CNA-Sponsored J. Steinhardt Prize For Operations Research Awarded To Donald P. Gaver, Jr., Ph.D., Naval Postgraduate School, And Edgar B. Vandiver, III, Center For Army Analysis

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Oct 25, 2012, 10:33 ET

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CNA today announced that Donald P. Gaver, Jr., Ph.D., Naval Postgraduate School Distinguished Professor, and Edgar B. Vandiver, III Director of the Center for Army Analysis and the Senior Analyst of the Army, have been awarded the 2012 Military Applications Society of INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) J. Steinhardt Prize – the CNA-sponsored award recognizing individuals for lifetime achievements in the field of operations research.

"Dr. Gaver and Director Vandiver are two of the most respected, and deserving, professionals in the field of operations research," said CNA president and CEO Robert Murray. "It's an honor to be able to recognize their contributions to this important area of study."

As Director of the Center for Army Analysis (CAA), Vandiver oversees a wide range of planning and force-development issues; as the Senior Analyst of the Army, he mentors and advises other Senior Analysts on issues affecting the entire Army and Joint analysis community. He also leads the Army international operations research cooperative engagement program with selected international partners. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO, and pursued graduate studies at American University, Washington, DC. From 1962-1964, he served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) Combat Developments Agency. Over the next 20 years, he held numerous research and analyst positions with the Army. He became CAA Director in 1984.

Gaver has been a Distinguished Professor of Operations Research at the Naval Postgraduate School since 1983. He received his S.B. and S.M. in Mathematics from MIT, and earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Princeton. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1944-1946, and from 1951-1953, was employed by the Navy's Operations Evaluation Group (OEG). OEG later became CNA's Center for Naval Analyses, where Gaver worked with Jacinto Steinhardt – who served as the director of OEG for 16 years and for whom the J. Steinhardt Prize is named. From 1953-1956, Gaver was a member of the Princeton Math Department Statistics Research Group. Prior to joining the Naval Postgraduate School, Gaver held professorships at Stanford University, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the University of California, Berkley and was associated with Westinghouse Research Labs.

CNA is a not-for-profit research organization that serves the public interest by providing in-depth analysis and results-oriented solutions to help government leaders choose the best course of action in setting policy and managing operations. CNA: Nobody gets closer — to the people, to the data, to the problem. www.cna.org

SOURCE CNA