John von Neumann Theory Prize

2024 - Winner(s)

2024 Winner(s)

The 2024 INFORMS John von Neumann Theory Prize is awarded to Jim Dai for his fundamental and sustained contributions to stochastic systems theory, most prominently for his seminal work on stochastic network stability and heavy traffic diffusion approximations.

Dai’s most important contribution is his 1995 paper that relates the stability of fluid models to the positive recurrence of Markov processes. Although heuristic fluid models, in conjunction with Foster’s criterion, had been used before to establish stability for some models involving countable Markov chains, Dai’s seminal contribution was to develop a general, direct, and rigorous connection between the stability of fluid models and the positive recurrence of general state-space Markov processes, such as those that describe queueing networks. More concretely, he showed that stability of a deterministic fluid model implies stability of the stochastic process model, in a very general setting. Since then, Dai’s approach has become a centerpiece in the field of stochastic networks and the foundation for a wide array of subsequent results by Dai and others.

Beyond fluid analysis, Dai has made major contributions to the broader field of stochastic networks, such as developing heavy traffic diffusion approximations for certain models (e.g., multiclass service stations with Markovian feedback), producing a famous counterexample (in collaboration with Wang) about the (non)existence of diffusion approximations, developing new results and insights on reflected Brownian motion models, introducing a new approach for obtaining quantitative bounds for diffusion approximations based on Stein’s method, generalizing the scope and asymptotic optimality of max-weight scheduling, and many others. 

Dai’s work is motivated by models that arise in manufacturing and networking, which he connects to paradigmatic mathematical problems. His work is distinguished by intellectual taste, mathematical depth, and profound originality. In addition, he has been a leading educator and mentor with a very strong record of service to the profession.

Purpose of the Award

Committee Chair

Adrian Lewis
Cornell University

Have questions?  Please email: [email protected]

Click here for committee information.

The John von Neumann Theory Prize is awarded annually to a scholar (or scholars in the case of joint work) who has made fundamental, sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences. The award is given each year at the INFORMS Annual Meeting if there is a suitable recipient. Although the Prize is normally given to a single individual, in the case of accumulated joint work, the recipients can be multiple individuals.

The Prize is awarded for a body of work, typically published over a period of several years. Although recent work should not be excluded, the Prize typically reflects contributions that have stood the test of time. The criteria for the Prize are broad, and include significance, innovation, depth, and scientific excellence.

The award is $5,000, a medallion and a citation.

2025 Submission Deadline: June 1, 2025

The Prize Committee is currently seeking nominations, which should be in the form of a letter (preferably email) addressed to the prize committee chair (below), highlighting the nominee's accomplishments. Although the letter need not contain a detailed account of the nominee's research, it should document the overall nature of his or her contributions and their impact on the profession, with particular emphasis on the prize's criteria. The nominee's curriculum vitae, while not mandatory, would be helpful.

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About the Award/Namesake

John von Neumann Award Photo

John von Neumann was a brilliant mathematician, synthesizer, and promoter of the stored program concept, whose logical design of the IAS became the prototype of most of its successors - the von Neumann Architecture. von Neumann was invited to visit Princeton University in 1930, and when the Institute for Advanced Studies was founded there in 1933, he was appointed to be one of the original six Professors of Mathematics, a position which he retained for the remainder of his life. Postwar von Neumann concentrated on the development of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) computer and its copies around the world. His work with the Los Alamos group continued and he continued to develop the synergism between computers capabilities and the needs for computational solutions to nuclear problems related to the hydrogen bomb.

