Past Awards
Dr. Robin Lougee has spent her entire professional career as a Research Scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, where she is currently Global Research Industry Lead for Consumer Products and Agriculture of the IBM Research Division. Over the past 22 years, she has held various technical and management positions including Global Technology Outlook Lead for Strategy and Technical World-Wide Operations, Research Division Liaison to IBM Corporate Development Mergers and Acquisitions, and founding Manager for Smarter Commerce Research. She has received over 40 recognitions from IBM for her technical and business contributions, including the IBM Research Division Award, three Technical Group Awards, and four Plateau Invention Achievement Awards. Prior to joining IBM Research, Lougee received a BS (summa cum laude), an MS, and a PhD in Mathematical Sciences from Clemson University.
Robin Lougee’s research has been in the areas of mixed-integer linear programming theory and its application to business and industry. She has published journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings in the areas of mathematical programming, discrete optimization, manufacturing production planning, hydroelectric management, open-source software, and object-oriented applications frameworks in journals including Operations Research, Operations Research Letters, and IBM Journal for Research and Development. She has served as an Associate Editor for Surveys in ORMS and Operations Research, and as a Guest Editor of IBM Journal of R&D Special Issues on Smarter Commerce.
One of Robin Lougee’s many significant professional achievements is as co-creator of the Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research (COIN-OR), an initiative to spur the development of open-source software to accelerate the adoption and evolution of computational operations research. In 2000, she gave the presentation that launched the COIN-OR initiative as a three-year experiment by IBM Research. As Program Manager, she led its growth to an independent non-profit in 2004. She was subsequently elected to the Board of the COIN-OR Foundation, Inc. The initiative has grown from its initial offerings of four software projects to more than 50 projects spanning much of computational operations research. In 2014, she was named a co-recipient of the INFORMS Impact Prize in recognition of her contributions to COIN-OR. Her fellow recipients honored the pivotal nature of her contributions by asking her to accept the award on behalf of them and the greater COIN-OR community.
Robin Lougee has been engaged in service to INFORMS across a broad range of activities, but with a particular focus on building INFORMS’ Communities and Meetings. She served on the INFORMS Board as VP of Meetings for two years, following four years as a member of the Meetings Committee, during a period of record-setting attendance growth. She also served as Program Chair for the INFORMS International Meeting in Puerto Rico in 2007. She drove the creation of the INFORMS Professional Colloquium for students, an initiative that is now an integral component of the INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research, serving as its inaugural Chair in 2005 and 2006. Her leadership in INFORMS Communities includes serving for eight years as an officer of the INFORMS Computing Society, including as Chair, during which time she established an endowment for the Student Prize, and for four years as an officer of the Women in ORMS Forum, including as President.
For her many contributions to the field of operations research and management science, and for her distinguished service to INFORMS, the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences expresses its sincere appreciation to Robin Lougee by awarding her the 2016 George E. Kimball Medal.
The Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research (COIN-OR) is an initiative to spur the development of open-source software for the operations research community to accelerate the adoption and evolution of computational operations research. COIN-OR provides development tools, distribution, standards, licensing information, and other infrastructure needed to facilitate and nurture open, community-driven software.
The COIN-OR initiative was launched at the 2000 International Symposium on Mathematical Programming as a three-year experiment by IBM Research. In 2004, a dedicated nonprofit corporation was formed to take over the successful and growing initiative. In the 14 years of its existence, COIN-OR has grown from its initial offerings of four software projects, to more than 50 projects spanning much of computational operations research.
COIN-OR has influenced many aspects of operations research: research, practice, education, community, and outreach. Software supported by COIN-OR has been an essential part of hundreds of peer-reviewed research papers and is embedded in dozens of software systems, including the most widely-used environments for performing analytics in practice. Through its online, in-person, and print activities, COIN-OR has been educating the operations research world about OR software and the potential of open source. Thousands of people have been involved with COIN-OR; more than 1400 people subscribe to one or more COIN-OR mailing lists to date.
COIN-OR is the result of the collaboration of many people over many years, but there are key individuals whose significant early contributions and leadership distinguish them. We recognize the individuals who launched COIN-OR at IBM Research, where the initiative was conceived and grew over the first four years to a successful community repository, and the individuals who incorporated the nonprofit COIN-OR Foundation, Inc., where the initiative has thrived and continues to grow today.
INFORMS is pleased to award the 2014 Impact Prize to: Brenda Dietrich, JP Fasano, John Forrest, Lou Hafer, Brady Hunsaker, Laszlo Ladanyi, Robin Lougee, Theodore K. Ralphs, and Matthew Saltzman, for their pivotal role in the creation and widespread adoption of COIN-OR.