POTSDAM – John Milne, the Neil '64 and Karen Bonke Assistant Professor in Engineering Management at the Clarkson University School of Business, coached the team that last month won the 2011 Franz Edelman Award from the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (ISO).

The award is bestowed annually for achievement in operations research and the management sciences by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

Operations Research is the application of advanced analytical methods to improve decision-making.

As coach, Milne's role was to guide his team through the competition, including extensive editing of their publication quality paper and 40-minute presentation on which their work was judged to be the best operations research application in the world.

"By leveraging operations research, the Midwest ISO added significant value to the region through improved reliability and increased efficiencies of the region's power plants and transmission assets," said Midwest ISO President and CEO John Bear at the awards ceremony. "The Midwest ISO region realized between $2.1 and $3.0 billion in net cumulative savings from 2007 through 2010 and anticipates an additional $6.1 to $8.1 billion of net value through 2020.

The award-winning paper will be published in the January 2012 issue of Interfaces. A video of the team's presentation is available online at https://www.midwestiso.org/AboutUs .

MISO is an essential link in the safe, cost-effective delivery of electric power across all or parts of 13 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. As a Regional Transmission Organization, MISO assures consumers of unbiased regional grid management and open access to the transmission facilities under MISO's functional supervision.