Email: susan.palocsay@mason.wm.edu
Program: Online MBA
Credentials:
D.Sc., Operations Research, The George Washington University
MS, Operations Research, The George Washington University
BS, Mathematics, James Madison University
Expertise: Business analytics education, optimization and simulation modeling, statistical and machine learning
Susan Palocsay received her BS in mathematics from James Madison University and her D.Sc. and MS in operations research from George Washington University. She early-retired from JMU as professor emeritus of business analytics, where she taught a variety of management science, statistics, and machine learning courses in the College of Business. She also served as coordinator for the business analytics minor there from its inception in 2011 until her retirement in 2022.
Before joining the faculty at JMU, Susan worked as a systems engineer at the MITRE Corporation in McLean, Va., participating in projects for NASA, the FAA and the U.S. Army. Her project activities there entailed simulation modeling for performance analysis of protocols in Space Station network services, requirements analysis for use of natural language processing and artificial intelligence technologies for database retrieval in Space Station information systems, user interface design and development for FAA network analysis tools and functional analysis and modeling of information flows for new Army communication systems.
During the span of her academic career, Susan has compiled an extensive portfolio. Significant accomplishments include blending together curriculum development, collaborative research and service to improve pedagogical methods, incorporating hands-on software experience and increasing the emphasis on quantitative reasoning skills essential for organizational decision-making. These efforts have resulted in numerous publications in professional educational literature.
Susan currently serves as editor of the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, one of the leading pedagogical journals in the field. She is motivated by a desire to provide high-quality instruction for analytics to the broader business community.