Mike McGinnis, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center

Mike McGinnis joined Old Dominion University on 10 June
2006 as the Executive Director of the Virginia Modeling,
Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC). Prior to assuming
this position Brigadier General (Ret) McGinnis served for seven
years as Professor and Department Head of the Systems
Engineering Department, United States Military Academy,
West Point, New York.

Mike’s previous Army modeling, simulation and analysis
assignments include Director of the U.S. Army Unit Manning
Task Force, Director of the U.S. Army TRADOC Analysis
Center at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
California, and Director of the U.S. Military Academy
Operations Research Center.

He has served on key government engineering, modeling, simulation and analysiscommittees to bring about change at the Army and Department of Defense levels. These include the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Defense Modeling, Simulation and Analysis, the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics and
Technology Systems Engineering Forum, the U.S. Army OneSAF Architecture Working Group, Senior Reviewer for the Army Standards Nomination and Approval Process for Semi-Automated Forces, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Modeling and Simulation Committee, and the Deputy Undersecretary of the Army for
Operations Research and Systems Analysis (ORSA) Advisory Committee.

Doctor McGinnis is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and has Masters of Science degrees in Applied Mathematics and Operations Research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Systems and Industrial Engineering. He attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth and the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island where he earned a
Masters of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies.

Mike’s professional and scholarly body of work includes three national awards and over 40 published and peer-reviewed papers published during 17 years of working in the fields of systems engineering and operations research domains. Reflecting his contributions to military operations research, Mike has been a regular member of U.S.
delegations to foreign nations as part of the Deputy Undersecretary of the Army for Operations. Doctor McGinnis has been honored with the 1995 Military Operations Research Society Rist Prize, the 2004 Military Operations Research Society Barchi Prize, and the ‘best paper’ for the 2005 Interservice/ Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC) Research and Development Track. He was inducted into Who’s Who in Engineering Education in 2005.