Past Awards
The 2000 Award for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice is awarded to Richard E. Rosenthal for his leadership in the education of OR/MS practitioners. He has taught hundreds of students at the University of Tennessee and the Naval Postgraduate School who now practice OR/MS and, in some cases, teach applied OR/MS. Several of his students have gone on to become finalists in the Franz Edelman competition, in some cases competing with each other. In addition, he is a skilled teacher of professional courses to practitioners.
Rosenthal is now chairman of the Operations Research Department at the Naval Postgraduate School where he leads a department that emphasizes the practical aspects of operations research. As a new faculty member there, he introduced algebraic modeling languages into the teaching of optimization at the Postgraduate School and developed teaching materials transforming optimization-based decision support systems into a popular topic for students. His teaching has always emphasized the practical aspects of OR/MS, and he has supervised a great many applied thesis projects.
Rosenthal is a dynamic, effective, and inspiring teacher and mentor, and many of his former students find their lives and careers transformed by the lessons he taught them. These lessons include both the theory that he made understandable and the practical implications of it. In the words of one of his students, "Beyond linear programming, Professor Rosenthal taught me … 'It isn't the model, it's the results and the analysis.' I have found that many of my colleagues become so immersed in their models … that they neglect the actual 'what does this mean?' portion of the analysis. Prof. Rosenthal taught me to look carefully at the results, not only in of themselves, but as part of the whole problem."
For his inspiring leadership and teaching, INFORMS is proud to award its Prize for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice to Richard E. Rosenthal.