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Tara L. Terry

Operations Researcher
Off Site Office

Education

Ph.D. in industrial and operations engineering, University of Michigan; M.S.E in industrial and operations engineering, University of Michigan; B.S. in mathematics, Oakland Univeristy; B.S.E in computer engineering, Oakland Univeristy; B.S.E in electrical engineering, Oakland Univeristy

Overview

Tara Terry is an operations researcher at RAND working primarily in PAF's Manpower, Personnel, and Training Program. Terry has ten years of operations research experience with a focus on data analysis, mathematical modeling, and optimization. Terry completed a two-year role as RAND liaison for the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Manpower, Personnel, and Services (AF/A1) where she helped to integrate more RAND research and researchers into the day-to-day decision-making within AF/A1. Terry's current research includes inventory projection modeling for the Air Force Total Force Aircrew Management office to include all rated aircrew (both officer and enlisted) as well as a model that specifically focuses on the emerging remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilot community. Terry's past research includes inventory projection modeling for the Air Force AF/A1 to test several Force of the Future proposals on the officer force, a historical analysis of Air Force institutional requirements, a sustainment model for AF/A1 to use in allocating advanced academic degree quotas at the Air Force Education Requirements Board, analyzing the line officer accessions process, analyzing the line officer non-rated classification model based on academic degree requirements, and determining science, technology, engineering, and mathematics needs across the Air Force. Her education includes a Ph.D. and Master of Science in Engineering in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan as well as a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oakland University, Rochester, MI.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

  • Total Force Aircrew Management (TFAM) Analytic Support
  • Building a Healthy and Sustainable RPA career field
  • Air Force Officer Management Flexibilities: Modeling Potential Policies
  • Institutional Requirements: Impact on Manning across the Air Force
  • Air Force officer accession planning: addressing key gaps in meeting career field academic degree requirements

Selected Publications

Lisa M. Harrington, Kathleen Reedy, Paul D. Emslie, Darrell D. Jones, Tara L. Terry, Air Force Institutional Requirements: Opportunities for Improving the Efficiency of Sourcing, Managing and Manning Corporate Requirements, RAND Corporation (RR-1596-AF), 2016 (forthcoming)

Tara L. Terry, James H. Bigelow, James Pita, Jerry M. Sollinger, and Paul D. Emslie, User's Guide for Total Force Blue Line (TFBL) Model, RAND Corporation (TL-233-AF), 2016 (forthcoming)

Alexander D. Rothenberg, Lisa M. Harrington, Paul D. Emslie, Tara L. Terry, Using RAND's Military Career Model to evaluate the impact of institutional requirements on the Air Force space officer career field, RAND Corporation (RR-1302-AF), 2016 (forthcoming)

Lisa M. Harrington and Tara L. Terry, Air Force officer accession planning: addressing key gaps in meeting career field academic degree requirements for nonrated officers, RAND Corporation (RR-1099-AF), 2016

Albert A. Robbert, Tara L. Terry, Paul D. Emslie, and Michael William Robbins, Promotion benchmarks for senior officers with joint and acquisition service, RAND Corporation (RR-1447-OSD), 2016

Robbert, Albert A.; Harrington, Lisa M.; Terry, Tara.; Massey, H. G., Air Force manpower requirements and component mix: a focus on agile combat support, RAND Corporation (RR-617-AF), 2014

Harrington, Lisa M.; Daugherty, Lindsay.; Moore, S. Craig,; Terry, Tara L., Air Force-wide needs for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academic degrees, RAND Corporation (RR-659-AF), 2014

Publications