Past Awards
Throughout a distinguished career, Dr. Seth Bonder of Vector Research Inc. has been a leader in applying operations research to planning national defense, and a pioneer in applying prospective modeling methods to reengineering health care delivery.
For over three decades, Dr. Bonder has helped meet the nation’s greatest military challenges. The company Dr. Bonder founded, Vector Research Inc., has become one of the preeminent military operations research companies in the world. As principal investigator on many projects, Dr. Bonder, together with his team, has provided scientific guidance in solving force structure, readiness, modernization and manpower problems, as well as expertise in materiel research and development, production, and procurement. Dr. Bonder helped construct major systems of organizational, doctrinal, and materiel structure at the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war.
In his work with the military, Dr. Bonder used operations research to model telemedicine - a new field that offered better ways to treat members of the Armed Services who are distant from care providers and medical expertise. He extended these contributions to support reengineering healthcare in the civilian sector using prospective analysis to replace trial and error. He has led Vector Research Inc. into the field of medical operations research, and created many of the applied aspects of that discipline.
A respected theoretician, Dr. Bonder, with the late Robert Farrell, developed the Bonder-Farrell Theory. This simple theory, which seems so self evident today, was an enormous stride in the 1970's, turning the Lanchester Theory from a mathematical curiosity into an engineering tool that became the foundation of analysis of ground combat.
Dr. Bonder has made major contributions to the operations research profession. He has served as president of the Operations Research Society of America and the Military Operations Research Society, and vice president of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Patriotic Service Award from the Secretary of the Army, and the George E. Kimball Medal from INFORMS. His colleagues recognized him by electing him to the National Academy of Engineering.
For his wide-ranging and fundamental contributions to military operations research and the delivery of life-saving medical care, INFORMS is proud to present its President’s Award for 2001 to Dr. Seth Bonder.
- James Bean, INFORMS President 2001 (presenting the award in November 2001)