OR/MS Today - December 1997 - President's Award

December 1997

President's Award Winner Walker
Invites Others to
'Join Him in the Swamp'

Warren E. Walker was named the 1997 recipient of the INFORMS President's Award for delivering "a professional lifetime's worth of important contributions to the welfare of society through quantitative analysis of governmental policy problems" and "consistently sharing his analyses and methods by means of open publication."

The award, announced by INFORMS President Art Geoffrion at the Institute's fall meeting in Dallas, is a lifetime achievement honor that recognizes a member of the OR/MS community who has made significant contributions to society through his or her work as an operations researcher or management scientist, particularly in the areas of public affairs and public policy.

John D.C. Little and Al Blumstein, the first two presidents of INFORMS, joined committee chair Geoffrion in the selection process.

A senior policy analyst at RAND Europe, Walker has spent three decades demonstrating that OR/MS tools and methodologies can be applied effectively to "messy" socio-political problems. His current work includes an analysis of options for expansion of the Amsterdam Airport - one of the hottest political issues in The Netherlands.

In accepting the award, Walker acknowledge four groups of people — teachers, OR/MS theoreticians, colleagues and mentors — who have helped shape his career.

"Teachers inspired my interest in operations research and gave me the tools of the trade," Walker said. "(OR/MS theoreticians) have developed the tools that I have used in the work I have done. I have developed none, but have used many. The secret of a good policy analyst is to have a large toolkit, and to know how and when to use each of the tools.

"I collaborated with many stimulating and creative people during my 25 years at RAND. By its nature, policy analysis is not an individual effort. It requires multi-disciplinary teams."

Turning his attention to the greater operations research community, Walker said, "I believe that we in the OR/MS profession possess the best set of tools and qualifications to help society address the seemingly intractable problems caused by the complexity, uncertainty, and system interconnectivity facing public policy-makers at this point in the development of civilization. There is a great need out there for people who can provide sound guidance and advice. I would like to recruit some of you to cross over — to join us on the application side. As a profession, we are uniquely positioned to help improve public policy and the quality of life of people throughout the world.

" I cannot express my plea to you any better than Donald Schon did in 1983. He wrote: 'In the varied topography of professional practice there is a high, hard ground where practitioners can make effective use of research-based theory and technique, and there is a swampy lowland where situations are confusing 'messes' incapable of technical solution. The difficulty is that the problems of the high ground, however great their technical interest, are often relatively unimportant to clients or to the larger society, while in the swamp are the problems of greatest human concern.'

"Many of us have been toiling for many years in the swamps. I am grateful to INFORMS for recognizing our contributions, and hope that this recognition will encourage some of you who are not with us to join us. We can make a difference."

The citation read by Geoffrion noted that Walker's early work between 1969 and 1975 at the New York City-RAND Institute dramatically improved that city's urban emergency service systems. "(The work) was expounded in a co-authored book and recognized by the 1974 Lanchester Prize and a 1976 NATO Systems Science Prize.

"His work between 1977 and 1992 at RAND's headquarters focused on cost-effective water management policies for The Netherlands and a decision support system for managing the U.S. Air Force's enlisted personnel. The former work, leading to a new national water policy approved in 1984 by the Dutch Parliament, received the 1984 Franz Edelman Award.

"Since 1992, he has been at RAND Europe, leading or contributing to policy analysis studies, primarily for the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management. His projects have included an analysis of strategies for improving the safety of river dikes while preserving their environmental benefits, a study aimed at abating the negative effects of freight traffic on roads, and a comprehensive policy analysis of the Dutch civil aviation system. All of this work is having a major impact at the highest levels of government."

In the real world, political expediency often overrules policy analysis. In a separate interview, Walker was asked how OR analysts working in the public policy arena deal with that intractable problem.

"Sometimes we just have to grin and bear it," he said. "The fact is, we're not advocates. Our job as policy analysts is to be as objective as possible and inform the debate and to provide improved information. Without this information, there's just yelling back and forth. It doesn't mean the policy-makers still won't make decisions that don't look right.

"The only time it gets frustrating is when they disregard everything you've done. But that is rare. I've been surprised and delighted that in almost all the studies I've ever worked on the policy-makers have listened and in most cases implemented things based directly on our research."

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