INFORMS announces UPS Prize for Operations Research

user-gravatar Headshot

The Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences has announced the establishment of the annual UPS George D. Smith Prize for Operations Research. The prize will recognize the practical importance of operations research while honoring academic leaders who embody the beliefs of Smith, the second chief executive officer of UPS.

The announcement of the new prize, which will be awarded to a university academic department or program each year, was made last week during the Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research sponsored by INFORMS.

All undergraduate and graduate academic programs that incorporate operations research are eligible to compete for the award. This includes programs in management science, quantitative analysis and analytics. The winning program, determined by a selection committee, will receive a $10,000 cash award.

“We are pleased to announce the creation of this award,” says Rina Schneur, president of INFORMS. “This award is to recognize outstanding academic programs that have implemented their vision of preparing students to be good practitioners of operations research and advanced analytics. The focus is on student capability to apply operations research to practical problems in industry, government or nonprofit organizations.”

“UPS has a rich history of engineering and operations research, the principles of which were first introduced by our second CEO, George D. Smith,” says Randy Stashick, UPS global vice president of engineering. “With George’s direction, operations research became ingrained in UPS culture. This award recognizes those academic leaders who embody George’s dedication to the practice and work to ensure students’ exposure to the value of operations research and its benefits to society.”

Looking for your next job?
Careersingear.com is the go-to platform for the Trucking industry. Don’t just find the job you need; find the job you want with the company that wants you!