Awards Committee

 

Report to Policy Council

 

In the past few years the activities of the Awards Committee have expanded, so I have decided it is a good idea to submit a brief report to the Policy Council.  My intention here is to describe the administration of awards.  A complete list of winners is available on the Society web site.

 

There are currently seven members of the Awards Committee:  John Morecroft (Chair), David Andersen, Bob Cavana, Andy Ford, George Richardson, John Sterman and Jac Vennix.

 

The Committee is divided into two separate working groups that are responsible for the Society’s two main awards:

 

The Jay Wright Forrester Award for the best contribution to the field of system dynamics published in the preceding five years.

 

The Dana Meadows Student Prize for the best student paper presented at the annual System Dynamics Conference. 

 

The bulk of the Committee’s review work takes place between April and July. Vedat Diker maintains web entries for the student prize.  Roberta Spencer takes care of certificates and plaques.

 

The Committee also considers proposals for new awards.  This year we received an offer from Alvaro Briceno (founder of a company called ITP Consultores in Venezuela) to fund an award in honour of Barry Richmond.  In consultation with Alvaro we formulated a K-12 award requiring initial launch funding of $10,000 to cover a prize and additional expenses for the first three years (2003, 2004 and 2005).  Unfortunately Alvaro has, with great reluctance, been forced to withdraw his offer due to the very serious economic consequences of the General Strike in Venezuela. For now therefore a K-12 award is on hold until a source of funding can be found.

 

 

John Morecroft

February 2003