Professor David Boyce Receives Two Awards at the Atlanta Annual Meeting of INFORMS

Professor David Boyce received the Robert Herman Lifetime Achievement Award in Transportation Science of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) on Monday, October 20, 2003.  The Robert Herman Award is given biennially by INFORMS’s Transportation Science and Logistics Section to an individual who throughout his professional career has made fundamental and sustained contributions to transportation science and logistics, and has influenced the field through his writings, teaching, service, and nurturing of younger professionals. The award is accompanied by $750 honorarium.

The award was first given in 1990 to the late Professor Robert Herman, University of Texas, Austin, the founding editor of the journal, Transportation Science, and an early leader of the field.  Subsequently, the Award was named in his honor.  Subsequent recipients are: Professor Martin J. Beckmann, Brown University and Technical University Munich, 1994; Dr. Denos Gazis, IBM Corporation, 1996; Professor Michael Florian, University of Montreal, 1998; and Professor Amadeo Odoni, MIT, 2001.

At the same INFORMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Professor Boyce was one of 13 members who were named Fellows of INFORMS.  The Fellows Award recognizes members who have made significant contributions to the advancement of operations research/management science, including contributions to the field and to the Institute, and is reserved for distinguished individuals who have demonstrated outstanding and exceptional accomplishments and experience in operations research/management science.

The INFORMS Fellows Award was established in 2002 with the naming of 124 Inaugural Fellows, who had served as President of INFORMS and its predecessor societies, are members of the National Academy of Science or Engineering or had won various major awards.  The 2003 Fellows are the first to be selected from the general membership.  The total membership of INFORMS is about 10,000.

Professor Boyce served as Professor of Transportation and Regional Science at UIC (1988-2003) and at UIUC (1977-1988).  Previously, he was a faculty member in the Department of Regional Science at the University of Pennsylvania (1966-1977).  He was honored by the Regional Science Association International by the award of its Founders Medal in 2000, and by being named one of five Inaugural Fellows of the Association in 2002.  He has supervised nearly 40 Ph.D. theses over the past 37 years, and published over 160 papers, book chapters, books and reports.

Professor Boyce retired from the active faculty of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering on May 31, 2003; he continues his research activities as a retired faculty member.  He is presently Visiting Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and has accepted an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, effective in January 2004.  He is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.S.E., 1961) and the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., 1965).
 

Background information:

INFORMS represents professionals in the fields of operations research and the management sciences (OR/MS), and in related fields such as information technology.  Members of the OR/MS profession apply scientific tools and methods to improve systems and operations and to assist in managerial decision making.  OR/MS is a discipline that integrates and extends the principles and techniques of engineering, mathematics and the physical, information, and social sciences.

The Transportation Science and Logistics Section provides a specialized focus within INFORMS on the topics of transportation science and logistics, with the aim of identifying current and potential problems and contributions to their solutions. The Section organizes transportation and logistics sessions at academic meetings, publishes a journal and a newsletter, operates a mailing list, and sponsors an annual dissertation prize, an annual best paper award and a biennial lifetime achievement award.