2025 First Place
- Shuze Chen, Columbia University
- Tianyi Peng,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Purpose of the Award
The INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) Forum invites submissions to the INFORMS JFIG paper competition. JFIG was created in 2001 to promote the career development of tenure- track faculty in INFORMS. The goals of the paper competition are to encourage research among junior faculty and to increase the visibility of research conducted by junior faculty within the fields of operations research and management science. The JFIG award committee will judge the submissions and select up to eight finalists. The papers submitted for the competition will be evaluated based on the importance of the topic, appropriateness of the research approach, and the significance of research contribution.
Winners will be announced at the INFORMS Annual Meeting, where all finalists will present their research at a JFIG-sponsored session. For the 2026 competition, $500 will be awarded for first place, $250 for second place, and $150 for third place, with the remaining finalists receiving $100 each.
The prizes awarded by the competition are intended to be a recognition for outstanding research developments. Every author listed in a paper submitted to the competition—independent of their role or involvement—is considered a contributor to the paper. Therefore, as the goal of the competition is to encourage the research conducted/directed by junior faculty, there are strict limitations regarding the eligibility of submitted papers based on the list of authors. In particular, the competition forbids the direct involvement of senior researchers on submitted papers.
Application Process
View information about eligibility, procedures and deadlines
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