Fred Glover, MediaOne professor at the College of Business and Administration at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder, has received the 1998 John Von Neumann Theory Prize from the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences.
The prize, named in honor of mathematician and computer pioneer John Von Neumann, is awarded annually to the individual who has made fundamental, sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences.
Past recipients of the John Von Neumann Theory Prize include Nobel Prize winners Kenneth Arrow, Herbert Simon and Harry Markowitz, Computer Science Complexity Theory pioneer and Turing Award winner Richard Karp, and National Medal of Science winner George Dantzig.
"This award has a special bonus – the recognition it brings to an important body of research," Glover said. "The areas put into focus by the award involve many key researchers around the world. These supporting developments have played an important part in making it possible to bring this award 'home' to ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä and MediaOne."
"Dr. Glover is an outstanding theoretical scientist, and has done superb work in applying theory to solving real-world problems for MediaOne," said Chuck Lillis, chairman and chief executive officer of MediaOne Group. Glover's research is funded by a 10-year, $1 million grant from MediaOne, the nation's third-largest broadband communications company.
Glover is widely known for developing Tabu Search, a methodology that applies advanced memory and search functions to help users solve complex problems. The source for hundreds of published works by researchers worldwide, the Tabu Search methodology is the core of computer software systems now being used to solve a wide range of important optimization problems in business, science and government.
Applications of Tabu Search extend over the realms of resource planning, telecommunications, financial analysis, scheduling, space planning, energy distribution, molecular engineering, logistics, pattern classification, flexible manufacturing, waste management, mineral exploration, biomedical analysis, environmental conservation and scores of other areas.
In addition to his academic duties, Glover consults with MediaOne on designing high-level economic strategic planning.
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences is an international scientific society with 12,000 members, including Nobel laureates dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management and operations.
Members of the institute work primarily in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, the stock market, international trade and economic planning.