Monitoring and Evaluation

• Siting a Hazardous Waste Disposal Facility
  Waste Management Corporation was seeking a site for a hazardous disposal facility. A contract was awarded to an RR&S Associate to provide an independent evaluation of a site that was pre-selected as the best option. A completed comprehensive evaluation was based on a range of considerations including geology and the local environment at the site, economic and environmental impacts and community acceptance. 
  
• Optimal Decision Making in a Technical College System
  RR&S Associates were called upon to help the Indiana Technical College system known as Ivy Tech to decide between offering new programs on either the core campus or on one of its satellite campuses. To this end, RR&S Associates created a spatial interaction model that simulated the impacts (in terms of student access and enrollment) of new program introductions at alternative locations. The model was applied to analyze the effects of programs being introduced for a number of regional Ivy Tech campuses. The results of such modeling were instrumental for reducing the controversy of location decisions and offered an objective and rigorous ways to estimate expected benefits. 
  
• Evaluating the Trinidad and Tobago Economy
  A sharp decline in the global oil prices in the middle 1980s drove the Trinidad and Tobago economy, highly dependent on oil exports, into a deep crisis. The country contracted with RR&S Associates to undertake a reconnaissance and evaluation of the situation. The analysis performed under this contract revealed several underlying factors that exacerbated economic problems caused by a sudden drop in oil revenues. A politically challenging solution to devalue the Trinidad and Tobago currency by 50 percent was proposed. The ministers of economy and tourism opposed it initially but the solution was nevertheless implemented several months later. The RR&S analysis also revealed a potential engine of economic growth that was not recognized as such at that time. Trinidad and Tobago was the primary Caribbean manufacturer of durable goods that were exported to other countries in the region. RR&S Associates developed a proposal to establish a world trade center that would serve the Caribbean countries and become a magnate for investments in Trinidad and Tobago.