The Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research (COIN-OR) is an initiative to spur the development of open-source software for the operations research community to accelerate the adoption and evolution of computational operations research. COIN-OR provides development tools, distribution, standards, licensing information, and other infrastructure needed to facilitate and nurture open, community-driven software.
The COIN-OR initiative was launched at the 2000 International Symposium on Mathematical Programming as a three-year experiment by IBM Research. In 2004, a dedicated nonprofit corporation was formed to take over the successful and growing initiative. In the 14 years of its existence, COIN-OR has grown from its initial offerings of four software projects, to more than 50 projects spanning much of computational operations research.
COIN-OR has influenced many aspects of operations research: research, practice, education, community, and outreach. Software supported by COIN-OR has been an essential part of hundreds of peer-reviewed research papers and is embedded in dozens of software systems, including the most widely-used environments for performing analytics in practice. Through its online, in-person, and print activities, COIN-OR has been educating the operations research world about OR software and the potential of open source. Thousands of people have been involved with COIN-OR; more than 1400 people subscribe to one or more COIN-OR mailing lists to date.
COIN-OR is the result of the collaboration of many people over many years, but there are key individuals whose significant early contributions and leadership distinguish them. We recognize the individuals who launched COIN-OR at IBM Research, where the initiative was conceived and grew over the first four years to a successful community repository, and the individuals who incorporated the nonprofit COIN-OR Foundation, Inc., where the initiative has thrived and continues to grow today.
INFORMS is pleased to award the 2014 Impact Prize to: Brenda Dietrich, JP Fasano, John Forrest, Lou Hafer, Brady Hunsaker, Laszlo Ladanyi, Robin Lougee, Theodore K. Ralphs, and Matthew Saltzman, for their pivotal role in the creation and widespread adoption of COIN-OR.
Purpose of the Award
The Impact Prize, awarded once every two years, is intended to recognize contributions that have had a broad impact on the field. The contribution could be an idea or technique that is widely used, or it could be someone who played a major role in bringing significant methodology into widespread use (e.g. by playing a major role in the design of a software package that is now widely used, or through extensive writings and lectures aimed at practitioners). The award complements the Edelman Prize. Instead of focusing on a single large application with quantifiable impact, we are looking for ideas that are widely used. The award may go to some combination of the originator of the idea and/or the people or group who played a significant role in bringing the idea to a community who uses it.
This is not a research award. The awards committee is not judging the quality of a body of work. Instead, emphasis will be placed on evaluating the breadth of the impact of an idea or body of research. If the major contribution of the individual or group is bringing an idea to a practice community, the precise nature of this contribution needs to be understood (leading a software company; lectures and writings).
The prize consists of a plaque and a cash award of $1000.