Zionts Named Fellow of INFORMS

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor Emeritus Stanley Zionts was named a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) at its annual recent meeting in Pittsburgh.

The Fellow Award is reserved for distinguished individuals who have demonstrated outstanding and exceptional accomplishments and experience in operations research and the management sciences (OR/MS). To be named a fellow, a candidate is evaluated in five categories: research, practice, management, education and service.

Zionts has made major research contributions in several areas of management science and operations research -- especially in linear and integer programming and multiple criteria decision making. He has more than 100 publications, including books, journal articles, conference papers and book chapters, and has published several important articles in the areas of economics, finance and negotiations.

In addition, Zionts has performed research in several other areas, including computer simulation and its application, application of differential games to marketing, information systems, the role of mathematics in university education, the future of Hong Kong after reunification with China, election campaign financing and the U.S. Social Security system.

He served on the faculty in the UB School of Management and its Department of Industrial Engineering from 1967 to 2005 and in 1986 was awarded the Alumni Professorship of Decision Support Systems in the School of Management. Zionts, who was named a University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor in 2002, has taught a wide variety of OR/MS and other courses, including courses in international executive MBA programs in China, France and Latvia.

Zionts has provided service to INFORMS and other organizations as associate editor, editor and chairman of special activities, as well as keynote, tutorial and panel speaker. He founded and served as the first president of the International Society for Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), a professional society that facilitates research and applications, organizes meetings and publishes journals on MCDM. He also has organized numerous academic conferences.

Zionts continues his academic research and teaching activities in retirement. He spends his winters in Utah, teaching skiing at the Park City Mountain Resort. When not in Utah, Zionts and his wife, Terri, live in Williamsville.

The UB School of Management is ranked as one of world's top 10 regional business schools by The Wall Street Journal. In addition, BusinessWeek ranks the school as one of the country's top 5 business schools for the fastest return on MBA investment, and Forbes cites it as one of the best business schools in the U.S. for the return on investment it provides MBA graduates.