The Wagner Prize is awarded annually by INFORMS to recognize and reward quality and coherence of analysis used in practice. This award, given in memory of the late Daniel H. Wagner, was established by a generous endowment from the firms Metron, Inc.; Daniel H. Wagner, Associates, Inc.; and Applied Mathematics, Inc. In recognition of Dr. Wagner’s career-long efforts to encourage application of strong mathematics to practical problems, supported by clear and intelligible writing, this prize emphasizes the quality and coherence of the analysis used in practice, good writing, strong analytical content, and verifiable practice successes.
The competition is held each year at the INFORMS Annual Meeting. The award consists of a cash amount, to be determined each year by the board of The Practice Section, and a citation plaque giving the authors’ names and a summary or title of the work. Upon satisfactory submission of a paper acceptable to the editor(s) designated by The Practice Section, the winning team receives the cash award and certificates and winners’ plaques; all other finalists receive certificates. Finalists papers are published in the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces).
The Wagner Prize Committee includes William J. Browning, Applied Mathematics; Allen Butler, Daniel H. Wagner Associates; James J. Cochran, The University of Alabama (Chair); Kimia Ghobadi, Johns Hopkins University; Greg Godfrey, Metron; Andrea Arias Llorenty, BNSF; Konstantina Mellou, Microsoft; Aysu Ozel, Northwestern University; Vera Tilson, University of Rochester; and Willem-Jan Van Hoeve, Carnegie Mellon University.
The deadline for submissions for the 2024 competition is 11:59 pm EDT on May 1, and we encourage you to consider submitting your work for consideration. An applicant must submit:
– A 2-4 page abstract in English that provides evidence of mathematical development, solution, unique new algorithm, or series of coherent advances developed in conjunction with an application.
– Written verification of success in practice (preferably on the letterhead of the organization that has benefited from the work).
– Written permission by the author(s) for publication of a previously unpublished, English-language paper in the INFORMS journal (INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics), and assignment of copyright to INFORMS.
– Written commitment, if selected as a finalist, to make a high quality, in-person 30-minute presentation at the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA.
– Written commitment, if selected as the winner, to reprise the winning presentation at the 2024 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA and at the 2025 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research in Indianapolis, IN.
You can learn more the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in the Practice of Advanced Analytics and Operations Research and start the application process online at https://www.informs.org/Recognizing- Excellence/Wagner-Prize. Please contact Committee Chair (James Cochran) at WagnerPrize@informs.org with questions about this award.
