The Department of Management Science and Engineering was one of three finalists for the 2024 INFORMS UPS George D. Smith Prize. Dr. Sibel Alumur Alev, Claudia De Fazio (BASc management engineering), Dr. Mark Hancock and Dr. Ada Hurst showcased their department and programs at the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in Orlando, Florida.
INFORMS is the largest professional association for the decision and data sciences, helping to support academics and professionals in diverse fields including management science and analytics. Named in honor of the late UPS Chief Executive Officer – a champion of operations researchers at a leading Fortune 500 corporation – the UPS George D. Smith Prize was created in the spirit of strengthening ties between industry and the schools of higher education that graduate young practitioners of operations research. The prize is awarded to an academic department or program for effective and innovative preparation of students to be good practitioners of operations research or analytics.
Programs and departments from across the globe submit applications for the award. The other two finalists in Orlando were the National University of Singapore, Master of Science in Business Analytics and the University of South Carolina, Management Science Department, who were the eventual winners.
The application from the Waterloo team focused on the unique strengths of the department, including the flexibility of courses designed for different career stages, the diverse expertise of department faculty and a unique emphasis on work-integrated learning and entrepreneurship. Hancock, who is Chair of the Department of Management Science and Engineering, emphasized the encouraging response that the team received. “Our efforts putting together the award application and presentation certainly paid off. We received many very positive comments from the jury and attendees. Several jury members pulled us aside after the awards ceremony and strongly encouraged us to apply next year.”
Go to Management Science and Engineering to find out more.
Mark Hancock, Ada Hurst, Sibel Alumur Alev, Claudia De Fazio
The team answers audience questions