Tom Schriber (left) and Julian Reitman

The Lifetime Professional Achievement Award is the highest honor given by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)-College on Simulation. Given at most once a year, the award recognizes major contributions to the field of computer simulation that are sustained over a professional career. The winner may qualify based on one or more of the following six areas:

• research,
• practice,
• dissemination of knowledge,
• development of software or hardware,
• service to the profession, and
• advancement of the status or visibility of the field.

Thomas J. Schriber, the winner of this year's award, has made remarkable contributions in all the categories listed above. Tom became involved with discrete-event simulation research when he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan Business School in 1966; and he has subsequently introduced many thousands of people to simulation throughout the world. Tom is perhaps best known for his landmark textbook, Simulation Using GPSS, which was first published in 1974. Also known as the "Red Book," this classic text had 38 printings totaling 40,000 copies during the period 1974-1988; and since 1980 the Russian translation of this book, naturally called the "Red Red Book," has sold over 10,000 copies.

Since the mid-1960s Tom has promoted simulation around the globe-from behind the former Iron Curtain to Chile, Mexico, the Netherlands, Korea, and many other countries. Tom is truly the ambassador to the world for the field of simulation. He loves to teach; and he is particularly highly regarded for his tutorials and national lectures, both in academic and industrial settings. Tom's service to the profession extends to the Winter Simulation Conference, where for many years he served on the Board of Directors as the representative of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He has also been an associate editor for numerous scholarly journals. Tom has made outstanding contributions to simulation research in a broad range of areas, including simulation output analysis, simulation modeling and language development, and the application of simulation to the design and control of production and transportation systems. Tom has disseminated this knowledge at all levels of academia, government, and industry via his many books, speeches, mentoring of students and colleagues, and academic leadership. Tom Schriber's career epitomizes the highest ideals of the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award of the INFORMS-College on Simulation.

Lifetime Professional Achievment Award Winners