Submission Deadline Extended to May 15, 2025
2024 Winner(s)
- Zuo-Jun (Max) Shen, University of California, Berkeley
- Shuo Sun
- Yongzhi Qi, JD.com
- Hao Hu,
Georgia Institute of Technology
- Ningxuan Kang, JD.com
- Jianshen Zhang
- Xin Wang,
Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
- Xiaoming Lin, JD.com
Purpose of the Award
This award was established by a generous endowment from the firms: Metron, Inc., Daniel H. Wagner, Associates, Inc., and Applied Mathematics, Inc. in memory of the late Daniel H. Wagner.
The competition is held each year in the fall at the INFORMS Annual Meeting.
2023-2024 Committee Chair
Konstantina Mellou
Microsoft
This prize emphasizes the quality and coherence of the analysis used in practice. Dr. Wagner strove for strong mathematics applied to practical problems, supported by clear and intelligible writing. This prize recognizes those principles by emphasizing good writing, strong analytical content, and verifiable practice successes.
The award will consist of a cash amount from endowments, to be determined each year by the board of The Practice Section, and citation plaque giving the authors’ names and a summary or title of the work. The prize amount is $5,000. Upon satisfactory submission of a paper acceptable to the editor(s) designated by The Practice Section, the winning team will receive the cash award, divided as requested, plus certificates and winners' plaques; all other finalists will receive certificates.
View Presentations of the Wagner Prize Contestants
Use these outstanding presentations from the competition of verifiable practice success in the classroom or to apply lessons learned to your own organization.
Comparison Between the Wagner Prize and the Edelman Award
Both the Daniel H. Wagner Prize and the Franz Edelman Award reward the use of operations research, analytics and mathematics in practice. However, the Wagner prize emphasizes clear, well-written papers and innovative mathematics over quantitative benefits. There are several differences between the Wagner and the Edelman competitions.
- Most importantly, the Edelman competition is designed to honor the use of operations research and analytics by organizations, and the prize is awarded to an organization. The Daniel H. Wagner Prize is awarded to the authors.
- Secondly, the Edelman Award judges consider the impact of the work very strongly. Conversely, the Daniel H. Wagner Prize does not explicitly consider impact, but instead looks at success. From that standpoint a small but very successful application could easily win the Wagner Prize, but would be very unlikely even to become a finalist in the Edelman competition.
- Next, the in-person presentation for the Edelman is very important. INFORMS records the sessions to create media for teaching and publicity and so most contestant organizations devote considerable resources to create complicated, multi-media presentations. The Wagner competition only requires an articulate presentation, and the judges evaluate the presentation only as part of the entry and on the basis of clarity and completeness.
- Finally, the Prize is smaller. The current award amount for the Daniel H. Wagner Prize is $5,000. INFORMS has invested the endowment fund, and the fund is growing. We expect the prize amount to grow concomitantly.
Full Wagner Prize Papers are in INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces)
The September/October issue of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces) each year is the Wagner Prize Special Issue. Read these inspiring accounts of verifiable practice success.
2021 Prize papers in 2022 INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces)
2020 Prize papers in 2021 INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces)
2019 Prize papers in 2020 INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces)
2018 Prize papers in 2019 Interfaces
2017 Prize papers in 2018 Interfaces
2016 Prize papers in 2017 Interfaces
2015 Prize papers in 2016 Interfaces
2014 Prize papers in 2015 Interfaces
2013 Prize papers in 2014 Interfaces
2012 Prize papers in 2013 Interfaces
2011 Prize papers in 2012 Interfaces
2010 Prize papers in 2011 Interfaces
2009 Prize papers in 2010 Interfaces
Application Process
View information about eligibility, procedures and deadlines
Click here for more information
About the Award/Namesake
Dan Wagner earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Brown University in 1951. His dissertation, "On Free Products of Groups" was published in the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society in 1957. Dr. Wagner joined the Navy's Operations Evaluation Group (OEG) at the Pentagon, working on operations research for naval warfare. He worked there until 1956, with a one-year leave of absence for postdoctoral research on free algebras at MIT...
Learn more about Daniel H. Wagner
This award is administered by the Practice Section of INFORMS. To learn more about the section and how to become a member, visit their website here.