A Timeline of MS&E's History

A timeline of MS&E's history, as seen at the department's 25th anniversary celebration | Patrick Beaudouin

MS&E was officially formed in 2000, but our story begins much earlier.

Below, see some of the highlights from our journey, from the beginning of optimization thinking at Stanford to an MS&E alumna being elected chair of Stanford's Board of Trustees.

The timeline on this page includes events related to MS&E and the departments that merged to form it: Industrial Engineering-Engineering Management, Operations Research, and Engineering-Economic Systems.

For timelines specific to each of those legacy departments, please see below:

Industrial Engineering-Engineering Management (IE-EM)
Engineering-Economic Systems (EES)
Operations Research (OR)

Pre-history

Late 1800s

1887

In an early example of the type of optimization thinking that would become one of MS&E's core strengths, Arthur Mellon Wellington publishes his book, The Economic Theory of the Location of Railways, four years before Stanford opened its doors.

1891

When Stanford opens, two courses in the Civil Engineering department teach industrial engineering-type concepts: Economic Theory of Railroad Location and Railroad Operation and Management.

Early 1900s

John Charles Lounsbury Fish, executive head of Civil Engineering

1930s

1930

Eugene Lodewick Grant, Professor of Civil Engineering, publishes his book, Principles of Engineering Economy.

1939

As a student at UC Berkeley, George Dantzig arrives late to class to find two problems written on the chalk board; he then solves them, only to discover they were famously unsolved statistical theorems. This story, told in greater detail in Professor Dantzig's Wikipedia article, would later go on to inspire a scene in the film Good Will Hunting.

1940s

Eugene L. Grant, professor of economics of engineering in Civil Engineering, creator and first head of the IE program | Kee Coleman

The Legacy Departments: IE, OR, and EES

1950s

W. Grant Ireson, the first executive head of the IE department

1956

IE joins with Electrical Engineering, Statistics, and Mathematics to operate a graduate program in Data Processing and Scientific Computation.

Late 1950s

By the end of the 1950s, courses in Operations Research (OR) are being offered by the Departments of Industrial Engineering and Statistics.

1960s

1960s

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

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."

1964

The Institute of Engineering-Economic Systems is created within the School of Engineering.

1966

Ronald Howard coins the term "Decision Analysis" in the title of a paper, kickstarting the field.

1967

Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research both become independent departments 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.

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

Industrial Engineering faculty, ca. late 1960s (clockwise): L. Wise, D.A. Thompson, R. Lave, H. DiGiulio, R.V. Oakford, W.G. Ireson, R.A. Hemmes, J. Jucker, P. Gray | Stanford News Service

1970s

Buildings 530 and 540 | Jim Fabry

William K. "Bill" Linvill, professor of electrical engineering, the first chair of the EES institute and department | Jose Mercado

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.

David Luenberger publishes his seminal paper, An Introduction to Observers, leading to the Luenberger Observer being named after him.

1974

James Sweeney is appointed Director of the Office of Energy Systems Modeling and Forecasting of the US Federal Energy Administration. His experience leads to generating energy modeling, economics, and policy activities within EES upon his return to Stanford.

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, 1979 | Stanford SOL

1975

James Adams is appointed chair of IE.

Arthur "Pete" Veinott is appointed chair of OR.

1976

The Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) is created "to foster better communication between the builders and users of energy models," according to an article by Hillard Huntington, James Sweeney, and John Weyant.

1977

IE adds Engineering Management to its mission and name, becoming Industrial Engineering-Engineering Management (IE-EM).

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

Henry Riggs, chair of IE-EM, ca. 2010s | Harvey Mudd College

1980s

David Luenberger, chair of EES, ca. 2000s | National Academy of Engineering

Warren Hausman, chair of IE-EM, ca. 2010s

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.

1986

As EES approaches its 20th year as a department, David Luenberger reflects on the department, the discipline, and some early applications of EES in his paper, Engineering-Economic Systems: A Problem-Solving Discipline.

