2024 Winner(s)
- Pinar Keskinocak, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Industrial/Systems Engineering
- David B Shmoys, Cornell University
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.
Purpose of the Award
Committee Chair
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.
2025 Submission Deadline: May 15, 2025
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...