ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- The U.S. Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity dedicated a newly renovated facility to the late Abraham Golub, a pioneer in the Operations Research Community, at a ceremony here June 3.
James Amato, director of AMSAA, hosted the ribbon-cutting and the unveiling of a plaque describing Golub's career. The facility is intended to be the hub of AMSAA's "wireless campus." It contains state-of-the-art conference capabilities, along with ergonomically designed workstations.
"The people in this building will enjoy the resources they need to critically think, to analyze, to brainstorm, to execute, and to take the field of Operations Research and Systems Analysis to a whole other level," Amato said. "AMSAA's analysts are the true talent behind the great analytic efforts that we have provided over the decades. The professionalism, commitment and dedication of all our analysts, whether deployed in theater or working back at home station, are truly impressive."
Amato cited that same innovative spirit in Golub's legacy.
"Abe Golub took a discipline that was virtually unheard of and made it part of the Army's standard processes," Amato said. "This facility is a true representation of Golub's never ending desire to take the Operations Research field to unprecedented heights and the AMSAA workforce has and will continue to embody Golub's legacy."
Golub's distinguished military and civilian career began in 1941, at the beginning of World War II. As a production engineer in the Office of the Chief of Ordnance, he computed the Ordnance materiel requirements needed to equip 100 divisions -- the necessary number believed to fight WWII.
In 1946, he joined the Ballistics Research Laboratory Weapon Systems Lab, which would later become AMSAA. Throughout the 1950s, Golub served in multiple key roles, including assistant director of BRL for Weapons Systems Analysis. After the Army created its first high-level Military Operations Research position in the 1960s, Golub was appointed as the principal assistant to the deputy under secretary for operations research, and was subsequently appointed as the first scientific advisor to the assistant chief of staff for force development and technical advisor to the deputy chief of staff for operations and plans.
As an early advocate for the operations research field, Golub was instrumental in the Army developing the robust analytical community, with analysts serving in influential positions, which exists today. Golub retired in 1976 after 35 years of federal service and passed away on April 25, 2000.
AMSAA is a separate reporting activity of the U.S. Army Materiel Command and the Army's independent source of materiel life cycle and logistics systems analysis.
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