TIMS President, 1986-1987
R.E.D. (Gene) Woolsey was the 33rd President of TIMS. He was professor of mathematics and coordinator of the management science/operations research specialization at the Colorado School of Mines. To graduate from this program, a student was required to do a Pro Bono Publico project for a company or agency that, at least gets used, and, preferably, saves money. Any student, before or after graduation, who has, in one year on one project saved his or her company or agency $1 million at present worth is given a diamond stickpin. Verified savings from this plan now were in excess of $820 million.
He was the first recipient of the Harold Lardner Prize for Distinguished International Achievement in Operations Research. He is a Fellow of INFORMS. Gene was the editor-in-chief of Interfaces. In 1999 he received the INFORMS Award for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice. In 2004 he was awarded The Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice.
Woolsey has held teaching positions at seven other colleges or universities in four countries. He has written eight books in management science/operations management, production scheduling, assignment & distribution, linear programming, operations research, and engineering design using geometric programming. He is the author of over one hundred published papers.. One of the areas of research in which he participated effectively doubled the world supplies of lithium. In addition to having been the editor of Interfaces, he is the editor emeritus of The Production & Inventory Management Journal, The Journal of Operations Management, The Transactions of The Institute of Industrial Engineers, and the Colorado School of Mines Quarterly of Science and Engineering.
Woolsey has long been concerned with the practice of OR. Starting in 1972 and reaching into the 21st century, Woolsey was a columnist for OR/MS Today, covering a broad spectrum of subjects relevant not only to OR/MS professionals, but also educators, managers and corporate administration. Thirty-three of these columns are published as Real World Operations Research: The Woolsey Papers (Lionheart Publishing, Atlanta, Ga.)
For many years he worked Pro Bono Publico for any religious group or government agency of any government with which he agrees. For this work he has been awarded the Logistics Badge (Honorary) of the Israeli Air Force for logistical work done for them, the Commander's Medal, the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, and the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal of the United States Department of the Army.
BA (Mathematics), MA (Mathematics ), PhD (Mechanical Engineering/Operations Research), University of Texas-Austin