Industrial Engineering Professor Awarded Fellowship

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Mark Daskin, Ronald Rardin and Susan Albin

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ronald L. Rardin, a Distinguished Professor of industrial engineering at the University of Arkansas, has been selected as a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. According to its website, “INFORMS fellows are examples of outstanding lifetime achievement in operations research and the management sciences. They have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments and made significant contributions to the advancement of OR/MS over a period of time.”

As the head of the university’s Center on Innovation in Healthcare Logistics, Rardin has led the center’s efforts to find and promote health care supply chain and logistics innovations. He holds the John and Mary Lib White Systems Integration Chair and has won awards for his teaching. His comprehensive undergraduate textbook on mathematical programming, Optimization in Operations Research, received the Institute of Industrial Engineers Book of the Year award. Rardin’s research and teaching focuses on large-scale optimization modeling and algorithms, especially their applications in healthcare delivery.

John A. White, Distinguished Professor and chancellor emeritus, who prepared the nomination in support of Rardin, said that “Professor Rardin is highly respected within the OR/MS community, as evidenced by the very strong letters of support obtained from six internationally recognized individuals, all of whom are INFORMS Fellows. His research contributions, his impact on OR/MS education, and his service to the profession were judged by the references to be truly outstanding. It was a pleasure to nominate Ron for the award and to see him receive the recognition he so richly deserves.”