Egon Balas Prize

The Egon Balas Prize of the INFORMS Optimization Society was established in 2020 and is awarded annually to an individual for a body of contributions in the area of optimization. The awardee must be within 15 years of their terminal degree as of January 1 of the year of the award. The award serves as recognition of the winner’s innovativeness and impact in the area of optimization, including its theory, algorithms, and/or computations. The award includes a cash amount of $3,000 and a citation certificate. The award winner(s) will be invited to give a presentation at the fall INFORMS Annual Meeting in the year the award is given. The winners will be responsible for all travel expenses associated with the presentation of their research at the INFORMS meeting.

Egon Balas

Read about life of Egon Balas.

Eligibility

The nomination/application must satisfy the following conditions:

1. The prize is awarded for outstanding contributions by an early-career researcher to the field of optimization, over the course of their career.
2. Such contributions could include papers (published or submitted and accepted), books, monographs, and software.
3. The awardee must be within 15 years of their terminal degree as of January 1 of the year of the award.
4. The prize may be awarded at most once to any person.

Nomination Process

A complete nomination consists of a single PDF file containing:

1. A letter of nomination, not exceeding two pages, summarizing the nominee's contributions with explanations of their importance and impact;
2. A curriculum vitae for the nominee, not exceeding four pages; and
3. Two support letters, each not exceeding two pages.

Nomination packages should be emailed to the chair of the prize committee.

Winners and committee members