UPS George D. Smith Prize

National University Singapore Named the 2025 UPS Smith Winner 

Purpose of the Award

George D. Smith Prize

Strengthening Ties Between Academia and Industry

2026 & 2027 Committee Chair

Fidel Rodriquez

Click here to view full committee list

The UPS George D. Smith Prize is created in the spirit of strengthening ties between industry and the schools of higher education that graduate young practitioners of operations research. INFORMS will award the prize to an academic department or program for effective and innovative preparation of students to be outstanding practitioners of operations research, management science, analytics, and data science.

The UPS George D. Smith Prize is named in honor of the late UPS Chief Executive Officer who was a champion of operations researchers at a leading Fortune 500 corporation. UPS generously sponsors the award in his memory. 

The prize will be awarded to an academic program or department. It will include a trophy and a $10,000 cash award. 

Application Process

Nomination deadline: December 3, 2024

Application Process & Procedures

About the Award/Namesake

George Smith

“As we grow in size, our problems increase geometrically. Without operational research, we would be analyzing our problems intuitively only, and we would miss many opportunities to get maximum efficiency out of our operation.” –George D. Smith: Our Partnership Legacy

 

This award is administered by the Practice Section of INFORMS. To learn more about the section and how to become a member, visit their website here.


Past Awardees

2024
Winner(s)
University of South Carolina, Management Science Department
2022
Winner(s)
Eindhoven University of Technology, Master of Industrial and Applied Mathematics
2018
Winner(s)
Team Name: MS in Business Analytics Program, Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee
2017
Winner(s)
Finalist
Team Name: Institute for Advanced Analytics, North Carolina State University
Team Name: MS in Business Analytics Program, Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee
2016
Winner(s)
Team Name: H. John Heinz III College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University
2015
Winner(s)
Team Name: Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia - Center for Operations Excellence
2014
Winner(s)
Team Name: MIT Leaders for Global Operations (LGO)
2013
Winner(s)
Team Name: Naval Postgraduate School
2012
Winner(s)
Team Name: Tauber Institute for Global Operations at University of Michigan