Two faculty members and a Ph.D. student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) were awarded the Management Science Strategic Innovation Prize (MSSIP) from the Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) in July 2007. Assistant Professor Ozlem Ergun, Associate Professor Joel Sokol, and Ph.D. student Lori Houghtalen were recognized for their work on air cargo alliances.

Their paper entitled "Designing Mechanisms for the Management of Carrier Alliances* addresses the operational issues that arise when cargo carriers form an alliance, taking into account the technical and legal challenges associated with integrating information systems of autonomous carriers and how to best manage alliances to ensure sustainability. Dr. Sokol states "This research could help airlines decide how to choose alliance partners, how to make themselves more attractive to potential partners, and how to realistically manage the alliance's resources and revenues in ways that benefit all participants."

EURO offers the MSSIP for outstanding contributions in theory or in practice to a well-chosen scientific area encouraging innovative researchers and possibly entire research groups to focus their work on a domain of a particular strategic interest.

This year, the scientific domain was LOGISTICS and the prize was awarded at EURO XXII in Prague. The prize amount of $12,000 Euros is sponsored by SAP AG and it is awarded annually. For additional information about EURO XXII visit: http://euro2007.vse.cz/