Professor Emeritus Richard E. Nance of Virginia Tech was presented with the INFORMS Simulation Society's highest honor, the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award (LPAA) at this year's Winter Simulation Conference, December 9-12, 2007, Washington, D.C.

Dick has made numerous outstanding contributions to the simulation profession (and related fields) over his thirty-five plus years as a professional. He was one of the foremost leaders in bringing simulation into the leading professional journals. He was the individual who brought simulation into IIE Transactions and into Operations Research when he included simulation in the departments (areas) that he served as department/area editor for these two journals. This led to individual departments (areas) being established for simulation only in these journals. Dick also initiated the establishment of ACM TOMACS and served as the first Editor-in-Chief. In addition, Dick has served on several editorial boards and as associate editors for a number of journals; and as a co-editor of special journal issues on simulation.

Dick has also made major service contributions beyond his editorial work. He served as President of what is now called the INFORMS Simulation Society and was a WSC Board Representative. He served as the program chair of WSC 1990 and was one of the Founding Trustees of the WSC Foundation. For ACM, Dick was Chair of SIGSIM, Chair of SIGIR, and Chair of numerous committees.

Dick has also made major contributions in research as shown through his publications and his work with students; in practice through his work with the U.S. Navy and consulting; in dissemination of knowledge through his teaching, presentations, publications, and editorial work; in development of simulation software through his work in developing modeling environments and the conical framework; and in advancement of the status and visibility of simulation through his society work, editorial work, numerous presentations, and work with a variety of industrial and government organizations.

Dick has received several awards and honors. To mention some, he is a Fellow of ACM; has received service awards from TIMS College on Simulation (what is now called the INFORMS Simulation Society), ACM SIGSIM, U.S. Naval Surface Weapons Center, and the WSC Board of Directors; has received the Military Operations Research Society Medal; and is a member of honor societies. Dick also held the John Adolphus Dahlgren Chair of Naval Computing Systems at Virginia Tech.

The unanimous decision of the award committee was based on Dick's resume and very strong supporting letters from outstanding members of the international simulation community. The committee and letter writers all agree that Dick is an excellent researcher, educator, and leader of the international simulation community who is well-worthy of the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award. As one letter writer noted, Dick is truly a "giant of simulation."

Lifetime Professional Achievement Award Winners