Bio

​B.S. Mathematics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1977​Ph.D. Systems Engineering, University of Virginia, 1990

"A procedure I developed (the "Lark algorithm") has been useful in the study of probabilistic models of important problems."

James W. Lark, III, Asst. Professor

Recipient of various academic honors, scholarships, and fellowships

Developed solution procedure for finite-horizon partially observed Markov decision processes that is now known in the research literature as the “Lark algorithm” (or “Lark filtering algorithm”)

Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Public Choice, Va. Tech, 1982-83

Visiting Scholar, Department of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, Summer 1983

Visiting Scholar, Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Spring 1984

Earhart Foundation Visiting Fellow, Center for Research in Government Policy and Business, Graduate School of Management, University of Rochester, 1984-85

Director of Research, DRA Research, Charlottesville, Virginia and San Jose, California, 1993 - 1998

Various faculty appointments (Department of Systems and Information Engineering, McIntire School of Commerce, Department of Statistics, Applied Mathematics Program), University of Virginia, 1993 - present

Assistant to the Athletics Director for Special Projects, University of Virginia, 2003-2009

Awards

  • Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, International Council on Systems Engineering 2011

Research Interests

  • Computational Statistics and Simulation/Statistical Modeling
  • Risk and Decision Analysis
  • Optimization Models and Methods
  • Stochastic Modeling

Selected Publications

  • "A Best-First Search Algorithm Guided by a Set-Valued Heuristic," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Vol. 25 (1995), pp. 1097-1101 J. Lark, C.C. White, III and K. Syverson
  • "The Admissibility of a Generalization of A*," Transactions of the Sixth Army Conference on Applied Mathematics and Computing (May-June, 1988), Boulder, CO, pp. 893-902 J. Lark, C.C. White, III
  • "Spectral Theorems for a Class of Toeplitz Operators on the Bergman Space" Houston Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 12 (1986), pp. 397-404 J. Lark

Courses Taught

  • APMA 3080 Linear Algebra
  • APMA 3110 Applied Statistics and Probability
  • APMA 3120 Statistics
  • PSYC 7710 Quantitative Methods I: Probability and Statistical Inference
  • STAT 2020/5000: Biostatistics/Introduction to Applied Statistics
  • SYS 2004 Data and Information Management
  • SYS 3062 Simulation
  • SYS 4000 Financial Aspects of Engineering
  • SYS 4044/6044 Economics of Engineering Systems
  • SYS 4581 Special Topics - Probability
  • SYS 6003 Optimization 1