Past Awards
Dr. Keskinocak
The 2024 INFORMS George E. Kimball Medal is awarded to Professor Pinar Keskinocak to recognize her long, tireless, and visionary contributions to the operations research and management science profession, and her distinguished service to society and the INFORMS community.
Her pioneering work and leadership in health and humanitarian systems were instrumental in developing a community that is dedicated to having a positive impact on society. Her research and outreach during COVID-19 helped inform decisions and policies, and increased the global awareness of the impact of our professional community. She has served INFORMS in numerous positions, including as president in 2020, at the height of a global pandemic. Other significant contributions include co-founding the Public Sector Operations Research Section and the Junior Faculty Interest Group, empowering two communities which continue to thrive. She led the INFORMS effort to establish a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ambassadors program that provides a platform to members to lead or engage in a variety of DEI initiatives. She also provided leadership and strong support to Health Application Section and the Forum for Women in OR/MS. Her service and dedication are truly inspiring.
Dr. Shmoys
David Shmoys is the Laibe/Acheson Professor of Business Management and Leadership Studies, Professor of Operations Research and Information Engineering, and Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University. David is one of our profession’s intellectual leaders, a superstar among us. His research addresses the design of approximation algorithms, combinatorial optimization, location theory, sequencing and scheduling theory, and network design, with applications that touch numerous facets of society. David’s list of recognitions is without parallel. He received the INFORMS Lanchester Prize, Khachiyan Prize, Daniel Wagner Prize, and the Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS) Test of Time award. David is also an INFORMS Fellow, with his published works cited more than 26,600 times. David’s professional service to INFORMS over many years is exemplary. He has often selflessly worked behind the scenes, humbly serving INFORMS and its membership in numerous critical roles and capacities. These include serving as committee chair for INFORMS Fellows, Lanchester, von Neumann, Farkas, Nicholson, and Khachiyan prizes. He has also held several senior editorial positions for Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Optimization, and Mathematics of Operations Research. With his contributions to operations research and his service to INFORMS, David has been a role model that every young INFORMS member can and should emulate. Indeed, his service to the profession is truly a blueprint for success. Given such a record of excellence, INFORMS expresses its sincere appreciation to David B. Shmoys by awarding him the 2024 George E. Kimball Medal.
The 2024 INFORMS President’s Award recipient is Pinar Keskinocak for her contributions to the welfare of society at the national and global level with her interdisciplinary research in health and humanitarian systems, her advancement of women in OR/MS, and her leadership in the INFORMS community.
Dr. Keskinocak is the co-founder and director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems (CHSS) at Georgia Tech. Her pioneering research contributes to the applications of operations research and management science with societal impact, particularly in health and humanitarian systems, supply chain management, and logistics/transportation. Her research has addressed disease modeling (e.g., COVID-19, malaria, Guinea worm, pandemic flu, asthma, depression), intervention strategies, and resource allocation; health systems design and operations; disaster preparedness and response; debris management. She has worked on projects with governmental and non-governmental organizations and healthcare providers, including CARE, Carter Center, CDC, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory Healthcare, Georgia Department of Public Health.
Dr. Keskinocak’s research has directly impacted society. Her work on catch-up schedules for vaccinations resulted in tools used by thousands of medical providers and caregivers. Her research on COVID-19 supported response efforts in the state of Georgia during the pandemic, projecting disease spread geographically and over time, estimating hospital resource needs, and evaluating effectiveness of interventions such as school closures or masks. She and the CHHS team created a professional education program which has been attended by practitioners from over 100 countries worldwide, strengthening the supply chain expertise and operations in health and humanitarian systems.
Dr. Keskinocak has been a tireless supporter of women and underrepresented minorities in OR/MS and the broader set of scientific disciplines. At Georgia Tech, she served as the College of Engineering ADVANCE Professor and interim associate dean for faculty development and scholarship. Within INFORMS, her leadership resulted in numerous initiatives including the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion community and its DEI Ambassadors program, initiating change throughout the organization.
Dr. Keskinocak’s leadership within and for INFORMS is extraordinary. Notably, she co-founded and served as the president of the thriving Junior Faculty Interest Group as well as the Public Sector OR Section, which have touched the lives of thousands of INFORMS members and beyond. She held numerous positions within INFORMS, including Secretary, Vice President of Membership and Professional Recognition, department editor for Operations Research, president of the Health Applications Society, and more. Dr. Keskinocak successfully led the organization as president in 2020, one of the most challenging years in INFORMS history.
In Appreciation of Outstanding Service to the Junior Faculty Interest Group