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 is 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

1991

James Sweeney is appointed chair of EES.

1992

Robert Carlson is appointed chair of IE-EM.

1993

James Jucker is appointed chair of IE-EM.

William Perry, professor of EES and former US Secretary of Defense, 1994 | US Department of Defense

1997

The Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), created by Tom Byers, is formally launched by Dean John Hennessy after a two-year startup phase.

Elisabeth Paté-Cornell is appointed chair of IE-EM.

MS&E's first 25 years

2000s

Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, the first chair of MS&E and, prior to that, chair of IE-EM | Wikipedia

2000

IE-EM and EES-OR merge to form Management Science and Engineering (MS&E), chaired by Elisabeth Paté-Cornell.

Awards & Recognition - 2000s:

Multiple facutly are elected to the inaugural cohort of Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS): Kenneth Arrow, George Dantzig, Warren Hausman, Donald Iglehart, Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, and Arthur "Pete" Veinott (2002)
Donald Iglehart receives the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS (2002)
The International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) creates its International Hall of Fame for Operational Research, including Professors George Dantzig and Kenneth Arrow among its earliest inductees (2003)
Kenneth Arrow awarded the National Medal of Science (2004)
Frederick Hillier elected as a Fellow of INFORMS (2004)
Warren Hausman elected as a Fellow of the Production and Operations Management Society (2005)
Richard Cottle and Yinyu Ye elected as Fellows of INFORMS (2006)
Steve Barley elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management (2007)
Peter Glynn elected as a Fellow of INFORMS (2007)
Kathleen Eisenhardt elected as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society (2007)
David Luenberger elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (2008)
Margaret Brandeau elected as a Fellow of INFORMS (2009)
Yinyu Ye receives the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS (2009)

2005

MS&E establishes the Dantzig-Lieberman Operations Research Fellowships to support students.

2006

James Sweeney creates the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, with a gift from Jay Precourt.

2008

The Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) opens; construction is underway on the Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center and Spilker Engineering & Applied Sciences Building.

2010s

MS&E faculty, staff, and students, 2010 | Richard Cottle

Awards & Recognition - 2010s:

Peter Glynn receives the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS (2010)
Peter Glynn elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (2012)
Siegfried Hecker elected as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013)
Ronald Howard elected as a Fellow of INFORMS (2013)
Ronald Howard elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2013)
Michael Saunders elected as a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) (2013)
Ben Van Roy elected as a Fellow of INFORMS (2015)
Ben Van Roy elected as a Fellow of IEEE (2019)

2010

MS&E moves its offices to the newly-constructed Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center and celebrates its 10 year anniversary.

2011

Peter Glynn is appointed chair of MS&E.

2011

The Decision Analysis Society of INFORMS holds a workshop at Stanford, funded by the National Science Foundation, to convene experts in the field with wide-ranging research interests. The attendees represent a "who's who" of decision analysis, according to an article by MS&E alum Ali Abbas (PhD '04) in OR/MS Today. The workshop brings together MS&E Professor Ken Arrow and John Pratt (after whom the Arrow-Pratt risk aversion is named), a rare in-person meeting of luminaries in the field.

Alvin Roth receives the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, 2012 | BBC News

Terman Fountain after Terman Engineering Center is demolished, 2013 | Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

2020s

2020

Pamela Hinds is appointed chair of MS&E.

Awards & Recognition - 2020s:

Riitta Katila is elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management (2022)
Riitta Katila is elected as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society (2022)
Ben Van Roy receives the Lanchester Prize from INFORMS (2022)
Frederick Hillier is inducted into the IFORS International Hall of Fame for Operational Research (2023)
Itai Ashlagi receives the Lanchester Prize from INFORMS (2024)
Tom Byers and Tina Seelig receive the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) Legacy Award (2024)
Ashish Goel is elected as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (2024)