Military Operations Research Society > Professional Development > Prizes

Eugene P. Visco Prize

Professional DevelopmentPrizesEugene P. Visco Prize

About the Eugene P. Visco Prize Competition

Established in 2019, the Visco Prize recognizes early-career analysts for their excellence in research quality, contributions, and presentation. Named for Mr. Eugene P. Visco, FS, the prize seeks junior or early-career analysts conducting impactful, technically rigorous, and original research that advances the field of national security operations research.

The Visco Prize Competition is held annually at the MORS Emerging Techniques Forum (ETF). Presenters submitting abstracts to ETF must indicate that they are submitting to be considered for the Visco Prize. MORS staff will verify the presenters' eligibility. Following judging, the winner is then announced during ETF.

Purpose

To honor Mr. Eugene P. Visco, FS, an ardent supporter of MORS junior analysts and a champion for quality presentations. He served on the MORS Board of Directors from 1969-1973 and held the positions of Secretary Treasurer and Second Vice President during his tenure. He also served as the Army Sponsor’s Representative from 1987-1996.
To recognize excellence among junior and early-career analysts in the profession.

Criteria

Presenters should be forty years old or younger as of 1 June and have been doing operations research for less than 10 years.
The conducted research must:

Be an original and self-contained contribution to systems analysis or operations research.
Demonstrate an application of analysis or methodology, either actual or conceptualized.
Advance the frontier of a tool, technique, or methodology, or show a novel implementation of systems analysis or operations research.

Judging Criteria

Professional quality
Problem definition
Explanation of current methodology
Description of new approach / methodology
Data sources and analysis
Data visualization techniques
Logical description and interpretation of analysis

Past Prize Winners

2022 - Dr. Paul Fanto, IDA
Presentation on “Resilient Position Data Fusion with a Generic Kalman Filter Method"

2021 - Dr. Iain Cruickshank
Presentation on “Multi-View Clustering of Social-Based Data”

2020 - MAJ Jaison D. Desai, PhD
Presentation on “Determination of Influential Factors on Roadway Bridge Sufficiency Using Inspection Data and LASSO: A Proof-of-Concept”

2019 - Dr. David Masad
Presentation on "Predicting Crisis Behavior with Reinforcement Learning"

Visco Prize Fund

To provide ongoing support for the Visco Prize, MORS plans to establish a restricted fund to support the prize. The fund will generate income sufficient to support the prize each year. The inaugural goal is $200,000. If you would like to contribute to the Visco Prize Fund, visit the button below.

If you would like to make a contribute via check, please make it payable to MORS with Visco Prize Fund in the notes section. Please mail the check to 1550 Wilson Blvd, Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22209. You will get an email receipt once the check has been received.