Past Awards
The INFORMS AWARD for the TEACHING of OR/MS PRACTICE is awarded to Stephen G. Powell for his leadership in the education of OR/MS practitioners. Steve is on the faculty at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.
Steve has designed and delivered two courses in Tuck’s management science area that emphasize modeling. He uses spreadsheets extensively and forces students to communicate the insights derived from models. His exercises and case studies evoke a complex of skills required for successful operations research practice. His courses have inspired countless students who enthusiastically testify to his effectiveness. His former students report that, time after time, his training has led them to effective solutions. In the words of his students: “Steve Powell’s teaching and perspectives have made operations research tools and models far more readily accepted amongst both my clients and consulting peers” and “Steve Powell’s strengths lie in his ability to make students good thinkers – comfortable with ambiguity and able to translate the facts and uncertainties of a real world situation into a powerful economic model.”
In his courses Steve has linked his coverage of operations research and management science with the topics from economics, finance, marketing, and accounting, thus placing operations research and management science firmly in the central core of the business school curriculum.
Steve has also inspired colleagues throughout the world to improve their own teaching of practice. He is the author of an influential series of Interfaces articles on teaching OR/MS, about which, a professor at another university says, “Steve told the rest of us how to teach modeling and other fundamental practice skills. After countless readings, I still find myself referring to these papers as I prepare my management science course each semester.”
Steve conceived and organized the first INFORMS teaching workshop and has been a driving force behind related sessions at INFORMS general meetings. He was the Guest Editor of the inaugural issue of the INFORMS journal Transactions on Management Science Education. Many OR/MS teachers have benefited from these activities and his direct mentoring.
For his inspiring leadership and teaching, INFORMS is proud to award its Prize for the Teaching of OR/MS practice to Stephen G. Powell.