Dr. Donald W. Hearn was department chair of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE) from 1997 to 2007.  He received an undergraduate degree in physics at the University of North Carolina as a Morehead Scholar, and received master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University in management science and operations research.  In 2004, he was elected a Fellow of The Institute of Operations Research and Management Science.  He was a preeminent scholar in applied optimization and transportation science.

From 2007 to 2012, he was program manager for Optimization and Discrete Mathematics at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). From 2015, he was a co-program manager and consultant for Service, Manufacturing and Operations Research at the National Science Foundation.  He was a software consultant for various federal agencies, including the USDA (environmental impacts of pesticides), HUD (new community development), FAA (aviation system maintenance) and DOT (urban transportation network models and algorithms).

Dr. Hearn passed away in July 2021 and is remembered fondly as a leader and mentor in the ISE field.  He and his wife Joyce established The Donald and Joyce Hearn Graduate Research Award in 2011 to recognize an ISE Ph.D. student making contributions to the applications and theory of operations research.

Eligibility Requirements

• The applicant must be a student pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering
• The applicant’s GPA must be at least 3.5

To apply, complete and submit this form.