Dissertation Award

To stimulate interest in telecommunications among young researchers, the INFORMS Technical Section on Telecommunications funds a dissertation competition with a cash prize. Finalists present their dissertation research at the INFORMS Telecommunications Conference before a panel of judges selected by the Section. Dissertations are evaluated based on their specific contributions in the use of quantitative and analytical or OR techniques in addressing existing and future problems recognized to be valuable to the field of telecommunications. The competition is announced in conjunction with each Telecommunications Conference. Past winners include:

Call for Nominations for 2012 Award

2012 Doctoral Dissertation Award for
Operations Research in Telecommunications

Sponsored by the INFORMS Technical Section on Telecommunications

Nominations are requested for the Doctoral Dissertation Award for Operations Research in Telecommunications awarded by the INFORMS Technical Section on Telecommunications at its biennial conference. The award aims to recognize outstanding scholarly achievements of young people in the field. The Award will be judged based upon three aspects: recommendation by the nominee's dissertation advisor, presentation of the dissertation at the Eleventh INFORMS Telecommunications Conference (March 15-17, 2012, Renaissance Boca Raton, Boca Raton, Florida), and the written dissertation itself.

Instructions to Nominees:

Each nominee must send by December 30, 2011

1. a 10 page extended abstract of the dissertation,
2. the dissertation itself, and
3. a letter of recommendation by the dissertation advisor to

Professor J. Cole Smith
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-6595, U.S.A.
e-mail: cole@ise.ufl.edu

Please include a cover letter that provides contact information for both the nominee and the dissertation advisor, the name of the academic institution and department granting the doctoral degree, and the department’s acceptance date of the dissertation. Electronic submissions to olinick@smu.edu are preferred. In case of hardcopy submissions please make sure to send five copies of the extended abstract and the letter of recommendation.

The letter of recommendation by the dissertation advisor should clearly indicate the specific contribution(s) the dissertation has made in the use of quantitative methods and analytical or operations research techniques to address important existing and future problems in the field of telecommunications. The letter should discuss why the dissertation is considered innovative, and why the research is relevant and valuable for telecommunications researchers and practitioners. The nominated dissertation must have been accepted by the academic PhD committee of the nominee no earlier than December 30, 2009 and no later than December 30, 2011. All items must reach the chair of the award selection committee by December 30, 2011.

Those who are selected as finalists will receive notification in mid February. Each finalist will then be asked to submit five copies of the dissertation to the Award Committee Chair.

Each finalist must also present a synopsis of his/her dissertation to the Award Selection Committee at the Eleventh INFORMS Telecommunications Conference to be held March 15-17 at the Renaissance Boca Raton Hotel in Boca Raton, Florida. The winner will be awarded $1,000, to be presented at the conference.

Past Winners