The Impact Prize, awarded once every two years, is intended to recognize widespread impact in the practice of operations research. It may be awarded to an individual or a single set of collaborators. The award may be given for the original research (if these ideas have been widely adopted), and/or for special efforts required to bring the research to a practical form (e.g., implementation as a software package or the communication of a body of research through writings, teaching, and consulting). The important criterion is breadth of use in practice and relevance to operations research. The technical assessment of the quality of the work is considered secondary to the degree to which it has been widely adopted.
The nomination letter should be brief (no more than 2 pages) and should contain:
- the name of the person or set of collaborators responsible for the contribution;
- a brief summary of the idea or technology that is the basis of the award;
- a description of the industry or practitioner population that uses the idea; and
- the nature of the contribution made by the person or group being nominated (creator of the idea or technology).
Metrics for evaluating the impact of a given contribution could include, but needn’t be restricted to:
- Number of citations
- Number of patents
- Number of companies using the method
- Software sales or number of software package downloads
- Number of software competitors that emerged in the area
- Cumulative readership of the writings
- Number of relevant invited conference presentations or university seminars
- Number of students taught
- Number of consulting clients
- Evidence that approaches/paradigms fundamentally shifted after the contribution was made
Nominations are due by April 30, 2024.
Click here to begin the submission process
2024/2025 Committee Chair
Jon Owen
General Motors
Email: [email protected]