Optimal Course Scheduling for United States Air Force Academy Cadets

Scheduling students and academic courses at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), a military commissioning source, has required unique software and considerable manual effort. The recent discontinuation of the Oracle-based student information system mandates that the USAFA superintendent invest in new software, the customization of which will incur millions in additional costs if USAFA continues to rely upon a fixed alternating-day schedule format. We present an integer program that generates a course schedule using the repeated-week format common to most commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) systems. The integer program uses cadet registration information to determine the number of sections to be offered and how cadets should be assigned to them to ensure on-time graduation, while accomplishing mandatory military training. Hard constraints enforce institutional restrictions that require all athletes to attend practice, limit the number of cadets who delay required courses, keep classroom usage and numbe...