OR/MS Today - December 1998

December 1998

Harrison Receives Expository Writing Award

J. Michael Harrison, whose "publications in operations research and the management sciences ... have set an exemplary standard of exposition," was presented with the INFORMS Expository Writing Award at the 1998 Fall INFORMS meeting in Seattle.

The publications recognized by this award are Professor Harrison's book "Brownian Motion and Stochastic Flow Systems" and his many papers, including "Brownian Models of Queueing Networks with Heterogeneous Customer Populations," "Reflected Brownian Motion on an Orthant," and "Brownian Models of Open Queueing Networks with Homogeneous Customer Populations."

These works use production control and queueing problems to inspire the study of abstract properties of Brownian motion. The exposition motivates difficult mathematics, and makes complex mathematical ideas and developments accessible to the INFORMS community.

The citation concluded that "these publications are outstanding examples of clear and concise writing on topics and issues of importance to the profession. The influence of Professor Harrison's written work, and its accessibility to a broad readership, has been much enhanced by its expository excellence."

Daniel P. Heyman, committee chair, presented the award. Thomas Magnanti was also a member of the awards committee.

Call for 1999 INFORMS Expository Writing Award

The INFORMS Expository Writing Award is to honor an operations researcher/management scientist whose publications demonstrate a consistently high standard of expository writing.

This award recognizes an author whose publications in operations research and management science have set an exemplary standard of exposition. The awardee's works must have been published over a period of at least 10 years. Their reputation should indicate that their influence and accessibility — in terms of breadth of readership — have been greatly enhanced by their expository excellence. This includes the lucidity, conciseness, logic and interest of the writing at all levels, from the general organization to the details. The author must have affected, through these publications, how something is done, studied, taught, or thought about by some group within the OR/MS community.

These works can contain any combination of practical, theoretical and pedagogical subject matter, and may be original, synthetic or historical. The corpus as a whole must be substantial in content: not necessarily prize-worthy in itself, but not trivial.

The publications in question can be books or papers in any combination, and enough of them must have been singly authored to demonstrate the awardee's expository skill.

A team of authors writing together consistently over many years may also be considered for the award.

Nominations should include references to examples of the nominee's expository writing, as well as evidence of the influence these works have had on the OR/MS profession. Nominations must be sent by Feb. 26, 1999, to: Timothy J. Lowe, Chair, 1998 INFORMS Expository Writing Award Committee, College of Business Administration, Pappajohn Business Administration Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242

The winner will receive $2,000 plus a certificate and a citation at the Fall 1999 INFORMS Meeting.

Table of Contents

OR/MS Today Home Page

Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
506 Roswell Street, Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060, USA
Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969
E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com
URL: http://www.lionhrtpub.com