2023 Winner(s)
- Steve Graves, MIT
Stephen C. Graves has been a remarkably influential and effective leader in the governance and administration of INFORMS (ORSA/TIMS), an award winning and distinguished researcher and practitioner, a leader in service to our journals, and a leader in advising students and practitioners. He has also been an instrumental leader in recognizing and promoting the high-quality, applied work of others.
As president of INFORMS, he was instrumental in guiding the organization through the financial disruption and uncertainty caused by COVID-19 as well as in helping to establish a new strategic plan for INFORMS. Through his editorship of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and other editorial responsibilities, he attracted exceptional research articles with a focus on practice as well as theory. As long-term editor of the Edelman Special Issues of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces), as well as in serving as a member of the Edelman Award Committee, Professor Graves played a central role in selecting best practice accomplishments and worked closely with practitioners so that they could effectively communicate their contributions to a broad range of OR/MS professionals.
2023 Winner(s)
- Jonathan Owen, General Motors
Jonathan Owen, Ph.D., CAP, is director of the Advanced Analytics Center of Excellence and chief scientist for OR/MS and Analytics at General Motors. He has volunteered substantial service and leadership in a variety of capacities at INFORMS. He served on INFORMS Board of Directors as Vice President of Practice Activities, advocating for stronger collaborative ties between the academic and practitioner communities. He represented GM on the INFORMS Roundtable for 14 years and has served 7 years on its Board of Directors, including two terms as president. He played a pivotal role in implementing the Certified Analytics Professional program. Owen has also been active in promoting the public understanding of contributions to society made by the OR/MS profession.
Owen’s awards include the 2005 Franz Edelman Award, INFORMS Prize, Daniel H. Wagner Prize finalist, IISE Outstanding Middle Career IE Leadership Award for Business/Industry, SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, among others. He was inducted as an INFORMS Fellow in 2018 and IISE Fellow in 2023. He is an eight-time recipient (the most ever awarded) of GM’s “Boss” Kettering Award for outstanding innovations, which have provided substantial benefit to GM and serve as excellent examples of OR/MS real-world impact.
Purpose of the Award
Committee Chair
Peter Bell
Western University (Ivey Business School)
email: [email protected]
The George E. Kimball Medal is awarded for recognition of distinguished service to the Institute and to the profession of operations research and the management sciences. The award is a medallion and a certificate.
2024 Submission Deadline: May 15, 2024
Click here to begin a submission
Prior to the creation of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) by the merger of the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA) and The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS), the Kimball Medal was an ORSA Prize. TIMS had a similar prize, the TIMS' Distinguished Service Medal. The winners of this prize are included in the list below.
Application Process
Nominations are provided within the INFORMS award submission software. Nomination materials needed during the submission process include Nomination Letter (outlining the scope of service to INFORMS), Nominee’s CV, and draft citation of merit. Self-nominations are welcome.
About the Award/Namesake
Born in Chicago in 1906, Kimball received his bachelor's degree in quantum chemistry from Princeton University in 1928. He returned there to do his graduate work under Hugh Taylor, and pursue more chemistry, physics and mathematics. He received a National Research Fellowship in chemistry and spent from 1933-1935 at MIT. In 1942, Philip Morse organized a Navy group to analyze antisubmarine tactics, and Kimball was one of the first persons recruited. Within the year he became Deputy Director of the group, called the Operations Research Group (ORG) during the war, later called the Operations Evaluation Group, U.S.N...