Stanford ENGINEERING
Management Science and Engineering

Operations Research at Stanford

The timeline on this page includes events related to the historical department of Operations Research (OR). 

This page covers OR from the time it was formed as a department in 1967 until it merged with Industrial Engineering-Engineering Management to form MS&E in 2000, including OR's merger with Engineering-Economic Systems (EES) to create the department of EES-OR in 1996. 

Main MS&E timeline

For timelines specific to MS&E's other legacy departments, please click below:

Industrial Engineering-Engineering Management
Engineering-Economic Systems

Operations Research

1960s

Kenneth Arrow

Awards & Recognition - 1960s:

  • Alan Manne is elected as a Fellow of the Econometric Society (1963)
  • Kenneth Arrow is elected as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1968)

1960s

Kenneth Arrow and Gerald Lieberman suggest that Stanford form a committee to explore the possibility of coordinating operations research activities across multiple departments.

Gerald Lieberman

1962

The Operations Research program is established as an interdepartmental, inter-school academic unit, drawing its faculty from the departments of Industrial Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics, as well as the Graduate School of Business.

1963

A house on Alvarado Row is remodeled for use by the Operations Research Committee, dubbed "Operations Research House."

Operations Research House, ca. 1960s
Operations Research faculty, September 1967 (left to right): George Dantzig, Alan Manne, Frederick Hillier, Donald Iglehart, Arthur (Pete) Veinott, Rudolf Kalman, Gerald Lieberman, Kenneth Arrow, Richard Cottle | Stanford News Service
Encina Commons | Richard Cottle

1967

Operations Research becomes an independent department within the School of Engineering.

Gerald Lieberman and then-graduate student Frederick Hillier (later a professor of OR) publish their textbook, Introduction to Operations Research.

1969

OR moves its offices to larger quarters in Encina Commons.

1970s

Kenneth Arrow receives the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in Stockholm, 1972 | Associated Press

Awards & Recognition - 1970s (OR):

  • Arthur "Pete" Veinott is elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (1970)
  • George Dantzig is elected as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1971)
  • Donald Iglehart is elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (1971)
  • Alan Manne receives the Lanchester Prize from INFORMS (1974)
  • George Dantzig is awarded the National Medal of Science (1975)
  • George Dantzig receives the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS (1975)

1972

Kenneth Arrow is awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

1974

George Dantzig and Richard Cottle create the Systems Optimization Laboratory (SOL) to develop general-purpose optimization software.

SOL's "Gang of Four" (left to right): Phillip Gill, Walter Murray, Michael Saunders, and Margaret Wright, ca. 1979 | Stanford SOL
George Dantzig (left) receives the National Medal of Science from President Gerald Ford, 1975

1975

Arthur "Pete" Veinott is appointed chair of OR.

Arthur "Pete" Veinott, chair of OR | Stanford University Photographic Department

1977

IE-EM, EES, and OR move their offices to the newly-constructed Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Center.

Terman Engineering Center sketch, date unknown | Stanford University Planning Office

Terman Engineering Center under construction, 1970s | Stanford University Planning Office
Terman Engineering Center, completed, 2005 | Sheldon Breiner

1980s

Donald Iglehart, chair of OR, ca. 1990s | National Academy of Engineering

Awards & Recognition - 1980s (OR):

  • George Dantzig elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (1985)
  • Kenneth Arrow receives the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS (1986)
  • Alan Manne elected as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1986)
  • Arthur "Pete" Veinott elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (1986)
  • Gerald Lieberman elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (1987)

1985

Donald Iglehart is appointed chair of OR.

1990s

1990

Richard Cottle is appointed chair of OR.

Awards & Recognition - 1990s (OR):

  • Alan Manne elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (1990)
  • Richard Cottle receives the Lanchester Prize from INFORMS (1994)
  • Arthur "Pete" Veinott receives the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS (1997)
  • Peter Glynn elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (1998)
  • Donald Iglehart elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (1999)
Richard Cottle, chair of OR | Stanford School of Engineering
James Sweeney, chair of EES and later EES-OR, ca. 1996

1996

EES and OR merge to form EES-OR, chaired by James Sweeney.

The first Snowmass Workshop on Climate Change Impacts and Integrated Assessment of Climate Change is held.

MS&E main timeline

Legacy department timelines:

Industrial Engineering-Engineering Management
Engineering-Economic Systems