The Beale-Orchard-Hays Prize

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   citations 2006
   past winners

The Beale-Orchard-Hays Prize for Excellence in Computational Mathematical Programming is awarded for a paper published within the three year period prior to the Symposium at which it is awarded. 'Computational mathematical programming' includes experimental evaluation of mathematical programming algorithms, the development of high-quality mathematical programming software, the development of new computational methods together with experimental evidence of their effectiveness, and the development of new methods for the empirical testing of mathematical programming techniques.

Eligibility

To be eligible a paper or a book must meet the following requirements:

1. It must be on computational mathematical programming. The topics to be considered include:

(a) experimental evaluations of one or more mathematical programming algorithms;

(b) the development of quality mathematical programming software (i.e., well-documented code capable of obtaining solutions to some important class of mathematical programming problems) coupled with documentation of the application of the software to this class of problems (note: the award would be presented for the paper that describes this work and not for the software itself);

(c) the development of a new computational method that improves the state-of-the-art in computer implementations of mathematical programming algorithms coupled with documentation of a the experiment that showed the improvement; or

(d) the development of new methods for empirical testing of mathematical programming techniques (e.g., development of a new design for computational experiments, identification of new performance measures, methods for reducing the cost of empirical testing).

2. It must have appeared in the open literature.

3. Documentation must be written in a language acceptable to the Screening Committee.

4. It must have been published during the three calendar years preceding the year in which the prize is awarded.

These requirements are intended as guidelines to the Screening Committee, but are not to be viewed as binding when work of exceptional merit comes close to satisfying them.

Frequency and Amount of the Award

The prize will be awarded every three years. The 2006 prize of $1,500 and a medal was presented in August 2006, at the awards session of the 19th International Symposium on Mathematical Programming to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

Judgment Criteria

Nominations will be judged on the following criteria:

1. Magnitude of the contribution to the advancement of computational and experimental mathematical programming.

2. Originality of ideas and methods.

3. Degree to which unification or simplification of existing methodologies is achieved.

4. Clarity and excellence of exposition.

The Awards Committee

The screening process will be carried out by a committee of four to eight people appointed by the Chair of MPS. The appointment of the committee must be made at least one year prior to the awarding of the prize. Each committee member will read all nominations and provide to the Chairman of the committee his or her assessment based on the four criteria noted above. The Screening Committee reserves the right to determine that there will be no prize given for that meeting.

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