Best Dissertation Award -- Application Process

The Dissertation Award will be judged based upon three aspects: recommendation by the nominee's dissertation advisor, presentation of the disseration at the INFORMS 2010 Telecommunications Conference and the written dissertation itself.

Each nominee must send by November 30, 2009, a 10-page abstract of the disseration and a letter of recommendation by the dissertation advisor to the 2007 committee chair. 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 disseration. Electronic submissions to anantb@mail.texas.edu are preferred. In case of hardcopy submissions, plesae 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 OR techniques to address important existing and future problems in the field of telecommunications. The letter should discuss why the disseration 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 Ph.D. Committee of the nominee no earlier than April 1, 2007 and no later than November 30, 2009. All items must reach the chair of the award selection committee by November 30, 2009.

Those who are selected as finalists will receive notification in late January. 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 Tenth INFORMS Telecommunications Conference. The exact schedule of presentations will be provided in the conference program, to appear in late January 2009 on the conference website. The winner will be awarded $1,000 to be presented at the conference.

Eli V. Olinick
Associate Professor
Department of Engineering Management, Information, and Systems
Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering
Southern Methodist University
PO Box 750123
Dallas, TX 75275-0123
olonick@lyle.smu.edu