Past Awards
The 2012 INFORMS PRESIDENT’S AWARD is awarded to Andrés Weintraub for his significant and longstanding contributions to operations research and analytics in natural resource management. This work has improved theory and practice in both the areas of mining and especially forest resource management, and has been recognized at the highest levels of his profession and country.
The importance of forests to our global welfare is increasingly clear. Forests provide not only wood and fiber resources but also act on a global scale to improve the atmosphere, water and soils. Sound management of this renewable natural resource affects all of humanity.
For over 40 years, Andrés Weintraub has developed analytical methods to improve the management and use of forest resources in both the public and private sectors. His contributions cover areas as diverse as management of U.S. National Forests, privately held forests in North and South America, and Chilean forests and national parks. His work has been recognized by INFORMS as a recipient of the Edelman Prize and an as INFORMS Fellow. He has also been recognized as a recipient of the Chilean National Prize in Applied Science and as a member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences.
Andrés Weintraub has served as a member of the Council for Chilean Environmental Certification for forests, as a co-founder and chair of the INFORMS Forestry section within the Energy, Natural Resources and the Environment section, as a co-founder and past President of the Latin-Ibero American Association of Operations Research and as Past President of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS).
The INFORMS President's Award is made for important contributions to the welfare of society. Andrés Weintraub’s work has significantly impacted the practice of forest management. I am therefore pleased to present the 2012 INFORMS President's Award to Andrés Weintraub, a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Chile.