Major Matthew “JD” Robbins’ doctoral dissertation, “Exploring Pediatric Immunization Markets Using Operations Research and Game Theory,” received the prestigious 2011 Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award (First Place) from the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) at their annual conference in Reno, Nevada. This highly competitive national award recognizes outstanding research in the field of industrial engineering, with each academic department nation-wide limited to only one dissertation nomination per year.
Major Robbins, a 2010 Ph.D. graduate of the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, joined the Air Force Institute of Technology, Department of Operational Sciences as an Assistant Professor of Operations Research in August 2010. Major Robbins is also Deputy Director of the Center for Operational Analysis, an AFIT Center of Excellence within the Department of Operational Sciences, as well as being class advisor for AFIT’s incoming 2010 and 2011 Master of Science in Operations Research students.