June 1999 The Joy of the Job Woolsey, recipient of INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of OR Practice, leads by example Are we having fun yet? That more or less sums up the philosophy of Robert E.D. (Gene) Woolsey, the 1999 recipient of the INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of Operations Research Practice. "After we educate and train students and put them out there in the real world," Woolsey said in accepting the award at the INFORMS meeting in Cincinnati, "the only question I want to ask them when they come back to visit is, Are you having a good time? Is if fun? So far the answer is yes. I plan for that to continue." Prize Committee Chairman Robert Bordley introduced Woolsey as "a teacher who leads by example," noting Woolsey's extensive record of pro bono work on behalf of a variety of national and international clients. "Operations research is about making a difference in our world, it's about helping people, and Gene especially symbolizes that," Bordley said. Woolsey, an OR icon with headquarters at the Colorado School of Mines, explained: "I started out working for free so I could learn enough so that someone would pay me. What I like to do now is go back and start working for free again, performing pro bono work, as an example for my students. I was brought up in a society that says if you do well and succeed, you're supposed to pay back." Woolsey was cited for occupying "a unique position among teachers of the practice of operations research. He has devoted himself to ensuring that his students learn not only the theory that is associated with the field, but also the discovery processes, the modeling and the implementation hazards of practice." The citation continued: "The OR program at the Colorado School of Mines emphasizes a guild system approach to teaching management science and operations research in which students work as apprentices to their professors until the professor is convinced that they are ready to work as independent professionals. The students are taught to have a grassroots understanding of the problem they are addressing (often by working every job involved in the problem being solved) prior to proposing a solution. In order to graduate, students must solve a real problem and have that solution implemented. "Gene first attracted the attention of our community with his extended letter to the editor of JORSA, Operations Research and Management Science Today, or 'Does an Education in Checkers Prepare One for a Lifetime of Chess' in May, 1972. "His article in Interfaces in August of 1981, on the 'Proper Training of Future Management' had a considerable influence on the direction of practice for the whole profession. "Gene's former students are scattered among the sites where the practice of operations research contributes in a real way to the benefit of our world. He has directly trained hundreds of exceptionally successful practitioners and has indirectly influenced thousands of others." Woolsey, of course, got in the last word. "I have one last challenge to you all," he told the audience of INFORMS members. "God knows we've done enough OR in the cause of war. Can we please do more in the cause of peace?" Table of Contents OR/MS Today Home Page OR/MS Today copyright © 1999 by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. All rights reserved. Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com URL: http://www.lionhrtpub.com Web Site © Copyright 1999 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.