Learn more about John von Neumann


Past Awardees

2024
Winner(s)
Jim Dai, Cornell University
2023
Winner(s)
Christos Papadimitriou, Columbia University
Mihalis Yannakakis, Columbia University
2022
Winner(s)
Vijay Vazirani, University of California, Irvine
2021
Winner(s)
2020
Winner(s)
Adrian S. Lewis, Cornell University
2019
Winner(s)
Dimitris J. Bertsimas , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management and Operations Research Center
Jong-Shi Pang, University of Southern California
2018
Awardee(s)
Dimitri P. Bertsekas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John N. Tsitsiklis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2017
Winner(s)
Donald Goldfarb, Columbia University
Jorge Nocedal, Northwestern University
2016
Winner(s)
Martin I. Reiman, Columbia University
Ruth J. Williams, University of California - San Diego
2015
Winner(s)
Jean Bernard Lasserre, CNRS, France
Vašek Chvátal, Concordia University, Dept. of Computer Science & Software Engineering
2014
Winner(s)
2013
Winner(s)
Michel L Balinski, C.N.R.S. and Ecole Polytechnique
2012
Winner(s)
George L. Nemhauser, Georgia Institute of Technology, Dept. of Industrial & Systems Engineering
Laurence A. Wolsey, Universite Catholique de Louvain, C O R E
2011
Winner(s)
Gerard P. Cornuejols, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
2010
Winner(s)
Peter Glynn, Stanford University
Søren Asmussen, Aarhus University, Denmark
2009
Winner(s)
Yinyu Ye, Stanford University, Department of Management Science & Engineering
Yurii Nesterov, CORE/UCL
2008
Winner(s)
Frank P. Kelly, Centre for Mathematical Science, University of Cambridge
2007
Winner(s)
Arthur F. Veinott, Jr., Stanford University
2006
Winner(s)
Alexander Schrijver, CWI, National Research Institute for Mathematics & Computer Science
László Lovász, Eotvos University, Institute of Mathematics
Martin Grötschel, ZIB
Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum
2005
Winner(s)
Robert J. Aumann, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Center for Rationality
2004
Winner(s)
J. Michael Harrison, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business
2003
Winner(s)
Arkadi Nemirovski, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of ISyE
Michael J. Todd, Cornell University
School of Operations Research and Information
2002
Winner(s)
Cyrus Derman, Professor Operations Research, Columbia University
Donald L. Iglehart, Stanford University
2001
Winner(s)
Ward Whitt, Columbia University, Industrial Engineering & Operations Research Dept.
2000
Winner(s)
Ellis L. Johnson, School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Manfred W. Padberg, New York University, Stern School of Business
1999
Winner(s)
R. Tyrrell Rockafellar, University of Washington, Dept. of Mathematics
1998
Winner(s)
Fred W. Glover, OptTek Systems, Inc.
1997
Winner(s)
1996
Winner(s)
1995
Winner(s)
Egon Balas, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
1994
Winner(s)
1993
Winner(s)
Robert Herman, University of Texas-Austin
1992
Winner(s)
1991
Winner(s)
Richard E. Barlow, University of California-Berkeley
1990
Winner(s)
Richard M. Karp, University of California - Berkeley, Dept. of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
1989
Winner(s)
Harry M. Markowitz , Baruch College
1988
Winner(s)
1987
Winner(s)
Samuel Karlin , Stanford University
Dept of Mathematics
1986
Winner(s)
Kenneth J. Arrow , Stanford University, Dept. of Economics
1985
Winner(s)
Jack Edmonds, University of Waterloo, Dept. of Combinatorics & Optimization
1984
Winner(s)
Ralph E. Gomory , Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
1983
Winner(s)
Herbert E. Scarf, Yale University
1982
Winner(s)
William W. Cooper, University of Texas - Austin, MSIS Department
1981
Winner(s)
Lloyd S. Shapley , University of California - Los Angeles, Dept. of Economics
1980
Winner(s)
Harold W. Kuhn, Princeton University
1979
Winner(s)
David Blackwell , University of California - Berkeley
1978
Winner(s)
John F. Nash, Princeton University, Mathematics Dept.
1977
Winner(s)
1976
Winner(s)
1975
Winner(s)
George B. Dantzig, Stanford University