Several recent research articles have ranked the Operations and Business Analytics Department in the top 20 in the United States in terms of research. We take advantage of our urban environment and the opportunity it affords for conducting applied research. Teams of faculty and graduate students have recently completed projects for Procter & Gamble, Cinergy, Kroger Company, Federated Department Stores, Omnicare, and others. The project for Procter & Gamble was named a finalist in the prestigious 1996 INFORMS Edelman Award Competition for the best applied work in management science.