Linus Schrage

Brief Biography

Linus Schrage is an Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences Fellow and Impact Prize recipient. He is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society. Schrage received his PhD from Cornell University in 1966. His dissertation on queueing models for a time-shared facility was supervised by William L. Maxwell.  

Schrage’s early research in the 1960s dealt largely with queueing models. Since 1980s, he has become well known for his work with Kevin Cunningham in developing optimization software. In 1979, He and Cunningham created LINDO, a software package for linear programming, integer programming, stochastic programming, and global optimization. In 1988, the duo developed LINGO, the first nonlinear programming software in the package. Five years later, a large scale nonlinear solver was added, allowing for users to not have to specific which solver to use. In the late 1990s and 2000s, Schrage published papers on measuring readiness in the military.

In 2008, Nicole DeHoratius of the University of Chicago, Adam J. Mersereau of the University of North Carolina, and Schrage co-authored an article on retail inventory management when records are inaccurate. The paper assumed that excess demands are lost and unobserved and show that a probability distribution on physical inventory levels is a sufficient summary of past sales. Their suggested replenishment policy was supported by simulation studies and revealed how significant costs could be recouped. The article was named the Best Paper of the Year in 2009 by the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society.

In 2012, INFORMS recognized eight individuals who played a major role in the development of algebraic modeling languages for optimization. Schrage and Cunningham were amount the group and were lauded for the development of the LINDO/LINGO software package as well as their accompanying publications on the subject.

Schrage has taught at Stanford University and has worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. His visiting appointments include the University of California, Los Angeles, Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, and Universite Catholqiue de Louvain. His most recently professorial position was at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where he is now Professor Emeritus of Operations Management. 

Other Biographies

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Faculty & Research Emeriti: Linus Schrage. Accessed May 7, 2015. (link)