Saturday, September 8, 2012

Congrats to the 2012 INFORMS Fellows and the RSAI Fellows!

Being elected a Fellow of a professional society is a sizable recognition and achievement.

Different societies have different rules regarding who can nominate someone for a Fellow Award and what criteria are used for nomination and selection (even who can or cannot nominate, sometimes).

For example, in 2007, I was elected a Fellow of the RSAI (Regional Science Association International), and was the only female elected that year, but I was not the first female and followed in the footsteps of my dear friend and colleague, Karen Polenske of MIT, with whom I have explored, because of conferences and workshops even exotic St. Petersburg. To follow in the footsteps of Professor Martin Beckmann, who was on my dissertation committee at Brown University and whose seminal book, Studies in the Economics of Transportation, with McGuire and Winsten, set the bar for transportation research, Professor Walter Isard, the founder of the field of regional science, Professor David E. Boyce, a true mentor, gentleman, and scholar, and also INFORMS Fellow, and Professor Jean Paelinck, who has published over 55 books, and 300 refereed journal articles (now, this is being productive) and speaks numerous languages, is quite the honor. These true greats were elected in 2002, the first class of RSAI Fellows. Professor Isard passed away at age 90 just a few years ago.

Since my election, I have served on the RSAI  Fellows Selection Committee and have also chaired it. RSAI Fellows are recognized for their research and previously elected Fellows vote but cannot nominate someone.

INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) just announced the class of 2012 elected Fellows and it is a great list:

  • Guillermo Gallego, Columbia University
  • Bezael "Ben" Gavish, Southern Methodist University
  • Daniel Granot, University of British Columbia
  • Patrick Harker, University of Delaware
  • Michael N. Katehakis, Rutgers Business School
  • Karl Kempf, Intel
  • Ramayya Krishnan, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Richard P. O'Neill, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
  • Rakesh Kumar Sarin, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Yves Smeers, Université Catholique de Louvain
  • Marius M. Solomon, Northeastern University
  • Sridhar Tayur, Carnegie Mellon University. 
So congratulations are in order!  The Fellows will be formally inducted during a luncheon at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix this fall. The rules for INFORMS Fellow nominations are here.

 The newly elected 2012 RSAI Fellows are below:
  •  Brian J.L. Berry, The University of Texas at Dallas, USA
  • Ronald E. Miller, University of Pennsylvania, USA
  • Stuart S. Rosenthal, Syracuse University, USA
  • Yves Zenou, Stockholm University, SWEDEN.
It is also a terrific list of recipients.
The RSAI awards ceremony will take place at the annual meeting, which will be in Ottawa, Canada in November 2012. I stepped down from serving on this committee after 3 years of service and chairing it last year.

And, in November, there will be another Nagiurney becoming a Fellow of one of his professional societies. My husband will be inducted in NYC  (I am very much looking forward to this event) as a Fellow of the Radio Club of America. He will receive his certificate at the Club's 103rd Annual Banquet at the New York Athletic Club. The Radio Club of America is the oldest association of professionals in the radio and wireless telecommunications industries. Founded in 1909, The Radio Club of America has counted among its Fellows the very best in the radio communications industry such as Edwin Armstrong, David Sarnoff, Louis Hazeltine, John V. L. Hogan, Paul Godley and Allen B. DuMont. 

So, this year we will be singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" at multiple locations and toasting all the newly elected Fellows.