A LOCATION-BASED INSPECTION OF DIVERSITY IN MARINE CORPS OFFICER ACCESSIONS

Abstract

With the policy goal of gaining access to a higher quality and quantity of diverse Marine officer candidates, this thesis examines the spatial distribution of Officer Selection Offices relative to the Qualified Candidate Population (QCP) through the census by the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA). For context, the structure of U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Command (MCRC) and the officer selection process are examined before exploring the types and methodology of the QCP process, including the delineation between school and county-level QCPs and the metrics that are considered in their formulations. A literature review examines minority thoughts on service in the Marine Corps and looks at an overview of demographics throughout the officer ranks of the service. The impact of diversity on professional organizations is considered. Set cover optimization models are discussed and proposed as an optimization modeling framework for follow on studies. Using an application program interface and computer programming, latitude and longitude data is retrieved and associated for all candidate and Officer Selection Station (OSS) locations. Visualization is then applied to inspect the adequacy of OSS coverage for the top geographic locations and universities identified by the CNA. Finally, a summary of findings is provided.