2024 AAS Best Dissertation Award – Call for Submissions
The INFORMS Aviation Applications Section recognizes the best dissertation in any area related to applying operations research and related approaches to aviation. The winner will receive a plaque. Other finalists will receive an honorable mention and a certificate.
Eligibility Criteria
Doctoral dissertations meeting the following criteria are eligible for consideration:
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Dissertation must be completed and submitted between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024
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Dissertation must be in an area relevant to aviation research or practice
- Must be a member of the INFORMS Aviation Applications Section.
2024 AAS Best Dissertation Award Committee
Sebastian Birolini, University of Bergamo
Guglielmo Lulli, Lancaster University
Lavanya Marla, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Luis Cadarso, Rey Juan Carlos University (chair)
Submission Instructions
To apply, submit the following documents in portable document format (PDF) via email to luis.cadarso@urjc.es, on or before Saturday, June 1, 2024. Use the subject line: AAS Best Dissertation Award Submission – [dissertation author last name]:
- The completed dissertation
- An extended abstract (up to 4 pages, single spaced) describing the work and its relevance
- A short paper (20 to 25 pages, double spaced) that is based on the dissertation (this is optional, but welcome)
- A letter of nomination from the dissertation supervisor supporting the submission and highlighting the importance of the research.
The winner(s) will be announced at the AAS business meeting during the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting in October.
Winners
2023
First Place
Jan-Rasmus Künnen, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Advanced demand-capacity balancing mechanisms to improve performance of European air traffic networks
2022
First Place
Max Z. Li, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Spectral Models for Air Transportation Networks
2021
First Place
Sebastian Birolini, University of Bergamo
Modeling of Supply-Demand Interactions in the Optimization of Air Transport Networks
Runner Up
Sandeep Badrinath, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Modeling and Control of Queuing Networks: Applications to Airport Surface Operations
2020
First Place
Keji Wei, Dartmouth College
Schedule Planning and Endogeneity of Travelers’ Decisions in Congested Large-Scale Transportation Networks
&
David Torres-Sanchez, Lancaster University
Optimising Airline Maintenance Scheduling Decisions
Runner Up
Maximilian Pohl, Technical University of Munich
Runway Scheduling During Winter Operations: Models, Methods, and Applications
2019
First Place
Nuno Ribeiro, University of Coimbra
Airport Capacity Management: Towards a Slot Allocation Modelling Approach Compliant with IATA Rules
Runner Up
Gita Taherkhani, University of Waterloo
Hub Location Problems with Profit Considerations
2018
First Place
Chiwei Yan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Airline Scheduling and Air Traffic Control: Incorporating Uncertainty and Passenger and Airline Preferences
2017
First Place
Heng Chen, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Service Improvement and Cost Reduction for Airlines: Optimal Policies for Managing Arrival and Departure Operations under Uncertainty
2016
First Place
Virginie Lurkin, University of Liège
Modeling in Air Transportation: Cargo Loading and Itinerary Choice
Virginie Lurkin (Center) with the Prize Committee Member, Alexandre Jacquillat (Left) and the Section Chair, Senay Solak (Right)
Honorable Mention
James Jones, University of Maryland, College Park
Optimization Models for Speed Control in AirTraffic Management
James Jones (Center) with the Prize Committee Member, Alexandre Jacquillat (Left) and the Section Chair, Senay Solak (Right)
2015
First Place
Michael Bloem, Stanford University
Optimization and Analytics for Air Traffic Management
Michael Bloem (Left) with the Prize Committee Chair, David Lovell (Right)
2014
First Place
Stephen Maher, University of New South Wales
The Application of Recoverable Robustness to Airline Planning Problems
Honorable Mention
Clayton Tino, Georgia Institute of Technology
Wind Models and Stochastic Programming Algorithms for En Route Trajectory Prediction and Control
Clayton Tino (Center) with the Prize Committee Chair, Milind Sohoni (Right) and the Section Chair, Thomas Vossen (Left)
2013
First Place
Farshid Azadian, Wayne State University
An Integrated Framework for Freight Forwarders: Exploitation of Dynamic Information for Multimodal Transportation
Farshid Azadian (Center) with the Prize Committee Chair, Amedeo Odoni (Left) and the Section Chair, Thomas Vossen (Right)
Honorable Mention
Bo Vaaben, Technical University of Denmark
Sustainable Disruption Management
Bo Vaaben (Center) with the Prize Committee Chair, Amedeo Odoni (Left) and the Section Chair, Thomas Vossen (Right)
2012
First Place
Marcial Lapp, University of Michigan
Methods for Improving Robustness and Recovery in Aviation Planning
2011
First Place
Douglas Fearing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Case for Coordination: Equity, Efficiency, and Passenger Impacts in Air Traffic Flow Management
Douglas Fearing receives the award from Prize Committee Member Dr. Karla Hoffman.
2010
First Place
Poornima Balakrishna, George Mason University
Scalable Approximate Dynamic Programming Models
Poornima Balakrishna receives the award from the Prize Committee Chair, Diego Klabjan.
2009
First Place
Gizem Keysan, Georgia Institute of Technology
Tactical and Operational Planning for Per-Seat On-Demand Air Transportation
Gizem Keysan receives the award from the Prize Committee Chair, Amy Cohn.
2008
First Place
Mustafa Akan, Northwestern University
Essays on Revenue Management
Mustafa Akan receives the award from the Prize Committee Member, Mirela Stojkovic.
Past Winners