Introduction: 2008 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences

This special issue of Interfaces is devoted to the finalists of the 37th annual competition for the Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences, the profession's prestigious award for the practice of operations research. Of the six entries, one demonstrates the benefits derived from OR/MS-based scheduling for the care of the elderly in Sweden. The second shows dramatic improvement in air traffic management with new weather-system-related policies in the United States. The third shows how to improve network configuration and routing of natural gas in Norway and neighboring countries. The fourth shows how to place contaminant sensors in water sources and its application in the United States. The fifth reflects productivity improvements in print shops and document manufacturing facilities, also in the United States. The final entry shows how OR/MS was used to construct a brand new timetable for the passenger railway system in The Netherlands to account for much higher demand on the system.