Past Awards
The 2009 INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice is awarded to James K. Lowe. When he joined the U.S. Air Force Academy faculty in 1994 James K. Lowe took the helm of the capstone operations research course and transformed it from a case study-based course to a year-long course in which students address real planning issues faced by real organizations. The list of project sponsors is impressive and includes not only Air Force and Academy organizations, but also a long list of Colorado organizations, from local government in Colorado Springs and Denver to a long list of non-profit groups and federal government agencies.
When an introductory OR course was adopted into the Academy’s core curriculum to serve 500 students per year, Jim created and implemented a vision for this course as “OR for all.” Jim has led a remarkable transformation through careful course design and assessment. The students who take the course enter the Air Force with a great framework for defining and solving complex, real-world problems, regardless of their academic major.
Jim has also been responsible for the continuation and implementation of many of the cadets’ projects. A number of organizations continue to rely on Jim to provide expert advice or to run models that assist their planning. He is a valued consultant to the organizations.
We are delighted to recognize the efforts of James K. Lowe through the award of the 2009 INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of the Practice of OR/MS.