November 19, 2018
LIDS is delighted to share that the 2018 INFORMS John von Neumann Theory Prize was awarded to Dimitri Bertsekas and John Tsitsiklis for contributions to Parallel and Distributed Computation as well as Neurodynamic Programming - the latter being the title of their monograph on approximate dynamic programming and reinforcement learning.
The John von Neumann Theory Prize is awarded annually to a scholar (or scholars in the case of joint work) who has made fundamental, sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences. The criteria for the Prize are broad and include significance, innovation, depth, scientific excellence, and contributions that have stood the test of time.
“Their monograph Parallel and Distributed Computation: Numerical Methods represents a significant achievement in the field,” the award citation reads. “The work of Bertsekas and Tsitsiklis is characterized by its innovation, depth and clarity, and it has had tremendous impact as evident from the large number of citations. Their two joint monographs are among their individual five most cited works, making the award of a joint prize particularly appropriate. Bertsekas and Tsitsiklis have brought the fields of computer science and operations research closer together through unifying theory.”