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Decision Analysis Society 2015 Frank P. Ramsey Medal

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Decision Analysis Society 2015 Frank P. Ramsey Medal Decision Analysis Society 2015 Frank P. Ramsey Medal The Frank P. Ramsey Medal is the highest award of the Decision Analysis Society (DAS). It was created to recognize distinguished contributions to the field of decision analysis. The medal is named in honor of Frank Plumpton Ramsey, a Cambridge University mathematician who was one of the pioneers of decision theory in the 20th century. His 1926 essay "Truth and Probability" (published posthumously in 1931) anticipated many of the developments in mathematical decision theory later made by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, Leonard J. Savage, and others. For this award, decision analysis is defined as a prescriptive approach to provide insight for decision making based on axioms that are logically consistent with the axioms of von Neumann and Morgenstern and of Savage. Key constructs of decision analysis are utility to quantify one’s preferences and probability to quantify the state of one's knowledge. There are overlapping aspects of decision analysis with other fields such as behavioral decision research, probabilistic risk analysis, and engineering and economic analyses. Behavioral decision research addressing how people make decisions that has direct implications for improving the practice of decision analysis is a contribution to decision analysis. Models of uncertain possible consequences from scientific, engineering, and economic modeling that are useful for decision analysis are contributions. Distinguished contributions to the field of decision analysis can be internal, such as theoretical or procedural advances in decision analysis, or external, such as developing or spreading decision analysis in new fields. Thus, the specific award criteria for evaluating potential Ramsey Medal recipients are a candidate's Theoretical, methodological, and procedural contributions to decision analysis Applications of decision analysis (including new uses and in new fields) Other contributions promoting decision analysis (e.g. educational and public awareness) Exceptional contributions to the DAS (e.g. service to society or journal) A potential recipient need not meet all of the criteria, but contributions to each criterion are pertinent. Prof. L. Robin Keller has been selected to receive the 2015 Frank P. Ramsey Medal. Prof. Keller is Professor of Decision Technologies and Operations in the Merage School of Business in at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Prof. Keller joined UCI in 1982 after obtaining her PhD from UCLA. She has served many roles in the school, including the Doctoral Program Director (most recently from 2009‐2013), Associate Dean (for the Full‐time MBA Program and for Research), and Area Coordinator for Operations and Decision Technologies. Prof. Keller has made numerous contributions to the Decision Analysis Society. Including serving as its president between 2000 and 2002, helping to spearhead efforts to create a journal dedicated to decision analysis, and then serving as Editor‐in‐Chief of the Decision Analysis journal from 2007‐2012. More recently, she was elected as the 2015 INFORMS President. She was named an INFORMS Fellow in October 2004 for her contributions to operations research and management science and she received the 2006 Kimball Medal from INFORMS for distinguished service contributions to Operations Research and the Management Sciences. She has also served as Vice President‐Finance and Council Member of the Institute of Management Sciences and was a founding Director‐at‐Large of INFORMS. Prof. Keller served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on “Ranking FDA Product Categories Based on Health Consequences” and on the National Research Council “Committee to Assess the Distribution and Administration of Potassium Iodide in the Event of a Nuclear Incident.” She also served on the U. S. National Committee for the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), from 2007‐2012. Prof. Keller served as a program director for the Decision, Risk, and Management Science Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation from 1989‐1991, and has conducted studies funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. She has published more than 60 journal articles, technical reports, book chapters and reviews. Her research spans the areas of multiple‐attribute decision making, fairness, perceived risk, probability biases, problem structuring, temporal discounting, and planning protection against terrorism, environmental, health, and safety risks. The Ramsey Medal award committee for 2015 was Ron Howard (Chair), Jim Matheson, Greg Parnell, Jim Dyer and Larry Phillips. .
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