The
RAND Corporation is a
US "
think tank"
organisation first formed to offer research and analysis to the US
military, but which has since expanded to working with other
government and
commercial organizations. RAND has around 1100 employees based at four sites:
Santa Monica (
California),
Arlington (
Virginia),
Pittsburgh (
Pennsylvania), and
Leiden (The
Netherlands). The
corporation's name is a contraction of the phrase "
research and development".
RAND was set up, in
1945, by the
USAAF as
Project RAND, under contract to the
Douglas Aircraft Company, and in
1945 they released the
Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship. In May
1948, Project RAND was separated from Douglas and became an independent organization.
RAND was incorporated as a
nonprofit organisation to "further promote
scientific,
educational, and
charitable purposes, all for the public welfare and security of the United States of America."
The achievements of RAND stem from its development of
systems analysis. Important contributions are claimed in
space systems[?] and America's
space program[?], in digital
computing and in
artificial intelligence.
Current areas of expertise, including that of RAND's education-related division - the Institute on Education and Training[?], are: child policy, civil and criminal justice, education, environment and energy, health, international policy, labor markets, national security, population and regional studies, science and technology, social welfare and transportation.
See also:
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