POMS has established an annual Milind Dawande POMS Best Dissertation Award. It will be given for the best dissertation in any POM field and will carry an honorarium of $1,000.

Milind Dawande (1970-2024) was the Mike Redeker Distinguished Professor in Management at The University of Texas at Dallas. He was a valuable colleague and a prolific researcher with numerous publications in our field's most prestigious journals on a wide range of topics. In his 25-year academic career, he published over 75 articles in the 24 journals on the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) list alone. Based on the UTD list, he ranked in the top five among scholars in operations management and management science and in the top ten among scholars across all business disciplines. Milind was also a passionate teacher and a very constructive reviewer and editor for our major journals. In particular, he served the POMS journal as a Department Editor for several years. He was inducted as a POMS Fellow in 2022 for his academic and service contributions to the POMS community. Most importantly, he was a generous mentor and friend to numerous students, colleagues, and researchers both within and outside of UT-Dallas.

Milind was particularly interested in socially responsible operations and, through his research, proposed innovative solutions to problems such as crop burning, agricultural water management/sharing, adulteration in milk supply chains, and non-compliance with socially responsible practices. The development and mentoring of doctoral students were closest to his heart. Students advised by him have held (or currently hold) faculty positions in schools such as The University of Alabama, University at Buffalo, University of Massachusetts, University of Minnesota, UIUC, University of Florida, Texas A&M, University of Nebraska, University of Kansas, University of Oklahoma, Michigan State University, Arizona State University, University of Miami, University of Houston, University of Delaware, University of Pittsburgh, George Washington University, University of Calgary, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, USTC, and Ozgeyin University. The amount of time and effort he devoted to doctoral students is legendary.