AFIT faculty member earns 2022 J. Steinhardt Prize

  • Published
  • By Darryl Ahner
  • Air Force Institute of Technology

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Raymond Hill Jr., an adjunct professor of operations research in the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management, is the 2022 recipient of the J. Steinhardt Prize for outstanding contributions to military operations research.

The award is named in honor of Jacinto Steinhardt, an Operations Research Society of America founding member. The winner is selected based on lifework rather than any particular contribution and accompanied by a plaque and $2,000 honorarium.

The impacts made by Hill on the discipline are significant, distinguished and enduring. After earning his master’s degree in operations research in 1987 from AFIT, he served as an Air Force operations research analyst until 2002. During that time, he served as a logistics, weapons and tactics analyst, and AFIT faculty member.

Following retirement from active duty, he further embraced his ability to teach, research and mentor analysts, first at Wright State University from 2003-2008 and subsequently at AFIT the past 14 years.

Hill’s contributions over the duration of his professional career have been outsized, expanding far beyond the organizations or educational institutions in which he served.

He has authored or co-written 107 peer-reviewed journals and 93 refereed conference proceedings and advised 15 doctoral students and 104 master’s students. He established the Test and Evaluation Graduate Certificate Program at AFIT, which supports the broader Air Force and Department of Defense test communities, graduating over 2,200 planning and analysis experts.

In addition, Hill has served the professional community in multiple roles, including as general chair of the annual Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Winter Simulation Conference. He is editor of the journal Military Operations Research and associate editor for Naval Research Logistics, Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation, Journal of Simulation and International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research.

Hill is also a member of several professional societies such as the Military Operations Research Society, INFORMS, INFORMS College on Simulation, INFORMS Military Applications Society, World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society, American Statistical Association, and International Test and Evaluation Association.

He retired from a full-time faculty position at AFIT in June after serving for 20 years as an active-duty Air Force officer and civilian. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Eastern Connecticut State University, master’s in operations research from AFIT, and doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from Ohio State University.

Among his career honors are the 2016 Air Force Outstanding Science and Engineering Educator Award, 2016 Affiliate Societies Council of Dayton Outstanding Engineer and Scientist’s Award, and 2006-2007 Excellence in Research Award while a professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University.