Alan Pritsker
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A. Alan B. Pritsker | |
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Born | |
Died | August 24, 2000 | (aged 67)
Alma mater | Ohio State University |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Operations research |
Institutions | Purdue University |
Thesis | The Optimal Control of Discrete Stochastic Processes (1961) |
A. Alan B. Pritsker (February 5, 1933—August 24, 2000) was an American engineer, pioneer in the field of Operations research, and one of the founders of the field of computer simulation. Over the course of a fifty-five-year career, he made numerous contributions to the field of simulation and to the larger fields of industrial engineering and operations research.
Biography
Alan Pritsker was born in
From 1970 to 1973 he was also the director of Purdue's Center for Large-Scale Systems. During the 1970s and 80s, his activities at Purdue led to what many observers have called the "Golden Age of Simulation". He was a co-founder of Pritsker & Associates, Inc. (1973). He also served as the Board Chair of FACTROL, Inc. (1986–89). When Pritsker Corporation was created in 1989 through the merger of Pritsker & Associates and FACTROL, he served the new company as Board Chair and CEO (1989–91 and 1996–98) and as President and CEO (1991–96).
He cofounded the Operations Research Division of
In 1966 Alan Pritsker received the "AIIE Distinguished Research Award" and he was elected a Fellow of AIIE in 1978. In 1987 he received the "
The Pritsker Award is given each year at Arizona State University for outstanding accomplishment in teaching. The
Work
Comprehensive documentation of his career can be found in his professional autobiography Papers, Experiences, Perspectives (Systems Publishing Corporation 1990). In March 2001 an article entitled "Alan Pritsker’s Multifaceted Career: Theory, Practice, Education, Entrepreneurship, and Service" appeared in a special issue of IIE Transactions honoring Alan Pritsker for his numerous contributions to the profession over five decades.
Discrete-continuous system simulation
Foremost among Alan Pritsker's achievements is his work in the theory and methodology of discrete and combined discrete-continuous system simulation. During the early 1970s, he and his students formulated the basic principles of combined discrete-continuous simulation and implemented those principles in the GASP IV, SAINT, and SMOOTH simulation languages. Subsequently, he extended the foundations of combined simulation to encompass the process-interaction approach; and working with several collaborators, he implemented a family of simulation software systems, including SLAM and its extensions—SLAM II, TESS, SLAMSYSTEM, FACTOR/AIM, and Visual SLAM/AweSim. His strategic vision of a family of related simulation software products played a crucial role in the growth and maturing of the field of simulation over the past thirty years.[2]
Stochastic network
Alan Pritsker also made numerous fundamental contributions to the theory and methodology for analysis of
Engineering theory and practice
Among Alan Pritsker's diverse contributions to engineering practice, perhaps the most prominent was his development and use of large-scale simulation models to support policy analysis for organ transplantation by the United Network for Organ Sharing. In particular, his work was used to formulate more effective and equitable protocols for assigning liver transplants to waiting patients. This is a remarkable example of the definitive practice of system simulation in addressing ultimate questions of life and death.
Most of Alan Pritsker's groundbreaking contributions to engineering theory, methodology and practice are widely available via numerous well-known texts and book chapters that he wrote over a period of forty-five years. Perhaps more than any other single individual, he effectively disseminated knowledge about simulation technology at all levels of academia, government and industry through the publication of twelve popular textbooks.
Simulation
Another prominent aspect of Alan Pritsker's contributions to the growth of the field of simulation was his role in founding and leading several commercial enterprises dedicated to the development and dissemination of simulation technology.
Alan Pritsker's service to the profession spanned a broad range of activities sustained over four decades. Perhaps his most prominent contributions in service were made through his leadership of the Winter Simulation Conference (WSC). He served as a member of the WSC Board of Directors representing
Quotes
Lee Schruben of the University of California, Berkeley describing Alan Pritsker's influence on the industry:
"Alan is directly responsible for the success of many careers in simulation, mine included. Indeed, he was the first, and maybe the last, to demonstrate that it is possible to be a first-rate practicing engineer, scholarly researcher, devoted teacher, and successful entrepreneur. Many people in the field have modeled their careers after one of these characteristics of Alan — none, to date, have succeeded in doing all four. Almost everyone in our field has been influenced at least indirectly by Alan's activities."
John White, Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Arkansas, summarizing Alan Pritsker's contributions to the field of simulation with the following memorable comparison:
"I believe Alan Pritsker's accomplishments surpass those of, arguably, the world's greatest hockey player, Wayne Gretzky. It is said that good hockey players skate to where the puck is, but Gretzky skates to where the puck is going to be. Alan Pritsker did not just skate to where simulation was going to be; instead he took it to where it needed to be. He has shaped and defined the field."[3]
Publications
- 1961. Optimal control of discrete stochastic processes.
- 1964. Analysis of conveyor systems.
- 1966. GERT: graphical evaluation and review technique.
- 1969. Simulation with GASP-II; a FORTRAN based simulation language. With Philip J. Kiviat.
- 1970. JASP: A simulation language for a time-shared system.
- 1974. GASP IV simulation language.
- 1975. Simulation with GASP PL/I : a PL/I based continuous/discrete simulation language. With Robert E. Young.
- 1977. Modeling and analysis using Q-GERT networks.
- 1979. Modeling and analysis using Q-GERT networks.
- 1979. Introduction to simulation and SLAM. With Claude Dennis Pegden.
- 1983. Management decision making : a network simulation approach. With C. Elliott Sigal.
- 1986. Introduction to simulation and SLAM II.
- 1986. Solutions : introduction to Simulation and SLAM II
- 1987. TESS : the extended simulation support system. With Charles R. Standridge.
- 1987. Introduction to simulation and SLAM II.
- 1989. Slam II network models for decision support. With C. Elliott Sigal and R.D. Jack Hammesfahr.
- 1990. Papers, experiences, perspectives.
- 1995. Introduction to simulation and SLAM II.
- 1997. Simulation with Visual SLAM and AweSim. With Jean J. O'Reilly and David K. LaVal.
- 1999. Simulation with Visual SLAM and AweSim. Jean J. O'Reilly.
References
- ^ The Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award (retrieved October 29, 2006)
- ^ "INFORMS (2000)". Archived from the original on 2005-05-28. Retrieved 2006-10-29.
- ^ Pritsker Archived 2006-10-15 at the Wayback Machine by James R. Wilson and David Goldsman, Oct 2000.