It probably wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows Leon Lasdon (right) that he’s the subject of a trivia question for operations research and management science geeks:

47. Leon Lasdon is the principle developer of a nonlinear programming code. What is the name of the code (method)?

The answer is GRG—Generalized Reduced Gradient. You don’t have to care what that means, but the code is used in Microsoft Excel to optimize nonlinear problems (part of the Excel Solver). In other words, it is a complex procedure derived from research that has proven useful in generating significant profit.

Lasdon isn’t unique among McCombs scholars, but he does fortify the argument that research can and does respond to actual business problems with measurable ROI.

Theory leaps into real-world application

Lasdon is the first to admit that translating his research for a general business audience is tough. Recently he told me, “Our field knows we have a PR issue. After the first couple of pages, my research turns into a bunch of math formulas.”

That hasn’t stopped the oil industry from figuring out that his research on capacitance-resistive modeling can actually help them determine how to get more oil out of an existing well with lower cost. That explains why companies such as Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil are sponsors of the Center for Petroleum Asset Risk Management and other research initiatives at the university.

Research capacity defines a top-tier university

The University of Texas at Dallas has for several years published a ranking of business schools based on the productivity of their researchers. In their latest update McCombs holds its place as a top-10 research-producing school in the U.S.

I’ve previously written about a study showing that students graduating from research-producing schools earn more money upon graduation. I posit that the driving factors behind great research institutions are also those that encourage vigorous inquiry and debate within the classroom, creating students that are better prepared to innovate rather than follow precedent.

That’s a leadership trait, not a theory. Lasdon could likely write some programming code to prove it up.