Charles J. McCallum, Jr.

Brief Biography

Charles ("Chuck") J. McCallum, Jr. was the fortieth President of the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA). After first learning of operations research as an undergraduate in the early 1960s, McCallum became an active researcher and practitioner of the discipline. He went to Stanford University for graduate study, receiving an MS in statistics and a PhD in operations research in 1967 and 1970, respectively and then embarked on a career spanning nearly three decades at Bell Labs in Homdel New Jersey.

At Bell Labs, McCallum was involved in research, applications, and management of operations research activities, assuming the role of Head, Operations Research Department in 1980. His  department produced impressive achievements in numerous application areas such as network design, manufacturing, logistics planning, workforce optimization, and credit risk management. This work led, in part, to the awarding of the ORSA Prize to AT&T in 1994

McCallum has been an active member of the professional operations research community since graduate school, serving on both ORSA and The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS) committees on Long Range Planning, Student Affairs, and Education. In the late 1980s, he played a role in getting the National Science Foundation to support OR/MS work through participation on the Committee on the Next Decade in Operations Research (CONDOR). McCallum was elected Treasurer of ORSA in 1986, strengthening and publicizing the organization’s finances and increasing financial cooperation between ORSA and TIMS.

Always concerned with the interaction between academics and practitioners of operations research, McCallum co-founded and co-chaired the Academic/Practitioner Interface Committee in 1990. The committee generated ideas and then partnered with other society entities of ORSA, TIMS, and their successor, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). This effort led to the creation of both the Dantzig Dissertation Award and the Teaching of OR/MS Practice Prize. McCallum also served as a representative to the Management Science Roundtable for over 15 years and was an Edelman Award Finalist (with S. Chen) in 1976.

McCallum’s tenure as ORSA President was marked by the increased role of Council members as liaisons to society committees. He oversaw increased cooperation between ORSA and TIMS, cautiously moving towards the eventual merger of the two societies. His three years of ORSA past presidential service was extended into an initial year on the INFORMS Board of Directors in 1995. He was named an inaugural Fellow of that organization in 2002. Four years later, McCallum received the George E. Kimball Medal for his dedicated service to OR/MS societies and his role in the growth of the operations research community.

McCallum retired from Bell Labs as Operations Research Director in 1998. He spent two years as Senior Vice President of Optimization at First USA Bank in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2000, he co-authored a series of articles with Cree Dawson, R. Bradford Murphy, and Eric Wolman on the history of operations research at Bell Labs. For a decade after his second retirement, McCallum taught courses in the the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Villanova and the Operations Research Program at the University of Delaware.

Other Biographies

(2006) Keller, McCallum receive Kimball medals. OR/MS Today, 33(6). (link) 

INFORMS. Miser-Harris Presidential Gallery: Charles J. McCallum, Jr. Accessed June 11, 2015. (link)

Rutgers University Center for Operations Research. INFORMS News Jersey Chapter: Optimization in Credit Risk Management by Dr. Charles J. McCallum. Accessed June 11, 2015. (link)

Chuck McCallum (2016) Interview by Arjang Assad, November 14, 2016, Nashville, TN.

Chuck McCallum Final Transcript

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