory of Cyclic Transfers." P.M. Thompson and J.B. Orlin. Working Paper No. OR 200-89, Operations Research Center, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., August, 1989.

"Cyclic Transfer Algorithms for Multi-Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems." P.M. Thompson and H.N. Psaraftis. Working Paper No. 89-008, Leavey School of Business and Administration, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif., April, 1989.

"Analysis and Solution Algorithms of Sealift Routing and Scheduling Problems: Final Report." H.N. Psaraftis, J.B. Orlin, D. Bienstock and P.M. Thompson. Working paper No. 1700-85, Sloan School of Management, MIT, August, 1985.

"Analysis of Emergency Transit Station Evacuation." G.N. Berlin and P.M. Thompson. Research Report No. DTRS57-82-P-80781, Transportation Systems Center, U.S. Department of Transportation, Cambridge, Mass, September, 1982.

Some of Dr. Thompson's most recent conference presentations and presentations are listed below:

"How much Bang for the Buck?: Sensitivity of Service Levels to Capital Expenditure in Telecommunications Network Facility Expansion." P.M. Thompson. Invited paper, presented at the INFORMS Telecom conference, Boca Raton, Florida, March, 2000.

"Sensitivity of Service Levels to Capital Expenditure in Reorder-Point Inventory Systems." P.M. Thompson. Invited paper, presented at the INFORMS conference, Salt Lake City, May, 2000.

"Sensitivity of Service Levels to Capital Expenditure for Reorder-Point Inventory Systems," P.M. Thompson. U S West Advanced Technologies Technical Talk. September, 1999.

"Capital Investment Planning in a Competitive Environment." P.M. Thompson, Rodger Woock. Invited paper presented at the INFORMS Telecom conference, Boca-Raton, Florida, March, 1998.

"Strategic Capital Budgeting Analysis." P.M. Thompson. Invited paper, presented at CORS/INFORMS, Montreal. April, 1998.
"Inventory Theory Applications in Telecommunications." P.M. Thompson. Invited paper, presented at EURO XV/INFORMS XXXIV, Barcelona, Spain, July, 1997.

"OR Analysis of Capital Allocation Problems in the Telecommunications Industry." P.M. Thompson. Invited paper, presented at INFORMS-San Diego, May, 1997

"Separability of Forecasting and Decision Models in Decision Support Systems." P.M. Thompson and J. Rupe. Invited paper, presented at INFORMS-San Diego, May, 1997

"Running Dry and Filling Up: Managing USW's Network Inventory." P.M. Thompson and G. Bell. U S West Advanced Technologies Technical Talk. January, 1997.

"Bottleneck Resource Pricing Algorithms for Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problems." P.M. Thompson. Paper presented at IFORS XIV, Vancouver, B.C. July, 1996.

"Combining AI and OR Methodologies to Solve a Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem." P.M. Thompson, Youngho Lee, Alain Dresse. Invited paper presented at INFORMS-Singapore, June, 1995.

"Sequencing Site Visits to Estimate Population Diversity." P.M. Thompson. Paper presented at TIMS XXXII, June, 1994.
"Advances in Combinatorial Scheduling Algorithms for Telecommunications Logistics and Operations." P.M. Thompson. U S West Advanced Technologies technical talk. January, 1994.

"Route-Structured Data Gathering: Problems and Algorithms." P.M. Thompson. Invited paper, presented at TIMS/ORSA-Orlando, April, 1992.

"Sensitivity Analysis Methods for Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems." P.M. Thompson and J.B. Orlin. Selected paper, presented at TRISTAN1, Montreal & Quebec, June, 1991.

"Local Sensitivity Analysis for Vehicle Routing Problems." P.M. Thompson. Invited paper, presented at ORSA/TIMS-Philadelphia, October, 1990.

"The Simultaneous Optimization of Product Quality and Production Quantity." S.A. Starbird and P.M. Thompson. Selected paper, presented at AAEA/WAEA-1990, Vancouver, B.C., August, 1990.

" 'Between-Route' Local Optimization for Multi-Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems." P.M. Thompson and H.N. Psaraftis. Invited paper, presented at IFORS-90, Athens, June, 1990.

"Local Sensitivity in Combinatorial Optimization." P.M. Thompson and J.B. Orlin. Presented at ORSA/TIMS-New York, October, 1989.

"Cyclic Transfers: Local Search Strategies for Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems." P.M. Thompson, H.N. Psaraftis and J.B. Orlin. Invited paper, ORSA/TIMS-Denver, October, 1988.

"Cyclic Transfers: Local Improvement Algorithms for Multi-Vehicle Routing Problems." P.M. Thompson, H.N. Psaraftis and J.B. Orlin. Presented at EURO IX-TIMS XXVIII, Paris, July, 1988.

"A Computer Model for Dynamic Cargo Ship Scheduling Problems." J.B. Orlin, H.N. Psaraftis and P.M. Thompson. Presented at ORSA/TIMS-St. Louis, October, 1987.

"A Computer Model for Emergency Sealift Scheduling," J.B. Orlin, H.N. Psaraftis and P.M. Thompson. Presented at TIMS/ORSA-New Orleans, May, 1987.

"The Operational Routing and Scheduling Problem of the Military Sealift Command." H.N. Psaraftis, J.B. Orlin, D. Bienstock and P.M. Thompson. Presented at TIMS/ORSA-Boston, April, 1985.

"An Analysis of Emergency Transit Station Evacuation Using EMBER." G.N. Berlin and P.M. Thompson. Presented at the Conference on Computer Simulation in Emergency Planning, The Society for Computer Simulation, San Diego, 1983.

"A Formulation of the Industrial Waste Collection Problem." G.N. Berlin and P.M. Thompson. Presented at ORSA/TIMS-San Diego, October, 1982.

Dr. Thompson was a member of the team awarded ORSA Prize in 1994. The Operations Society of America awards this to the corporation that most successfully integrates operations research methodology into its company's daily operations. He received an Honorable Mention (2nd prize) in the 1988 Ph.D. Dissertation Prize Competition sponsored by the Transportation Science Section of the Operations Research Society of America. He has also been the Associate Editor for The Journal of Heuristics.