Call for Submissions ~ Undergraduate Operations Research Prize
The Undergraduate Operations Research Prize Competition is held each year to honor a student or group of students who conducted a significant applied project in operations research or management science, and/or original and important theoretical or applied research in operations research or management science, while enrolled as an undergraduate student. The prize is given each year at the National Meeting if there is a suitable recipient.
To enter, eligible participants should submit a paper to the Committee Chair by July 1, 2015. Full eligibility and submission guidelines can be found below. The prize of $500 plus travel support to the INFORMS Annual Meeting will be announced at the Awards Ceremony of the Annual Meeting. All entrants satisfying the eligibility requirements will be invited to present their research at an Undergraduate Research Showcase session(s) at the Annual Meeting.
The following conditions must be met for eligibility.
1. Entrants must submit a paper (can be previously published or unpublished) presenting original research results.
2. The entrants are defined to be any co-authors on this paper who were enrolled as undergraduate students for at least one term within the 12 months prior to the award submission deadline in the year the paper is submitted for consideration, and who were undergraduate students at the time the project or research was conducted. The student(s) must have made a substantial contribution to the project and been the primary author(s) of the paper with only minor editorial assistance.
- One or more faculty, graduate student or post-doctoral advisors may appear as co-authors of a paper, but at least one student entrant must be the first author.
4. A brief statement confirming the entrants' eligibility and detailing the entrants' contribution to the research should be submitted by the entrants' research advisor or another faculty member familiar with the entrants' work. To encourage cross-discipline submissions, the faculty advisor need not be an INFORMS member.
- An entrant can be a (co-)author in at most one paper submitted to the competition.
6. The paper must not have won a prize in a previous year of this competition.
The paper must use double spacing, 11 pt (or larger) font, and 1 inch (or larger) margins (left, right, top, and bottom). The entire paper (including bibliography, appendices, figures, etc.) must not exceed 25 pages and, except for those containing references, each page should contain no more than 35 lines of text. Attached to the paper should be an abstract of the work, not to exceed 100 words. This abstract will be used in the program for the Undergraduate Research Showcase session of the INFORMS Annual Meeting.
The criteria for review include:
1. For applied projects: Is the work significant? Did it require the clever use of OR methodology, and did it create substantial value for the project sponsor?
2. For research: Is the research novel? For example, does it address a new problem (theoretical or applied) of interest to the broader OR community, does it present a novel solution or modeling approach to an established problem, or does it provide new insight into an important problem?
3. Does the students' work demonstrate creativity and promise for future work in the field of operations research?
4. Writing quality: Is the writing coherent, fluid and adhering to a clear structure? Is the problem clearly explained and motivated? Is terminology clearly defined and notation consistent with accepted conventions?
Entries must be submitted by email to the Committee Chair by July 1, 2015.
Please see this page online for complete details:
https://www.informs.org/Recognize-Excellence/INFORMS-Prizes-Awards/Undergraduate-Operations-Research-Prize/Undergraduate-Operations-Research-Prize-Application-Process
2015 Committee Chair:
Aurelie Thiele
Associate Professor
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA 18015 U.S.A.
email: aurelie.thiele@lehigh.edu