Craig W. Kirkwood

Craig W. Kirkwood has been making substantial contributions to the operations research profession for over thirty years. After receiving his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972, he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado and then the faculty of the University of Michigan. Following this, he was a member, and later manager, of the Decision Analysis Group at Woodward-Clyde Consultants, a pioneer in applying multiobjective decision analysis methods to business and government planning. He joined Arizona State University in 1983, where he served as Chair of the Department of Decision and Information Systems and as Acting Dean of the College of Business, and where he has maintained an active role in advancing methodology, educational methods, and applications of operations research to improve organizational decision-making.

Professor Kirkwood has provided leadership in most arenas of INFORMS and its predecessor societies. He was founding Secretary/Treasurer of the ORSA Decision Analysis Special Interest Group, now the INFORMS Decision Analysis Society. He served as Treasurer for both ORSA and INFORMS. He chaired key committees, including the ORSA and Combined ORSA/TIMS Publications Committees, the Finance Committees for ORSA, ORSA/TIMS, and INFORMS, respectively, and the Investment Committees for ORSA and INFORMS.

Moreover, he was a member of the ORSA Education Committee, the Detroit Joint National Meeting Program Committee, the OR/MS Today Editorial Policy Board, the INFORMS Strategic Planning Committee, the ORSA Nominating Committee, the ORSA and INFORMS Executive Committees, the OR/MS Board (combined ORSA and TIMS Councils), and numerous review and award committees. He was Vice Chairperson of the Joint ORSA/TIMS Northern California Chapter. And he also was an Associate Editor of Management Science.

Throughout his service to the profession, Professor Kirkwood has been a strong and clear advocate for practicing what we preach: applying our methods to the operations of INFORMS itself. Aided by his analysis, insights, and decision-making, the strategic and tactical affairs of INFORMS are now managed with appropriate and sustainable analysis models and processes.

For his dedication and for his distinguished and enthusiastic service to the Institute and the profession, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences expresses its profound appreciation to Craig W. Kirkwood by awarding him the 2002 George E. Kimball Medal.

Awards presented by Randy Robinson, Committee Chair, and Michael Trick, President,
November 18, 2002.