Dear DAS members,
We are writing to notify you about the upcoming DAS Student Paper Award.
The Award is given annually to the best decision analysis paper by a student author, as judged by an award selection committee.
For this award, decision analysis is defined as a prescriptive approach to provide insight for decision making based on axioms that are logically consistent with the axioms of von Neumann and Morgenstern and of Savage. Key constructs of decision analysis are the utility to quantify one's risk preferences and the probability to quantify the state of one's knowledge.
The intent of the award is to recognize the best publication in decision analysis, by a student. This includes, but is not limited to, theoretical and methodological contributions to decision analysis, descriptions of applications, and experimental studies. We encourage all types of relevant research methodologies, including applied probability theory, data science, decision theory, game theory, machine learning, optimization, and statistics, as long as the link to prescriptive decision making is clear. Publications addressing behavioral aspects of decision making are eligible if the relevance to the theory or practice of prescriptive decision analysis is clear. Nominated publications will be judged for significance, relevance, originality, quality of execution, and readability.
Students who have not yet completed their Ph.D. prior to May 1, 2025 are eligible for the 2025 competition.
Most of the work, including writing, must be that of the student, though faculty members or other mentors can be co-authors. A student can submit at most one paper to the competition, and the same paper cannot be submitted by multiple students. A student may appear as a co-author on another paper submitted to the competition as long as that other paper is submitted by a different student. Submissions for the award can be published or working papers and should not exceed 32 pages (including references and appendices) using the style file of the Decision Analysis journal.
The award includes an honorarium of $500 and a plaque.
To be considered for this year's competition, please email dasstudentpaperaward2025@gmail.com by the deadline July 20, 2025 (11.59 pm Anywhere on Earth) with the title and authors of the submitted paper as well as:
- A blinded version of the paper in PDF format. (That is, there should be no author names and affiliations, no references to grants or other versions of the paper, and self citations should be done in a manner not revealing the authors' identities.)
- A letter in PDF format from one faculty co-author (if any) articulating the student’s role in writing the paper.
Please email the chairs directly with any questions about the award. Click here for a complete listing of past awardees.