Outstanding Research in »Operations Research« Honored With Award

Anita Schöbel Awarded GOR 2023 Science Prize

Press Release / August 31, 2023

At this year's annual meeting of the Society for Operations Research (GOR) on August 30, 2023, Prof. Dr. Anita Schöbel received the GOR Science Award. The award is the most important prize awarded by the society and recognizes a scientist every two years for exceptional achievements in developing the focus of »Operations Research«. Schöbel is director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM and professor at the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University Kaiserslautern-Landau RPTU.

In Hamburg, Anita Schöbel received the prize from Prof. Dr. Alexander Martin. The business mathematician is director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. The prize honours the mathematician's complete work in the field of »Operations Research« and is currently endowed with 8,000 euros.

»Operations Research is great!« – In a personal acknowledgement and speech, Schöbel again emphasised how relevant OR has been to her research and career so far. »It is wonderful to advance the field in dedicated teams on so many levels. The award confirms to me that this is perceived in the same way in the community. Even though the award actually honours a life's work, my work here is of course far from over,« says the mathematician.

»Making Operations Research More Visible«

In addition to her scientific work, Anita Schöbel has also been President of the »Association of European Operational Research Societies« (EURO) since 1 January and is thus an ambassador for Operations Research at the international level – most recently, for example, in Chile at the IFORS23 conference (International Federation of Operational Research Societies).

»My goal is to make the field of Operations Research more visible: in other disciplines, in society, in politics and in business,« emphasises Schöbel. »Our methods support many current questions: How do we distribute energy? What challenges do we solve in medicine, logistics or in planning future mobility, to name just a few areas.« Both in her work as a professor and at the Fraunhofer ITWM – the world's largest institute for applied industrial mathematics – this is reflected in many different fields of application.

© Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V.
Prof. Dr. Anita Schöbel has been awarded the GOR Prize 2023.

More Information

What Exactly Is Meant by »Operations Research«?

In »Operations Research«, researchers from mathematics, economics and computer science develop quantitative models and methods that usually support decision-making and planning of entrepreneurial and social processes. Mathematical modeling and optimization are important building blocks in this context.

At the Fraunhofer ITWM, a separate department named »Optimization - Operations Research« is dedicated to this.

Laudatio Pays Tribute to the Work and Achievements of Anita Schöbel

ion was held by Prof. Dr. Horst W. Hamacher. He is also considered a luminary in the field of operations research and heads the working group »Optimization« at RPTU Kaiserslautern, where Schöbel also teaches and conducts research. He is very close to the mathematician and the two have a number of professional intersections; among other things, he was awarded the GOR Prize in 2015 and Schöbel held the appreciative laudation.

»Ms. Schöbel has made outstanding contributions to the disciplinary development of Operations Research with her research on Integer Optimisation, Robust Optimisation, Optimisation of Public Transport, Location Optimisation and Geometric Optimisation Methods,« Hamacher emphasised. »Her overall scientific work is characterised by her publications, lectures and projects. Particular mention should be made of the respective range of activities, from popular science articles to important contributions to theoretical foundations of Operations Research.« He also singled out her multifaceted work for the scientific community: with the words »Schöbel enjoys a high international reputation«, Hamacher listed numerous career stations and posts of the renowned scientist.

The award winner was selected by an independent scientific jury consisting of the following experts: Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Schultz (Duisburg-Essen, Chair), Prof. Dr. Richard Hartl (Vienna), Dr. Ulrich Dorndorf (INFORM) and Prof. Dr. Stefan Ruzika (Kaiserslautern).